Carolyn+Kiss

My first two tutoring sessions with Shelby have been much different from our Fall sessions. While completing the word study activities Shelby is very cooperative. However, when we move onto to the reading part of the session she becomes very difficult, refusing to participate. Has anyone else had something like this happen to them? What has worked to have your student become more cooperative?

Also, Shelby participates and does well when we complete the word study activities, however, she does not seem to transfer what we are completing in our fun games and activities to her reading and writing. What can be done so that she takes what she learns in our sessions to use all the time?

Session #1 Date: February 15, 2011 Time: 3:00 - 3:40 Location: Classroom in the Middle School

**Student Background:**

Shelby is a 7th grade student who was in my Language Arts class in sixth grade. She is a struggling reader and has been tested with informal running records in school which were scored at a Guided Reading Level of Q (Appropriate Level is a W). The school district keeps a Literacy Portfolio documenting the process of each student on a yearly basis, as suggested by McKenna and Stahl. When looking at S.’s sixth grade portfolio, progress was made in reading level, spelling, and writing. Although her levels were not were they should be for the end of the sixth grade year, it was progress made. The base assessments at the beginning of the seventh grade year show a regression. Most of the progress made in sixth grade was lost over the summer. More recently, her reading level has gone up according to the Literacy Portfolio, however, she is still not up to grade level. She has an additional language arts class during the day which was scheduled because of low standardized test scores. This class is usually only given on a one year basis, so students do not get discouraged or feel punished, however, this is the second year she has been placed in this class. Shelby has a bubbly personality and enjoys socializing with others. Shelby was born with Noonan Syndrome. This genetic disorder stunts growth and can causes abnormalities in facial features and the skeletal structure. This disorder can also cause some mild cognitive problems. Because of this Shelby receives injections to stimulate growth. (//Noonan Syndrome//, 2010) S. has also been diagnosed with Congenital Hydrocephalus, which is fluid causing pressure on the brain at birth. This also causes cognitive problems for Shelby (//Cognitive Hydrocephalus//, 2010) She was never tested by the district’s child study team, but was evaluated by numerous family doctors. In addition to her medical situation, Shelby’s parents are also going through a divorce at this time. After the assessment process, it has been found that Shelby needs to work on all aspects of reading. Strategic knowledge, spelling, fluency, phonics, word recognition, and comprehension need to be developed. Deficiencies in all of these areas are greatly hurting Shelby.

**Session Goals/Objectives**

Reestablish routines Improve spelling and decoding by recognizing rhymes in words Improve fluency and comprehension through reading appropriately leveled books

**Observations:**

We began our session by discussing how Shelby felt about her reading and writing since we last met in November. Shelby did not make eye contact and said that it was “good”. When asked for more details Shelby would not give any information. The next activity we did was to create silly poems. Shelby was instructed that we are going to use a common ending to find rhyming words to make her poem. Shelby was energetic and engaged in this activity. She thought of rimes to use for her poems, and created some silly sentences. At the conclusion of this activity I asked Shelby how we might be able to use this activity every day. Shelby responded that we could “write one poem every day”. While explaining that we can use words that rhyme to help us spell other words Shelby was turned off and wanted to start talking about something else. We moved on to reading her leveled independent reading book. When asked to take out her book, she said she didn’t want to read it because it “didn’t look interesting”. We decided to choose a new book from my classroom library. While choosing a book Shelby looked only at the picture on the cover to decide what book she wanted to read. When we finally chose a book to read Shelby suggested that there was not enough time left to read and we should just talk for the last ten minutes of the session. I finally was able to urge her to read and we began reading __The Witches__ by Roald Dahl. While reading Shelby skipped several words and inserted words while she was reading. As she read I stopped her to discuss what she was reading. When asked what she thought the witch looked like she drew a picture to illustrate what she saw. As we continued to read the book described what the witches in the story actually looked like. When asked to describe what the character looked like Shelby responded “I don’t know” and continued to read without waiting to discuss or reread a section. This happened again as I tried to discuss another part of the book with Shelby When coming to the end of the page, Shelby tried to end our session early again. I was able to convince Shelby to read the second page of the book before we finished for the day.

**Critical Reflections:** While completing the poetry exercise Shelby was able to spell the rhyming words correctly. However, other words used in the poetry were spelled incorrectly. Shelby needs to work on becoming a “word solver”. She needs to begin using what she knows about structure of words and the analogies of words to help her while she is writing, and reading words all of the time. She was able to spell words with common rimes correctly using these analogies. However, when writing other words which were not the focus of the activity Shelby did not use this principal. She spelled words incorrectly which she would be able to spell by using other words she knows. Shelby needs to develop further develop her phonics, or “word solver” skills in order to become a more successful reader and writers.(Pinnell & Fountas, 1998, pp. 79-81) Shebly’s desire to avoid reading shows that she acknowledges her struggles as a reader. However, for her to become more successful, she needs to be willing and ready to work with people and discuss what she is reading. Currently Shelby seems to view reading as reading words. This view needs to be changed to understand that reading is done for comprehension. She also needs to realize that reading is a social activity. In order to change her view on reading, and her comprehension skills, Shelby needs to become willing to talk about her reading. Discussions about reading will not only develop her comprehension of a specific text, but also her understanding and use of reading strategies. This will help deepen her comprehension of every book she reads. (Hampton & Resnick, 2009, pp. 9-11) While Shelby was able to spell the words she focused on correctly, her trouble with other words in her poems shows her need for her to develop word study. This demonstrates how Shelby does have an understanding of the alphabetic principal of words, she does note grasp the pattern layer, and therefore cannot grasp the meaning. In order for Shelby to develop as a reader, Shelby needs to focus on word study. (Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton, & Johnston, 2008, pp. 5-6) As tutoring sessions continue we will need to follow a specific routine. According to Caldwell and Leslie, when working with an older student at a significantly lower reading level a routine of word study, writing, fluency, and reading for comprehension can help the struggling student become more successful. This structure is the structure that Shelby needs to improve her reading level.

**Next Steps**:

We will play the game “Bang!” to practice reading what is on the paper, instead of inserting or replacing similar words in a passage. Other word games will also be played to develop her decoding skills to recognize similarities between words. We will also attempt reading a more manageable text. Perhaps reading a short story, or a picture book will make Shelby feel more comfortable reading. It will also make her feel like her goal of reading is achievable. We will read together to discuss reading strategies used, and improve comprehension.

Bear, D. R., Invernizzi, M., Templeton, S., & Johnston, F. (2008). //Words their// //way//. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. //Cognitive hydrocephalus//. (2010, January 20). Retrieved from [|__http://www.webmd.com__] / parenting/baby/tc/congenital-hydrocephalus-topic-overview McKenna, M. C., & Dougherty Stahl, K. A. (2009). //Assessment for reading// //instruction// (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press. //Noonan syndrome//. (2010, February 21). Retrieved from [|__http://children.webmd.com__] / noonan-syndrome-10902 Pinnell, G. S., & Fountas, I. C. (1998). //Word matters//. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.