Abigail Geisel

Gail Boldt

Child Reading Study

2 December 2016

Child Study: Dylan

I have had the pleasure to spend some time the past few weeks with a second

grader, Dylan, to get to know him as a reader and writer. Dylan is a shy, yet interesting

young boy who is very unique. During my time with Dylan, it was very hard to get him to

talk, let alone get information out of him. But, as I continued to ask questions and spark

an interest of his, I was able to really understand him as a reader. He is quite complex, in

the sense that I cannot figure out his true opinion and potential, but I was sure able to get

a good idea. From what I observed, Dylan does struggle a lot with reading and writing in

multiple aspects, but after putting his personality into consideration, I believe I was able

to uncover a lot about the underlying questions. It is apparent that Dylan is quite

intelligent and mature for his age, so with minor tweaks and a change of attitude he will

be able to let his brilliance come through.

Theory of Reading

Dylan thinks reading is only beneficial in the fact that it serves as a platform for

gathering knowledge or information. He simply thinks people read to get smarter, and

does not consider reading to have any other purpose. Dylan doesnt see the value in

reading for personal reasons or enjoyment. This observation led to one of my main goals,

which is to open Dylans eyes to the numerous ways reading can have an impact and the

other reasons why people read besides gathering information. He also described a good
reader as someone who practices a lot. I believe his is correct in some sense, but he

doesnt consider the comprehension aspect of reading. In order to be a good reader, one

must be able to understand, retell, analyze, and make connections. Dylan envisions a

good reader as someone who is attentive to accuracy rather than meaning. The way he

described the best reader he knows, his friend Patrick, is by his ability to read fast,

pronounce words correctly, and the fact he makes little to no mistakes. Although this

could be some traits of a good reader, I believe it is mostly about how the reader takes the

content of the text into account.

Sense of Self as a Reader

Dylan knows he isnt the best, but he thinks he is a good reader because he reads a

lot. Although I would agree that good readers tend to read a lot, I believe there is a lot

more to it. I dont think he puts into consideration the other strengths good readers have,

which is the ability to understand the text and be able to analyze it. Dylan doesnt

broaden his genres of reading unless he isnt given the choice. When reading, Dylan

makes a significant amount of errors, and for the most part he continues to read without

fixing them even if they dont make sense. I agree with Dylan in the fact that a good

reader reads a lot to practice, but if he isnt fixing or learning from his mistakes then the

practice is ineffective. I am glad he thinks hes a good reader, because that shows his

confidence in himself, but he definitely needs to start with addressing his mistakes so he

has the opportunity to fix them therefore putting him on the track to becoming a better

reader.
Identification with Aspects of Reading (Personal Value)

Dylan struggles a lot with finding personal value in reading other than for an

informational aspect. He doesnt see it as an enjoyable activity or something he would do

for fun. I am unsure whether this is just his opinion on reading, or if he thinks everyone

else only reads for learning purposes as well. Either way, it is difficult to get Dylan to talk

about reading in a positive way. When asked if he likes reading he responded with yes,

which made me initially think he found enjoyment in it. But, after asking why he liked it

he responded with because it teaches you things. Although he enjoys gaining

knowledge from reading, I would like for him to enjoy reading just for personal pleasure.

I think his mindset on the topic is just based on the idea that people read for the specific

reading of gaining knowledge, but I would like to see him broaden his opinion on the

many reasons why we read.

School/Home Reading

When talking about reading at home, I am starting to understand why Dylan has

some trouble with reading. Dylan said his dad reads to him at home occasionally, but not

often. He also mentioned he never reads on his own at home, which I can see as a

potential big problem. Although he reads at school, he should be doing it independently at

home often. He is required or instructed to read at school, which is why he participates,

but once its not required of him he doesnt. Dylan also told me his dad sometimes reads

to him in German or Hebrew, but again not independently. I feel Dylan would benefit

from doing independent reading at home in an environment where he feels comfortable

and not pressured to be a good reader. If he were to read on his own at home, he could

have that opportunity to fix his mistakes without having pressure, and he could also
potentially start to see the enjoyment in reading. I can assume his dad makes an effort to

support and better his reading, but his parents should also heavily encourage Dylan to

independently read.

Evidence of Use of Cuing Systems

From my time observing and miscuing, Dylan does not make good use of the

cuing systems. He often reads sentences that to make sense, but continues without

correcting himself. He either doesnt seem to recognize an error even if it doesnt make

sense, or he doesnt care enough to fix it. This has happened in a few situations: Dylan

read Bony lumps at the end of Euoplocephaluss tail created the club shop (shape), and

