Sophie Harper

November 24, 2015

ELD 30802
Dr. McKool
Assessment Project
I.

Introduction

Home life: Jim is 11 years old and in the fifth grade at Countryside Elementary
School. He lives at home with his mom, dad, one brother and three sisters and is
happy to report that he has his own bedroom. His parents are both employed; his
dad runs a software business and his mom is an actress. Around the house, Jim
has two main jobs. It is his duty to keep the family guinea pigs cage clean as well
as he assists his younger brother gathering and taking out the trash. For these two
jobs, Jim receives a weekly allowance from his parents. Each week, if he shows
good character and a positive attitude, his parents award him an extra two dollars
to his allowance. Outside of school, Jim is an avid dancer. He particularly strives
in and enjoys ballet and hip-hop. When asked if he had a television in his
bedroom, Jim was delighted to say he did not because, other than dance, his
favorite thing to do is read. In his free time, Jim enjoys sitting on the couch with
his siblings reading a good book. During the school week, he generally goes to
bed around nine or ten oclock, but begins winding down his day around eight
oclock by sitting down to read his book.

School environment: Jim reports that he loves school. His favorite subject is
writing and his least favorite subject is science. On a typical school night, Jim

receives little homework: 30 minutes of reading (which he loves) and a few math
problems. He enjoys doing his homework in his familys dining room, and usually
gets assistance from his dad if he needs help understanding something. When
asked if Jim believes whether or not he is a good reader, he enthusiastically
responded by saying he is an excellent reader. Jim claims that using post-it notes
and looking up the definitions of tough or unfamiliar words has made him a very
good reader. When given the chance to choose a book of any genre, Jim very
much enjoys choosing science fiction novels. To become an even better reader,
Jim believes if he rereads passages he has difficulty with, he will improve and
understand the passage more clearly. Jim reports that he loves to write and enjoys
writing about everything. He claims writing is a great way for him to get his
thoughts and ideas out of his head. In fact, Jim made it clear that if he were to
attend a different school, the first thing he would want his teachers to know about
him is that he very much loves writing. When asked how Jim would help
someone who is learning to read, he simply answered by saying he would start
that person out easy and grow from there; the more the person reads, the better
they will become. Being able to sign a contract and get a job is how Jim sees
writing as being helpful in the future.
II.

Independent Reading Conference

On October 29, 2015, Jim was asked to read aloud from the novel, The Isle of the
Lost. According to Fountus and Pinnell, this book is a level T for guided reading; this
means that it is a leveled book for a mid-year fifth grade student. At this time, a
running record of his oral reading miscues was recorded and a brief comprehension

check was taken. In terms of comprehension, Jim seems to excel in the areas of
lexical and literal comprehension. This means that he was able to understand key
vocabulary words as well as retell the who, what, where, when, why, how of the text.
He was able to read and refer back to the text very thoroughly. Jim did extremely well
with the Semantics Cueing system as he truly understood the text he read and was
easily able to go back and reference the few pages and paragraphs he read.
In terms of word recognition, Jim easily recognized each word he spoke. He read
fluently and clearly. While he got caught up on a few challenging words, he quickly
was able to sound them out and continue reading. Jim read the passage fluently and
used good intonation. He read in phrases and paused appropriately at end punctuation,
as well as commas and other internal punctuation.
III.

In early October of 2015, Jim was given a Fountas and Pinnell miscue reading
assessment. At this time, he read independently and instructionally on an early 5th
grade level and became frustrational at the early 6th grade level. This means that Jim
should be able to and has been reading grade level materials. In terms of
comprehension, Jim was able to recap a small passage, explaining the key points of
the passage. When asked questions about the passage he read, Jim was able to answer
successfully without having to look back at the text or hesitate. The reading sample
was a level (T), which is a mid-year 5th grade level. In terms of word recognition, Jim
misread a few words but quickly corrected himself and continued reading. In terms of
fluency, Jim misread a few words which allowed him to sound choppy. Although he
misread, and corrected, a few words while reading, Jim was very engaged in the

passage and read energetically for dialogue passages. While reading sentences where
very few miscues were made, Jim read very smoothly and without hesitation.
IV.

