Sarah Sell ELD 308- Dr. Casey Miss.

Needles- grade 5 Assessment Portfolio

April 3, 2012

Demographic Profile JR is an active fifth grader who enjoys working with his peers. However, his abrupt approach of confronting others keeps them at bay, often leaving him working alone. His participation in group activities is wavering; engaging with others but then checking out when a task becomes too difficult. JR is more preoccupied with fitting in with his peers socially and his hobbies of band and video games than he is focused on school work. It is suspected that the death of his father last year and the little peer interaction he engages in at home are the cause of his poor reading/wiring skills and overall school performance. He fails to finish assignments due to his lack of confidence and belief in his ability deterring him from success in the language arts. The mother is a passive participant in JRs learning as the older sister is the main correspondent at conferences. Also, because his parents are much older, there is a large separation in age between his older siblings and the nieces and nephews that he resides with. This limits his interaction with children his age causing exclusion from authentic experiences in which he should draw from in reading and writing tasks. JRs lack of home structure also translates into his writing being disorganized and mostly off topic. He is not required or encouraged to read and write at home either which was evident in our conversations about language arts. JR expressed to me in informal and formal conversation about his reading and writing that does not read or write unless it is at home or required as a part of homework. Although he is indifferent about language arts, he does enjoy that reading allows you create an image of what you read making it like watching a movie in your head. He enjoys reading science fiction, nonfiction, fantasy, and adventure. JRs favorite books include the Harry Potter series, the Percy Jackson series, and Manga. While he can describe the books and genres he likes, he only ready for his monthly book reports and in whole or small group in class reading. He identifies his strengths as a reader as having the stamina to read long passages and that he uses effective strategies to solving words he is unfamiliar with that are in the text. JR is unmistakably a better reader than a writer as we will explore later but it is certain because he is still willing to read but avoids writing at all costs. JR does not identify himself as a good writer but states he is willing to improve and identifies creativity being his only writing strength. His is aware though that with practicing and acquiring new skills will help him to become a better writer. His penman ship is illegible which puts him at a disadvantage of the revising and editing process because not even he can decode what he has written. While he understands the writing structures and minilessons, he fails to practice them and take direction in conferences. In both reading and writing he is reluctant to do tasks, often procrastinating and making up excuses of why not to do them. He rarely contributes to conversations in book clubs and writing conferences and when he does he fails to support his reasoning with textual evidence. Finally, JR has been referred to the Student Support Team since third grade and is part of a pull out program. With this information and from what I have collected in my assessments, JR proves to need improvement to meet the fifth grade academic level and prepare for sixth grade curriculum.

Sarah Sell ELD 308- Dr. Casey Miss. Needles- grade 5

April 3, 2012

JRs assessments support a lot of the information collected in his assessment inventory and the information given in the demographic profile above. From my first day in Miss. Needles class up until this point, I have made observations in guided reading, whole class reading, his writing process and taken formative assessments of a running record, writing samples, and word study inventory. Below are each assessment described and analyzed.

Synthesis of Evaluations Running records were developed by Marie Clay as a method to analyze students oral reading for processing strategies. Teachers check for reading fluency and comprehension of any text genre. JR read a nonfiction book entitled Big Digs by Melissa Goldish about the Panaman canal for the Running record I directed. This book was a level R and he read with 98% accuracy. Most of his errors came from switching out words (ie. But for by and before) and omitting words that he did not know (ie. Malaria). He employed few to no strategies in solving these words but rather he babbled through them. He also did not read the captions without being prompted; however he did read the titles of each section. And his phrasing was decent but he needs to work on pausing at periods and commas. JR overall performed well because he utilized strategies and tools to read so fluently. He would repeat word or phrases to clarify their meaning and sound out words that seemed important in comprehending the text (ie. Panama). From the running record and observations in guided reading, he is a good reader when he chooses to be and if he devotes his time and attention to it. As for comprehension, JR was able to summarize the main point of the passages he read without rereading the text. When asked specific questions however, he did go back and skim until he found the answers. As me and Miss. Needles discussed, this is a great strategy for test taking and better that he know to search for answers and be correct than guess and be wrong. The only outstanding issue with his comprehension was that although he summarized and answered questions accurately, when asked what he learned he gave general answers such as the year and time the Panama Canal was built in. On another DRA conducted only a few weeks prior to mine with a fictional text, JR scored 96% accuracy. He also scored high marks on comprehension questions demonstrating that he was not only reading the text with correct phrasing but that he understood the storys plotline and elements. Overall, JRs running record reflected that he is independently at a level are and demonstrates readiness for more challenging texts. JRs writing samples consist of timed writings and the essay writing unit. On both timed writings he received the lowest score possible (1 or 0) due to lack of structure, off topic response and incomplete response. On a timed writing in response to a poem about excuses why not to do homework, students were asked to write about something that they did not want to do, why they did not want to and the consequences of avoiding it. JRs prewriting was conscience but focused as he described what he was trying to avoid and why. However, his writing did not discuss any of the topics he had prewritten and had no structure leaving the reader confused and mislead. Similarly, his second timed writing had no structure and was primarily a list of what he planned to do at an amusement park had he had a day free. But again, he ran out of time and thus it was scored a zero for being in complete. On the essays in which the students just completed, JRs was an enormous improvement from his timed writings yet not at a fifth grade level. What he did