Intent (instead) they probably waited for a sign (single) dinosaur to winder (wander) off

on its one (own). Its quite hard to tell whether he didnt correct himself due to laziness

or because he actually though it made sense. He makes few errors such as the first, but

also sometimes reads with a number of mistakes, such as the second. Since Dylan tends

to be all over the place it is hard to decipher the root of his errors. I feel Dylan also has

trouble with syntactic cues. If it doesnt sound right, the most he will do is pause for a

second, and then just continue. I think in situations he may be pausing because he notices

that it doesnt sound correct, but he either trusts himself that what he said was right or he

doesnt go back simply because he doesnt want to. For how often Dylan pauses after

mistakes, I can infer that he seems a little skeptical about it, but for the most part he

doesnt end up fixing them. One cue Dylan uses occasionally is graphophonics. As he

said in the interview, if he get stuck on a work he will try and sound it out by breaking the

word down. He will work towards sounding it out using the strategy of breaking words

down and saying it in chunks. Even if he doesnt mess up, Dylan often breaks down the
word, and then repeats it again either way. Even though he doesnt use most of the cuing

systems, since he has adapted the method of breaking words down and sounding them out

I can be confident that he has a good starting platform.

Evidence of Self-monitoring

Dylan shows some evidence of self-monitoring. He makes a lot of miscues where

he either skips the word, or ignores his mistake even if it doesnt make sense. One thing I

did notice was he occasionally skips sight words, which could be a good indicator of use

of the chunking method. Other than that, its quite hard to tell if he self-monitors or not.

Dylan pauses very often, between words he says correctly as well as ones that are

incorrect. I think this shows signs of him questioning himself, and although he tends to be

unsure a lot he rarely takes action upon it. Repeating is also something Dylan does a lot,

but he does it in every instance so it is hard to tell whether it indicates he is doubting

himself or not.

Evidence of Efficient Reading

Dylan doesnt show much evidence of efficient reading. He tends to read at a fast

pace, which results in skipping over words or just pronouncing them incorrectly. As

mentioned, Dylan shows signs of self-monitoring but doesnt follow through with self-

correcting. From what I can assume, if he does pause when something sounds wrong but

doesnt fix it, it could mean either two things: he is too lazy/bored to correct himself, or

he isnt confident that he will be able to correct it so he doesnt. Throughout my time with

Dylan I have been questioning a lot on whether he is uninterested, incapable, or just lacks

the confidence and is scared of failure. I believe if Dylan were to become interested,

motivated, and more confident, he would be much more of an efficient reader.

Retelling

When asked each time, Dylan would not necessarily retell the story. Since all of

his chosen books were on dinosaurs, a subject he is very knowledgeable about, he would

retell me his prior knowledge about the topic rather than retell what he just read. This

displays Dylans strength of retaining, understanding, and relaying past information.

Since he was able to inform me so much on these specific dinosaurs, I can infer he read

about them in the past, leading me to assume he is actually able to retell what he has read.

Seeing him know such specific facts about these dinosaurs, I am confident that he is able

to comprehend information through text and put it in his own words.

Main Goals & Curriculum

Dylan isnt quite at the level he should be at this grade and age, he does well with

understanding but not so much with the basics and mechanics of reading. Dylans theory

of reading is something I would try to work on. I would like for him to see reading in a

more positive and fun way, rather than just a source of information. He doesnt read for

pleasure, which would be a main goal for me. Steering him away from the opinion that

reading is only educational would potentially result in him becoming more open to read

things on his own. Another big problem I see with Dylan is his description of a good

reader. From our interview, I can infer he thinks reading is only about accuracy, pace,

and correct pronunciation. He doesnt really consider how the content has a lot more to

do with it. The curriculum should include teaching students the value of reading and all

the content of the text has to offer. I would allow the students to read and make minor

mistakes, avoiding fixing them and instead shifting focus onto what they can do with

what theyve read. They should be enforced to make connections, ask questions, evaluate
information, and retell in their own words. My two main goals would include helping

Dylan see the personal value in reading, and also redefining to him what it means to be a

good reader.

In order to work towards these goals, Dylan would need to make a lot of

adjustments in how he reads. He should be able to gain the confidence to not only address

his errors but also make an attempt at fixing them. With this confidence, he should also

be able to reference reading cues as a checklist when he gets stuck. But, in order to gain

this confidence, he must be able to enjoy reading and have a lot of support. This leads to

reading independently at home. Dylan should read independently out of school more

often. If he chooses his own books he has interest in and has a support system at home, I

am sure that he will start to become more motivated and dedicated to improve his reading

skills. Without support or encouragement, I can picture him making errors and just

reading right through them, avoiding the opportunity to self-correct. I believe a lot of

improvement can start with a stronger support system and a new view on reading.

If Dylan is able to achieve these few goals, I am confident that it will solve many

of the issues I am recognizing. Although Dylan makes a number of mistakes, I would not

categorize him as a bad reader. he has a lot of potential and comes across as a very

intelligent second grader. In my opinion, his problems lie in his attitude towards reading,

and lack of confidence. If he were to change his views on the benefits of reading as well

as consider what else makes someone a good at it, he would be on track to becoming a

very successful reader. Dylans problems all seem to root from the main two goals I have

identified, and since they are both achievable, with few adjustments he will be able to

become a stronger, excelled, and more aware reader.