Jessica Weiner

School Reading Problems Lesson 5 Reflection

Objective

Teaching Strategy

Outcomes
(Descriptive evidence objective was met)

Fluency

Michael will read at an

appropriate pace (not
choppy or too fast) and
using appropriate
expression. He will also
read with 90 to 94 %
accuracy.

I printed out three short

passages from Reading A-Z.
Each passage increased in
level (K, M, N) to give us a
better understanding of how
Michael is progressing when it
comes to reading. We
completed three running
records; however, we secretly
timed him, this time, so that he
was not nervous. Last time we
completed a timed running
record, he froze when he saw
the timer. This time, we
marked where he read up to
after one minute, but allowed
him to finish each passage.

Michael is showing a stronger ability in

reading more difficult texts. He is still
choppy when reading, however. For
example, he will take long pauses at
commas (like a period) and sometimes
reads past a period without a pause.
However, in comparison to our first
running record, he has a better command
of reading more difficult words as you
can see by his ability to score 96%
accuracy on the level N passage. Also, he
is showing a greater effort when it comes
to sounding out words whereas in the
beginning, he would merely guess at a
word right away without trying to sound
it out. Finally, Michael self-corrected
himself a lot during these readings, which
shows that he is understanding when he
makes errors and uses strategies to help
correct himself. In the beginning, he
would have kept reading even if he read
the word incorrectly.
He definitely met the objective for this
weeks fluency lesson because all of his
readings were at least 94% accurate. In
fact, he read 96% accurate for the most
difficult passage. While he is still reading
a little choppily, he is showing
improvements in self-correcting,
sounding out words, etc.
Excellent, Jessie!

Comprehension

The student will make

predictions about the text
before reading.

This week we taught Michael

a new reading strategy. We
taught him to Make, Revise,
and Confirm predictions to

Michael completed this activity very

well! His prediction before reading was
that the story would be about how zebras
got their stripes. As he completed the

The student will revise

these predictions during
reading using information
from the text.
The student will compare
his predictions with the text
after finishing the story,
The student will recall
information from the text
such as the characters,
setting (if noted), main
problem, and resolution.
You were actually following a
DR-TA lesson -well done.
You might also have Michael
complete a story map in the
future or a story pyramid. Fun
activities for after reading.

help him better comprehend

what he was reading. We first
ask him to read the title and
look at the front cover. Then
we asked him to do a book
walk and look at all the
pictures in the story and
predict what he thinks the
story will be about. Once we
began reading, we had him
stop at page nine and revise
his prediction. We also asked
him to expand upon it since he
had some background
knowledge. Finally, at the end
of the story we asked him to
restate his prediction and tell
us if he was right or wrong.
Although his prediction was
correct, we would have
continued to ask him how his
prediction compared to the
actual story if he was wrong.
Finally, at the very end, we
went over the story elements
by explaining what characters,
setting, problem, and solution
are. Then, we asked Michael
to help identify each of the
elements for this story.

book walk, he added that they got their

stripes by a man painting them on.
When we got to page nine, Michael
expanded upon his prediction by saying
The old man would paint the stripes on
the donkeys so that no one would know
they are donkeys and then they would not
have to work anymore.
When we finished reading, Michael
concluded that his prediction was correct.
Finally, Michael was able to identify all
the elements in the story without any
support. The only element we supported
him with was setting because the story
only mentions that it takes place long
long ago. Therefore, we merely asked
him to turn to and reread the first page
and he was able to tell us the setting.
Based on Michaels previous tutoring
sessions, it is clear that this activity really
helped him comprehend and remember
the story. In past sessions, Michael
struggled to remember what was
happening in the stories we read. We
would have to constantly support him by
giving him hints or tell him which pages
to reread. This lesson, however, Michael
was able to tell us exactly what was
occurring in the story. When we identified
the story elements, Michael was able to
articulate the problem(The donkeys did
not want to work all day and wanted to
lay in the grass) and solution (The old
man painted the donkeys and called them
zebras so no one would know they were
donkeys) of the story without hesitation.
Good!

Writing

The student will create a

How-To Book.

This weeks writing lesson

was a continuation of the
lesson from last week as we
continue to write his HowTo book. For this part of the
multi-week activity, we went

Michael has shown growth in all areas,

this week. When writing, he was able to
sound out words to spell them, correctly.
Although he sometimes needed support,
he was able to write most of his words
without our help. When he did need

reviewed what a How-To

book is and how to write one.
We did a guided practice
activity on the board for How
To Make Peanut Butter and
Jelly. Then, Michael selected
his topic, which he decided
was How to Score a
Touchdown. After, he began
writing sentences for each step
on a piece of paper.

support, we would merely sound out the

word for him and ask what letter made
each sound.
For instance, we would say, hand hah-nnn-d. What letter makes the h
sound? We would continue this process
until he spelled the word. Additionally,
Michael used his knowledge gained from
previous lessons to help him spell. For
example, when writing words like score
he used his knowledge gained from last
weeks lesson on s-blends to help him.
Also, because we completed the word
study first this week, he used the
knowledge he gained about short e and i
to spell words, too.
Michael was also able to use our example
about Peanut butter and jelly to guide his
writing. For instance, he used the
transition words (first, then, next, after,
and finally) to write his sentences. :)

Word Study

The student will be able to

distinguish the sound that
short i and short e
make. Student will be able
to sort and spell the words
based on their sounds.

Michael struggles to
distinguish between short e
and short i when spelling.
Therefore, this week we taught
a lesson to help him master
these two sounds. To introduce
the sounds, we showed him
the mouth positions both
letters make, in an attempt to
help him distinguish between
the two when spelling or
reading. We taught him to
place his hand under his chin
and feel how his mouth opens
big for e and does not open
for i.
Next, Michael completed a
word sort comparing the two
letters. Because it was
comprised of only pictures, we
first went over what the
pictures represented to
eliminate confusion.

Michael did not take too well to the

mouth position trick. You could tell he
was embarrassed because when we
showed him how to do it, he just nodded
his head. When we asked him to do it
with us he just quickly did it.
He did really well with the sort. He does
them very quickly and is very accurate.
This week he had a couple of errors.
ship, pig, and hill were put under
the e column, but when we asked him
to sound out those words, again, he
changed his answer and put them under
the i column.
When he was asked to write the words, he
was able to do so without errors because
he had already sorted the words.
Therefore, he knew which vowel to put in
the words. This definitely helped him
spell because he had already done the
work of determining the proper vowel to
use prior to spelling.

After the sort, we checked it

and then asked him to write
each word (for each picture)
under the proper category.
This was used to assess his
overall understanding of the
sort.

I will definitely be doing a similar

sort/writing activity with him in the
future.
Very well done, Jessie! Youve clearly
identified teaching objectives, teaching
strategies and appropriate supporting
evidence. If graded would be 100% :)