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Michala Manfredo
Dr. Sovis
ENG 315
26 November 2018
Part 1: Kidwatching Description and Reflection

Understanding How Language & Literacy Develop

I am conducting my field placement at a local elementary school in Mount Pleasant,

Michigan. The classroom I am in consist of roughly twenty-four 5th grade students who are eager

and excited to learn. To find a focal student within the classroom, I first observed and took note

of which children latched on to me and then went about strategically placing myself with those

students. The student I ended up picking is a little boy who seems to have some learning

disabilities present. He has difficulties paying attention, sitting still, following directions, and

completing task. The class I work with switches between two rooms depending on the subject

during the day, so I only see student A interact with one of his teachers. Student A often has a

difficult time adjusting to the transitions and his desk is always complete chaos. His relationships

shift day to day depending on how he is feeling and acting. Sometimes the relationship between

him and his peers/teachers can be hostile because he often doesn’t follow directions and gets off

task. On other days, he is all over both his teacher and peers, constantly asking them for hugs or

some sort of affection. Outside of school, student A enjoys attending cub scouts and playing

different video and computer games. At home he has four siblings, ranging from the age of 3

months all the way up to age 10. Within school, he loves to write! He gets extremely excited and

the information begins to pour out of him. Student A also enjoys working on a laptop

Chromebook computer that the students often get to use at school. He knows exactly how to use
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it, and what tools are on it that will help him. Through guidance and support, he will be able to

build on his strengths of using technology and writing.

Interacting with Children

My interactions I have with my focal child are perfectly structured into the writing time

within the class. We usually work together, one on one, either outside in the hallway or at the

back table. Student A always comes up to me as I’m circling the room and asks me if I will work

with him. We then decide where to work depending on what the teacher wants. Through my

observations and our interactions, I have realized that he learns best when he has the chance to

have one on one interaction with a teacher. While he might not always need direct guidance, he

feels more comfortable with me (or a teacher) sitting right there with him. As mentioned above,

he tends to get off task, so I can quickly prompt questions to get him back on track when we are

working together. As I continue to get to know this student, I will remember the importance of

also sharing pieces of my life with him and all the students within the class. Children at his age

love to talk about themselves and share their stories, so if I do something as small as share what I

ate this morning, they will most likely tell me their favorite breakfast foods or what they ate. I

can use this technique to learn more and more about each student on both a personal and an

academic level.

Observing or Documenting Children’s Knowledge

The specific example of work that I have observed the most throughout my time in the

field placement would be the student’s personal narratives. The ideas for their narratives were

first constructed on a thought map, and then a specific story was chosen. Next, they completed a

story map to help guide our story. Finally, the students worked to write a rough draft and later
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went back and worked on intros, conclusions, and elaboration. Then they published their stories

by typing them on Chromebooks. While conducting my focal student’s paper, I came to

realization that he struggled with punctuation more than anything. Their story ended up being

nearly 3 pages and it all consisted of one sentence! If there was punctuation, it was just thrown

into the middle of the sentence. My focus student loves adding detail and descriptive words to

the story to make it come to life, but often just threw an exclamation point directing in front of

and after the word. For example, in his story he talks about shouting and he wrote it “!!AHHH!!”

While this is a minor mistake that we worked through, it is still outside of what is “correct.” This

example shows tons about where student A is at in his language development. He knows to

emphasize dialog to make it sound as if the character was speaking it. He also knows that it isn’t

correct when he puts periods in the middle of the sentences, but he still proceeds to do it. I would

read back sentences to him and he recognized something was off because I would pause at the

periods, but then still added them in incorrect places.

Through watching this process take place, I have realized that student A enjoys talking

through things. He enjoys talking to his peers, teachers, and even himself. While writing his

narrative, he talked himself through the whole thing. This allowed him to recall the events and

thoroughly explain them in writing. He seems most comfortable when he is sitting alone, with

just one adult or peer. In group settings he becomes very disconnected and withdrawn from the

situation. He likes to work alone, but still have a teacher present just in case he needs someone to

help him. When the teacher is talking, student A doesn’t pay attention as much as his teachers

would like. They often come over and direct him to focus in on directions or lecture. He is most

successful at getting work done when he is working with one person, in a separated environment

from the rest of the class. While there are many quality reasons that student A should get pulled
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out to work with just a single teacher, there are also benefits of him staying in the whole class

instruction. This would be his greatest area of support needed.

