December 4, 2013 Carrie Wright Paradise Professional Development School 900 Cottage rove !

ven"e #as $egas, %$ &9119'(&&9 Dear )s* Wright, D"ring the +all 2013 semester, , had the opport"nit- to .or/ .ith !r.in 0ennings thro"gh .ee/l- t"toring sessions associated .ith Dr* )c1inne-2s section of 3D4# 443 5#iterac- ,,6* We met for appro7imatel- 80 min"tes for 10 sessions* , administered several assessments to help set instr"ctional goals for !r.in* ! brief s"mmar- of res"lts from each assessment follo.s9 Attitude/interest (Flint and Cooter CRI Interest Inventory) P"rpose9 :his instr"ment helped me discover !r.ins2 f"ndamental attit"de abo"t reading at school, home and for pleas"re* Elementary Writing Attitude Survey- :he p"rpose of the 3lementar- Writing !ttit"de S"rve- is to collect data abo"t !r.ins2 attit"de abo"t .riting from the s"rve- is to plan f"rther instr"ction* :hese inventories sho.ed me that !r.in li/es .riting abo"t real things s"ch as nonfiction or historical events* !r.in finds .riting abo"t these things to be m"ch more a"thentic than fictional, fantas-, or creative .riting* ;ased on his responses , avoided an- .riting prompts that .ere fictional and not relatable beca"se , al.a-s tried to ma/e reading and .riting a"thentic* , tried to accommodate !r.ins2 .ritings preferences ho.ever< , did not do so at the e7pense of his learning* , also incl"ded several disc"ssions .here .e disc"ssed the different genres of boo/s, as he .as a little conf"sed abo"t fantas- and fiction genres* Informal Reading Inventory ;- finding at .hich level !r.ins reads, it .ill help to b"ild his confidence and "nderstanding of the te7t* , gave !r.in both the level 3 and level 4 passages* :he res"lts from the level 4 passage are as follo.s* !fter the silent reading he .as able to provide ( of the & ="estions .itho"t assistance* When he read the oral passage he had 2 misc"es* , then read alo"d the level 4 reading passage to assess his listening comprehension* >e .as able to retell the stor- both b- himself and mprompting on the ="estions* :his determined that he .as a level fo"r and this determined his boo/ selections* Elementary Spelling Inventory ? :he p"rpose of this assessment .as to determine .hich spelling stage !r.in .as in and then to plan f"rther instr"ction from the res"lts* !r.in tested bet.een middle to late Within Word Patter* !r.in is a pro .hen it comes to identif-ing common long vo.els b"t .hen he got to other vo.els he .as ver- "ns"re* D"ring the assessment , sa. him spell a .ord correctl- b"t then he .ent bac/ and changed his mind* >e then in t"rn ended "p spelling the .ord .rong* !r.in /no.s the long vo.el patterns in one's-llable .ords and r' infl"enced vo.el patterns* >e is conf"sed .ith ambig"o"s vo.els and his area of need is in consonant do"bling* :his is sho.n in the assessment .hen he .rites Carees instead of Carries* >e has mastered the long vo.el patterns b"t is ma/ing errors .ith the other vo.els* So this is .here .e began .ith o"r @Words :heir Wa-A .ords sorts* Writing Assessment ? :he p"rpose of this assessment .as to see .hat !r.in co"ld do in terms of .riting, i*e, his strengths and areas of need* :his assessment sho.ed me that !r.in is not a fan of .riting and getting him to .rite more that three sentences is li/e p"lling teeth* >o.ever, , thin/ he is B"st insec"re abo"t his spelling* Sometimes he has to thin/ of a different .ord for the .ord that he needs beca"se he .ants to spell it correctl-* +rom his assessment and contin"ed .or/ .ith him , also noticed, there is little to no organiCation* !r.in .rites do.n his ideas as the- come to him .ith o"t considering the order of the sentences* !r.in "ses correct p"nct"ation and capitaliCation* >e also has ver- neat hand.riting* >e told me he is ver- pro"d of his c"rsive and he al.a-s leaves eno"gh space in bet.een .ords* Ar in and I set t!e follo ing goals for our tutoring sessions" 16 !r.in .ill demonstrate fl"enc- in reading b- "sing appropriate pron"nciation, rh-thm,

