2008

2008
Study
Study ChildProject
Child Project

Priscila Fojan
Priscila Fojan
TE 301 (6)
TE 301 (6)
September
9/16/200816th – November 25th
Introduction
I am writing to share data and interpretations regarding Annie,

particularly her literacy learning and development. I am a student in Michigan

State University‟s course TE 301: Learners and Learning in Context. As a part

of this course, I acted as a participant observer in Mrs. Wilson‟s class and had

the opportunity to observe Annie in class as well as to work individually with

her on 11 occasions. This letter is a class assignment designed to help me to

communicate my findings regarding this learner. I hope that it will also be

useful to you.

Data Sources
This portfolio is based on the following sources of data:

 Field notes with observations and interpretations of Annie in class on

9/16/08, 9/23/08, 9/30/08, 10/7/08, 10/14/08, 10/27/08,

10/28/08, 11/6/08, 11/11/08, 11/21/08, and 11/25/08.

 Field notes with observation and interpretations of Annie during

individual sessions with me on 10/7/08, 10/14/08, 10/27/08,

10/28/08, 11/6/08, 11/11/08, 11/21/08, and 11/25/08 (sessions

involved informal reading and writing activities and a learning activity

or lesson 10/7/08, 10/14/08, 10/27/08, 10/28/07, 11/6/08,

11/21/08, 11/25/08.)
  Conversations with Mrs. Wilson on 9/23/08, 10/14/08, 10/27/08,

11/6/08, 11/11/08, 11/21/08 and 11/25/08.

 Writing sample collected on 10/14/08 (journal with given prompt).

 Writing sample collected on 11/11/08 (journal without given prompt).

 The Names Test Assessment administered on 11/6/08.

 The Sight Word Reading Assessment administered on 11/21/08.

 The Informal Vocabulary Assessment administered on 11/21/08.

Data
1. Field notes (Appendix 1)

2. Assessment material (Appendices 2-6)

 Two writing samples and corresponding memos

 Three assessments and corresponding memos

3. Planned learning activity (Appendix 7)

 Corresponding memo

4. Extra Assessments (Appendix 8)

5. Photographs (Appendix 9)
Appendix 2

Writing Sample

Memo
To: Future Teacher
From: Student
Date: Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Re: Annie

Narrative Writing

This is one of Annie‟s daily journal entries, but with this journal entry

Mrs. Wilson suggested writing prompt to all her students regarding the field

trip they will be taking this afternoon. This writing sample informs the reader

of how Annie and her class are going on a field trip to St. John‟s today and

what they might find there. Since the sample can help the reader understand

the “shared event” when the story took place by using “time cue words” and

“frequently incorporates drawing” to further the readers understanding it is

considered narrative writing (New Standards Primary Literacy Committee,

2004). This sample shares an event that will be taking place that same day and

only consists of three sentences. There is one phonetic spelling present, but all

the other words Annie is capable of sounding (thinking) it out and are spelled

conventionally, such as: apple, first, time, etc. To find the spelling of “cider”

Annie used her prior knowledge within a book she previously read and located
the book in her bin and found the word in her book to see how it was spelled.

Annie used her resources to aid in her spelling.

Within most of the sample Annie was having difficulty with the concept of

negative space which is the separation of words with the use of space (Schulze

2006). Annie is also capable of capitalizing the first letter of all the sentences.

Yet she has a tendency to capitalize a couple other letters within a sentence as

well. When it comes to punctuation she is able to use her periods properly and

even places a period in front of “St.” properly and this is properly from prior

knowledge.

This sample of Annie‟s doesn‟t completely meet the Language Use and

Conventions Standard for 1st grade due to the lack of a “sense of story

(beginning, middle, and end), and physical descriptions” (Flanagan 2006).

On the other hand she uses “complete simple sentences beginning with a

capital letter and ending with a period” (Flanagan 2006).

References:

Flanagan, M. P. (2006, March). Grade Level Content Expectations. Retrieved

September 7, 2008, from Michigan Department of Education:
http://www.michigan.gov/mde/0,1607,7-140-28753_33232---,00.html

New Standards Primary Literacy Committee (2004). Reading and Writing grade by
grade: Primary literacy standards for kindergarten through third grade.
Washington, D.C.: National Center for Education and the Economy.

Schulze, A. C. (2006). Helping Children Become Readers Through Writing.

