Student Overview

Belle is a cooperative and courteous young lady. She is 14 years old, and will
be a freshman at Whitnall High School in the fall. In eighth grade she was fully
mainstreamed in the general education setting. Belles documented Autism,
attention deficits and Speech/ Language impairment have prevented her from
interacting within the general curriculum at the same rate as her peers without
modifications to meet her needs.
View on Literacy
When asked about how she views literacy Belle stated, I dont think reading
is fun. I think its boring. I cant find any books I like. She also added how most
books she would like are movies anyways. Belle comes from a home where reading
is valued. She remembers being read to when she was little, and has seen her older
siblings and parents read books. Belle seemed to understand that reading is difficult
for her, which she attributes to not liking to read. Belle is definitely a child of the
technology age, she has a Kindle which is loaded with books. Her school district is
part of a 1:1 Ipad initiative, and for the past two school years she has had her won
Ipad mini to use. She described how for some classes in middle school the teachers
loaded some textbooks on the Ipads, but she preferred to use real textbooks
because then she could page back and forth.
Assessments and Analysis
Belle was assessed using the QRI for narrative and expository text, read a
passage for a running record, was given a spelling assessment using Words Our
Way, and gave a writing sample.
Interview
What is your view of literacy at home?
I dont think reading is fun. I think its boring. I cant find any books I like.
How do you think you read?
I think I read okay. When I rush I miss words and I lose focus easily.
How much time do you spend readingalone, together, aloud, listening to reading?
At school I read when I have too. I understand books better when someone
else reads it to me. Now that I am at home for the summer, I dont read much
at all.
Did your mom and dad read to you when you were younger?
I remember reading before bed. I also see my dad read, and I know my older
sisters like it.
What kind of books do you have at home, do you have books?

I have books on One Direction and Justin Beiber. I know there are lots of
books around. Some are picture baby books, some downstairs are more like
chapter books. Those are the books my sisters would read.
Do you have technology that you could read off of?
I have a Kindle that I have some books on. I only read them when I have too.
For school we all got IPad minis to use for our school work. For some classes
we have our textbooks on the IPad. My teachers sent home real text books
home for me to use when I do my homework though.
Which do you prefer?
I prefer the real textbooks for homework. That way I can turn the pages back
and forth.
Running Record
For Belles running record, I had her read the first two paragraphs of The
Hunger Games. I decided to use a familiar text for Belle so that she could feel more
successful with her reading skills. She has read the Hunger Game trilogy with the
help of in- home tutors or her parents.

Running Record Analysis Continued

A running record is mean to provide an assessment of text reading. It is mean
to see if the reader is attending to the visual detail of words, spaces, letters and he
sounds that are represented (Clay pg 3) It is meant to indicate what a student does
with a text and provide some idea of what skills should be focused on in future
instruction. While analyzing Belles running record, the count of the running words is
100. The ratio of errors is the number of errors divided by the running words. Belles
ratio is illustrated in Box 1, her error rate is 1 error for every 10 words. Belles
accuracy rate is illustrated in box 2 by taking the number of words and subtracting
it by the errors divided by the number of words, and she is calculated to have a 90%
accuracy rate in this particular text. Finally her self-correction ratio is calculated by
taking the number of self- corrections and dividing it by the errors and selfcorrections added together. This is illustrated in box 3, and Belle self-corrected
herself one time for every 29 words.
Belles accuracy rate shares with her instructional team that this text is right
on the boarder of a just- right text and a text that would be too difficult for her. If
accuracy falls below 90% the reader tends to lose support of the meaning of text.
With the prior knowledge of understanding that Belle has read these books with
adult support, I do believe she can handle text of this level.
Box 1

Ratio of errors
to Running
Words
10/ 100= 10
1:10

Box 2

Accuracy Rate
100- (10/100) x
(100/1) = 90%

Box 3

Self- correction
Ratio
4/ (10+4) = .29
1:29

Qualitative Reading Inventory- 5

Word Lists- Belle was given the sixth grade level word list. As anticipated
this was her independent reading level. Belle was able to automatically
identify 17 out of 20 words, which means she was able to read them within
one second. Although, this list is
in isolation, and does not
represent a natural reading
situation, it was a way to match
Belle up with her reading
passages.

