Mark McLain

EDUC 5309/5403
12/8/14
Literacy Case Study Portfolio: Connor

I. Student Background and Classroom Observation Data

Connor has been at Cypress School and in his current classroom for the last year. He is
16 years old and is a very positive young teenager who enjoys playing video games,
listening to music, and having fun with his friends. Connor is diagnosed with Cerebral
Palsy and Emotional Disturbance. Connor is limited in his movement and muscle
development, as well as his emotional and social recognition.
Connor reads at a 4th grade level and has recently been assessed in this area. Connor
enjoys reading very much, but he has difficulty cooperating if he thinks it is boring.
Currently, Connor is reading The Hunger Games which has really grabbed his attention
in this subject. Though he is a slow reader, he is very accurate in his ability to sound out
words he doesnt know. His biggest area of need is comprehension. Since beginning this
book, he has been able to make a lot of progress in his comprehension the more he gets
introduced to his graphic organizers. An example of some of the questions that are used
are shown in the instruction design section. He knows that he struggles with this part of
his academics so he uses what is given to him very well. It helps him separate each
chapter and allows him to point out main characters, important events, personal
predictions and questions, as well as recognizing imagery and foreshadowing.

Connor is one of the most advanced readers in the class and he has his own individual
reading curriculum, but he has also been chosen to help lead and participate in our group
reading sessions with two other students in the class who are lower-level readers. He
works with Tosh who is 13-years-old and reads at a 3rd grade level, and Journey who is
14-years-old and reads at a K-1st grade level and is still considered a beginning reader.
This group works well together because it provides each student with a different type of
motivation. Though some of the material we read in the group is below Connors reading
level, he is part of the group because he enjoys working with and helping the other
students. This allows him to keep his basic reading skills sharp, and for Tosh and
Journey, they are able to push themselves with material that may be slightly above their
individual reading levels. Also, this gives Connor the chance to help his classmates.
Since he is at a more advanced level of reading than Tosh and Journey, he is able to help
them sound out words, and I make sure that he does it in a very respectful way so the
other two students dont feel like they are being made fun of. This is done by briefing
Connor before the lesson and explaining to him that Tosh and Journey can be very
sensitive about their reading skills, so I need him to make sure he doesnt laugh or get
frustrated if his classmates are having trouble sounding out certain words.
One thing that I have started to try to try and build up Connors comprehension skills are
giving him short passages to read. While he is working with a full novel, it can be
difficult at times to comprehend, even when broken down, so working with short
paragraphs can sharpen his ability to remember key ideas and characters. I will introduce
at least one passage before giving the reading assignment for the day, and this acts as a
warm up for Connor before starting to work on his comprehension of multiple pages.

II. Formal Assessment

The Woodcock-Johnson III is a battery of academic tests used to measure a students
acquired knowledge in the areas of reading, writing, math, academic skills, broad
knowledge, and skill fluency. Connor has a need to be tested in all these areas to more
accurately determine his grade level for each subject. I have only included his literacy
scores since this is what this report is focusing on. The following scores have been put
into his current IEP.
SCORE TABLE
GE- Grade Equivalent AE- Age Equivalent DC- Descriptive Category SS- Standard
Score A- Average LA- Low Average BA- Below Average NA- Not Administered
Norms based on grade level 7.2 (68% Band)
CLUSTER/TEST

GE

SS

DC

AE

Broad Reading

5.7

67 (65-70)

BA

11-0

Written Expression

6.6

79 (74-83)

BA

11-11

Letter-Word Iden.

5.8

70 (67-73)

BA

11-1

Reading Fluency

6.3

79 (74-83)

BA

11-8

Spelling

5.9

77 (73-81)

BA

11-3

Written Fluency

7.2

84 (78-90)

LA

12-7

Passage Comprehen.

5.3

70 (65-75)

BA

10-7

Applied Problems

5.3

67 (63-72)

BA

10-8

Writing Samples

6.9

83 (75-88)

NA

NA

III. Informal Assessment

The Qualitative Reading Inventory-5 (QRI-5) puts emphasis on students reading abilities
at all levels. This test was conducted to gage Connors current reading level as well as
his reading comprehension abilities. It was also administered to determine the
consistency with his reading results from the WJ III. Both assessment tools allow me to
see what I have learned about myself as someone who is assessing Connor as well as
gaining information on his academic levels. I was able to see which areas were run
smoothly, and which ones took a little more time and effort so I can better plan out my
assessment sessions with other students in the future.

Word Lists
Grade Levels
Pre-Primer

Primer

Number of Words Missed

14

15

Identified

13

16

15

11

10

Identified Automatically

11

13

11

Number Correct

13

19

16

12

10

The results of the Word Lists determined Connors current reading level is between a 4th
and 5th grade level. Many of the words missed in the 5th and 6th grade levels were
answered with I dont know.
Reading Passages
Narrative

Expository

Grade

WPM

Accuracy

Comp.

