Running head: STUDENT CASE STUDY 1

Student Case Study

Tabitha Cartwright
University of Tennessee Knoxville








STUDENT CASE STUDY 2
School Context
According to the state of Tennessees 2012 report card, L & N Stem Academy has 171
students, with 19.2% of the student population consisting of students of color. The
student population is nearly equally divided between males and females (58.1 and 41.9).
There is not a graduation rate for this school yet because the 2014 class will be the first
graduating class. The attendance rate is 96%. Teacher quality is shown as 100% of core
courses taught by highly qualified teachers.
Readability
My NuLit (a combination Algebra I and English I class) is currently reading The
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, a fiction novel that is geared towards young adult
readers. To calculate the readability level of this text, I selected an excerpt from the first
portion of the novel. The results display a range of grade levels chosen for this text, from
4.8 on the SMOG Index up to 8.1 on the Coleman-Liau Index. The Flesh-Kincaid
Reading Ease score is 84.1, indicating that it should be introduced to the middle grade
level. We are reading this text at the ninth grade level because this class is primarily
composed of students who have been predicted to struggle with English I. This text is
being used as an introduction to literary elements and although it is not a very complex
read, the students are engaged and we are working slowly with teaching literature
analysis with this text.
Student Profile
The participant in this case study, who will be referred to as Katie, is a ninth
grade female student. She would be considered as lower level in terms of her academic
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ability and also suffers from Auditory Processing Disorder, which affects the way that her
brain recognizes and interprets sounds. While this does not have a great deal of impact on
her reading skills, there is a connection between the disorder and her performance in
class. Without the ability to understand everything that is being said in the classroom, she
loses a great deal of information that is exchanged, which may affect her learning,
especially by this point in her school career.
Her reading issues mostly lie in her comprehension of what she is reading. She
has read aloud in class on many occasions, and it appears that although she has very little
difficulty with reading fluency, she is typically unable to describe what is happening in
the text. During in class assignments, she spends over twice as much time completing the
work as the other students, primarily because she has difficulty with going back to the
text for the answers. She can provide basic plot elements, information about the
characters, and occasionally details of the setting, but does not appear to be able to
examine these elements for further meaning. As we have been reading The Hunger
Games, when asked questions about the book, she often refers to the film version instead,
possibly because of her lack of comprehension in regards to the written text.
Katie is a relatively outgoing student and makes every effort at participating in
class, although at times it appears that she is not always following along with discussion
or activities. She often seems to be detached from what is happening in the classroom and
appears to be confused on many occasions. She interacts frequently with adults at school,
and she seems to have little apprehension about social situations. Her behavior in class is
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often off task, but she attempts to complete assignments and reading to the best of her
ability.
With Katie, the motivation to learn is present, and although she puts forth effort
into her schoolwork, it is clear that her academic struggles influence her willingness to
complete assignments and speak out during whole class discussion.
She has an awareness of her strengths and weaknesses in regards to reading skills, and
her lack of confidence is apparent in the classroom. This also seems to affect her
motivation to read, as she expresses in the survey responses by stating that reading is
something she likes to do not very often. Her opinions about reading in her free time
are rather neutral, and for this student, subject matter seems to make a big difference in
her motivation to read.
Katies perceptions of herself as a reader are aligned with my own perceptions
about her abilities. She seems to enjoy reading occasionally, but only if the subject is
interesting enough for her. She expresses a desire to have teachers read aloud in class
almost every day and also believes that she does not always understand everything that
she reads. She appears to have responded to this survey honestly; despite it being given to
her by someone she views as a teacher. This survey may have encouraged her to consider
her reading abilities and perception of herself as a reader, a topic that may have been of
little significance before answering these questions.
Analysis of Multiple Literacy Data
In closer examination of my case study student, Katie, I am looking to additional student
work and observations as a means of determining more about her reading ability.