Miscue Analysis- Belle was assessed using a level 6 narrative titled Abraham
Lincoln, and a level 5 expository text titled How does your Body take in Oxygen. I
had an understanding of what Belle had studied in her social studies classes the
previous year, and knew she had some previous knowledge about Abraham Lincoln.
When I asked her the concept questions she was able to give a very broad
representation of who Abraham Lincoln was and some events in his life. For
example who Abraham Lincoln was, Belles response was A president. When Belle
read the passage it was observed that she read very quickly. She did not use any
marker, such as her finger to mark where she was in the text. Self- corrections
where done when she would lose her spot, and go back to reread the sentence.
When she came upon a word that she did not recognize such as Emancipation
Proclamation, her automatic response was to skip it. The total number of miscues
(total accuracy) for Abraham Lincoln was 24 errors, and the number of meaningchange miscues (total acceptability) was 5 errors. The number of accuracy miscues
put her in the stage, and her acceptability total puts her in the independent stage.
Belles mispronunciations were analyzed, not including insertions and omissions.
According to the QRI-5 this is because insertions represent only a small part of
miscues, and are only used when the student is trying predicting what will happen
next (pg 66). Omissions are not included in the analysis because they often reflect a
loss of place by the reader, or represent a word the reader does not want to try. Out
of the seven pronunciation miscues that Belle made, 57% of them were in similar
letter- sound patterns and 43% changed the meaning of the text while 57% did not.
Her results show that she is clearly paying attention to letter and sound patterns in
decoding words. That being said, she cannot definitely identify some letter patterns
so some phonics assessment is necessary (pg 69).

Comprehension
When Belle finished the reading of
Abraham Lincoln she was asked to
retell the passage. There were 47 ideas that were listed, and Belle was able
to recall 18 (38%). Although retelling is not used to determine independent,
instructional and frustration levels, it does provide valuable information with
implications for instruction (pg 72). She could remember that Abraham ran
for senate, and lost. She recalled that he wanted slavery to end, and after
losing in the senate race he ran for President. Belle retold that when Abraham
Lincoln did become president a war broke out and it was called The Civil War.
She could state that the resolution was the war eventually ended and the
southern states lost and slavery was not allowed
anymore. It is clear that Belle used her prior knowledge
to help her in her retelling. She knew the goal of the
passage, the sequential events, and the resolution. She
needs to focus more on the setting and background of
the passage, and keeping her thoughts organized.
While answering the questions for Abraham
Lincoln, Belle had more difficulty answering explicit
questions, or those that came right from the text.
Again, it was evident that she was using her prior
knowledge to answer the questions. Belles number of
correct explicit questions was 2, and implicit 4 were
correct. Her total score was 6 out of 8 (75%) questions
which puts her in the instructional level of
comprehension.

Spelling Inventory:
Belle was given the Words Their Way upper- level
spelling inventory. The upper level inventory is
typically used for upper elementary, middle and high
school students (pg 30). The word list were chosen
because they help identify what students in the
syllables and affixes and derivational relations stages
are doing in their spelling (pg 30). Belles power score
was 10 correct out of the first 21 words. I made the
decision to stop the at words 21 (which was
monarchy) because she started to ask questions such
as What does that mean? and I could observe that
out of the last six words she spelt five incorrect.
Belles strengths were highlighted in the syllable
structure of words, she correctly identified the
inflected endings and syllable juncture and well as
unaccented final syllables in all but one word.
However, the final words which went into derivational
relations (confidence, fortunate, circumference,
civilization and monarchy) were all misspelled.
Because Belle got these words wrong, it can be determined that is where Belle
reached her frustration level. In planning for instruction for Belle it is important to
review vowels and complex consonants in the middle to late developmental stage,
and well as give direct instruction on derivational relations, especially in words that
have reduced vowel in unaccented syllables and Greek and Latin Elements.
It has been determined that Belles overall spelling stage puts her at late
middle stage. Within word patters she scored 77% in the middle stages, while falling
to 43% when spelling words moved to including complex consonants in the late
word pattern stage. She has strengths with deciphering words by using syllables
and affixes. She scored 100% in words with inflected endings and syllable structure,
86% with words that had unaccented final syllables, and 100% in words with
common affixes. As words moved into derivational units, Belle started to struggle.
When words had reduced vowels in unaccented syllables, Belle got 0 words correct
out of 2. Belle started to use phonetic spelling when Greek and Latin elements were
added into words.

Writing Sample
When asked to create a paragraph, Belles immediate question was what it
should be about. I told her anything she wanted, and she was still stuck on what to
put down on the paper. Belle has always been described as a creative child, but
when talking to Belle she often gets lost in her ideas and cannot figure out how to
adequately express herself. I gave the prompt for her to share an ideal summer day
and immediately she started writing. After a few sentences she expressed that she
was out of ideas, and I continued to encourage her to think about what else she
could say. She wrote four sentences, starting it with an opener and finishing with a
wrap up conclusion sentence. While I was observing her writing I found that she was
not using patterned sentence and was using her own experience in her writing.

