Basic Reading Inventory Reflection Paper
Part I: Findings

Upon administering the BRI to a struggler Reader, I undertook the process of reflection in order to consider the experience overall. The Reader’s name was Diana: she is 8 years old and enrolled in the third grade. Currently, she is one year behind her current reading grade level she should be in--i.e., she is reading at a 2nd grade reading level instead of a 3rd. She is attending Patricia DiChiaro in Yonkers, NY, and the BRI revealed quite a few things about her ability to read.

For the first part of the BRI, Diana had to read aloud a paragraph about dodge ball. Each line was analyzed according to miscues made by the student during the reading exercise. Miscues consisted of substitution (in which a wrong word was read instead of the word on the page), insertion (in which the reader inserts a word into the reading that is not there), omission (in which a reader neglects to read a word on the page), and reversal (in which the reader reverses the order of words on the page when reading aloud). The best part of this exercise was that Diana committed zero omissions and read every word on the page. She also committed only one insertion and one reversal. However, she committed nine substitutions. This was the major fault of Diana and it indicates a problem with her ability to read all the way through the text. In other words, in her attempt to read aloud, she does not work her way through every word but jumps to a conclusion of what the word is based on familiar-sounding letter combinations and says the word that is in her mind instead of reading aloud the word on the page. This shows a lack of confidence to engage with the text even if it means struggling. Still, one important note was that while there were a total of 11 miscues, the majority of them were of the same type, and of those only four could be counted as significant miscues—meaning that with a little more focus, Diana should be able to read a passage perfectly well and get to where she needs to be. Another important note is that her miscues did not result in any major meaning changes, and there was no repetition or self-correction. This indicates that Diana for the most part is likely not aware of her miscues when she is making them. If they are pointed out to her, she will probably be able to catch them in the future as they tended to follow a pattern that could be resolved with a little more attention to detail. Above all, her intonation was good, indicating a clear grasp of the sounds the letters and words should...…where Diana is struggling and allowed me to reflect on what the possible issues might be that are preventing her from reaching a higher standard.

The BRI contributed to my knowledge of teaching by giving me a sense of how to approach readers who are struggling and to help them identify better approaches to reading. With Diana I began to see that focus was the main problem for her. I felt that she could do the work and read the words and understand the meaning when she was focused and paying attention, but if she became distracted or if her mind clouded over either from being tired or from becoming frustrated with her inability to understand or communicate, I sensed that the problem was not so much a reading issue but rather a communication issue. For instance, with her answers to the comprehension section, I sensed that she was not understanding what was being asked of her and that if pressed she would be able to explain the paragraph. However, she did miss some questions that were clearly indicative of a failure to recall what the paragraph stated, which means she could benefit from re-reading a paragraph multiple times to let the meaning sink in. Overall, I think the BRI would be helpful in my teaching by showing me which students need extra reading assistance and which are ready to move on to the next…