Brooke Williams

Vicki Lanius

EDU 140

November 28, 2018

Analytical Research and Reflection

Part 1: Introduction: Student Background

For this assignment I chose to attend Bryan Elementary School and tutor a second grader.

Mrs. Schroeder had me tutor an 8-year-old girl named Trinity in which she is considered to be at-

risk in reading. Trinity loves to go outside for recess and hang with her friends. She lives at home

with her Mom, brother and Steven. Steven is an extra person that lives in the house with her and

her family but is not a father or brother to her. Trinity explained to me that her mother reads to

her once in a while but not quite as much. She does not read a whole lot, but when she does she

likes to read the Cat in the Hat books or the Pinkalicous series. Trinity likes to play on her tablet

at home or watch TV in her room. Her favorite movies she likes to watch in her spare time are

Transylvania and Descendants.

Trinity is on an IEP at school because she struggles in Math and Reading. The teachers have

included goals for Trinity on her IEP to help her to succeed in the future. This plan will help her

out because it will protect her throughout her school year. She will always have the help she

needs for State testing and will never have to repeat a grade or class.

Part 2: Body: Connecting Tutoring to Research

The cooperating teacher had me tutor a Trinity in which she is struggling in reading. Within

the four lesson plans we focused mainly on vocabulary and word recognition. They have read the

story Scarcity in their books and then did some worksheets that followed the same story. Graves
states, which words should be taught in the classroom discusses how it is important to teach vo-

cabulary words, but the teachers never put a thought into how the words on their worksheets are

selected (Graves 333). Most teachers will go through a story and underline words that they think

are challenging or important to know. Graves talks about a strategy that teachers can incorporate

in their classroom to save time and become easier. This strategy is called the SWIT, which in-

cludes four different types of words that include: Essential words, Valuable words, Accessible

words, and Imported words (Graves 336). SWIT approach stands for selecting words for instruc-

tion form texts. These words are supposed to be unfamiliar to the children.

Students will then learn the definition of each word.

The “essential words” are to help the children learn and understand what they just read. These

words are usually repeated throughout the text (Graves 336). For example, some of the words

that were repeated in the story Trinity’s class read were “hurricane” and “scarcity”. The “valua-

ble words” are more on the broad side in which they are consider challenging words. These

words are not used much in the second grade (Graves 336). The “accessible words” are more of

the common or higher frequency words and are more challenging for students who have learning

disability in reading. They must be taught to help the children that are lacking vocabulary to

grow more of the skill and learn more (Graves 336). And “imported words” are to help enhance a

reader’s understanding from a text. These words will help expand their knowledge and learning

from the text (Graves 336). Teachers also need to make sure to limit the number of words the

children are learning at one time. Teaching the children too many words can make them bored

and not want to learn.

 Teachers should always support their children’s vocabulary growth whether they are strug-

gling or not. A way that children will be able to learn and remember new words is to become en-

gaged in the vocabulary development. This will help the children grow and multiply the number

of words learned and their meanings to them (Jalongo 421). The more words children learn the

better their vocabulary will develop. Jalongo explains that vocabulary instruction is a must in the

classroom and teachers should incorporate instructions that include repeating, pointing to words,

and including words that are at level of the children. Students who learn a certain number of

words and their definition by the age of six are considered to be proficient readers (Jalongo 423).

Having the child read the questions or passages on worksheets help them learn words as they an-

swer them as well.

Pullen gives teachers suggestions in translating precise vocabulary into many useful prac-

tices that can be used in their classrooms (Pullen 150). Teachers can provide pictures of the vo-

cabulary words to help the children understand the meaning better (Pullen 148). Most people ex-

plain that children who have a high knowledge of vocabulary also have high comprehension

skills. This is because once the child understands the meanings of words, they are able to under-

stand stories better. A strategy that can be helpful in the classroom is to provide a shared story-

book reading. This strategy will help the children learn more because when they choose a book

to read, they will go for the ones in which they recognize the vocabulary (Pullen 146).

Part 3: Conclusion: My Reflection

I think this assignment went great because I got to connect with a child and do what I love

best, which is helping children learn. One thing I enjoyed about tutoring was I got to see how the

child’s reading improved. One thing I disliked about the tutoring is that it was only for two

hours, which makes it harder to see how far the child has come in learning to read. I connected to
Trinity in a way I may not have connected with another child. I think this is because she is strug-

gling the way I did in school. She has a learning disability in reading and math. I was the same

way in school, I struggle with both math and reading. During the time I was provided to tutor

Trinity I had noticed she does great with reading but struggles more on the comprehension part,

vocabulary and some VC/CV syllables. The relationship I had with my mentoring teacher was

excellent because she was able to help me with anything I needed help with. She was able to

teach me different strategies to help Trinity learn to read. And I was also a former second grader

of hers back in 2004. She was one of my favorite teachers that I had in all my school years at

Bryan. I know she is an excellent teacher and Trinity will be able to learn to become a better

reading and succeed in the future. Mrs. Schroeder is still in my life to this day; she will always

be by my side and help me out when possible.

I have learned that there are many strategies in helping children learn to read and better un-

derstand the content. I think children learn better when they are one-on-one with teachers. This is

because if they get a question wrong or mess up on a word they know their classmates will not

laugh at them. And it also helps the students that are struggling to stay focused on their work and

not get distracted.

Works Cited

Graves, Michael F., et al. “Words, Words Everywhere, But Which Ones Do We Teach?” Read-

ing Teacher, vol. 67, no. 5, Feb. 2014, pp. 333–346. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1002/trtr.1228.

Jalongo, Mary, and Michelle Sobolak. “Supporting Young Children’s Vocabulary Growth: The

Challenges, the Benefits, and Evidence-Based Strategies.” Early Childhood Education

Journal, vol. 38, no. 6, Mar. 2011, pp. 421–429. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s10643-010-

0433-x.

Pullen, Paige C., et al. “Implementing Intensive Vocabulary Instruction for Students At Risk for

Reading Disability.” Learning Disabilities Research & Practice (Wiley-Blackwell), vol.

26, no. 3, Aug. 2011, pp. 145–157. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/j.1540-5826.2011.00334.x.