WPM

Accuracy

Comp.

3rd

88

95%

7/8 88%

95

95%

4/8 50%

4th

94

93%

5/8 62%

88

95%

3/8 38%

5th

73

91%

3/8 38%

100

92%

6/8 75%

The reading passages portion of this assessment clarified what we had thought to be a
struggle for Connor, which is his reading comprehension. He has shown progress in his
ability to recognize and know the meaning of new words yet continues to need assistance
to remember what he has read. His reading level and accuracy is in a high 4th to low 5th
grade level, while his reading comprehension is at a 3rd grade level. This will help
determine which texts will be appropriate for Connor so he can make further progress in
comprehension.

IV. Instruction Designed to Improve Literacy Achievement

Connor has been provided with graphic organizers for each chapter of the Hunger
Games. This is to assist him in his comprehension of the reading. He is very good at
understanding the main points but Connor struggles with digging a little deeper when
reading the story. Each chapter of the book is broken down into these categories
New Characters:
Important Events:
Locations:
My questions:
My predictions and review of pervious predictions:
How is Katniss feeling in this chapter?
These questions would be included in a chart that looks like this
Name

Date

Cluster/Chapter Web
Write your chapter in the center circle and details in the smaller circles.
Add circles as needed.

Topic
The topics for the circles that are included in this web are listed above.

Connor can easily determine when new characters and places appear in the book so these
categories are in his chapter organizers so he can always has confidence in himself when
he is reading. Finding the answers so easily should keep his motivation, which should

help when it comes time to developing his own questions and predictions for the story.
When it comes to asking his own questions or coming up with predictions for the chapter,
that can be more challenging for him. He is supposed to make predictions based on what
he has already read and he usually tries to make predictions out of the blue. For example,
in the 1st chapter, Connors prediction for the 2nd chapter is that Katniss will win the
Hunger Games. Obviously, this is not a prediction based on the material he read in the
first chapter because it does not specify in the first chapter what the games are. So while
he has his things to look for, he still needs to be guided through teaching as well.
Explaining to him that his prediction could possibly just be based on the title of the book
and the fact that he learned who the main character was is very clever but that isnt the
type of critical thinking I am looking for as a teacher. I will bring up an event in the book
for him to think about. In the first chapter, I might bring up that Katniss was hunting in
the woods and is very skilled with a bow. Then I would ask him based on the rest of the
chapter if he thinks that she ever might need to use that weapon again. That was the
question that got him thinking. If that one did not spark any thought, I would keep trying
until one did. Which it is why it is extremely important for me to be very familiar with
the material before he reads it. I believe the best graphic organizers are teachers
themselves, especially since I get to have a lot of one-on-one time with most of my
students on a daily basis.

V. Post-Instruction Results
The results of this instruction will continue to change and evolve. As of now, Connor has
definitely progressed in his skills as a reader and in comprehension. Based on his
individual work, I have noticed more detail in his questions as the weeks went by. When
we started, he would be giving me one word answers and the more he learned to include
more detail, the more familiar he became with the process. Where did Katnis live?
Connor would answer district 12. Where did the games take place? Two weeks later he
answered like thisIn a forest with lots of trees and rivers. I look at these answers as
great growth through this process.

VI. Final Reflections on the Process

I found that the biggest challenge of this process was accommodating the instruction to
meet Connors needs. Not because it couldnt be done, but because Connor needs so
much more assistance from just a physical standpoint than all the other kids in my class.
Connor is a great reader but it can take him up to ten minutes to write one sentence about
his reading. Connor also has more therapy than any other student in my class, so finding
time to work on all of his goals, including his reading comprehension goal, can be
difficult at times. During the week Connor has speech therapy twice a week for an hour,
occupational therapy once a week for an hour, physical therapy twice a week for an hour,
and psychotherapy twice a week for an hour. And considering that Cypress is a program
where our students are out in the community quite often, there is not too much time left
over for Connor to work on his academic goals since he works much slower than the rest
of the students. This is why organizing the chapters for Connor is extremely important. I
have found through our academic documentation that I have collected before using the
organizers, Connors progress with reading comprehension has not only sped up, it has
improved significantly.
I have also learned that I want to expand this process even more. I have slowly
introduced the chapter breakdowns for Connor and since they seem to have helped quite a
bit, I think breaking it down even more will be even more beneficial to him. He has
started to show he can use critical thinking when he is reading through the questions
provided for him, so I am excited to see what else he can accomplish when even more
assistance is provided for him.