International Reading Association, Inc.
Appendix 3

Writing Sample

Memo
To: Future Teacher
From: Student
Date: Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Re: Annie

Narrative Writing

This is one of Annie‟s other daily journal entries, but with this journal

entry Mrs. Wilson didn‟t suggest a writing prompt to all of her students. This

writing sample informs the reader that Christmas is near and that there is

going to be a party. Since the sample can help the reader understand the

“shared event” when the story took place by using “time cue words” and

“frequently incorporates drawing” to further the readers understanding it is

considered narrative writing (New Standards Primary Literacy Committee,

2004). This sample shares an event that will be taking place soon and only

consists of two sentences. There are several phonetic spellings present, but

there are several sight words that Annie spelled conventionally such as: is, will,

go, to, etc. For the word “Christmas” Annie spells it 2 different ways in her

journal entry.
 Within this sample Annie has gained the knowledge of the concept of

negative space which she was lacking in the last writing sample. Annie is also

capable of capitalizing the first letter of all the sentences still and doesn‟t have

the tendency anymore to capitalize a couple other letters within a sentence.

When it comes to punctuation she is able to use her periods properly.

This sample of Annie‟s doesn‟t completely meet the Language Use and

Conventions Standard for 1st grade once again due to the lack of a “sense of

story (beginning, middle, and end) and physical descriptions” (Flanagan, 2006).

On the other hand she uses “complete simple sentences beginning with a

capital letter and ending with a period” (Flanagan, 2006) and has an elaborate

picture drawn underneath that she explains “is the outside of the house where

the party is going to be located.”

References:

Flanagan, M. P. (2006, March). Grade Level Content Expectations. Retrieved

September 7, 2008, from Michigan Department of Education:
http://www.michigan.gov/mde/0,1607,7-140-28753_33232---,00.html

New Standards Primary Literacy Committee (2004). Reading and Writing grade by
grade: Primary literacy standards for kindergarten through third grade.
Washington, D.C.: National Center for Education and the Economy.
Appendix 4

Names Test
Assessment

Memo
To: Future Teacher
From: Student
Date: Thursday, November 6, 2008
Re: Annie

Names Test Assessment:

Assessment:

Using the Names Test Assessment, Annie was given a copy of 35

uncommon names that included first and last names. She was asked to read

the names and for most of them she had to sound (think) them out. She was

not able to recognize the majority of the names by sight.

Reason for Assessment:

Based on my awareness to her high DRA rating of 18 and personally

witness her ability to sound (think) out many of the unknown words she

encounters in text I was hesitant to assess Annie using DIBELS because I did

not believe it would be able to fully assess the extent of her abilities to decode.
 Administration of Assessment:

For this assessment Annie and I went to the back table of the classroom

during centers since area of the classroom has the least amount of students

occupying the space. Of course being in a 1st grade classroom it is hard to

avoid distractions, but Annie is not the type of student to let outside

distractions cause an interruption in her task at hand. I gave the copy to Annie

as instructed to do so and pointed to get name down the list. When she

pronounced a name correctly I placed a  above the name and if she did not

read the name correctly I would spell what she pronounced phonetically above

the name.

Findings & Interpretations:

Since Annie is a 1st grader being assessed with a test that was suggested

to be used on a 2nd grade student I did not expect the results to be perfect. She

did receive 79% on the test with the most errors in controlled vowels and no

errors in schwa. I believe she did very well for her grade level and I expected as

such from this bright child.

She is on the right place to becoming a fluent reading due to skill of

decoding unknown words and with this she will not stumble in her reading or

completely pause in the middle of a sentence because she can‟t pronounce a

word by sight. The faster she is able to decode the more fluent she will read

and the better the chance Annie will be able to comprehend the text she is

reading. All these concepts are intertwined to get to the goal of the reader being

able to comprehend the text and gain a deeper meaning.

Appendix 5

Sight Word Reading

Assessment

Memo
To: Future Teacher
From: Student
Date: Friday, November 21, 2008
Re: Annie

Sight Word Reading Assessment:

Assessment:

Using the IRI leveled word list I assessed Annie‟s “Sight Word Reading”

by having her read the level 1 list, then level 2, and level 3. Each column of

levels had 20 words each and if she was able to recognize a word by sight

(preferably) or decoding then it would be added to her “sight word bank.” I had

Annie go through 3 levels since she breezed through the first one.