Belle fits into the sentence writing stage of development. She can construct
words into sentence formation, as well as writing in readable penmanship. She uses
some punctuation and spells words she knows correctly. Belle remained on topic,
and used a beginning and ending sentence in her paragraph.
It is clear by the scribbled words that she is more comfortable spelling words
she already knows, and does not feel ready to stretch out unfamiliar words. Using
the guidelines of the Frontier School Division Writing Continuum, Belle uses some
aspects of the developing writing stage. She writes words with spaces, she forms
letters legibly, using upper and lower case letters when appropriate. Belle uses
punctuation at the end of sentences, and writes familiar words correctly. Some
areas of focus would be to help Belle expand her writings with strategies to spell

new words. She is able to organize her thoughts orally, but would benefit from the
use of graphic organizers/ scaffolded writing templates.

Strengths and Areas of Focus

Reading- Phonemic Awareness or Word Analysis
Strength: Belle has strengths with deciphering words by using syllables and
affixes. She scored 100% in words with inflected endings and syllable
structure, 86% with words that had unaccented final syllables, and 100% in
words with common affixes
Area of Focus: When words had reduced vowels in unaccented syllables, Belle
got 0 words correct out of 2. Belle started to use phonetic spelling when
Greek and Latin elements were added into words.
Reading- Fluency
Strength: Belle can read text fluently enough to comprehend main ideas of a
passage.
Area of Focus: Belle needs to slow down when she is reading, and use
markers to keep her place as she reads.
Reading Comprehension
Strength: Belle is able to use prior knowledge to help her with new
information.
Area of Focus: Belle speeds through reading and sometimes misses key
elements of a text.
Writing- Spelling
Strength: Belle has strengths with deciphering words by using syllables and
affixes. She scored 100% in words with inflected endings and syllable
structure, 86% with words that had unaccented final syllables, and 100% in
words with common affixes.
Area of Focus: As words moved into derivational units, Belle started to
struggle. When words had reduced vowels in unaccented syllables, Belle got
0 words correct out of 2. Belle started to use phonetic spelling when Greek
and Latin elements were added into words.
Writing- Composition
Strength: Belle writes words with spaces, she forms letters legibly, using
upper and lower case letters when appropriate. Belle uses punctuation at the
end of sentences, and writes familiar words correctly.
Area of Focus: Belle needs expand her writings with strategies to spell new
words. She is able to organize her thoughts orally, but would benefit from the
use of graphic organizers/ scaffolded writing templates

Planning

Belles strengths and areas of focus are the driving factor in the planning process. I
looked at Common Core standards to align with her needs and came up with lessons
that would benefit her and the rest of the class. For all my lessons I relied heavily on
teacher lead mini lessons, where the instructor would model the appropriate
strategy and then the students would spend most of their class time putting the
strategy into practice. I also included lessons that could be accompanied by graphic
organizers to help students organize their thoughts.

Reflection and Future Goals

Goals for Instructors: When reading classroom literature, Belle will require
supports and cues to summarize what she has read with specific details while
adhering to the sequence of the story. Belle benefits from visuals to support her
comprehension and understanding of material that she has read, and would heavily
benefit from audio text. When writing Belle benefits from adult support and
conferences to organize her thoughts. Frequent check ins with Belle are crucial
during the writing process to keep her on track. Just like with reading, Belle benefits
from visual supports.
Recommendations for Parents: Belles parents already understand the
importance of reading, they just need some strategies to help motivate her to
practice reading. Belles parents should find text that is at her level of reading, that
way she can feel successful as she goes. If Belle seems interested in a higher level
text, there could be some shared reading between parents and Belle which would
ensure discussion and understanding. Another resource would be an audio book
that Belle could listen to, and follow along with the text.
Reflection: As a future special education teacher, I believe these assignment
helped me understand the intense, but beneficial process of assessing, analyzing
and planning for students with literacy needs. I believe I exhibited Wisconsin
Teaching Standard 2: Teachers know how students grow by showing an
understanding grow and mature at different rates. I was able to find the assessment
level that was right for my student and plan for her needs. I showed that I can
develop a respectful understanding for my students strengths and weaknesses
(CEC 3). I was mindful of the different ways students learn, interact with their
environment bot in and out of the school setting. During the assessment and
planning process, I used observation and data collection techniques to facilitate the
best lessons for my students individual learning needs and apply them to how I
would run a whole class lesson. I developed plans for optimal student development
(Alverno Graduate Ability- Diagnosis). I believe this project was very beneficial to
me as a future educator.

Sources

Clay, Marie M. Running Records: For Classroom Teachers. Portsmouth, NH:

Heinemann, 2000. Print.
Leslie, Lauren, and JoAnne Caldwell. Qualitative Reading Inventory-5. Boston, MA:
Allyn and Bacon, 2010. Print.
Templeton, Shane, Francine R. Johnston, Donald R. Bear, Marcia Invernizzi, and
Donald R. Bear. Words Their Way: Words Sorts for Derivational Relations Spellers.
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall, 2006. Print.