Expectations in case study analysis

¶ … impressions of M. were that she was an outgoing student with an aversion toward school work. M's mother approached me in September and expressed concerns that M. may be reading below grade level. She asked if I felt it necessary to request an Educational Management Team / (EMT) meeting to review and discuss M's progress. Not having observed M. For an adequate period of time, I suggested that we wait a few weeks to see how M. progressed academically and M's mother agreed.

It became apparent to me during the next couple of months that M. had difficulty comprehending her class work assignments, particularly in Reading. She would rush through her assignments or stash them in her desk, unfinished. Either way, the end result was a failing grade. I found myself having to sit with M. To explain directions to her two or three times. She became overly dependent upon my assistance and ceased trying altogether.

I'd also begun hearing from M's math teacher that she wasn't completing her class assignments or homework and that M. just didn't seem to "get it." Other observations I made during the same time frame included M. copying other classmates work, not paying attention (she often seemed distracted by her thoughts or other stimuli around her, including objects in her desk and her peers), and poor organizational habits. On a couple occasions, M's mother mentioned M. coming home and crying that she was "dumb" and that "no one like her." She said she'd had M. working with a Reading tutor once a week after school.

I discussed M's progress with the Reading tutor, and we both agreed that M. had a reading deficit and low self-esteem. My goal for M. this year is to increase her confidence in school and help her to realize that she is capable of doing more on her own.

Journal of Strategies

1. Experiment: Attribution Retraining- Sharing Strategies. I wanted to find a way to encourage M. To learn good reading strategies and put in effort in order to see results. I wanted to give her a sense of empowerment over her learning and show her that she could indeed do the work. I talked to the class about how you can get smarter if you use good strategies and work hard. I had the class share with each other what they enjoyed most about reading and then they shared different strategies that they used in order to figure out words that they didn't understand.

Reflection: Several days after this class discussion we were doing quiet reading time, when I noticed that M. was struggling through with her assigned reading. She sat and stared at the book for some time and then I saw her go and get the dictionary and look up something up. Looking up words that you don't know or understand was a strategy that one of the other children had shared days earlier during our discussion. After looking up the word, M asked me if I could explain the word to her as well, so that that she was sure that she understood it.

2. Experiment: Think/Pair/Share. I was looking for a way to try and keep M. engaged in class and to not get so distracted by the things around her. I thought that if she spent some time verbalizing her ideas to a partner, the she would be engaged in thinking and organizing her thoughts. I also hoped that sharing her idea would help her to validate her sense that she did know something and was not "stupid."

Reflection: This strategy helped to bring M. back into the look and stay more focused on the task at hand. Sometimes I would have them pair up to restate directions, which M. didn't seem to catch the first time around. Once M. was caught up on the task at hand they would have a discussion. This strategy not only helped M. To pay closer attention to what was going on around her, but it helped her feel more confident about her performance and was a great boost to her self-esteem.

3. Experiment: Setting Criteria for Success. I want M. To improve her reading skills through an increase in her vocabulary. I feel that if she increases her base vocabulary that reading speed as well as her understanding will improve. I sat down with M. At the beginning of the week and presented her with flash cards for all of this weeks vocabulary words. I have her time everyday to work on these with a partner in order to increase her chances of remembering them. Although she did not get all of them right on the test, she did make a huge improvement over previous weeks.

Reflection: It does seem that M's base vocabulary is slowly increasing. I see her reading at a little quicker pace and with more frequency. When I have her read a passage and them I ask her questions to test for comprehension, she is scoring on average about 60%. Although she still has a long way to go, this is a tremendous improvement over her earlier comprehension average of 20%.

4. Experiment: Semantic Mapping. It is generally accepted that students learn vocabulary more effectively when they are directly involved in constructing meaning rather than in memorizing definitions or synonyms. As a class we used semantic mapping with current vocabulary words. I had the children brainstorm a list of words that were familiar with the vocabulary words. There were only a couple of words that M. could contribute to. I then had the children group the words onto the board. I had M. help list the words on the board so that hopefully she could see how the words related to the each other.

Reflection: The class as a whole really enjoyed this activity. For the most part they enjoy doing work on the board. M was a little apprehensive at first, but as the activity went on she began to enjoy it. I noticed that in a writing assignment that was completed later in the week, M has indeed incorporated a few of the vocabulary words into her piece.

5. Experiment: Reinforce Decoding Skills. To become fluent readers, students must do two things- they must decode words and comprehend the text. In M's case I don't think that she is using good decoding skills which are greatly hampering her ability to comprehend what she reads. I began using Paired readings during class reading time. I would have a fluent reader read the passage first and then call on a student that was struggling in reading to read the same passage several times with the first student. When I would call on M. she would struggle through the passage on the first attempt, but would increase her accuracy with each subsequent reading.