Final+Summaries+and+Recommendations

**__SUMMARY OF POST TEST READING LEVELS__** Passages |||| Silent Reading Passages ||
 * Levels |||| Word Lists |||| Oral Reading
 * || Pre || Post || Pre || Post || Pre || Post ||
 * ** Independent ** || 5th || 6th || 5th || 6th || 5th || 6th ||
 * ** Instructional ** || 6th || Upper Middle || 6th || Upper Middle || 6th || Upper Middle ||
 * ** Frustration ** || Upper Middle || High School || Upper Middle || High School || Upper Middle || High School ||

These three levels are used to determine a child’s reading level. Those levels are independent, instructional, or frustration. Independent level is when they can read on their own without assistance. Instructional level is when the student needs guidance and assistance. The assistance from a teacher is not direct such as sounding out words or hovering over the student. The assistance is indirect and basically guides the reader with background information or presents unknown concepts for greater student achievement. Frustration level is when a student is having obvious difficulty while reading or they are unable to read the text. Our QRI identifies the Independent Levels as 90% or higher in comprehension, 90% or higher in word identification in isolation, or 98% or higher in word identification in context. Our QRI identifies the Instructional Level as 70% to 89% in comprehension, 90% to 97% in word identification in isolation, or 70% to 89% higher in word identification in context. Our QRI identifies the Frustration Level as less than 70% in comprehension, less than 70% in word identification in isolation, or less than 90% in word identification in context.

Following the QRI, Desmond scored in the 6th Grade range for his independent levels, Upper Middle Grades for his instructional level, and high school as his frustration level for his word lists, oral reading passages, and silent reading passages. It was slightly challenging to complete our posttests. Our final lesson used reading materials that he was very interested in and motivated to read. However the QRI material wasn’t the most engaging material for him so he was literally complaining with the last couple of reading passages. In the future I will break up my testing material. I am very proud of him regarding the improvements that were made throughout our tutorials. Sometimes, I couldn’t see all of the changes. But the post-tests allowed me to see the transitions that he has made regarding his reading abilities.



**__STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES__** **STRENGTHS** As mentioned in Desmond's Interest Inventory he loves to feel educated and knowledgable in school. He has very strong ideas and concepts which can be highlighted in his Interest Inventory, Motivation to Read Profile and his writing sample. Desmond pushes himself to think on a higher level. Student rarely shows that he is defeated if he is at his frustration level, he doesn't want people to know that he is a struggling reader. Student does a great job with answering explicit questions. He likes those types of questions because their is a clear response. When Desmond is given reading material that he is interested in, he is all aboard and very involved in the lesson.

**AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT** Overall, the student needs to focus on spelling, organizing his writing ideas, improving his skimming/scanning skills when reading independently, and focus on inference type responses. I noticed that if the reading material is not of interest, Desmond shuts down and it is as if he hit a front wall. We want him to read so using high interest material is a great strategy, however there may be times where reading low interest material is necessary. The student resents reading if it is not interesting to him. Writing is a major area of improvement for Desmond. With our writing sample, it is easy to note that he struggles with organizing his thoughts and delivering a clear styles. Vocabulary has been an area of weakness throughout our tutorials. With our writing sample and Bear Spelling Assessment, prefixes and suffixes were confusing for the student. Which is what led to our lesson on prefixes and suffixes. The student comprehends the roots but gets confused with the usage of the prefixes and suffixes.

With our QRI assessments and any reading passages, when the student reads silently he starts to skim the material. He literally rushes through the material to say that he is finished but doesn't take his time when reading independently. With every tutorial, and QRI assessment, his scores are drastically different when the assignment is completed individually vs. working with someone else. From the Pre and Post Test, retelling the main points of the story is a struggle for the student. Inference Questions are also an area of improvement.

