Today I worked with a student named Channell. I have Channell choose two books she would like to read with me one on one. The first book is to be one that she can read without a problem and the second one should be more challenging. We start with the first book which is called The Fat Cat Sat on the Mat by, Nurit Karlin. I do an unofficial reading record on her to see where she stands. I recorded the correct words, errors and self corrections. I have now obtained a copy of the book for $1 online. Channell is reading much lower then a third grade reading level and this book is said to be for ages 6. The book is a rhyming book with “at” sounds.
The book itself is longer then 100 words but I assed the fist 104. Out of the 104 words she had a total of 11 errors (one was for the insertion of a word) and 4 self corrections. She has a problem decoding words because all of the mistakes she made were words she knows. She has a tendency to look at the first letter of a word and instead of sounding out the word or looking at the middle or ending, she automatically changes the words to one that starts with the same beginning letter or sound. It appears instead of decoding words she guesses. She also has a problem with sub-sounds. Words that end in “ed” are substituted with “t” or words that end in “b” are substituted with “d”.
The book is on a rather easy level so she should have scored close to 100%. Her error rate, (total words/total errors) is equal to 1:9 which means that for each error made, she read approximately 9 words correctly. Her accuracy rate (total words read-total errors/total words read x 100) is equal to 78%. That means this book that is at a first grade reading level is too difficult for her. Her self-correction rate (number of errors + number of self corrections/ number of self corrections) is equal to 1: 4. This means that she corrects approximately 1 out of every 4 errors.
She has a hard time with comprehending what she is reading. Rather then substitute with words that make sense in the story or sentence she substitutes with words that begin with the same first letter. She uses visual cues on a few of the words but because of her problem with decoding they aren’t much help. She is going to need a lot of help in figuring out the sounds letters make together and from there sounding out words.
In the upcoming weeks we are going to be working on decoding and comprehension.
After doing the reading record I asked her about the book to see if she understood what she was reading. She was ok with the easier book but the second book which is about making apple pie while traveling the world for ingredients she had a harder time. Instead of explaining what the book was about she used familar words from the story to explain which ended up making no sense. She has a hard time comprehending the story. After both books I also had her write some some words. She has just as hard of a time with spelling. Because she can not decode or sound out words she writes words exactly how she hears them or she completly guesses. Some of the words she writes do not contain the similar sounds in any way. The words she does get right are only because I sounded them out for her. We slowly went through the words so she could see how the sounds were put together.
After the books I met with the teacher to discuss Channell. I learned she is reading at level I but should be at level G which is a first grade level. She has trouble with decoding and comprehension. She also has a problem with middle and ending sounds of words. For next week we discussed that she needs a lot of background information and it is important to make predictions with her so she can grasp what we are reading.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
Week One
I observed Ms. Abdus-Shokur's third grade general education classroom at the New Vision school on October 6, 2008. Due to Ms. Abdus-Shokur being absent a permanent substitute teacher taught the class. We were told earlier that the students were all very comfortable with the substitute because she had been in the school for three years already. The students were very well behaved and listened to the substitute teacher throughout the lessons.
Classroom Information and Setup:
There are 23 students in the class with 22 present on this day. There are 9 girls and 13 boys. The majority of students are Spanish and African American with only about 4 white Caucasian students. The desks are arranged in tables, 6 at each, however there seems to be no pattern to how the students are placed. Possibly they are seated alphabetically? The blackboard at the front of the room is covered in posters. There is one poster that the students filled out earlier in the year that says "what would you like to learn this year". There are also a few "aim" posters with "how do we..." questions. There is an alphabet chart in script above the blackboard as well as a list of class rules. The class rules are to 1. listen to one another, 2. help each other, 3. complete and hand in all work on time, 4. share your thinking, 5. follow the High-5-rules. The High-5-rules are the rules the entire school follows that I have yet to find out.
In the back of the room there are three computers with individual headphones for students to work at as well as a reading corner. The reading corner has 2 bookshelves full of different reading level books. This is the class library where I assume students not only choose books to read individually but the class gathers to read books together (there is a smart board with markers in the reading corner).
Lessons:
The first lesson of the day is brief where students distinguish the difference between a period and a question mark. The teacher has students read sentences aloud and then asks them "are you telling me or asking me"? She then asks "what mark belongs there"? This lesson seems to be a review of what was possibly done the week before.
The second lesson the students listen to a tape of story and read along in their Trophies textbooks. Some students use their fingers to follow along throughout the story. The story is called Pepita Talks Twice. It is about a girl named Pepita who speaks both English and Spanish and is tired of speaking Spanish and translating for people. She decides to speak only English. Throughout the story she learns a few lessons and comes to realize how helpful speaking Spanish and English can be. The teacher stops the tape throughout the story to ask questions like "what is Pepita felling right now"? At one point in the story she tries to relate what Pepita is going through to the students by asking them how many of them have to translate for people at home. It is surprising because 90% of the students raise their hands. One student mentions Hebrew, another sign language and many speak Spanish at home. The students are then asked to make a prediction for the story. The Trophies textbook has words highlighted throughout the book which is actually the students vocabulary for the week. At the end of the story the students answer "Think and Respond" questions and state whether their predictions were right.
