Karley Herbert

EDEL 311-1001
28 April 2016
ASW
The student I chose is JS. She is currently our lowest student in all area; math, reading,

and writing. She has already been retained in first grade once, yet she is still struggling just the

same. I would think, that since this is material she has already learned, she would be doing better

than the students who are learning this for the first time, but that is not the case. She has a lot of

issues with writing number and letters backwards, not understanding effective ways to problem

solve, and she is not able to read or write complete sentences. Although I have seen her grow

leaps and bounds throughout the school year, and despite her being in multiple interventions and

tutoring sessions, she is simply not at the grade level standard.

My goal for working with JS is for her to become closer to hitting our target grade levels.

I know she will not be on grade level, but I can hope that she will become close as possible. In

math, I want her to be able to solve problems using multiple strategies and write her numbers

correctly. For reading, I want her to move up in her reading level and be able to read an entire

book (low level) on her own. For writing, my goal is for her to be able to write a complete

sentence, even if it is simple, with the correct punctuation, spaces, and capitals, which are 1st

grade non-negotiables. She has made so many improvements within the past year I have worked

with her, but I know she has so many more to go and I know she can do it!
For my first lesson, math, I was teaching the class about greater than and less than. We

did a few examples as a class with our whiteboards at the meeting area and then we moved to our

seats and worked independently on a worksheet. The worksheet involved the students comparing

2 numbers, both three digit and two digit and they would have to cut and glue the appropriate

sign (< or >). Immediately, JS had trouble. Students were finishing their worksheets and moving
onto centers and she was still stuck on number 1.So, my initial teaching method was an I do, we

do, you do method in which I gradually released students to work on their own.
Three ways in which I could re-teach this lesson to JS would be using manipulatives,

pulling her aside for 1 on 1 interaction, and with a visual aide (mouth with teeth/number line). I

chose to pull JS to our back table and work with her 1 on 1 the following day. First of all since

all of the other students were finished and began to work on their math center, which they all

know how to do independently, I had ample time to work with JS without interruptions, secondly

because the numbers were so large, using manipulatives were not so easily available and lastly

because although a number line would be visually appealing and easy to follow, on our test, there

is not one available, so I did not want her to rely on it. JS and I worked over the worksheet

together. I chose to have Journey redo the worksheet her classmates finished the day before,

because it is graded and I did not want her to miss that opportunity. Instead of just having her try

to look at the two numbers and decide which one is greater, I had her go through each individual

number in the larger number and compare them. For example, 117 to 119. Both numbers start

with 1, so neither is greater. Next, both numbers have a 1 in the tens place, so neither is greater.

Finally, one number ends in a 7 and the other a 9, so I asked her which one was bigger, she said

the 9. So, we came to the conclusion that 119 was greater. She then placed the less than symbol

on the problem, because 117 is less than 119. We did this for the other 11 problems. Having her

being able to just isolate 1 number helped her greatly because she didnt have to focus on the

whole large number, which I think is where her confusion was. She did not struggle with what

way to face the symbol, it was in finding the difference in the numbers. Even though, by the end

she was getting the hang of it, we still went through every problem, 1 by 1, and did the same

method in order for it to be engrained into her head. Being able to pull her aside in a 1 on 1
setting and focus solely on her it was very beneficial for her. She was actual able to complete all

of the work and by the end she did not need much guidance.
For my reading lesson, we were learning about point of view. I decided to read the class

Goldilocks and the Three Bears and then have them decide which character said what quote. I

told them all the goal before I read the book, that way, they would pay attention to the story

carefully and already have the quotes in mind. Once I read the story, we went back to our seats

and looked over the predetermined quotes. We did the first 2 together as a class, to establish the

setting, and then the students worked with a partner to decide where the other 9 quotes went.

This teaching model is cooperative learning because the students are able to work together to

find the answer.

JS was very engaged when I was reading the story, but when it came time for the

worksheet, she got flustered. Even though I had already read the quotes to the class, she still

struggled to discover what they said. Instead of reading them to her and her partner, I had her try

to read them. I made her sound out the words the best she could, and I would only help her if she

was close to the word or on the right track. However, even after she read the quotes, she still

could not come to a decision as to where they went. The three possible strategies I could use to

reteach her point of view are giving her the resource to guide her (the book), having a class

discussion about the quotes, and using puppets for the specific characters. I thought JS would

benefit most from being able to use the book as a resource. Yes, none of the other students got

that luxury, but I thought it was good for JS because she would have to re-read the book or use

her detective skills to find the quote and who said it. Some of the quotes did not flat out say

baby bear said, so I thought this was good for her. When she had the resource, she was able

to use the illustrations to fins the plot on each page, and see if that related to any of the quotes.

