CIED 321 Primary Literacy Assessment and Instruction

Spring 2024 Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

Assessment and Instruction Report #3: Comprehension

Completed During Elementary School Visit 2
Assignment Description Template

Assessment and Instruction Report #3: Comprehension

Part 1: Overview

Teacher Candidate Project Supervisor/School or Site/District or City Date Grade

Mcall Wertin Dr. Foster 2/27/24 3
Ellis Elementary, Bellville, Harmony SD
Pseudonym Used for Student: Assessment Time: 8:45-9:10
Harold Thompson

Classroom Context:
We were in an art classroom separated into small groups with students. The school itself was in an
rural area that was surrounded by open fields and houses. Each group of student teachers received
anywhere from 1-2 students. The lights were off which in my opinion was a great choice, the
florescent lights kill any motivation I have. We were all in a familiar place for the students which I
believe made it easier for them to open up. The classroom could have been an actual classroom
rather than an art classroom so there could have been more flexible seating options as well as space
to work in groups.

Part 2: Diagnostic Assessment Plan

Diagnostic Assessment Tool Descriptions
Developmentally appropriate texts for reading records will be prepared for you and your
partners for the readers assessed. The length of these texts will vary according to grade level
ability: Primer 40-60 words; First Grade 100-150 words; Second Grade 100-200 words; Third
Grade 200-300 words; Fourth Grade and Above 300-400 words.

The prepared text you and your designated reader choose to read together should be
accompanied by:
 One of the explicit/implicit comprehension questions must cue reader knowledge of
vocabulary.
 One of the explicit/implicit comprehension questions must cue reader knowledge of
text structure.
These comprehension questions should be listed in this section of the report.

 3 Explicit Comprehension Questions:

o Which one had the most?
o Who was your favorite animal?
o Who is the main character?
o What animal didn’t was to see the boys and girls? Why?
CIED 321 Primary Literacy Assessment and Instruction
Spring 2024 Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

 3 Implicit Comprehension Questions:

o What’s your favorite animals in the zoo?
o What was the main idea?
o What character would you want to be?
 do you like the ocean?

 2 Critical/Evaluative Comprehension Questions:

o What do you think this book is about?
 What kind of ice cream?
o What do you think this book is about?
 Do you think that there will be crazy animals?
o Have you ever been to the zoo?
CIED 321 Primary Literacy Assessment and Instruction
Spring 2024 Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
CIED 321 Primary Literacy Assessment and Instruction
Spring 2024 Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
CIED 321 Primary Literacy Assessment and Instruction
Spring 2024 Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

Prior to assessing readers for Assessment and Instruction Report #3: Comprehension, see text The
Mitten by Jan Brett posted on your CIED 321 Blackboard website. This text is prepared according
to procedures you will be using to fill out the Assessment of Miscues Worksheet Form and Oral
Reading of Miscues Analysis Summary Form. The text, together with procedures on pages 101-108
of the McAndrews (2008) posted on the CIED 321 Blackboard, provide a protocol for how the
three-part diagnostic comprehension assessment should proceed. Again, be sure to describe this
protocol in this report section.

Diagnostic Comprehension Assessment Part 1

Analysis of Miscues Worksheet and Oral Reading of Miscues Analysis Summary Forms (See
TRW pages 147-150 for further explanation)*
*See also Diagnostic Literacy Assessments and Instructional Strategies by Stephanie McAndrews (2008), pages 101-108, as well as the sample
prepared text of The Mitten by Jan Brett prior to completing these comprehension assessment forms with readers.

Diagnostic Assessments Part 2

Oral or Written Story Retelling Analysis Form (McAndrews (2008) on Blackboard; TRW
pages 275-282 for further explanation)

Diagnostic Assessments Part 3

Comprehension Analysis Summary Form (McAndrews (2008) on Blackboard; TRW pages 7-
12 for further explanation)

Teacher Candidate Partner(s)

Kelsey Gillette, Taylor Reidelberger

Assessment Procedure
1. Describe, in list form, the prompts you and/or your partner(s) used to make sure the
assessed reader-writer followed directions for each diagnostic assessment form listed above.
a. We read the instructions carefully before starting
b. Made sure that they understood what was being asked of them
c. Let them pick which book they wanted to read first
d. Read everything out loud

2. Record data by hand on the diagnostic assessment forms from McAndrews (2008) that can
be printed from the CIED 321 course Blackboard. Then electronically attach the recorded
forms to this assessment report as appendices.

