Davontae Singleton

Dr. Styslinger
EDRD 600
Literacy InterviewReaders Profile
It is very clear that after interviewing my two students that
literacy foundation is very important for studentsit is also of the
utmost importance that we recognize and work to make sure the
students we serve are being introduced to literacy and taught how to
navigate it at a very young age. More and more students are coming to
high school without ever being introduced to their love of booksfrom
my interview, I am quite certain that when you tap into a student
and invest the time to get to know them, they will find their passion in
reading.
I was given the opportunity to work with two students, for the
sake of this interview they will be known as Q and R. Both are 16-yearold African American males who live at Camp Aspen as part of their
counseling and rehabilitative substance and substance abuse DJJ
program. Below, you will find two separate reader profiles for each
student.
I believe that since both students are so much alike, I would be
able to find a book that they both would enjoy reading. Both provide
many funds of knowledge that they bring to literacy. Their ability to
imagine and conceptualize the books that they are reading makes me
think that they are not s struggling as I initially thought they would be.
Possible selections include:
Thug Lovin by Wahida Clark
Darkness Before Dawn by Sharon Draper
Out of my Mind by Sharon Draper
Q
Q is a very vibrant and overall cheerful student who I can tell never
had a passion for school growing up. From the beginning, he often
talked about how he was ok in school, but didnt like it as much
especially reading. Q quotes, Im ok in schoolI can read, but I just
didnt like readingI dont know why. After talking with Q about his
likes and dislikes in school, he noted that most of his dislikes stemmed
around the fact that when reading was involved, he was not the
student to be called on.
Besides academics, Q is an exceptionally talented football player citing
that hes one of the best in running back. He someday hopes to be
able to return to this sport because it makes him happy when he plays.
He knows that on his team, he has a vital role, and so working together
is one of the key strategies to winning.

Fro a very young age, Q says that he learned to read in elementary

school. I used to read Dr. Seuss books. He remembers in elementary
school that his teachers would have them work together as a group
would have to read out-loud to each other. I didnt find this beneficial.
I can read to myself, but when it comes down to reading out-loud, I get
nervous and dont like it. This was the first indicator of why Q never
liked to read growing up. Most of his teachers took on the group
learning approach and when Q had to step up to read in class, this
made him not want to participate in the learning because his skills in
reading out loud were not matched to his peers.
Q feels that a good reader is someone who reads a lot and can read
fast. It was a dude who used to always write down the dictionary so I
thought he was smart because he knew those big words. It is also
clear to me that Q has struggled with word choice and meaning when
meaning which not only hindered him from wanting to read, but from
also reading out loud in a classroom setting.
The very interesting thing is the fact that Q now loves to read. He
started to read a lot more after he became incarcerated. During this
interview he often referenced the Buford series and was able to recall
quite a bit of information about these books. He was able to move or
six books and provide intimate details about the stories each of the
books were about 100 pages he said.
Q in my opinion is not a student who is he struggling reader. I definitely
believe that he has a lot of mixed emotions regarding reading due to
the fact that he does not like to read out loud, but he often noted that
when he is reading independently, he spends a lot more time with
books and is able to enjoy them a lot more. One particular book that he
has read recently that he has enjoyed is called upstate. "In this book a
teenager goes to jail for killing his mother because his father used to
beat her. His girlfriend was real supportive of him and eventually he
got released because the court had found out he ain't do it on purpose.
It's a good book I'm reading it again." When I asked Q what he
thought about reading books over again, he responded that he does
not mind reading books over again as long as they were interesting to
him and he could relate to the books. He noted that during his
independent reading time in class, he finds that he reads the same
book series over and over because they are some of the only books
that provide A connection to his life and what he has been dealing
with. It is very clear to me that in my book selection for Q I will have to
find a book that is very realistic. He likes books that deal with
hardships in life, but also has a very uplifting theme.

I do believe that for Q it is not a matter of him not being interested or

motivated in the reading, it is finding the perfect book that resonates
with him personally. When he goes to pick a book, he says that he
scans it a little trying to find out if it is something that he is interested
in reading. If it is not a book that he likes, he puts it down and find
another, or takes a book that he is already read. Although he is not
very familiar with authors of text, he is able to recall details for the
books very quickly.
Two notes that his reading habits have shifted immensely since coming
to DJJ. Before, when he was in school, he didn't like to read out loud
and often saw it as a burden on himself. "yeah, I didn't like to read out
loud. But now we'll have read out loud in class and now I would like to
step up and read. Now, when I read over something that I don't know I
skip it. It doesn't bother me." Through these interactions with you I am
determined that one of his challenges in reading is understanding
words that he does not know--if you were able to get over this, I do
believe that his confidence and reading out loud would be a lot better.
It is also very evident that through DJ Jay he has become a lot more
confident on his own.
One question I asked was that if he were a teacher in his principal
asked him to describe the characteristics of a struggling reader he has
in his class, Q noted, "The student was struggling if I called on him in
the group reading time and ask him to read and he don't do it. Or when
they partnered up, you made the other student read a lot more."
Again, it is very evident that this is an issue that Q has with reading
and why he dislikes it.
I do believe that he understands how to read and why people read. He
knows that people often read for educational purposes and often to
escape what they are going through. When asked how does he read he
states that sometimes he'll read what's going on and try to make
inferences about what will happen next. He says that he often has to
visualize what he is reading in order to understand what's going on in
the book. However one issue that he states that he has with reading is
that when he is reading, half of them is paying very close attention to
the book and visualizing what's going on but the other half of him is
thinking about something else. In order to get over this, two states that
he typically likes to read during silent reading time in one of his English
classes. He'll be able to read two chapters and if it is completely silent,
he's able to focus on the book and visualize as he's going through. And
if there is something that he has not paid attention to, he will either go
back and reread it or wait until night time to reread again.
Q has shown that over the years he has become a much more