**__Summary of Instructional Activities:__** Majority of our lessons focused on improving his vocabulary and reading comprehension. Fluency previously seemed to be a major area of weakness, however once I learned that he worked with a Speech Pathologist on a consistent basis, I refocused our lessons. Previously, Demond's mother requested that I use the text, __I Juan De Pareja__ that was currently being used as an anchor text in his Reading Class. However there were major language barriers and a major lack of interest that made this text very challenging to work with. I used it as the guiding text for the first two lessons, but eventually he start to dread our tutorial and even started hiding from me. Over time, I selected different materials that were of high interest to him such as boxing, sports, and current day Athletes. I even incorporated real life text such as news articles, and blogs about sports and athletes within our lessons. Once, I changed our reading material, it turned out to be an exciting experience and he no longer ran from our tutorial sessions. Also, using the reading "Rights of A Reader" was a great closure to our tutorial sessions because it left him with an understanding that there isn't a perfect reader and it's ok not to like some books but it still gave him a drive and motivation to read.


 * **Title and author of all reading materials:**
 * =====__I, Juan de Pareja__ by Elizabeth Borton de Treviño =====
 * __The Contender__ by Robert Lipsyte
 * //Anything is Possible// by Melissa Underwood
 * //Ten Benefits of Playing Sports// by Teresa McEntire
 * //For NBA Players, Checks Not in the Mail// by ESPN.com senior NBA writer Marc Stein and The Associated Press
 * //The Coolest Game// by QDBel
 * //Bill Klepper, Fat-Cat Wheeler Dealer Billionaire// by Scholastic
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">//Prefixes, Suffixes, and Roots// By Educational Rap
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">//Rights of A Reader// by Danniel Pennic

>> >>>
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Games:
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">I<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">t's All Greek To Me By Scholastic <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">** [] #**
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Battleship Inferences Game []
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Brain Pop Video: Make Inferences
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Flip Chip Developed By ReadWriteThink.Org []
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">**Teaching Strategies:**
 * Talking Drawing Before and After
 * Social Studies Map to Build Prior Knowledge
 * You Try It! Vocabulary Self Assessment
 * Questioning Bookmarks
 * Magic Squares Vocabulary Worksheet
 * Character Study
 * Concept Map
 * Receipt Tape Flow Chart
 * Bloom's Cube
 * Reading Log
 * Chalk Talk
 * Inferences Worksheets
 * Using Audacity to Record Answers
 * Use of Rap Songs and Materials to Enforce Concepts
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Reading Strategies:**
 * Paired Readings
 * Repeated Readings
 * Book Responses
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Root Analysis: Using chunking when reading to further analyze the prefixes and suffixes.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Building Up Words and Then Breaking Them Down

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">__RECOMMENDATIONS__ <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">**Recommendations for Parents**:
 * Encourage Desmond to read at various times of the year even during the summer. Look into previewing material for upcoming school year because the student loves to feel ahead of his peers.
 * Ask student to tell you the main ideas of what he read and follow up with completion of at home assignments.
 * Look into magazine subscription such as Sports Illustrated and ESPN for pleasure reading. NFL.com and MLB.Com also have sports articles for free posted daily.
 * Encourage student not to talk in text lingo at home and when writing. Student really enjoys using the internet and websites such as Facebook. Look into safer more appropriate social networks for teens such as Giant Hello.
 * Allow student to read to you on a consistent basis to improve fluency.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">**Recommendations for Teachers and Tutors** :
 * Work on developing an outline for prewriting and frames for hooks and essay organization.
 * Encourage student to answer inference type questions on a consistent basis.
 * Utilize a variety of graphic organizers during reading.
 * Be positive! Student thrives off knowing that he is doing well. Even if student is not performing well overall in course, student is highly motivated when he receives praises.
 * Meet with and Collaborate with school librarian to promote new reading material and engaging reading activities.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">**Recommendations for Child**:
 * Practice vocabulary games to improve decoding and vocabulary knowledge.
 * Slow down and take your time when reading. Do not rush to say you are finished.
 * Use the chunking strategy where we broke any unknown words up into different syllables. Try to identify the prefixes, and suffixes that you recognize.
 * Practice and run through readings prior to reading aloud. Do not be afraid to record your voice using your cell phone to listen to your readings.
 * Use essay frames or other story organizers to improve writing organization. This will be very beneficial for next year as an 8th grader for the State Writing Assessment.
 * Read questions at the end of the chapter first and use the headings and titles as cues during reading.
 * Find a quiet area at Grandmother’s home, Aunt's Home and Mother's home for reading and completing assignments.