Reason for Assessment:

I was aware that Annie was capable of decoding words with not much

effort, but I also wanted to see if she had a significant amount of sight words

she was able to recognize effortlessly as well.

 Administration of Assessment:

I decided that this assessment would be done out in the hallway with

Annie, because there were more children working in the back of the classroom

than usual. This way there was less distraction other then when she saw her

friends from other classes walking down the hallway. I started with level 1,

since I knew she was capable of recognizing the words in the preprimer and

primer columns. Within level 1 Annie was only unable to recognize or decode 1

word – could. I decided to continue on to the next level and discovered she was

only unable to recognize or decode 2 words this time – another, these. I finally

decided to assess her on the 3rd level, which was also the last level I had

available, and found that she once again was only unable to recognize or

decode 2 words – eight, o‟clock.

Findings & Interpretations:

Since this assessment is based on individual levels when counting the

amount of errors, Annie was on an independent level within all 3 levels she was

assessed on. Most of the words she did not have to stop and decode, because

she recognized them by sight right away. She has a high level “sight word

bank” and this will aid her in developing greater fluency skills.

She certainly is on the right place to becoming a fluent reading. This less

of a need to stop and decode words in a sentence will make her read faster and

having a greater chance to comprehend the text and that is the main goal of

reading.
Appendix 6

Informal Vocabulary
Assessment

Memo
To: Future Teacher
From: Student
Date: Friday, November 21, 2008
Re: Annie

Informal Vocabulary Assessment:

Assessment:

Using the 3rd grade outline for the “Informal Vocabulary Assessment” I

changed the words to be words that I have seen in previous texts Annie has

read or were part of her previous spelling or high frequency word lists. By

reading the word I would ask if she knew the word and if she did then I

requested her to use it in a sentence to demonstrate that she truly knew what

it meant.

Reason for Assessment:

I knew that Annie was capable of decoding and had a large “bank of sight

words,” but I wanted to assess if she knew the meanings of certain words and

were able to use them in a sentence.

 Administration of Assessment:

I decided that this assessment as the last assessment would be done out

in the hallway with Annie, because there were more children working in the

back of the classroom than usual. This way there was less distraction other

then when she saw her friends from other classes walking down the hallway. I

read the word to Annie and asked her if she knew the word and if she did if she

could use it in a sentence. I would color in the box according to if she never

heard the word, heard of it but didn‟t know what it meant, or they knew what

the word meant. In the last column I wrote the sentence that she made that

included the selected word.

Findings & Interpretations:

During this assessment Annie knew all the words and was able to

demonstrate her knowledge of the word by using it properly in a sentence. She

even gave physical demonstrations for the words “slow” and “under” to clarify

her understanding of the word.

This assessment gave me more insight on Annie‟s literacy skills, she not

only was capable of decoding, having a large “bank of sight words”, but she

knew the meanings of these words as well. She wasn‟t only reading words on a

piece of paper, but she knew what the word meant and how to use it properly

in a sentence. This proves that Annie is getting nearer and nearer to becoming

a fluent reader. Sight words, decoding, and comprehending the text are 3 big

factors to becoming a fluent reading and Annie has done very well in all 3.
Appendix 7

Learning Activity

Memo
To: Future Teacher
From: Student
Date: Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Re: Annie

Planned Learning Activity:

Annie was quite excited to work on this activity with me. She always

seems so eager to learn. First she fluently read “Where the Wild Things Are”

and only stumbled on a few words (i.e. gnashed). She took her time looking at

the pictures and getting a full understanding of the text.

During the discussion of the elements of what makes a good story it

seemed that Annie might have known most of what I was discussing, but did

need an explanation for the word “solution.” She was able to answer my

questions regarding the setting, characters, problem, events, and solutions

with ease.

When I asked her to write her own story she used a lot of prior

experiences to make up the story. The story had a monster as did the story we
read, there was a Princess like the last little story she made, and she has a part

of the that the Princess used rags to make an outfit just like in the Little

Mermaid. There was also a Prince like most of the stories girls her age read.