STUDENT CASE STUDY 5
Although I feel that Katie does have some difficulty with reading comprehension, I
believe her actual decoding skills are only a little below average. She seems to read aloud
with fairly decent fluency, but I have the impression that her level of understanding when
reading is quite low. A great deal of information about a student can be gathered from
examining their participation in class, the level of proficiency demonstrated in their work,
and more in-depth observations of learning behaviors. By focusing on these specific
elements, I hope to discover more about Katies ability levels in reading and the other
skills and content I am covering in class.
During instructional time, my assessment of Katies understanding of the content
is typically based on her responses to the questions posed about the skill that is being
taught during the lesson. She often expresses confusion and at some points in the lecture
even redirects the discussion towards a different topic altogether. Although she attempts
to contribute to whole class discussions, she rarely appears able to provide answers that
align with the question posed and when asked to support her answers, she struggles the
location of the necessary evidence in the text. This leads me to the assumption that Katie
is either not completing the required reading assignments or does not comprehend the
material that she is reading at a high enough degree to demonstrate this skill. In a
secondary level English class, students must not only read the required texts, but must
also have a clear enough grasp of the content in order to apply that knowledge to an
analysis of the literature. From the responses that she provides when asked to engage
with the text in this manner, I can infer that she does not have the comprehension skills
necessary to perform this task.
STUDENT CASE STUDY 6
After creating a file of the work that Katie has submitted, I am now aware that she
has not only many missing assignments, but has also not completed the work that I have
received in its entirety. Katie has approached me on two occasions for assistance with her
homework, and at these times, I have taken extra steps to ensure that she has additional
guidance to help her in completing the work. The sample of her student work that I have
obtained for examination shows serious deficits in many of the skills we have covered in
class so far this school year. When working on the comprehension questions that are
provided at the end of each chapter of The Hunger Games, she often completes the first
question and does not attempt to answer the remaining questions. These questions are
designed so that students must look at specific portions of the text, often quotes or
passages, to determine the answer and then explain why the information in the text
supports their response. According to Scholastic, the publisher of The Hunger Games,
this novel has a lexile score of 810, indicating that the writing is at the 4-5
th
grade reading
level. A text at this level is easily within the range of many 9
th
grade students, even with
the consideration that this particular class is comprised of students that have tested lower
than average on their last TCAP test. Although this novel does have more complex
themes, the qualitative measures of this text indicate to me that this text is an appropriate
choice for the students in this class. As the remaining students showed little struggle with
understanding the novel, I can assume that Katie has a greater degree of need than her
classmates. Examining the work that she has completed only confirms this assumption as
it demonstrates that although she is putting forth the effort, she lacks the skills needed to
perform the tasks required for these assignments.
STUDENT CASE STUDY 7
Katie demonstrates a great deal of awareness of her reading abilities and often
acknowledges that she needs additional assistance in this class. Although she appears to
be motivated, I believe that her insecurities about her reading skills often interfere with
her performance in class and her willingness to participate. I have observed that her
learning behaviors change drastically during the course of the lesson. She begins class by
taking notes and attempting to join in the discussion, but by the halfway point, appears
distracted. Katie seems to understand what is required of her to do well in this class, but it
appears that her difficulty with the material is causing her to lose the motivation
necessary to stay on track.
Specific Student Intervention Recommendation
In considering the data that I have collected on my case study student, Katie, I can
gain a clearer understanding of the specific intervention strategies that could be used to
assist her in developing the skills necessary to complete the learning objectives in this
English I course. By looking at her quantitative data, such as TCAP scores from previous
years, I am aware that she has some difficulties with the reading and writing skills that
have been the basis of instruction for her earlier English classes. In order to obtain more
detailed information about Katies abilities, it was necessary to also examine the
qualitative data obtained through classroom observation, discussions with the student,
and the work that she has submitted for my class. By combining all of these elements, I
am able to determine Katies needs and recommend a plan for intervention with the goal
of strengthening her reading and writing skills, which will prepare her for future
coursework in all content areas.
STUDENT CASE STUDY 8
Katies most important need lies in her difficulty with obtaining an overall
meaning from the text and then the ability to apply that knowledge to an analysis of the
literature. Without a higher degree of comprehension skills, Katie will not be able to learn
the additional skills necessary for completion of this course. In order to assist Katie with
developing these skills, I feel it necessary to focus on strategies that will strengthen her
reading comprehension ability as well as her writing and literary skills.