Sarah Sell ELD 308- Dr. Casey Miss. Needles- grade 5

April 3, 2012

do well was he stayed on topic, finished, and had a few good transitions. Otherwise, both the content and context was poor. JR had no differentiated sentence structure, leads or word choice. He also did not indent any paragraphs, punctuated few sentences causing run ons and capitalized the start of only some sentences. He also had sentences with missing words making the story difficult to comprehend. And finally, JR included no personal stories or connections to the topic that were emphasized in minilessons and prewriting. In summary, JRs writing will require the most improvement based on the findings on his times writing and essay with a focus on both content and context. Word study is a learner-centered, conceptual approach to instruction in phonics spelling, word recognition and vocabulary according to Words Their Way. Despite JRs poor writing skills, he is good with word work and spelling. On both my and Miss. Needles administered spelling inventories he received 20 out of 25 words to be correct and more so, 4 out of the 5 words he had misspelled were the same on both tests. Although he has showed no improvement from the beginning to the end of the year in word study, he still is a proficient speller with 80% of the words spelled correctly. JR is at a deviational relations stage of spelling with the focus of his errors being on words with harder prefixes, suffixes, unaccented final syllables, and reduced vowel and base roots. JRs words were also spelt graphically similar to the correct spelling. This means that his invented spelling looked and sounded similar to the actually spelling. Most words were either incorrect by a single vowel of similar sound or because JR was unable to blend consonants together in words like speck and smudge. Still his spelling is a great improvement from his writing and a surprising feature of this young mans Language arts skills. JRs spelling inventory displayed his inconsistencies with prefixes, suffixes, reduced vowels and base roots but overall was a well performance of 80% words being accurately spelled.

Plan for Success JR has proved that he is ready to adjust his reading level and encounter more challenging texts. Since he read the level R books at an independent level, I would suggest S,T, or even U books for him to read next. When reading Number the Stars (level U) with the whole class, he read his section with fluency and has received accurate marks on the corresponding comprehension questions. He needs to be given the opportunity to read more texts appropriate to his level which I feel would benefit his confidence as a reader. I also believe that he needs to read more frequently, period. Taken from Millers theory that requiring students to read 40 books for the year to increases fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, writing skills, etc. due to the high volume of books they encounter, I feel that this is just what JR needs. The more JR reads, the more his comprehension will improve, his writing will be refined because of the models text provides, and he will develop a greater vocabulary and understanding of words in text. I also think that reading would help JR socially as well. An increase independent reading would help him develop personal skills and strategies to decoding text that he could then bring to group work, restoring him as an active participant. Also, books and reading would open up worlds for him that he does not have access to due to his circumstances. I would suggest books for him that relate to his feelings of isolation and grief and overcoming similar challenges to his. For instance, Each Little Bird that Sings by Deborah Wiles discusses death and coping

Sarah Sell ELD 308- Dr. Casey Miss. Needles- grade 5

April 3, 2012

mechanisms by a child of JRs age. This text may be a beneficial book for JR considering that he has not copped with his fathers death and may help him overcome those struggles of isolation and sadness. I would also suggest Holes by Louis Sachar, for the story of a trouble young man looking for himself while solving a great family mystery. I feel that JR would benefit too by reading more books in a series because as reading series books will help your lower achieving students clock reading mileagestudents gain more momentum as the read through hundreds of pages in a series (Fountas and Pinnell, 300). JR mentioned that his interest in the Harry Potter books and the Percy Jackson Series so I would refer him to 39 Clues or Inkheart as these books are popular series books as seen in my classroom and Millers. I would encourage him to participate in book clubs again to gain more peer interaction, but more so because it is structured and around text. If he feels that he is part of a community of something, in this case literature, then he will continue with that activity to achieve the comradery. The key element however of JR participating in book clubs is that they must be of choice. In guided reading, JR was a passive participant often gazing off because the book was too difficult to comprehend and of little interest to him. This frustrated the group and isolated him even further. If he and others were given the choice of text, then he would have been more engaged with the group and benefitted from their discussions to better comprehend the text. As they participate in literature study, students develop new understanding as readers. By sharing meanings and listening to multiple perspectives, they come to understand text in a deeper, more fully developed way than they can on their own (Fountas and Pinnell, 252). Literature studies purpose is to increase students enjoyment of reading, foster critical thinking and it also improves students writing. Certainly, all of these recommendations can be combined and occur daily to assure JRs continually reading success. JR needs the most work in improving his writing and hopefully some of the suggestions to follow will be to his benefit. The first recommendation I would make is to have him write one full page in a journal every day. Sometimes we call these writers notebooks and they are personal, decorated, celebrated and full of childrens choice writings. By journaling every day, JR would receive the motivation to become a writer and have more confidence in his writing. One full page of writing would show him that he is capable and the more he writes should increase his writing skills of grammar, punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and paragraphing. Consistent writing should also help him organize his ideas, develop well rounded content, and practice improving his handwriting. Part of JRs problem in the revision process is that he cannot read his own hand writing on drafts making it difficult to add or eliminate details. Penmanship minilesson and practice I feel would benefit his writing greatly and would make illegible writing no longer an excuse. I would monitor his writing frequently, confer often and celebrate his work when appropriate. JR is proud of himself when he gets high marks but does not care if he does poorly. In celebrating more of his good writing, hopefully he will continue to improve his writing and feel equal to his peers. JR needs to be conferred with through every step of the writing process and the direction of the conferences needs to be explicit with clear results and progress at the end of the session. We must be mindful too the when conferring that your goal (is) teaching the writer, not fixing the particular piece being discussed (Fountas and Pinnell, 79). Therefore, rather than showing JR where he should have added details in his essay, a miniesson or conference on how to develop further ideas that fit into a work would be a better goal. Similarly, I would give more explicit instruction on transitioning from prewriting to

