Running Head: Literacy Case Study 1

4th Grade Literacy Case Study

Sierra Afoa
School of Education, University of Alaska Southeast
ED 615: Literacy
Dr. Kevin Spink
25 April 2022
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Literacy Case Study
Case Study Student Background
My case study student is a 9-year-old girl in fourth grade. She was homeschooled until
February and I have been working with her since her first week at Saint Elizabeth’s. Her home
life is a bit hectic and she goes back and forth between living with her mom and her dad. She is
small for her age but has a bubbly personality and a real talent for having conversations with
anyone and everyone. My host teacher knew very little about her, academically, except for the
fact that she was below grade level when she assessed her and her homeschooling involved
very little academic learning. We decided that this was the best student to be my case study
partner because it gave her an adult to build a relationship with at a new school and I was able
to collect data on what her strengths are and what areas she might need support in.

Reading & Writing Characteristics

My case study partner loves to read. She mainly reads anything that has to do with
animals, especially dogs. At the beginning of the case study, I conducted the Silvaroli
assessment with my partner and she completed the reading in 45 seconds. She read 192 WPM
and had 3 miscues, 2 of which she self-corrected. This showed that she had the ability to read
quickly, however, as I asked her the comprehension questions that went along with the
reading, it was clear that she did not comprehend the reading as well. She was able to make
some surface level connections to the reading but only answered 2 of the 5 questions
sufficiently.
Writing is where there is some struggle for my case study partner. She is able to write
down very short sentences but needs support when it comes to structure, word choice, and
ideas. From day one, I have gotten to read my case study partner’s writing as she was
completing the reading menu for the week. The reading menu is where she reflects on the
independent reading she does through different options, such as writing a letter to the author
or a character in the book, drawing a picture of something she read, or writing a paragraph for
an idea for a sequel. These choices were overwhelming for my partner as she has had very little
writing instruction during her time being homeschooled.
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Literacy Case Study
One example of writing I have of my case study partner’s is when she decided to write a
paragraph about her favorite character. She wrote:
1. lola. Because she sounds so cute and funny. Lola is funny because she thinks peoples
ears taste delicious
The assignment was to write a paragraph that included 3-5 sentences. This was from her
second week of being in school and she was still getting used to the routines and structures of
the class. Writing samples like the one above, is why I chose word choice as my lesson focus for
revision. My partner would also benefit from learning more about conventions, word choice,
and sentence fluency. She has come a long way since her first day in school in February and I
am excited to see her continue to improve.

Instructional Activities
I met with my case study partner every Tuesday and Friday. The first two weeks were
spent getting to know each other and completing the Silvaroli assessment. Most days when we
met, she would read a few pages of the book she was reading for independent reading in class
and then we would talk about what we read. We would then complete her reading menu
together. After a few weeks, we also started working on the Grammar Bootcamp packet that
the class would work on right after lunch. Below are a few examples of the tasks completed.
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Literacy Case Study
After 4 weeks of meeting together, the class started working on Writers Workshop. The
students were given the assignment of writing 5 papers while going through each step in the
writing process. They had until the end of the school year to complete all 5 papers. The class
was given the choice to write about anything they were interested in writing about. My case
study partner and I began working on this together when possible. I noticed that my partner
was doing a lot of research for her papers on different animals and then copying the notes
down into writing. We worked on note-taking for one session in order to use our time together
wisely.
We worked on a lot of different activities throughout this case study, but it was
important to do so because my partner has been homeschooled and not being taught very
much for so long. She has missed the majority of the school year and there were many areas
she needed support in to really catch up. My partner is excited about learning and I believe that
will be the most beneficial to her throughout her learning journey.

