Kayla Harrison

Lessons 13 & 14: November 2 and 4, 2015

School Reading Problems
Dr. Madden
Reflection #7
Objective

Lesson #14: Dawson will use Fluency

Strips with sentences from familiar books
to accurately read complete sentences with
expression.

Teaching Strategy
Fluency
Dawson will be presented with a bag full
of Fluency Strips containing complete
sentences with no punctuation. Tutors
explained the rules: each player, one at
time, would pick a sentence strip, the
person to their left would pick a
punctuation card and then the player would
have to read the sentence using that
punctuation.
To model, tutors went first. Rachael
picked a sentence strip, and Kayla (I)
picked a punctuation for Rachael to read
the sentence with.

Comprehension

Outcomes
(Descriptive evidence objective was met)
Since Dawson has done this activity
before, he met the objective. He had so
much fun with this activity because he
loves using the punctuation cards when he
speaks. Last time we did this activity with
him, he requested that we do it again. So,
this time instead of using third grade
fluency phrases he should know (since he
read them with accuracy), we used
sentences from books weve been reading
in our sessions.
One thing that surprised me, but also made
me feel like his comprehension skills are
improving, was that during this activity,
one of the sentences was from the bat book
he read a few sessions ago and he was able
to identify that the sentence was referring
to bats. The sentence talked about their
hands. I was so proud of him for
remembering that from reading.

Lesson #13: Dawson will be able compare

and contrast two animals using two similar
informational texts.

We told Dawson that he would be

comparing and contrasting two texts. We
also explained that comparing and
contrasting involved finding the
differences and similarities between the
two texts. I asked him if he had ever done
a Venn Diagram before, and since he
hasnt, I explained what each of the circles
meant.

After reading, Dawson was told to us all of

the information he learned through the two
texts and complete the Venn Diagram.
Before he did that, we modeled a few
examples. During the activity, we
prompted him with questions if he got
stuck.

Lesson #13: After talking about his

Halloween experience, Dawson will write
down in a journal entry all the events that
happened that day.

Writing
We first asked Dawson about how his
Halloween was. We had him tell us in
detail everything he did that day. Then we
informed Dawson that he would be writing
another Dear Journal entry on the
whiteboard, like the one from a previous
session. We verbally brainstormed aloud
with him some ways he could begin his
entry. Then, we asked him to finish the

Dawson had never seen a Venn Diagram,

which sort of surprised me. When I
explained what each circle was for, he
seemed to be confused, so I reiterated a
few times. He read the texts with no
problems, however, he took about 10
minutes to read one of the books because
he continued to tell us facts that he knew
about the animals featured in the book.
One thing I realized is that the book that he
was reading was too long for this activity.
It was the correct reading level, but it was
a longer book.
Dawson was able to recount facts about
each animal he was comparing (penguins
and hummingbirds) that was different from
the other. The thing he struggled with was
their similarities. For most of the answers
to how they were similar, Rachael and I
had to prompt him with questions like,
Do they look similar? or How do they
have babies?
This writing activity was a little more
difficult to have Dawson complete. He
didnt feel like writing anything this
session, and kept complaining that his
hands hurt. He didnt want to tell us about
Halloween, and he had difficulty writing
down what he was telling us. I think he
just didnt want to write at all.

entry with a few more details about that

day.

With the things he did write, his spelling is

improving with all of the word study
weve been doing, which is a great thing.
He also is showing progress with where to
break up ideas so he doesnt create run on
sentences. There was a part where he
wrote about a man that he saw that ran
toward him with a fake knife. Dawson
began to write another sentence without
finishing the first one, so Rachael and I
pointed out that he should end the first
sentence without beginning the second
one. He didnt seem to understand, until
Rachael reread his sentences out loud.
Then, he said, Oh, okay. I got it.
*One thing I have learned through this
whole experience so far is how difficult it
can be to teach (tutor) a child with ADHD.
It is extremely challenging. It is definitely
a great learning experience, and not a bad
one! I absolutely love tutoring Dawson, he
is an amazing child. However, some
things are difficult on days when he
doesnt feel good or doesnt have his
medicine, even if hes done them before or
he normally enjoys them.

Lesson #14: Dawson will demonstrate his

knowledge of -ie words through a word
sort.

Word Study
Since Dawson learned the long e word
patterns last session. Rachael began by
reviewing. She wrote words on the board
that contained the word patterns that make
the long e sound. Then, she asked Dawson

Dawson read all the words with accuracy,

using his knowledge of the long e patterns.
He was able to identify the patterns in
each, as well. The only thing that was
difficult during this part of the lesson was

to read the words aloud and underline the

word pattern that makes the long e sound.
After identifying the word patterns,
Rachael informed Dawson that he was
going to complete a word sort using words
that contain the long e patterns. She asked
him to read the word card aloud before
beginning the sort.

that he wanted to keep drawing arrows

under each pattern and it took up a lot of
the time. Rachael tried to redirect him, but
he wouldnt let her continue teaching. It
was difficult to sit there and not help her
redirect him. I couldnt help teach the
lesson because we were filming this
session, and we each have to teach our
own lesson.
Another thing was that because he took so
long to read the book during
Comprehension, our time was cut
extremely short for Word Study. Dawson
was unable to complete the sort because of
so little time remaining. The only positive
thing was that he was able to review the
word patterns once more.
*This session was a little more challenging
than the others, especially because we
were filming. It was a lot of pressure to try
to get everything to go smoothly, although
I know not every session will go smoothly!
Hopefully, next session will go a little
better.

Evidence from Lessons 13 & 14

Venn Diagram

Halloween Dear Journal

Long E Pattern Review