Sarah Sell ELD 308- Dr. Casey Miss. Needles- grade 5

April 3, 2012

drafting. In his timed writing and essay his prewriting was well developed but the writing did not translate his ideas, details, or overall topic at all. Within guided writing, my goal would be to develop his understanding of how phrases of ideas can be transformed into whole sentences with proper conventions. Finally, I would have him read more to improve his writing and reading considering the two go hand in hand. Researchers know that reading and writing often draw from the same pool of background knowledgefor example, a general understanding of the attributes of texts (Graham and Perin, 8). If JR reads more, he will better understand the organization of authors ideas, their word choice, sentence structure, leads, and more. Books can be models to him of what good writing and provide inspiration of what to write. Overall, JR needs to know that he is capable of writing quality works and that his experiences he does have are valuable enough to share with the world. JR has a surprisingly vast mastery of words. The major issues consisted of words with consonant blends, unaccented vowels and prefixes and suffixes. Prefixes and suffixes are important for JR to understand because [they] can help students analyze unknown words they encounter in their reading and leads to a rich expansion and elaboration of their vocabularies (Baer et. al., 213). By conceptualizing how prefixes and suffixes change the meaning of root or base words, JR will be more aware how these words relate to one another and function in text. One way of increasing his understanding of prefixes and suffixes is to practice with word sorts or open sorts, in which students discuss words after they have been sorted. Most likely JR will be able to sort by prefix or suffix, but it is the discussion that follows in how these added endings and beginnings change the meaning of the words. In this activity he will have to use prior knowledge of what he knows about the base word, including where he may have seen it or used it before in texts. The sorting and discussion afterwards are a curtail aspect to JRs understanding of word relations and their meaning. Analysis of these morphemic structures help students understand the generative nature of deviational affixes (Baer et. al., 213). Another recommendation of improvement for JRs word study is practice unaccented syllables. An unaccented syllable is when the spelling of the vowel is not clarified as being long or short. Hence, students have the most difficult time because these words are not spelt as they sound. Words Our Way suggest sorts of unaccented syllable words and then also generate a class list of the insight to their frequencies. You can also make a class list of best strategies when solving and sorting words with unaccented syllables. Finally, to address JRs reduced vowel problem, sorts again are a good tool but so are identifying where the majority of these irregularities occur. Often called ambiguous vowels for their large range of represented sounds and spellings, JR should pay attention to their positions in word sot find commonalities. For instance, aw and oy usually conclude words while au and oi typically are in the middle. JR should recognize the position of these vowels during word sorts and make a chart with their common locations and words with these vowel patterns. And finally, reading and writing daily will increase his vocabulary and help him to identify word with prefixes, suffixes, unaccented syllables and ambiguous vowels. The more he is exposed to them and uses them, the more proficient he will be in spelling these words and comprehending how and why they work within text. Overall, JRs word study needs some improvement but he has generally accomplished a well rounded sense of the words he is familiar with.

Sarah Sell ELD 308- Dr. Casey Miss. Needles- grade 5 Conclusion

April 3, 2012

In conclusion JR has shown a great improvement in his reading and word study abilities and skills. He is Slowing beginning to understand himself as a writer and working toward organizing and completing a piece of work. His unstable home life and the yearning he feels to be accepted by his peers are definite stunts in his literacy learning. Therefore, Book clubs, journaling, and an increased number of required texts are a few of some recommendations to improve his reading and writing skills. JR is a bright young man who just needs to know that he is capable. By teaching JR the tools for success in language arts and motivating him to become a better reader and writer, he will excel in group work, whole class, and most importantly, independently.

Sarah Sell ELD 308- Dr. Casey Miss. Needles- grade 5 Works Cited Baer, Donald R., et al. Words Their Way. 4th ed. Columbus: Pearson, 2008. Print.

April 3, 2012

Fountas, Irene C., and Gay Su Pinnell, eds. Guiding Readers and Writers. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2001. Print. Graham, Steve, and Dolores Perine. Writing Next (2007). Alliance for Excellent Education. Web. 3 Apr. 2012. <http://www.all4ed.org/files/WritingNext.pdf>. Miller, Donalyn. The Book Whisperer. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2009. Print.