Assessments & Data

The first and last assessment I completed with my case study partner was the Silvaroli
assessment. These were completed a little over a month apart and were done right after my
case study partner had lunch and recess. The first time conducting this assessment, my case
study partner breezed through the reading, reading at 195 wpm. I was impressed with her
accuracy and how easy the reading seemed to be to her. After asking her the comprehension
questions, I realized that she read so quickly she missed really getting to understand what
exactly she was reading. She had a difficult time relating to the reading (it was about ghosts)
and could only really talk about Casper. This led me to the conclusion that we would work on
slowing down while reading and taking more time to understand what was read.
The second round of the Silvaroli assessment was a little different but there was not a
huge change from the first assessment. My case study partner read slower this time, at 151
wpm and had 1 more miscue than the previous assessment. This time, however, she was able
to discuss what she had read at a deeper level. It may help that the passage was about the
Oregon Trail and the class was reading a chapter book together on the same topic, but she
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Literacy Case Study
answered the comprehension questions with more detail and could draw from previous
knowledge in order to relate to the text. She made a step from the “Frustration” level of
comprehension to the “Instructional” level in just a month and a half of being in school. It will
be exciting to see how far she goes the longer she is in school and receiving the appropriate
instruction and support she needs.
Silvaroli Assessment (Level 4)
February 25, 2022 April 4, 2022
Accuracy 99% 99%
Words Per Minute (WPM) 195 151
Miscues 3 4
Self-Corrections 2 2
Comprehension Frustration Instructional

The other assessment I completed with my case study partner was the Words Their Way
Upper-Level Spelling Inventory. We completed this inventory halfway through our work
together. After observing my case study partner spell difficult words, I noticed that she wrote
the same way she was reading, quickly and without taking the time to really understand. She
wrote 11 out of the 20 words correctly. The words she spelled incorrectly, she wrote quickly
and just missed a letter or 2. This assessment showed that my case study partner was at the
late stage for word patterns and the early stage for both syllables and affixes and derivational
relations.

Upper-Level Spelling Inventory

March 18, 2022
Words Correct 11/20
Feature Points 34/46
Within Word Pattern Late Spelling Stage
Syllables and Affixes Early Spelling Stage
Derivational Relations Early Spelling Stage
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Literacy Case Study

Instructional Recommendations
Based off of the assessments and instructional activities completed over the last 2
months, there are a few recommendations I would make for my case study partner. The first
recommendation I would make for reading would be for my case study partner to continue to
slow down and take her time reading. She would benefit from more instruction with
comprehension and using background knowledge to understand whatever it is that she is
reading. More group discussions and reading out loud may lead to her getting more
understanding of how other people relate to the text and give her more ideas for strategies she
can use while reading.
My main recommendation for writing is to focus on voice and word choice. My partner
has a wonderful personality and a gift for conversation that does not come across in her
writing. If she can put her thoughts and words to paper, she could become a very successful
writer. A lot of the writing that she chose to do the last few months have been research based
and that makes it harder to get her voice across. I would recommend having her write a
narrative or a story about her life to encourage and support her in her word choice and
expressing herself through her writing.

Reflection
Looking back at my time during this case study, I wish I would have slowed down and
focused in on 1 or 2 things. Instead, we worked on comprehension, spelling, writing
conventions, and word choice. This was all done while only meeting twice a week for 2 months.
There was a little bit of progress made in a few areas but if I would have had only 1 or 2 areas of
focus there is a chance more progress could have been made.
I learned so much from getting to work with my case study partner, though. I learned
about what I am comfortable with doing, areas that I need to work on, and how to work with a
9-year-old when I have only ever worked with 5 and 6-year-olds. This case study was more
difficult than I thought it would be because I really had no idea what I was doing for the first
few weeks and then the rest of the time just flew by.
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Literacy Case Study
Reflecting on the last 2 months, I realized that I am extremely comfortable with
assessments, taking data, and working with a student one-on-one. I loved being able to explain
what we were doing for the day and how it would get completed. I also realized that 4 th grade
might not be my ideal grade level but I am more capable of teaching older students than I had
originally thought.
There are many things that I can improve on and will be focusing on in the future. I had
a really hard time finding appropriate mentor texts for 4th grade students and needed advice for
what reading would be at grade-level. The more experience I get with certain grade levels, the
better I will be at understanding what is appropriate for the certain grade I am teaching. There
are so many components when it comes to both reading and writing and it was overwhelming
when choosing what to work on and what to ignore for the time being. I have a lot to learn
about successfully teaching literacy but I am excited about the progress made this semester and
how much I learned from working with my partner.