One method that I believe would be useful for Katie would be to annotate the text
as she reads, but using a very detailed method of annotation in which she uses a specific
code to mark various elements of the text. Using a coding system to identify literary
elements in the text will assist her in looking back to the text for evidence to support her
ideas about the reading. In addition to this coding, Katie should also be required to
formulate questions about the text, and by writing these in the margin of the text, she will
be encouraged to think more in-depth about the novel as she reads.
In order to build her skills in both reading and writing, Katie should be asked to
complete didactic journals during her reading. By tracking both evidence and her
responses to specific quotes in the book, Katie will be able to draw connections between
what she is reading in the text to her personal thoughts on the literature. Making
connections from the reader to the text are an important part of reading, and creating
response journals are an excellent way to ensure that struggling readers are interacting
with the text in a meaningful way. Didactic journals are also useful in building students
writing skills as it gives them an additional means of practicing writing.
STUDENT CASE STUDY 9
I feel that Katie is aware of her reading abilities and acknowledges that her
current reading strategies are not working for her particular learning style and that
adjustments are necessary for improving her performance in this class. During a recent
class, Katie informed me that she has been reading the current novel with her mother
each night and also listening to the audio book version as she reads. I believe that this is
making a significant difference in her overall comprehension, as she demonstrates a great
improvement in her scores on the reading quizzes given over this novel in comparison
with those for our previous text. She is participating in discussion on the novel in a much
more informed manner, and she truly seems to have a grasp on the material that we are
covering in class.
Connections to General Education Practice
The implications of what I have learned about my case study student Katie, and
how this information can be applied to all of my students lies in reading strategies and
accountability. One strategy that Katie used to improve her performance was listening.
Katie used the audio book for 1984 as she read, listening to the clips online while
simultaneously reading the book. Katie explained that this technique assisted with her
comprehension in that she could focus on listening and understanding rather than
decoding the words as she read. This strategy could be applied to the entire classroom as
it is easy to use and requires little setup, will be likely to engage the students more than
reading independently, and like Katie, students may experience increased understanding
because they can focus on the meaning, not the words.
STUDENT CASE STUDY 10
An additional way that I can apply the information gained from my case study
student, Katie, to my entire classroom population is by introducing some of the methods
that she used to increase her performance in reading to the rest of the students. Katie used
a read aloud technique when completing her nightly homework reading, as she and her
mother took turns reading to each other from the chapter and then discussing what they
had read. The read aloud seemed to help Katies comprehension in that she could hear
another readers fluency with the novel and have a chance to check her understanding
with another reader that has prior experience with the book. This strategy would be useful
in the classroom as it could be implemented as a means of modeling for other students the
internal process of thinking as one reads.
As identified in the previous section of the case study, Katies awareness of her
struggles with reading led her to seek alternative methods of learning outside of the
classroom. Although she has a great deal of difficulty with reading comprehension, she
acknowledged her specific issues, took a course of action, and was able to improve her
skills significantly in a very short period of time. Taking accountability for her learning
had an impact on her performance in my class, and this is a trait that I would like to instill
in all of my students during this school year.
Assessing student needs is a vital part of teaching, and by examining where
student abilities lie at the beginning of the school year, teachers can adapt their
curriculum and teaching styles and strategies to fit their students. Not only does pre-
assessment work to inform instruction, but for students like Katie, it can also help the
learner gain awareness of their strengths and areas in which they could benefit from
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additional skill building or practice. To produce student-centered learning in my
classroom, I would begin the school year by establishing a continuum of student abilities,
which I would share only with the specific student. We would set a list of goals for the
school year during a private conference, and the student would be given this list and tasks
to complete in order to work towards completing these goals. At that point, I would step
back and allow the student to take ownership for their learning and follow the steps
necessary to reach their individual learning objectives. In the middle of the school year, I
would provide students with a performance-based task that would allow them to
demonstrate their progress of these goals and would also inform how to structure their
learning goals for the remainder of the year.