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Tutoring Case Study. Madeleine Heins CI 5433, Prof. O’Brien Spring 2008. Background: Demographics. 12 Year old female African American Qualifies for free lunch/breakfast Lives in north Minneapolis, MN Raised by single mother Father left when she was 4 years old Oldest of 2 daughters
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Tutoring Case Study Madeleine Heins CI 5433, Prof. O’Brien Spring 2008
Background: Demographics • 12 Year old female • African American • Qualifies for free lunch/breakfast • Lives in north Minneapolis, MN • Raised by single mother • Father left when she was 4 years old • Oldest of 2 daughters • Has been suspended numerous times for stealing and fighting
Background: Self Perception About Literacy • Positive Self Perception About Literacy • Identifies Speed of Reading as Personal Challenge • Does Not View Self as a Struggling Reader • Perceives Own Reading Skills as Comparable to Classmates
Background: Academic Background • Sojourner Truth Academy: Charter School in North Minneapolis • Mainstream 6th Grade Student • Not Eligible for Special Education or Other Special Programming • MCA Reading Score, 2007: 527 • (550=Proficient) • NWEA/MAP Reading Score, Fall 2007: 190 • (222=Proficient)
Pre-Assessments • Identified as Struggling Reader by Classroom Teacher Through: • 5th Grade MCA Score • NWEA/MAP Score • Observation of Classroom Performance
Interventions • Placed in Strategic Intervention Reading Group • 6th Grade Math and Reading is Ability-Grouped • Student’s Placement Based on 6th Grade Readiness Assessments Administered by Teachers in Fall
Instructional Resources • Student Spends School Day With Primarily 2 Teachers: • Advisor/Reading Teacher/Social Studies Teacher, 6 years Teaching Experience • Math Teacher/Science Teacher, 30 years Teaching Experience • Both are Licensed K-8 Minnesota Teachers
Student Perspective • Student was Eager to Participate in Tutoring • Student Spoke Excitedly About Books and Reading • Student Did Not Comment on her Ability Grouping Placement • Student Described Herself as, “A good reader, and I am getting better. Mr. P. is a great teacher!” • Student’s Responses Demonstrated Eagerness to Please and Give “Right” Answer
Personnel Perspective Advisor, Reading Instructor and Social Studies Teacher says student is accurately identified as struggling reader because: • Fluency is solid • Struggles with comprehension • Tends to rush through work • Easily distracted and off-task • Does not apply word recognition or vocabulary strategies regularly • Struggles with behavior and anger negatively effect school performance • Believes ability grouping, small classes and focus on comprehension are effective interventions
Preliminary Instructional Plan • Affective Dimensions: • Student needs reinforcement and recognition of effort and improvement • Student needs personally relevant reading materials • Word Recognition and Vocabulary: • Student needs authentic practice using contextual clues for vocabulary • Student needs word recognition strategies (chunking, breaking into smaller words) as she often guesses larger, unfamiliar words • Comprehension: • Student needs meta-cognitive tools to monitor comprehension • Student needs practice and encouragement making personal connections with text • Student needs opportunities to pose questions about texts to aid analysis
Additional Pre-Assessments I want to find out more about: • Fluency and Accuracy (my findings varied from student’s teacher’s description: • Specific Difficulties with Decoding • Struggles With Comprehension I conducted the following additional pre-assessments: • Dolch Sight Words List: Student read all words correctly • Johns IRA Passage, Grade 6, Sunflowers: 11 miscues, 5 significant miscues, 6 missed comprehension responses • Johns IRA Passage, Grade 5, Flight: 5 miscues, 4 significant miscues, 5 missed comprehension responses • Johns IRA Passage, Grade 4, Oldest Living Things: 5 miscues, 4 significant miscues, 5 missed comprehension responses
Post Assessments • Will administer Content Reading Inventory developed from texts used during tutoring • Student will take NWEA/MAP in May 2008; Score will break down proficiency in comprehension, vocabulary and literature
Instruction 2 texts were selected for instruction: • The Skin I’m In by Sharon Flake • Money Hungry by Sharon Flake • These books tell the stories of African American pre-teen girls in the inner city, including struggles with school, friends and families • These books have been awarded the Coretta Scott King Award • Student was enthusiastic about texts and made many self to text connections, unprompted • She asked to take books with her and read on her own between tutoring sessions
Instruction Continued • Focus of tutoring in developing comprehension strategies into skills • Questions Only: Student generated own questions during reading on Post-It Notes, as tutoring progressed questions reached higher levels in Bloom’s Taxonomy • ReQuest: Student was enthusiastic and eager to practice this tool for developing comprehension • Questioning the Author: Student struggled to stay on topic of text, questions tended to be more personal, required redirecting often to use this strategy
Instruction Continued • Vocabulary Interventions: • Four Square of words selected by student from texts • Categorization of vocabulary words selected by tutor • Fluency Support: • “Chunking” words • Searching for smaller, familiar words within large words
Instruction Continued • Student requested use of texts outside of tutoring sessions • Student reported reading books, yet was rarely able to summarize what she read • Student continued to be an enthusiastic reader • Student generated a “wish list” of books on Amazon.com
Tutoring Log Excerpt from February 12th, 2008: • Student is talkative and eager to participate in tutoring, frequently swings conversation off topic. Eager to tell me about herself, seems to want/need attention Excerpt from March 5th, 2008: • Student practiced Questions Only strategy today, most questions generated were lower level of Bloom’s taxonomy Excerpt from April 9th, 2008: • We discussed MCA II’s next week. Student is nervous. We practiced Questions Only. Student generated 3 higher level questions. We compared questions she wrote today to those from a month ago. She was surprised and pleased with her improvement. We practiced ReQuest,at student’s request.
Highlight of Tutoring Experience • DEFINITELY connecting with a student • She comes upstairs to greet me every morning • She “earns” time “tutoring” my 4th grade students for good behavior in her homeroom • She is excited to finish the last text (Money Hungry) • She reports feeling confident about her MCA II performance