CASE STUDY - INITIAL INSTRUCTIONAL GOALS

Case Study - Initial Instructional Goals

Megan Knight

EDU 474

4 December 2020

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CASE STUDY - INITIAL INSTRUCTIONAL GOALS

Initial Instructional Goals

Student Pseudonym: Anna

Grade Level: 8th grade

Goal 1 (Comprehension): When given a passage, Anna will read and correctly answer explicit

comprehension questions.

Based on Anna’s scores on the comprehension questions, Anna was at the Frustration

Level on the Level Three Narrative Passage, and Instructional on the Level Three

Expository Passage. Because Anna was at the Frustration Level for comprehension on the

narrative passage, this indicates that Anna struggles with comprehension. More specifically,

Anna had a difficult time answering explicit comprehension questions more than implicit

comprehension questions on the expository passage. Based on these results, I determined that

Anna requires additional instruction in the area of comprehension and answering explicit

questions about the text. Therefore, Anna’s first goal is: When given a passage, Anna will read

and correctly answer explicit comprehension questions.

Goal 2 (Fluency): When given an instructional level passage, Anna will read with fluency to

accurately decode the passage.

According to the results of the QRI Word Lists and Passages, Anna struggles with

fluency. More specifically, she has difficulties with accuracy. On both the Word Lists and

Passages, Anna made some patterns with her miscues. One pattern that I noticed is that Anna has

a tendency to read the initial sounds of a word correctly, but change the ending. This occurred

frequently with words that contain suffixes. For example, Anna either changed or omitted the

suffix of multiple words. This was one main pattern that I noticed regarding Anna’s accuracy.

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Because of this, I felt that it would be beneficial for Anna to receive additional instruction to help

improve her accuracy. Therefore, Anna’s second goal is: When given an instructional level

passage, Anna will read with fluency to accurately decode the passage.

Strengths as a Reader:

Based on all of the data from the assessments and observations, Anna has many strengths

as a reader. One of Anna’s strengths is that she has a very positive attitude and is motivated to

read. According to Rhody Secondary Reading Attitude Assessment, Anna has a positive attitude

toward reading. For example, she expressed that she enjoys reading and reads a lot. In addition,

Anna demonstrated a positive attitude toward reading during each of my sessions with her. For

instance, she was always very cooperative and willing to read out loud. Because Anna has such a

positive attitude toward reading, she engages in reading frequently and actively participates in

her reading classes at school by answering questions about books the class is reading. It is

extremely important for students to read for a variety of purposes. Also, reading frequently can

help Anna to improve her reading skills. Therefore Anna’s positive toward reading is one of her

strengths as a reader.

In addition to having a positive attitude toward reading, another one of Anna’s strengths

is that she is very motivated. Based on the Motivation to Read Profile, Anna is very motivated

when it comes to reading. Anna has demonstrated this motivation in her classes because she

always completes her classwork and homework, and puts forth effort. In addition, Anna is

motivated to improve her reading skills, and works hard to become a better reader. Because of

this, motivation is one of Anna’s strengths as a reader.

Weaknesses as a Reader:

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While Anna has many strengths, she also has some weaknesses as a reader. One of

Anna’s weaknesses involves her accuracy of word recognition. Based on the QRI Word lists,

Anna struggled to identify many words, and she performed below grade level. Similarly, on each

of the QRI passages, Anna also made some errors in identifying words. As I mentioned

previously, there were some patterns that were revealed from these assessments that indicate that

Anna has a tendency to change or omit the endings of words. In addition to these assessments,

Anna has also struggled with accuracy and word recognition in the classroom. In her English

class, Anna participated in a Reader’s Theater reading of The Diary of Anne Frank. I had the

opportunity to observe and listen to Anna as she read in this class, and she struggled to identify

words and made similar errors to the QRI Word Lists and Passages. Because of this, accuracy

and word recognition is one of Anna’s weaknesses as a reader.

Another one of Anna’s weaknesses is her comprehension skills. According to the results

of the QRI, Anna was at the Frustration Level for comprehension on the Level Three Narrative

Passage and the Instructional Level on the Level Three Expository passage. This is significantly

below grade level because Anna is in 8th grade. Therefore, she has difficulties comprehending

what she reads. In the classroom, Anna has had similar difficulties. I had the opportunity to work

with Anna and the rest of the 8th grade learning support students during their intervention class.

During this time, I would often read aloud a chapter from the novel they were reading and ask

comprehension questions. Anna struggled to answer these questions, as well as the questions on

her study guide and often needed additional assistance. Because of this, comprehension is one of

Anna’s weaknesses as a reader.

Finally, another weakness that Anna has as a reader is her oral reading fluency. Anna

tends to read without expression, and she frequently ignores punctuation. In addition, Anna has

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difficulties with phrasing, smoothness, and pace. Like I mentioned, I had the opportunity to

observe Anna as she read aloud in her English class. During these observations, Anna often read

fast, word-by-word, and did not pause for punctuation. Therefore, her oral reading does not

sound like natural language and she does not read at a conversational pace. For these reasons,

fluency is one of Anna’s weaknesses as a reader.