reluctant reader, often citing that when he was younger he never liked
reading, he notes that his mother was an avid reader however. She has
numerous books in her house and can always be seen with a book. Q
says that he never would have read any of those stories because they
were not his style. "When I was younger, I didn't like to read very much
because I used to read very slow Like very very slow. I used to repeat
words over again and now I probably just look at the first line and
visualize the next lines as I'm going through."
From my understanding in interviewing with Q, I am led to believe that
he is a part of the subscales model in reading. He is able to understand
letters and words, however when it comes to word family recognition
this is when he has numerous issues in his reading. Due to him not
understanding or being able to recognize words, this hinders him from
wanting to read out loud. He is able to make meaning of the text that
he is reading. This is evident by the detailed reading summaries that
he has provided throughout this interview.
I am very interested in knowing what about this program has made Q
so much more interested in reading? What type of skills and
assessment labs do they offer students, and how are students
determined to be struggling readers or not. From what I gather from Q,
I do not believe that he is a struggling reader, however I do believe
that due to his lack of reading at a young age his vocabulary is very
limited which hinders him from being comfortable reading out loud and
with others.
R
R is almost very similar to Q. Both come from similar backgrounds and
neither had a big passion for reading when they were growing up. From
this interview however it is clear that this student rely mostly on Q to
gather input on how to answer questions. R never had a passion for
school either. He quotes, "I never used to go to school. Once I started
middle school that's when I started skipping." He notes that he also
hated reading and never got interested in it. "I like to see stuff If it's
a book I would like to read, it has to be interesting to me. By seeing
stuff I mean I like to see it in my mind it has to relate to me in my
life." It is clear to me that the student dislikes reading became more so
because of the text that he was required to read growing up in school,
and also because of his being behind in relation to other students.
R states that he learned to read in school as well. He remembered
group reading at tables with the teacher. He stated that he absolutely
hated that to because he was forced to read out loud. He made it very
clear that he doesn't like to read out loud, and that is something that
he still struggles with today.

He does believe that people read for different situations like jobs and
school. "You got to read for stuff like paperwork. Here, people just
signed their names without reading what it is and that's not right." He
notes that in order for someone to be a good reader, they must have
confidence in themselves to read out loud.
R is someone who also reads a lot of Buford series. He says that these
books deal with hard stuff that people go through and he is able to
relate to that often noting that these types of situations are so real. He
knows that he has just finished reading a book called Street Farm and
was able to provide will be three minutes of very detailed information
about the book. I also believe that with him, he does not have an issue
with reading, it's the fact that he does not understand some words and
is often turned off when he is forced to his peers.
R looks at books a little differently than queue. He states that he will
often look at the cover first and then read a little bit on the back of the
book he states that, "When I was in middle school, I didn't pick up
books, but now I will. I haven't conquered my fear of reading out loud
but I am somewhat."
On average in the last six months he is right about 17 different books.
But what is very interesting is the fact that he has not finished many of
these books. He cites that sometimes he gets uninterested, and just
stops reading the book.
When it comes to words that he does not know and books, he states
that he will try to figure out or skip over it he says that if you keep
reading it'll come back and you'll figure it out. Growing up he states
that at home he personally had 2 to 3 books for himself. He says that
his mom is a great reader because she reads a lot as well. He believes
that when she comes across worries that she does not understand she
will sound them out or ask Siri.
When asked the same question that if you were a teacher in his
principal asked him to describe characteristics of a struggling reader,
he stated that he believes that if a student doesn't like to read it
shouldn't be mandatory for him to do that, he believes the student
might get embarrassed. He also believes that you can tell a student is
struggling when you give them a test to determine if they have been
reading, and the student often fails the test. I do believe that for him,
this may have been an issue for him when he was growing up. Often he
did not read books because he was not comfortable reading out loud,
so I do believe this provided a lot of issues for him. He says that he
deafly does enjoy books that deal with things he is going through, that

are the only way that he will really finish a book.

When he comes across big words that he does not understand, he will
try to read it out loud and it makes reading more difficult when he
doesn't know them. Some of his future goals are to become more
confident in reading so he can gain a more "difficult" vocabulary. He
believes that the only way to do this is by reading more books, but
they cannot be textbooks. He hates them and does not like reading
them.
Like Q, he is very interested in books that relate to his life. "I fall off at
not being interested in it is the same for me, if I don't like it or if it does
not relate to me, I probably won't read it."
I also believe that he is under the subscales model. Reading is
something that he does enjoy when he's able to do it on his own, it's
just word family recognition that gets him mixed up. He does not
understand bigger words and so this throws him off and lowers his
confidence.