Engaging in Self Evaluation

My part within the puzzle of facilitating meaningful interactions with my focus child are

extremely beneficial and crucial to him. I didn’t realize this until my focus child persisted on

working with me. He explained to me that I “actually help him and get it.” My interactions don’t

give him an easy way out and do the work for him, but rather they push him to work beyond

limits he thought he could. I prompt questions without being too pushy and allow for individual

work as well. We thrive the most in situations where it is just him and I, but we can still get work

done within the large classroom community. The opportunities I provide can be bias because I

focus on things that I think are important things to work on, such as the punctuation example

noted above. This may not be a high order concern to him, but I see it as one. So, I must find the

balance between critiquing things that I believe need to be worked on and just providing support.

Using Evaluation to Inform Instruction

When I think of where I can go next, I believe it is best to focus on a similar path we are

already on. I often feel out of place instructing another teacher’s student, but I get the most one

on one writing time with my student. This makes me feel comfortable to continue the work we

have been doing and hopefully start progressing toward a common goal. The topics or concerns

that I will intend on working through as we continue will have to do with sentence structure and

overall organization.
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Part 2: Conference Reflective Report

Context

I performed a one on one conference with my focal student who is currently in 5th grade

at a local elementary school in town. The students in this class are currently working on personal

narratives and are near the end. The final step was to rewrite your story, so it is neat, clear of

errors, and organized before publishing. My focal student was having a difficult time with

sentence structure (run on sentences) and overall organization within their paper. I decided to

take this opportunity to slow down and really focus in on these issues through a conference.

Conference

To begin the conference, I asked student A some opening questions. These questions

followed the guideline of “refresh me on what you’re working on” and “what stage are you at?”

From there, the student reminded me of his personal narrative story and then explain that he is at

the point where he must combine it and rewrite before publishing. He explained that there are

simply no issues wrong with his writing, so he didn’t understand why he had to rewrite it before

typing. I looked at his writing and realized that there were paragraph symbols all over the page in

the teachers writing. I asked him if he knew what these symbols were or what they meant. He

told me that those were cent signs (¢) and that he didn’t know why they were there. I then

explained to him what those were paragraph signs and that those mean that we need to create a

new starting point for this specific section of writing. He was confused because he thought that

would cause a “break” in his story. I agreed with him that if you put new paragraphs in random

places it does create a break, but if you place them strategically it won’t. To help him grasp the

concept better, I used one of his favorite books as a model text. We opened the book and

examined it and he recognized that there were indentations signaling new paragraphs all over the
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place. He even read one of the transitions a few times to really focus in on this concept. Next, we

applied this idea to his piece of writing. We covered up the already existing paragraph signs, so

he could understand why they were there rather than just being told that it was supposed to be

there. We proceeded on by reading through his story and then deciphering together where a

paragraph should be, and they all matched up to where the teacher had already placed them. By

the end of this 10-minute conversation, he was excited to rewrite his story because now “the

spacing would make it look cool!”

Reflection

I was shockingly proud of myself after this conference. While it was just something quick

and to the point, I felt as if I took the concepts I learned in class and applied them in a real

situation. I could tell that they student didn’t just tell me he understood, but he actually did get it.

I was most proud of my use of a model text because that is what really helped him grasp the idea.

I still struggled with the idea that I am teaching another teacher’s student, but then I realized that

I helped him understand something that he had not yet known. If anything, I made the teachers

job just slightly easier! The length of the conference was another thing I struggled with. As

mentioned before, student A often has difficulties with sitting and listening for long periods of

time. I tried to make the conference short enough, so I wouldn’t lose his attention but long

enough to still cover everything I wanted. I felt as if I lost his attention sometimes, but I was

always able to pull him back in. I will continue to have these conferences and build my

confidence in conducting them.

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Evaluation/Extension

The key practice that I am following the most while performing conferences is the idea

that I am basing my conferences off things that will help the student grow as a writer instead of

fixing this specific piece of writing. This conference addressed an issue that will improve the

quality of his work tremendously as it goes on. While there may be spelling errors or punctuation

mistakes here and there, the story will follow a structure that allows it to be more readable. This

key practice will allow me to remember that I don’t always need to get stuck up on low order

concerns, but instead focus in on large topics that will improve his confidence and skills as a

writer.
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To: Dr. Sovis

From: Michala Manfredo
Date: November 21st, 2018
Re: Focal Student’s Writing Capabilities

Introduction
The main piece of writing that my focus child has been working on over the course of this

semester fell into the personal narrative unit. To begin the unit, student A participated in all the

activities and assignments with the whole class, but eventually most of his work turned into one

on one sessions. Through these interactions, the student was able to grab a better understanding

of what was supposed to be completed by him. This allowed him to become a better writer for

the future because he properly understood the purpose of completing each task. One thing that

student A worked on specifically was elaboration. We took pieces in his story that felt as if they

were just inserted in and pulled them out to develop them more. Besides this example, Student A

worked through the unit at the same pace as the class, just in a different setting.