and e7pression* 26 !r.in .ill .rite a 8'sentence paragraph containing a topic sentence, 3 s"pporting sentences, and a concl"ding statement* >ere is ho. , formatted o"r lessons to adhere to o"r goals and !r.in2s partic"lar literacneeds9 16 Fluen#y/familiar reading$ ,n each session .ith !r.in .e practiced fl"enc- b- "sing the timed reading app on the iPad* !ccording to Literacy for the 21st Century b- ail !* :omp/ins @fl"ent readers have more cognitive reso"rces available for comprehensionA5pg* 1846* !r.in sho.ed improvement thro"gho"t the sessions* :he timed reader app allo.ed him to read alo"d a stor- and ans.er comprehension ="estions at the end* :his app /ept a graph of his timed reading scores as .ell as the comprehension* !r.in read (8 .pm at the start of o"r session and the final session he read D4 .pm* >is scores improved each time that he read a ne. stor-* 26 %uided Reading$ 3ach session , bro"ght in a pict"re boo/ or .e read a pict"re boo/ off of the iPad* :he g"ided reading too/ "p the maBorit- of o"r time in o"r sessions* ,n g"ided reading .e had three parts, .hich incl"ded pre'reading, d"ring reading, and post reading* We also /ept a .ord ban/ of ne. or "nfamiliar .ords that .e defined d"ring the readings* D"ring this time .e foc"sed on fl"enc- and comprehension* ,n order to help accomplish o"r goal of reading .ith e7pression, , .o"ld often have him re'read sentences if he did not someho. ac/no.ledge an e7planation point or a ="estion mar/ .ith a voice inflection* 36 Writing$ D"ring o"r .riting time , emphasiCed .riting .ith organiCation* , .o"ld give !r.in a prompt related to the g"ided reading boo/* +irst .e .o"ld complete a graphic organiCer, then he .o"ld .rite on a sheet of paper labeled topic sentence, detail, detail, detail and concl"ding sentence* >e .o"ld then begin .riting "sing the graphic organiCer as a reference* !t the end of o"r sessions .e chose his fo"r best .riting samples and p"t them into a PreCi* ;efore .e p"t the samples into the PreCi .e edited all fo"r samples and added ne. vocab"lar- from o"r g"ided reading time* , .as s"re to incl"de his PreCi in the st"dent .or/ folder that , sent home .ith !r.in* !r.in .as ver- pro"d of his PreCi and it t"rned o"t reall- .ell* 46 Word Study$ ,n o"r sessions the .ord st"d- involved lots and lots of .ord sorts* , started in middle .ithin .ord pattern in @Words :heir Wa-A* We did one .ord sort per session* , .o"ld go bac/ and revie. .ords that he missed from previo"s sessions b- adding them to the follo.ing session* :he p"rpose of doing .ord sorts .as to provide !r.in .ith the opport"nit- to learn ne. vocab"lar-* We foc"sed on the follo.ing .ithin .ord patterns< r' infl"enced e, long , patterns, r'blendsEr'infl"enced ,, and ambig"o"sElong o* 86 &oo' S!aring$ :his section allo.ed me to provide !r.in .ith a boo/ that .as at his reading level* We read Slam Dunk Shoes b- 0a/e )addo7* We .o"ld read at least one chapter per session* ,t .as abo"t 10 chapters long so it .as perfect to "se in o"r sessions* !r.in reall- enBo-ed reading this boo/ beca"se he loves bas/etball so m"ch* D"ring o"r sessions .e foc"sed on the .riting process* , reall- .anted to sho. !r.in the steps of the .riting process, especiall- p"blishing* :hro"gho"t o"r sessions .e "sed a graphic organiCer at the start of the .riting section* :his reall- helped !r.in .ith his organiCation .ithin his .riting* We didn2t al.a-s "se the topic sentence, detail, detail, detail and concl"ding sentence as a template* Sometimes he needed to add more details to his paragraph* , made it clear to !r.in that this .as B"st a starting point for his .riting* >e .as able to modif- the template based on .hat he .as .riting* , .as ver- impressed .ith !r.in2s progress as a .riter* :his .as his highest area of gro.th* >e .as al.a-s a good .riter he B"st needed to practice some strategies that .o"ld help to improve his .riting even more* >is final .riting samples are ver- good* , co"ldn2t get him to stop adding detailsF !r.in is a highl- logical -o"ng bo-, and getting him to read a fantas- boo/ .as li/e p"lling teeth* >o.ever, in the end his .riting from that g"ided reading session .as his best .riting b- far* , .o"ld recommend that !r.in sho"ld contin"e to .or/ on his fl"enc- b- reading alo"d for at least 10 min"tes a da-* , .o"ld li/e him to foc"s on reading .ith e7pression and not foc"sing so m"ch on speed* ,t .as reall- a pleas"re .or/ing .ith !r.in, , /no. that he .ill contin"e to gro. this -ear* :han/ -o" for allo.ing me to be apart of this learning e7perience*

Sincerel-,

Sha.ntel Davis, G%#$ :"tor )aril-n )c1inneG%#$ #iterac- Professor