The third lesson takes place after all but 4 students leave to go to different resource rooms. The students together with the teacher gather at one of the tables to go over NY State Testing Program-Language Arts (2007) booklet. They then take turns reading the story. They sound out words that they can not immediately recognize and the teacher explains the unfamiliar words they don't understand (plow, tractor, acre). At the end of the story there are 6 questions to be answered. The students box the key words that will help them answer the questions. In the story the students underline key points of information. The students also learn how to eliminate bad answers to find the most likely choice.
The last lesson before lunch is a spelling review sheet. The words this week are "words with short i-o-u" sounds. The students are to match their spelling words to other vocab words by filling in the blanks. The teacher does the first one with the class together to demonstrate. The sheet only takes about a half hour to do. The teacher walks around during this time to help and encourage the students. If students are finished early they are told to take out a quiet book to read.
Overall the field observation was interesting. It was nice to see the setup of the classroom and talk to a few of the students at the end of our visit. They were all so well behaved. I am looking forward to the upcoming weeks where we can find out more details on what students need what resources and what they do in the specific resource rooms. It will be great to deal with students one-on-one and interact in upcoming visits as well.
Classroom Information and Setup:
There are 23 students in the class with 22 present on this day. There are 9 girls and 13 boys. The majority of students are Spanish and African American with only about 4 white Caucasian students. The desks are arranged in tables, 6 at each, however there seems to be no pattern to how the students are placed. Possibly they are seated alphabetically? The blackboard at the front of the room is covered in posters. There is one poster that the students filled out earlier in the year that says "what would you like to learn this year". There are also a few "aim" posters with "how do we..." questions. There is an alphabet chart in script above the blackboard as well as a list of class rules. The class rules are to 1. listen to one another, 2. help each other, 3. complete and hand in all work on time, 4. share your thinking, 5. follow the High-5-rules. The High-5-rules are the rules the entire school follows that I have yet to find out.
In the back of the room there are three computers with individual headphones for students to work at as well as a reading corner. The reading corner has 2 bookshelves full of different reading level books. This is the class library where I assume students not only choose books to read individually but the class gathers to read books together (there is a smart board with markers in the reading corner).
Lessons:
The first lesson of the day is brief where students distinguish the difference between a period and a question mark. The teacher has students read sentences aloud and then asks them "are you telling me or asking me"? She then asks "what mark belongs there"? This lesson seems to be a review of what was possibly done the week before.
The second lesson the students listen to a tape of story and read along in their Trophies textbooks. Some students use their fingers to follow along throughout the story. The story is called Pepita Talks Twice. It is about a girl named Pepita who speaks both English and Spanish and is tired of speaking Spanish and translating for people. She decides to speak only English. Throughout the story she learns a few lessons and comes to realize how helpful speaking Spanish and English can be. The teacher stops the tape throughout the story to ask questions like "what is Pepita felling right now"? At one point in the story she tries to relate what Pepita is going through to the students by asking them how many of them have to translate for people at home. It is surprising because 90% of the students raise their hands. One student mentions Hebrew, another sign language and many speak Spanish at home. The students are then asked to make a prediction for the story. The Trophies textbook has words highlighted throughout the book which is actually the students vocabulary for the week. At the end of the story the students answer "Think and Respond" questions and state whether their predictions were right.
The third lesson takes place after all but 4 students leave to go to different resource rooms. The students together with the teacher gather at one of the tables to go over NY State Testing Program-Language Arts (2007) booklet. They then take turns reading the story. They sound out words that they can not immediately recognize and the teacher explains the unfamiliar words they don't understand (plow, tractor, acre). At the end of the story there are 6 questions to be answered. The students box the key words that will help them answer the questions. In the story the students underline key points of information. The students also learn how to eliminate bad answers to find the most likely choice.
The last lesson before lunch is a spelling review sheet. The words this week are "words with short i-o-u" sounds. The students are to match their spelling words to other vocab words by filling in the blanks. The teacher does the first one with the class together to demonstrate. The sheet only takes about a half hour to do. The teacher walks around during this time to help and encourage the students. If students are finished early they are told to take out a quiet book to read.
Overall the field observation was interesting. It was nice to see the setup of the classroom and talk to a few of the students at the end of our visit. They were all so well behaved. I am looking forward to the upcoming weeks where we can find out more details on what students need what resources and what they do in the specific resource rooms. It will be great to deal with students one-on-one and interact in upcoming visits as well.
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