During the last part of the activity Annie needed examples in regard to

emotions, but she didn‟t use any of my examples and thought of “scared.” This

was a bigger vocabulary word then the examples I was giving her (i.e. mad, sad)

so I was a little shocked. Of course Annie was excited to draw her monster and

didn‟t let me see it until she was done, because it was going to scare me.
 Planned Learning Activity

Name: P. Fojan Grade Level: First Date: November 25, 2008

Coordinating Teacher: Mrs. Wilson School: Mount Hope

Overall lesson topic/title:

Reading the story “Where the Wild Things Are” will lead into a discussion and
activity revolving around identifying setting, characters, problem, events, and
the solution in the story. This will continue with a joint effort between student
and teacher to write a story afterwards.

Grade Level Content Expectation(s):

R.WS.01.09 know the meanings of words encountered frequently in grade-level

reading and oral language contexts.

R.WS.01.10 in context, determine the meaning of words and phrases including

objects, actions, concepts, content vocabulary, and literacy terms, using
strategies and resources including context clues, mental pictures, and
questioning.

R.FL.01.01 automatically recognize and fluently read identified grade-level

high frequency words encountered in or out of context.

R.FL.01.02 use punctuation cues (periods and question marks) when reading
aloud with intonation, pauses, and emphasis.

R.NT.01.03 identify problem/solution, sequence of events, and sense of story

(beginning, middle, and end).

R.AT.01.01 be enthusiastic about reading and learning how to read.

Goals/Objectives:
Knowledge Goal: Student will be able to identify the setting, characters,
problem, events, and solutions of a story.

Capacity Goal: Student will need to tell the story in proper sentences
and include a setting, characters, problem, events, and solution.
Commitment Goal: Student will need to be enthusiastic while attempting
 their best to succeed at the task asked of them to accomplish.

Materials & supplies needed:

 Writing paper
 Writing utensil (pencil)
 Book “Where the Wild Things Are”
 Paper labeled: Characters, Setting, Problem, Events, Solution

Procedures and approximate time allocated for each Academic, Social and
event. Linguistic Support
during each event
For this activity, the student will be reading the
story “Where the Wild Things Are” and have a
discussion of the elements of what makes up a
good story. The student will then make up their
own story with the help of the teacher.

• Introduction to the lesson (2 minutes)

“Today we are going to read a story called „Where

the Wild Things Are.‟ We are going to talk about
what makes a story good and we are going to
write our own story afterwards. So you need to
think about what made this story good while we
read it.”

“We are also going to draw a picture of a monster

and talk about emotions (feelings). So we are
going to have fun today as author and
illustrators together.”

• OUTLINE of key events during the lesson

(15 minutes)

Introduce the book to the child. Read the author

and title. Show the cover and first few pages. Ask
the child what they think the story might be
about.

“First, I am going to show you the author and

illustrator of the book since they made the book
and should receive credit for doing so. [Show
cover] Now what do you think this story will be
about?” [Student‟s answer]. Now I will have you
read this good story since you are such a good
reader.” [Student reads out loud].

“Now did you think that was an interesting

story?” [Student‟s answer].

Explain to the student that we will now be

looking at the elements of what makes up a good
story (if they don‟t know 1 or more of the Annie did not know what
elements explain to them what it is). a solution was. I
“Well there are many elements (parts) of a story explained to her that if
that makes it a good story. Now who were the there is a problem and it
characters in the story? [Student‟s answer]. What is fixed whatever fixed
was the setting? [Student‟s answer]. What was the problem is called the
the problem in the story? [Student‟s answer]. solution.
What were the events in the story? [Student‟s
answer]. Finally what was the solution to the
story? [Student‟s answer].

With each student answer write down on the

labeled piece of paper what the student said word
for word. Then ask the student if they could
make up a story like Mr. Sendak did.

“Now that we have learned the elements (parts)

of a good story do you think you could make up a
story like Mr. Sendak did?” [Student‟s answer].

If yes, have the student tell you a story and write She was excited to tell
the story as they tell the story. Also include any her own story, but
editing the student might do (i.e. adding in needed some help to give
details to previous sentences). her some ideas (i.e.
where did the Princess
If no, continue to last part of activity.
go?)
• Closing summary for the lesson (5 minutes)

The last part of the activity is to make an

illustration of a monster and fill in this sentence
“When I feel _____, I _____ and then _____.”

