Hallie Utter

rd
Miscue Analysis- 3 Grade
Geography
This miscue took place in Mrs. Simons third grade classroom in Mecosta Elementary. This
classroom is quite small and not well lit. There is one large window taking up the majority of
the wall across from the door but not much sunlight is coming in. Next to the window are the
students mailboxes and the turn in basket for assignments. The students desks are set up in a
U shape with the remaining desks are set up in an L shape inside the U. Students who
typically need less help sit in the L shaped row while those who are more likely to need help
sit on the outside. The room is colorful with a purple and light green theme and contains many
posters with no walls left bare. This class four shelves dedicated to books and there seems to be
a wide variety genres and topics. Next to the books, green and purple curtains block students
view of the teachers materials and extra supplies. On the back wall, students progress charts
are posted for both fluency and multiplication facts. Underneath these posters contain two
shelves of mathematics manipulatives and materials. Diagonal from the door in the back corner
of the room lies the teacher's desk along with shelves of binders and student records. The
teacher has clearly posted I can statements for mathematics and English Language Arts on the
board along with a schedule of the day for students with times. During the miscue, the rest of
the class was finishing their breakfast and completing their morning work of finding the area of
a rectangular shape. For the most part, the rest of the class was quiet with the exception of the
crunching and chewing of students working on their breakfast. The miscue I administrated took
place in the back corner of the classroom at a large round table.

Introduction
I was asked to assess a nine-year-old females oral fluency level. This student was absent the last
time the students were assessed so I was able to get an updated score for Mrs. Simon. Since I am
familiar with this classroom, I know that this student has recently missed several days due to
being sick. Prior to taking this assessment, she was absent three out five days last week. I was
told by the Mrs. Simons, that this student is towards the middle of the class in terms of her
previous oral fluency and comprehension scores. Her fluency score from two months ago was a
91 words per minute while she has maintained a consistent score of 2 out of 5 on comprehension
for the past four assessments. While observing her during the students free choice time, she
often picks up a book which says she has a positive attitude towards reading.

Rapport Building/Information Gathering

I began the test by introducing myself to the student, reminding her that my name was Ms. Utter.
I told her that I was going to conduct a fluency and comprehension test for Mrs. Simon today
that she missed last week. I handed her the student reading sheet and asked her if she
remembered doing this previously and she replied with yes. She began coughing and I asked her
if she needed a drink of water. She said yes and went to get a drink. When she returned, I asked if
she was feeling well (knowing she was absent yesterday). She replied with no, she told me she
still had a terrible cough today and wish she would have stayed home from school. I told her I
was sorry but to do the best she could on this fluency and comprehension test. I explained that
she would have a minute to read as much as she could and after I would ask her two questions
regarding the story.

Administering Informal Reading Inventory

While conducting the inventory, I crossed out words that were incorrect, drew carrots if the
student inserted any extra information, underlined vowels that the student mispronounced, and
drew a bracket where the student ended. After the student read the section and I marked the
errors, I counted the errors, counting only the misread words wrong once and subtracted the
number of errors from the total. I then asked the student the two comprehension questions that
my teacher added to the back of the miscue. I was told to grade them based on how accurate I
thought the students answer was since the comprehension piece was added on. I was told that
normally, third graders are only tested on their fluency rate and accuracy when using this type of
assessment. Comprehension is a piece added in fourth grade as these assessments begin to
include maze components to them. Maze assessments take out a word in each sentence which
allows students to infer what that word would be. After completing both the oral fluency
assessment and comprehension questions, I scored the assessment and shared the results with
Mrs. Simon.

Statistical Miscue Analysis

This type of miscue was a benchmark assessment taken from SRA Imagine It produced by the
McGraw-Hill companies. By completing the miscue, I was able to determine that this student on
average can read 97 words per minute. This student increased from reading 91 to 97 words per
minute which is an increase in six points. By looking at benchmark assessment cut off numbers,
it looks like this student also scored six points above average for third grade students at the
fourth assessment. Overall, the student made four errors, however she made one error twice
resulting in only three points getting deducted. This students level of accuracy is calculated out
to be 97%. When looking at her reading fluency scores, she scored average in decoding ability,
pace, syntax, and intonation. She scored low in self-correction. When I scored her
comprehension piece, she had one of the two answers correct.

Professional Analysis
Overall, this student struggled with identifying and using self-correcting skills. As she read
through the assessment, several times she rushed through a word in order to read as many words
as she could. For example, when the student came to the word indigo, instead of sounding it out
she just pronounced the word and moved on. Although she was able to decode most of the words
she didnt know, a few times she just gave up instead of going back to correct herself. This
student also struggled with the vowel o sounds. She pronounced powders with a short o
instead of a long o sound and while when trying to say indigo, she used a long o instead of a
short o sound. In terms of comprehension, the student was able to correctly answer literal
questions, but had a harder time with inferential meaning.
Instructional Strategies
For this student, I would suggest some individualized instruction on the o sound. This would
include working on understanding how the o sound changes when being paired with another
vowel to when it is paired with a consonant. After, I would have the student work though guided
practice identifying the correct o sound with different words and having her pronounce them.
For her comprehension, I would try to model more comprehension strategies during English
Language Arts lessons so all students can benefit. By teaching multiple comprehension
strategies, it gives students a range of methods to use when reading. I would have these students
model the strategy several times and assess to see which strategy is their favorite along with
which strategy is the most effective.

Conclusions/Reflection
Overall, I thought this type of miscue was effective but there should have been a more defined
comprehension piece to go along with it. I think the oral fluency assessment was a good way to
figure out a students reading rate and accuracy, however I think there is a lot of teacher
objectivity in terms of the reading fluency scoring. After completing the miscue, I asked my
teacher how to score the reading fluency questions and she told me that it was based off of my
observations and her assessment. I believe I made a good judgement about how to rate the
student, however I think a lot of teacher objectivity could play a role in the scoring. I personally
had a hard time trying to score the assessment because I wasnt sure what was average for a
third grade student. In terms of a comprehension piece, I think it would be a good idea to add
questions at the end to assess if they understood what they were reading, or if they were just
trying to rush though the assessment to read as many words as they could. I think comprehension
should always be part of the assessment in order to get a better picture of the student as a reader.
After reflecting on the experience, I wonder if the results would have been any different if the
student wasnt sick. Two times during the assessment, the student began coughing which means
she lost time when she could have been reading.