Jennifer Reeder

4/24/2014
Case Study

I. Part 1
a. Summary
i. Examiner: Jennifer Reeder
ii. School: Culbertson Elementary School
iii. Grade Level: 1
st

iv. Student Pseudonym: Claire
v. Age: 6 years old
b. Classroom Observations
In an independent work setting, the students are given a math worksheet.
After the teacher reads the directions for each of the problems and explains what
they are expected to do, the students independently answer the few questions.
Claire looks at her own worksheet and circles in the answers for three math
questions on the first side of the page. When she is finished, she puts her
worksheet in her desk and waits for further instruction from the teacher.
In a small group setting, she sits down at the back table in the classroom
with three of her peers. When she is given the iPad in the beginning of the lesson,
she handles it carefully. She reads part of the story that the group is reading and
allows the next student to read. She does not raise her hand for all of the
questions that the instructor asks but when she does raise her hand, she waits to be
called on. She agrees with some of the answers of her peers and adds on
additional comments.
In a large group setting, Claire participates frequently. She raises her hand
for the teachers questions or if she has a comment to make. She waits to speak
until she is called on by the teacher. Claire listens to her peers when they are
called on. She does not speak to her peers while the teacher is speaking.
Claire interacts with others in a positive manner. She is asked by others to
play during free time and recess and she asks others to play with her during free
time and recess. She picked up things that other people dropped in the classroom
such as a shoe and a pencil. Claire receives help from her peers if she is called on
and does not know the answer. She listens to the answers of her peers when they
are called on. She talks to other students between the teachers instruction and
repeats the teacher when the class is told to do so.
When Claire is having a conversation with her teacher, she looks at the
teacher and responds to her instructions. She maintains her facial expression and
she listens to her teacher. She does not become distracted by the noise from the
rest of her class. She immediately goes to her locker and pulls her homework out
of her backpack. She places her homework in the homework bin to be checked by
the teacher.
c. Student Writing Sample
The class was instructed to complete a how to piece of writing.
Examples could be how to make a bowl of cereal, how to do your homework, or
how to go to the zoo. Claires how to piece was how to go to the pool. There is
a sequential process in Claires writing. Claire appears to be between a
transitional and a conventional level. In a transitional level, a student correctly
spells many high frequency words, uses vowels in most syllables (may not be the
correct vowel), begins to use simple punctuation (may not be correct), and writes
more than one sentence. In a conventional level, a student correctly spells most
high frequency words, uses larger correctly spelled vocabulary, uses more
complex and varied sentence structure, capitalizes the beginning word in each
sentence, uses lowercase correctly, usually uses periods and questions marks
correctly, and spaces words correctly. I would say that Claire is a mix between
these two levels because she does not capitalize at the beginning of each sentence,
usually uses question marks incorrectly, and spells many words incorrectly. The
Pennsylvania Writing Assessment Domain Scoring Guide includes focus, content,
organization, style, and conventions. Looking at Claires writing sample, she
wrote her piece on the topic that she chose and stayed on topic throughout the
writing sample. Claires writing sample was sufficiently organized and the
content was sufficient as well. The areas in which she struggles are in the
conventions domain. Claire needs more help with capitalization, punctuation, and
spelling.