Writing Sample
On November 12, 2015, Jim was asked to write a short passage on a topic of his
choosing which would be critiqued based on a rubric from the New Jersey
Department of Education. Jim decided to write about his love for reading. Jim was
extremely enthusiastic because not only did he get to choose the topic for his writing,
but he was able to write about one of his biggest passions. After a brief discussion
about Jims independent reading experiences, he immediately began to write and
wrote a six sentenced paragraph which took him approximately three minutes.
In terms of content, Jim was able to successful execute the who, what, where,
when, why, how in six short sentences. For example, he began by discussing how
much he loves to read, why he loves to read, who his favorite author is, what his
favorite book is, etc. Also, Jim elaborated very nicely. He wrote as if the reader had
no prior knowledge about the power of a book. In a sense, Jim was writing as if the
reader knew nothing about him and his passion for reading. In terms of weaknesses,
Jim had several spelling errors. While Jim clearly realized his mistakes by writing
over the word he misspelled, allowing me to see both his original spelling and the
edited spelling, he made an attempt each time to correct himself and was successful.
In terms of mechanics, Jim really shined through his use of punctuation and
appropriate capitalization. He used appropriate punctuation throughout the piece and
was able to use many a sophisticated vocabulary words to discuss his passion for
reading. He wrote with a very clever tone to describing his passion.

Jim appears to be a transition to correct speller. This means that he recognizes

common patterns and structures in words, allowing him to make very few mistakes.
Jim has the most difficulty with words that have similar vowel sounds; for example,
character was originally spelled charecter however, after it was written down, Jim
caught the spelling error and corrected himself. He has little difficulty with words that
are spelled exactly how they sound. Based on the spelling assessment, the only words
Jim had difficulty with were those that had multiple of the same letter in a row for
example, process was spelled as proccess. Also, Jim was given a few unfamiliar
words at random which he spelled out to the best of his ability based on sound.
Overall Jim is an exceptional speller.
V.

Summary
After conducting several informal assessments, I have concluded that Jims
strengths as a reader are expression and fluency. He showed much enthusiasm while
reading and read very smoothly with very little interruption. He has the most
difficulty in reading with some word accuracy and second guessing himself. To
further develop his skills as a reader, Jim should be encouraged to really pay attention
to the words when he is reading. While he already reads pretty fluently, I suggest that
Jim slows down and reads more carefully in order to more accurately sound out
words and have a lessoned chance of second guessing himself. In the article, The
Case for Slow Reading, author Thomas Newkirk suggests slowing down reading in
order to savor the language and truly understand what is being read. This also allows
a more clear understanding of the content.

Jims strengths as a writer are punctuation and organization. He did very well with
organizing his thoughts in sequential and beneficial order to his story. As far as
punctuation, he perfectly executed the use of periods, commas and other internal
punctuations. He has the most difficulty in writing with determining vowel sounds in
unfamiliar words. While asked to make edits and corrections to his piece, Jim had a
difficult time seeing his mistakes in that area. His biggest concern was that he was
going to spell something wrong or use an inappropriate vowel for words he struggled
with. To further develop his skills as a writer, Jim should be encouraged to write and
rewrite pieces. As stated in the article, NCTE Beliefs about the Teaching of Writing,
students are encouraged to write and rewrite in order to learn and perfect the writing
process. This also allows students to further practice the writing and revision process,
while also engaging in vocabulary comprehension. I suggest that Jim writes more
often on his own as well as under teacher supervision. It is important that Jim
continues to practice using vocabulary, proper punctuation and sentence structure, as
well as work on sounding out more difficult words in order to incorporate proper
vowels in challenging words. While Jim understands the concept of short and long
vowel sounds, he should be taught and encouraged to take a deeper look and really
focus on sounding out words he finds difficult, especially those he finds himself
second guessing on while writing.

Works Cited:

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educationalleadership/mar10/vol67/num06/The-Case-for-Slow-Reading.aspx

http://www.ncte.org/governance/writing

http://www.nj.gov/education/assessment/ms/samples2007/final_NJASK07_Sa
mpler20Key_Rubric_Exemplars.pdf

http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/book-selectiontips/parents-guide-to-guided-reading

Writing Rubric

Writing Sample (Draft)

Running Record

Miscue Analysis