William is considered o be below grade level not only in his DRAG score, but also in other foundational reading skills. His letter and sound and his phonemic awareness skills were below grade level as he entered first grade and have prevented further reading growth in other skill areas. His teacher told me that he made gradual progress every semester. He’s a hard worker but he never made that leap they were looking for in reading. At the beginning of school when teacher took turns reading aloud from a text, William was very halting in his reading, very unsure of himself.
During observed him during reading the first week I meet him, the sixes students in the group were reading aloud from a grade level text. William did not follow along when others were reading and he struggled to name words when he was reading aloud later, he struggled to name high frequency words on flashcards. Williams biggest strengths are his attitude and diligence. He is a hard worker and will always turn in his homework. He is meticulous and writes out his strategies when answering math problems. Moreover, William is a social person who enjoys working with others and is willing to take risks.
He will raise his hand and try to answer the question. Funds of Knowledge and Reading Interest Interviews Williams parents immigrated to the United States from Mexico and are classified as low income. Both of his parents has basic communicative skills in English, and speak fluent Spanish. They speak both English and Spanish at home . However, due to their English is limited, uses repetitive vocabulary, and does not always follow the grammatical conventions of Standard English. I think this is an important consideration when examining Williams background.
Before I talked to Williams teacher, I did not have a previous knowledge of he was a behavior robber as a student when he was in kindergarten. I only knew he was low academically. The teacher said that he would always run away from the chair and hide under a desk when he got in trouble, or didn’t want to work. Additionally, at the beginning of the last year, due to his struggle with academics, he hated coming to school. His mother told teacher that he would have to fight with her every day to get out of the car and walk into the building.
He was having a hard time at home getting him to do anything that resembled school work including, reading, writing and any other academic subjects. He had a great deal f challenges in terms of academics, behavior, and self-confidence. Therefore, believe William became a struggling reader due a combination of factors that include his dislike of school, his behavior problems in school, and the basic building blocks of reading and phonemic awareness. Since Williams letter and sound knowledge and his phonemic awareness skills were below grade level as he entered first grade.
In addition to weekly classroom reading instruction, he receives additional reading interventions from the reading specialist two times a week for about 45 minutes. During observation him last two weeks, I noticed hat in the whole classroom settings, the six students in the group were reading aloud from a grade level text, William did not follow along when others were reading and he struggled to name words when he was reading aloud. Also, he struggled to name high frequency words on flashcards.
However, in the intervention classroom, William was in a small group of three. When reading aloud, he made few errors in a mid first grade level text. At this point, I think teacher should provide opportunities for William to engage in structured play activities with one or two peers. Also, he has trouble analyzing language independently. For example, if the teacher reads him a passage from a text, he can write the main idea. However, if he has to read a passage on his own and write then its main idea, he does not perform as well.
Reading Interests Interview William told me that he likes reading most when it is very quiet both at home and at school, and that he rarely gets that chance. He likes the silent reading time they have every day in intervention class. He feels that he is not a good reader. When I asked him whether he agreed he had made progress this year, he said that he did think he had made some progress, but that he was still low at reading. His favorite book is The Gingerbread Man because it is very interesting and it is full of pictures and rhymes His favorite author is Dry. Issues.
When asked him who is a good reader that he know, he told me is his classmate Baby because she can read a lot and very fast in one day. And when he comes to something he doesn’t know in a book, he would like to use the pictures to guess the meaning. At this point, I think that using pictures for the readers gives them a visual to imagine what that era was like and to make the connection of learning the concept. Showing students’ visual images, such as maps, charts, graphs, photographs and pictures of people can help students get excited about a particular topic.
William dislikes about reading at school is he cannot get enough time to read. When asked about other aspects of his life, he said that wants to be a good student, and that he has been trying very hard to raise his grades. When asked why he wants to get high grade, he responded that he could have free pizza and he would like to attend college. His favorite activities at school are his specials, such as sports and art, and his favorite activities outside of school include, such as soccer and basketball.
The subjects with which he has the most trouble in school are math and science although he admits that he struggles in all subjects, and therefore he dislikes these subjects most. References Appendix B: Reading and Writing Interest Interview Questions 1. When you are reading and you come to something you don’t know, what do you do? Do you ever do anything else? 2. Do you think that your teachers are good readers? Who is another good reader that you know? 3. What makes them good readers? 4. Do you think that they ever come to something they don’t know when they are eating? . When they come to something they don’t know, what do you think they do about it? 6. If you knew that someone was having difficulty reading, how would you help them? 7. What would your teacher do to help that person? 8. How did you learn to read? What did (they/you) do to help you learn? 9. What would you like to do better as a reader? 10. Do you think that you are a good reader? 11. Do you like to write? Why, or why not? 12. Why do people write? 13. What makes a piece of writing good? 14. What do you do especially well? 15. What are your favorite books?