Description of Findings

Student A chose to write about a specific time when he went to cub scouts camp. He began by

starting the story off with the morning he woke up to head to camp and ended the story with a

life lesson he had learned while there. The visual imagery throughout his story was strong. He

used many descriptive words that allowed readers to feel as if they were placed into the camp

themselves. The elaboration that was worked on at the beginning of the unit was added in the

story in the perfect places, and it let the story flow together. The title was simplistic but provided

readers with an idea of what was going to happen next.

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Interpretations

As mentioned above, Student A does a phenomenal job with bringing visual imagery into his

writing. He uses different techniques, such as dialog, to make his story come to life. Something

that will need to be worked on as he continues to write would be stronger sentence structure.

While he has many ideas to put forward, they often get lost in the process of transferring them

from his brain to the paper. My focal student loves writing and has a passion for it but needs

guidance in the process of getting words on the paper that make sense and follow a structure.

Most of the spelling in the final piece was all correct, but it was typed on a computer and spell

check was available. I saw the story before it was published, and there were many spelling

errors. Once he typed it on the computer, he used his resources to help him correctly spell. When

I sat down and conference with this student, we worked on organization and using paragraphs.

This helped the overall piece drastically because it let his story flow nicely. It also made the

visual appearance of the piece more appealing. While there are still things to be worked on, my

focus child has produced a well written personal narrative.

Next Steps for Learning

To improve this piece and future pieces, student A should work on focusing in on one specific

topic and then expanding on that topic. He often has many ideas and thoughts that he drifts away

from the focus. This is only slightly shown within his final piece, there was tons of redrafting to

help him come back to his overall purpose and goal of his personal narrative. As time moves

forward, I plan on working on this idea with student A by using different visual organization

charts. These types of worksheets allow him to see where he begins, what goes in the middle,

and what should be produced in the end.

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Reference List

Student A’s Personal Narrative

M-Step ELA Opinion Performance Task: Full-Write Essay, Grades 3-5 Rubric
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Cub scout camp

One morning, I woke up and got out of my bed. I woke up my family. After that,
I told my mom “it’s cub scouts”!!! So we went to the car and we also got our uniforms on. We
got in the car and went to cub scouts.
When we got there my mom dropped us off at cub scouts. After that I ran to my friends to
play. We were hunting for a giant snapping turtle. Three hours later, we didn't find it. When I
went to my tent I set up my sleeping bag until it was time for bed. I hadn’t gone to sleep yet and I
walked out of the tent. When I walked out my grandpa caught a small snapping turtle. I touched
it.
”It feels hard.” I thought to myself. We put it back where it belongs in the creek. After
that I built a fly trap. Then suddenly it was time for dinner. I had 2 hot dogs and some chips.
After dinner we got rewarded badges, and prizes. my prize was a glow stick. Me and my friend
Oliver made a light fort with lanterns. Suddenly iIheard ding! Ding! It was time to shoot rockets
in the sky. A few minutes later It was finally my turn! bang! There it went in the sky when it falls
down I caught it, I was so happy!!!
After that somebody started a glow stick war. Me and my friend Oliver were on the same
team. Me and him snapt our glow sticks and smacked kids in the face, we won! YAY!
Then everyone went to bed including me. Next morning when I got out of my sleeping
bag and the tent, there was Cops and Donuts. So I ran to the table as fast as I could and I went to
eat some donuts, and when I was full I went to the hammocks with my friend Oliver. When we
got there I asked him “do you want to find a giant stick?”
Then he replied “YAY!”
So we went to find a giant stick, there he said yes it's a big, “1.2.3 Ah.ah” ok lets go
show the others.
“Hey GUYS!!! Look!” I said.
“cool! Woah!” other kids said.
“Hey why don’t we start a war?” i said.
“yay!” everybody said
And then suddenly “TRISTAN HELP!!!” I ran as fast as I could. When I got there my
brother was ok. Then it was time to leave. I didn’t want that day to end, bit it did.
than I realized I need to watch my brother. That day was fun, but it went by way too fast.
I can’t wait until the next time i go!
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