EDU 345 SFA Tutoring Final Exam

Spring 2015
Cheryl J. Myers

Introduction of Tutee
My tutee, David, was a very hard-working first grade student. From the beginning, he
told me he liked to read and hoped we would be doing something fun. He was eager to learn and
tried very hard. He had an infectious smile and, given the chance, he would monopolize the
conversation with talk of his favorite technological devices. David did not live with both of his
parents. I am unsure of the exact living situation. I do know that he stayed part of the time with
each parent and part of the time with grandparents. Toward the end of our tutoring semester, his
mother had a baby. He was so happy to share this news with me. For a long time, David told me
his new brother did not have a name, but that his mother had told him he could name him. His
stories are one of the things I will miss most about him.
While I did need to help him refocus several times, David was never unruly or rude. He
was quite the opposite, in fact. He was polite, respectful, and had a marvelous sense of humor. I
remember on the way back to his classroom the first day we met, he asked me why we had to
work on things that were too easy for him. I told him we had to start easy, but that the questions
would gradually become more difficult. I told him I had to find out for myself what he did know
and what he did not know yet. With an adorable little smile on his face, he looked up at me and
said, Good luck with that. I know everything. It has truly been a joy to watch the development
of this young boy through this tutoring process.
Pre-assessment Results
Initially, I observed that Davids strengths were in Phonemic Awareness and Concepts of
Print. He was also quite strong with Letter Skills. In Word Skills, David did well with reading
using blending. However, he struggled a little with Sight Words, and he struggled a lot with his
spelling. As far as Tracking, while David would read from left to right, he struggled with one-to-

one correspondence. In Fluency, I noticed David had a hard time reading with expression.
Everything was very choppy and robotic. There was no inflection for question marks or
explanation points and no pauses for periods or commas. In this initial assessment, I observed
that David was able to read 46 words correct per minute (WCPM).
Re-assessment/Formative Results
During our tutoring sessions, David and I came up with certain goals we wanted him to
reach. One of these goals was for him to read using one-to-one correspondence. Another of our
goals was for him to show progress in the CVCe and CVVC patterns in words, as these patterns
seemed to be giving him the most trouble. During the re-assessment, David showed
improvement with Sight Words, and he was able to read many of the words in each set, never
missing more than five in a set. In Word Skills, David also showed improvement in reading
words using blending and reading words with base words, showing mastery in several new
sections of each. David showed improvement in his tracking ability. In this re-assessment, he
read without skipping words or losing his place. Davids fluency was progressing, as well. He
was reading with much more fluidity and increased his reading words correct per minute by 8
words. Davids spelling was still an area of concern. While this assessment showed improvement
with certain words we worked on throughout the tutoring process, David was still struggling with
the CVCe and CVVC combinations.
Summative Assessment Results
Due to uncontrollable circumstances, such as inclement weather and Davids absences, I
was unable to perform a summative assessment. Although not re-assessed at the end of the
semester, I did notice some improvements. For example, David was unable to spell rake since
the beginning of our tutoring sessions. The week before our last session, he did spell rake

correctly as well as other CVCe pattern words. Another area of improvement for David was in
adding suffixes to base words with the last consonant doubled. Following our second assessment,
we started working on this. He really seems to be understanding the need to double the
consonant before adding the suffix.
Final Recommendations for Tutee
I feel I made progress with David in the area of spelling. It was challenging at first, for
both of us. However, David could see the progress he was making, and it pleased him very much.
I am also pleased with how he better developed reading fluency. In the beginning, his reading
was choppy and awkward. I wanted to see and hear David read with expression. He said he loved
to read, and I could not help but think that would have changed if he did not improve his fluency.
If he continued to read in that fashion, he would not comprehend what it was he was reading. If
he could not understand what he was reading, he would not appreciate it, and it would have
become a boring and tedious task. I feel that through tutoring, that has changed.
I would like to have made more progress on vocabulary. If I had more time with David,
that would be our next focus. I do believe the reading challenges David has are developmental.
He is a little behind some of his classmates. However, I believe some of the delays could be
more socioeconomically or family-life related rather than a learning disability.
Two Significant Ideas That You Learned in This Experience
The first thing I am taking away from this tutoring experience is the absolute certainty
that this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. It is an amazing feeling to be there with a
child when the light bulb moment occurs. To be able to look into Davids eyes when he finally
understood something he had been working on for weeks is an experience like no other. I realize
every child is different and will progress at different rates. However, I am certain that every child

has the potential to learn, and I love being a part of that when it happens. The second thing I
learned from this experience is that there are not nearly as many tutors as there are students who
need tutoring. That saddens me greatly. I remember sitting in the school office as my coordinator
spoke with teachers, trying to decide which students would be chosen to have this opportunity.
So many students need help. Perhaps they do not need much, just a nudge to help them
through a particularly difficult area. I am convinced that this type of tutoring could make a huge
impact on literacy in our schools. All we need are the volunteers to fill those roles.