Part 3: Commentary
Answer each of the seven prompts below with one claim about the assessed reader-writer’s reading
comprehension. Support the claim with specific evidence from the assessment results you and your
partners observed and recorded. Then reason about why the claim you made may apply to other
primary readers and writers by connecting patterns of behavior displayed by the assessed reader-
writer to CIED 321 textbook information. Be sure to use APA in-text citation format for
commentary writing that includes page numbers from sources. Be sure to include a formal APA
bibliographic reference for each source you cite at the end of this templated commentary.
CIED 321 Primary Literacy Assessment and Instruction
Spring 2024 Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

1. Describe a significant observation you made during a particular diagnostic assessment

that was different from the observations of your assessment partners. In what ways
might this kind of difference affect the accuracy of a teacher’s judgement about a
reader-writer’s comprehension? What do these differences say about the care and
frequency with which comprehension assessments must occur to be valid measures of
student ability (see TRW pages 133-134)? What do these differences say about the
importance of anti-biased approaches to reading comprehension assessment?
a. I found it very interesting that when the student was reading they were able to relate
back to content clues as they got further in the story while also elaborating on what
they thought was going to happen or answering the questions they had before they
began reading the story. The students engagement with context clues, predictions,
and questions during reading shapes how I as a teacher will evaluate their
comprehension. However teachers must be mindful about initial predictions that can
evolve, heavy reliance on context clues that may obscure deeper issues, assessments
should delve beyond surface understanding, prior knowledge that is influential,
active engagement that might be misinterpreted, and biases that can skew
evaluations. To ensure fairness, teachers should employ varied assessments
techniques to accurately gauge students comprehension. As for regarding the text,
“for these many reasons, using a single measure of comprehension To make
judgments about your students overall reading comprehension is generally not
advisable. Instead, you will use your assessment data, the results of both your
screening and diagnostic assessments, and your conference notes as well as
observational data…to assess thee reading and listening comprehension overtime”
(Gehsmann and Templeton, 2022, p.133). These observations stressed the need for
antibias approaches in reading comprehension assessment. By acknowledging the
complexity of student engagement, including their use of context clues and
predictions, teachers can prevent biases that might distort evaluations. Antibias
methods ensure for fairness in assessments that consider diverse backgrounds and
learning styles.

2. What did the assessed reader-writer do when given a comprehension question that
cannot not be answered right away?
a. In all honesty I don't remember the student stumbling over a question. If anything,
this student would repeat the phrase “um” a lot and begin to look back into the story
to find evidence to back up their answer. After the student could find the answer,
they lit up with excitement to retell the story from their point of view in their own
words. “Retelling stories, both those found in storybooks and in their lived lives, can
lead to improved reading comprehension later on” (Gehsmann and Templeton, 2022,
p.198).

3. What aspect of comprehension could this reader-writer learn more about? Why?
a. I would say personally the student could benefit from learning more about decoding
and fluency. Although they engage well with context clues and make predictions,
their frequent use of filler words like “umm” and the need to refer back to the text
suggests potential fluency challenges. “Repeated oral readings allowed children the
opportunity to practice their automatic processing of words through repeated
CIED 321 Primary Literacy Assessment and Instruction
Spring 2024 Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

exposure to the orthographic representation of these words… it also increases

children's sensitivity to the synaptic and prosodic features of language” (Gehsmann
and Templeton, 2022, p.273). Enhancing fluency would help them read smoothly
and confidently, leading to better comprehension and more effective story retelling.
Practice activities such as repeated reading can aid in this improvement.

4. What are the strengths of this reader-writer’s ability to identify words?

a. The student excels in identifying words through effective use of context clues and
proactive engagement with predictions and questions during reading. Their
resourcefulness in leveraging contextual information and proactive approach
suggests strong word recognition skills. “…before long, children are reading and
writing texts with increasingly elaborate plots and interesting information. They’re
reading more words by sight, and with this developing automaticity…” (Gehsmann
and Templeton, 2022, p.289).

5. What can this reader-writer do to improve word identification?

a. To improve word identification, the student can expand through diverse reading and
vocabulary building activities. Practice decoding strategies like sounding out words
and recognizing prefixes and suffixes. Use context clues to infer word meaning
within texts. Engage in fluency building activities like reading aloud. The student
“self corrects when finger point reading; gets off track…and begins to use analogy
to learn new words” (Gehsmann and Templeton, 2022, p.289).

6. What are the strengths of this reader-writer’s semantic and/or pragmatic knowledge
of vocabulary and text structure?
a. The strength lie in effectively using context clues, engaging with predictions and
questions, and elaborating on their understanding of text structure. They demonstrate
a solid grasp oof both semantic and pragmatic aspects of vocabulary and text
organization. “ students who reread texts are more likely to read with expression,
comprehension, and appropriate rate” (Gehsmann and Templeton, 2022, p.273).

7. What can this reader-writer do to develop greater semantic and/or pragmatic

knowledge of vocabulary and text structure?
a. to improve semantic and pragmatic knowledge of vocabulary and text structure, the
student can read widely, analyze text structures, study word relationships, engage in
discussions, use graphic organizers, practice inferential thinking, and seek feedback
for improvement. These steps will deepen comprehension and communication skills.
The student could “understand that a spoken word matches aa written word…”
(Gehsmann and Templeton, 2022, p.289).

References
Gehsmann, K. M., & Templeton, S. (2022). Teaching reading and writing: The developmental
approach (2nd ed.). Pearson.
CIED 321 Primary Literacy Assessment and Instruction
Spring 2024 Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
CIED 321 Primary Literacy Assessment and Instruction
Spring 2024 Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
CIED 321 Primary Literacy Assessment and Instruction
Spring 2024 Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
CIED 321 Primary Literacy Assessment and Instruction
Spring 2024 Southern Illinois University Edwardsville