I as a Learner: Part 2 (IAAL2)

Alize Mott Jones

CIL 621
IAAL, Part 2

Kofi Annan is noted for making the famous quote “Literacy is a bridge from misery to

hope.” The discussion of literacy has been a hot topic for decades. Literacy can be what be what

gifts a future to a child. A child who is literate opens an endless bridge to climb out of their

current situation whether good or bad. As a second grade teacher I often struggle on how to reach

each of my 16 students where they are. I am an important factor before learning makes a huge

change in concerns to English language arts from learning to read to reading to learn.

I am currently a second grade teacher at Mountain View Elementary. My student

community primarily consists of low-income students of color. Within my time as a teacher with

Clark County School District I have identified the exponential disparity amongst students of

color concerning literacy. This became apparent during week one. While reading a Social

Studies excerpt the majority of my class could not make out words with four or more letters. This

discovery made me realize how pertinent my position as a teacher is within my classroom.

Project Description

The purpose of this project is to analyze literacy and target a specific goal. Throughout

the semester I have been working with a second grade student enhancing his reading abilities.

For the purpose of discretion I will refer to him as Alex. Alex is seven years old. He is a student

within my class at Mountain View Elementary. Alex is a very happy, silly, caring, and loving

little boy. He was born in Mexico but has attending school in the United states for the most of his

educational career. Clark County School District has Alex registered as an ELL student. His

English abilities are not abnormal for someone his age but sometimes he does mix up his

meanings.

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My goal for the semester is to develop a database/website of scaffolded lesson plans,

assessment tools, and resources to bring pre-K scoring students as close to grade level as possible

in reading. I have studied this goal throughout the duration of the semester. I have researched

various intervention models, skill labs, and more. Although I have not created a website, I have

created a google drive filled with resources, activities, and other interventions for my students.

This goal paired with the resources of this course have allowed me to make exponential growth

with Alex. According to the STAR reading Assessment Alex has grown almost an entire grade

level. The assessments administered throughout this semester prove Alex has made exponential

growth as well. Upon entering my class Alex could not comprehend text very well.

Implementing Strategies in Class

While researching for this course I came across many resources on how to improve

students learning. The main thing that echoed was that students need a welcoming, encouraging,

and loving environment. In regards to instruction, I found a blog that identified ways to assit

struggling readers. This blog identified the following as way to assit and enhance the skills of

struggling readers:

 Find the holes and begin instruction there

 Build their confidence

 Don’t leave them guessing

 Model the strategies

 Give them time to practice with your help

 Make it multi-sensory

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These tips have been implemented during my small groups. Originally I found myself

doing very simple boring worksheets with my students. We now do a lot more hands on

activities. These activities may consist of puzzles, magnet creations, and more. Many of the

assessment resources provided.

The assessments used in this course have been found to be helpful. I am beginning to

understand assessments and assessment data. The data collected in this course has been used to

better not only my small group instruction but also my whole group.

Narrative Reflection:

I have found this project to be rather tough. The implementation of the assessments has

been rough. I often found myself very confused. This was not attributed to the model or the

assessments themselves, the difficulties I encountered were attributed to the inconsistent testing

schedule implemented with my case study. I had to administer the assessments outside of school

and with the supervision of Alex’s mother. This added condition made it very hard to administer

the assessment. I believe a way to enhance the assessment process would be to add a consistency

component.

In regards to results, Alex improved significantly. I have administered 5 different

assessments to Alex per this courses requirements. The first AE was completed incorrectly. I

assumed we were to use a test of our choice. I used the STAR reading assessment. This

assessment told me that Alex was reading at a 1st grade level. It also broke down each standard

and allowed me to see where Alex falls in regards to either. The second AE was a choice

assessment. The assessment chosen was the word recognition survey. Of the 75 words presented

Alex identified all of them. Alex excels in the realm of high frequency words. This is echoed in

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his assessments at school as well. The third AE completed assessed Alex’s reading fluency and

comprehension. Alex performed well during this assessment. He read four different text’s. Alex

missed less than 10 words between the four texts. He performed adequately on the

comprehension questions. The fourth AE focuses on analyzing writing. The written sample

chosen is a homework assignment assigned to Alex. Alex’s writing sample places him at the

expanding phase on the Sloan Analytic Traits Rubric. Alex’s current writing abilities are

improving. Alex places at the following levels in concerns to the writing continuum: Purpose (4),

Audience (1), Focus (4), and Organization (2).

Alex is a bright child. He can go far with the correct intervention. I have learned a lot

about being an efficient teacher through this course. The assessments I have administered have

been more than helpful. I plan to use most of them for future instruction and intervention

purposes.

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References

Sloan, M. Intro Writing The Primary Teacher’s Guide to Writing Workshop. Heinemann.

Simon, C. (2019) Using the RAFT Writing Strategy. Urbana, Illinois. ReadWriteThink.

Cooter, R. Flynt. E. Cooter, K. (2014). The Flynt/Cooter Comprehensive Reading

Inventory-2.Pearson Education Inc.

High-Order Concerns: Purpose, audience, focus, and Organization. Accessed on

11/25/19
https://unlv.instructure.com/courses/48609/files/6928346/download?wrap=1

Sloan’s Analytic Traits Writing Rubric. (2019) Accessed on 11/25/19

https://unlv.instructure.com/courses/48609/files/6928175/download?wrap=1

B. Helping struggling readers. [Blog Post].

https://thisreadingmama.com/helping-struggling-readers/