For example, she saw a broken chair, knew it must go with the quote Someone has sat in my
chair, and they broke it. Once she was able to use this resource, it was easy for her to find the

quotes. This helped me to learn that she is more of a visual learner and needs things to be

blatantly in front of her to understand. This is good to know, because now I can make

accommodations in my lesson plans for her.

The third lesson I taught was in writing. We are learning about opinion writing and we

had just began the unit. We first started out making an anchor chart for opinion sentence starters

(I like, I fell, my favorite, etc.). Once we made this, I asked the students to give me a few

opinions on random things. Next, we moved to our desk for the teaching strategy of a table top

blog activity. I had 4 topics (one per table) and the students were going to use the sentence

started they had just learned and write their opinion, in complete sentences, about the topic at

hand. The topics were holidays, reading, eating vegetables, and homework. They were all given

5 minutes at a topic. Once they wrote their opinion, they had to underline the sentence starter

they used and check for non-negotiables.

JS was actually able to put the sentence starter in place, but after that was her difficulty.

She could not formulate a sentence. If I asked her what her opinion was, she could tell me, but

when it came time to write, she could not translate words to paper. Her sentences would be

things such as I like homework because smart. Although those words are all correct, it is not a

correct sentence and it does not make sense. I would tell her to re-read her work, but still no

changes. Three strategies I could use to retreat this is have her write many sentences using the

sentence starters we came up with, model my own opinion on a topic and have her mimic it, and

working with a white board to practice her basic mechanics.

For my future classes, I will use the ASW process in order to assess all students. I will

notice which students are not succeeding in a specific area, and come up with new ways to teach

them so that they do understand. Not every student learns the same, so it is important to have a

repertoire of teaching strategies so that there is something for each type of learner, especially for
those students who are struggling. Being prepared for possibly difficulties on each lessons and

being aware of how to problem solve is a great. Since I teach first grade, assesses students needs

early on is crucial in order for students to succeed later on in the future. Figuring out how

students learn early on will only benefit them in the future and make sure that the standards that

are required are taught and mastered by the time they are needed. In my future class, I will

incorporate the ASW into my routine because I want to be able to have information to show

parents and my administrators of how I am going above and beyond to help struggling students,

as well as information on what the student struggles with so that the parents may be able to help

out too. What I like about the ASW is that it offers more than 1 option to reteach, because

sometimes, it takes multiple attempts to teach something until a student finally understands the

material. Sometimes many students may need to be retaught a lesson, but not all of them will

need to be/can be retaught in the same way, so it is important to have many strategies in order to

helps the students in the best way possible for them. I will have specific strategies for each

subject that way, whoever is struggling, in whichever subject, there will hopefully be something

that will work for each student.

I think that the method of teach, check, re-teach, and re-check is very valuable strategy

because it ensures understand for all students, and not just a few students who are more likely

than not, going to understand the lesson. It allows for the typical lesson to be taught and checked,

but it also allows for the opportunity for those students who are struggling to be retaught so that

they are not left in the dust while the other students move on. But with this, is also does not

require the entire class to stay on a lesson they understand. Therefore, it is beneficial for not only

the struggling students, but for the rest of the class who is ready to advance as well. This method

is important for student achievement because it allows students to be retaught lessons in which

they did not understand as opposed to being left to fend for themselves. They are able to be re-
taught in a way that is beneficial to them and their specific learning styles and needs. For

example, they may not do well in a group setting, so being re-taught in a 1 on 1 setting might

help them to understand the concept. Or, if they do not do well with numbers, but when they are

able to use manipulatives, they get the answers immediately. Like I said before, all people learn

differently and at a different pace, so being able to reteach those who need it allows for that

differentiation and extra practice some students may need. The number one concern for teachers

needs to be students achievement, and not just one student, the entire class. So if all of the class

is succeeding and there is one student falling behind, it is important to make sure that students

gets as close as they can to where everyone else is, and to do this, sometimes different lessons

may need to be taught, checked, re-taught, and re-checked.

Overall, I think JS definitely benefited from being retaught certain lessons. I dont think it

was ever done to her before in her previous years, which explains why she was retained. IF she is

able to be retaught lessons to ensure she understands, then I think she will be a lot more

successful. Of course, it may not always be possible or easy, but I think the more frequently it is

done, the higher the success rate will be. JS results definitely showed that it was beneficial for

her, and I know that it would help any other struggling students as well.

Math Lesson
Reading Lesson
Writing Lesson
(before)
(after)