“The last thing we will be doing is drawing a I had to give Annie some
picture of a monster, but first I want you to fill in examples of emotions to
this sentence „When I feel _____, I _____ and then get her started.
_____.‟ In a story the characters feel emotions
(feelings) so we need to be able to show our
feelings in writing too.” [Student‟s answer and
drawing].
Post-Assessment: (3 minutes) Annie did very well with
all the prompts that
Progress will be assessed based on how well the were asked of her during
student did on the writing prompt, telling their own this activity.
story, and drawing their illustration. Also by their
fluency to read the selected text and engage in the
discussion about what makes a good story.
Appendix 9

A.

B.

C.
Interpretations
In regards to concepts of print Annie has a tight grasp of the basic

knowledge of how printed language works (Duke, 2007). She is capable of

using directionality (i.e. reading from left to right, top to bottom, and front to

back) with ease. When it came to the case of upper and lower case letters there

has been a large improvement that one can tell by comparing her two writing

samples (Appendix 2 & Appendix 3). Within the first writing sample Annie has

added capital letters to words in the middle of a sentence that did not require

capitalization. Another problem I have personally seen Annie have with

concepts of print is her confusion between the letters “b” and “d.” This

confusion of the orientation of letters is being addressed by Mrs. Wilson with

the idea of “making one‟s bed” which is a hand gesture to aid in the

memorization and recognition of which is which. When Annie gets confused

she will “make her bed” and writes the correct letter down. Annie also had an

issue with “negative space” in the beginning of the semester, which can be seen

in Appendix 2. She seemed to not understand the idea that words have a

separation of space in-between each other (Schulze, 2006). Once again when

you compare it to her second writing sample which is around a month later she

has greatly improved.

Now when it comes to fluency all three of my assessments in Appendices

4,5, and 6 show the different components that influence someone to become a

fluent reader and how is succeeded in all the assessments. The first
assessment (Appendix 4) is the Names Test Assessment in which I gave Annie a

copy of 35 uncommon names that included first and last names. She was

asked to read the names and for most of them she had to sound (think) them

out since they did not include commonalities or prior knowledge she might be

use to decoding. She was not able to recognize the majority of the names by

sight, but successfully decoded more then half of them.

The second assessment (Appendix 5) is the Sight Work Reading

Assessment, in which I had her read the level 1, then level 2, and level 3 lists of

words. Each section had 20 words each and she was able to recognize a word

by sight or decode it if she needed too and this informed me that her sight work

bank was at a high level for her age and grade level.

The third assessment (Appendix 6) is the Informal Vocabulary

Assessment in which I reworded the 3rd grade level assessment to better suit

my student, Annie, and learn if she knew the meaning of certain words she has

previously encountered. Once again this assessment proved my thinking that

she has a higher level of fluency for her age.

Annie is able to read accurately, quickly, with expression, naturally, and

effortlessly for a 1st grader. This is shown by the various informal activities I

conducted with Annie that involved reading books she was interested in, books

made for her reading level, and the leap pad books. I also did a planned

learning activity that consisted of Annie reading “Where the Wild Things Are”

and this proved how well of a reader is actually is. This book was new to Annie
and she didn‟t have the prior knowledge of certain words and punctuation used

in the text and yet she fluently read the text like she would a book she has read

before in class.

Since Annie is capable of fluently reading books for her grade level she is

better able to comprehend the text which is basically the whole point of

reading. Comprehension is important because it allows a student to access

background knowledge regarding subjects previously learned, allows the reader

to apply the strategies including predicting, questions, and summarizing.

During the informal vocabulary assessment I was better able to grasp the

fact that Annie has a high vocabulary and has many sight words which can

also be seen in the sight word assessments. This aides in fluency since Annie

will not need to stop and decode these words because she already knows them

by sight. The better her fluency the better her comprehension and the more she

will enjoy reading, because she will hopefully find the meaning in the texts she

reads that will make reading that much more enjoyable.

Literacy isn‟t only about reading and Annie isn‟t only capable of reading

either. She can write quite well and tell her own stories with proper sentences.

Annie seems like the type of child that self motivates herself to do well in

school. She rarely gets her license color changed because of bad behavior and

she doesn‟t just sit around and not do her homework. She is a good child that

doesn‟t allow the other students to distract her during her centers or silent

reading. She seems to zone everyone out during those moments.

References:

Duke, N. K. (2007). Concepts of Print and Genre Knowledge. Presentation for TE 301 . East
Lansing, Michigan.

Schulze, A. C. (2006). Helping Children Become Readers Through Writing. International

Reading Association, Inc.