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Madeline Miner

READ 472
November 30, 2015
Student Assessment and Lesson Planning
This semester I have been going to my practicum placement at S. Gordon
Stewart Middle School in Fort Defiance with a 7 th grade English class. For the most
part, I have been acting as a teachers aide to my cooperating teacher. I grade
assignments, hand back papers, and have 1:1 reading conferences with the
students. One of my favorite aspects of my practicum, however, has been the
morning Power-Up sessions. They are the first thing that happens every morning.
During this time, students go to various subjects for an extra 45 minutes of work in
that particular subject. Some students go to band, choir, theatre, or another
extracurricular. I got to work with a small group (only six students) in a Reading
Remediation Power-Up session. These students were 7 th graders who did not pass
their SOLs the year before and were placed in this group to get more reading time
into their day (they also have reading time after their morning classes so they
definitely get enough reading under their belt). One of the best parts about this
Power-Up group was that out of the six students in it, I got to see five of them in the
two morning core classes each time I went to the school, so I got a pretty good idea
of where they stand in their academic achievements and their attitude towards it.
One student in particular who has stood out to me since day one is Sarah*, a
student who I see every time Im at Stuart during the Power-Up and during first
period. Sarah always has a lot of energy and enjoys talking to her teachers and
fellow students. On my first day at the school, she saw me sitting in the corner and
immediately asked me a series of questions about myself, why I was there, and so
on. It became clear to me very quickly that she was a likeable student. It also
became clear to me very quickly that she had an extremely short attention span
and it was very hard for her to get motivated to do her work during Power-Up and
during core classes. Even short assignments, such as the five to ten question warmups, were a challenge for her in terms of focusing. I also have noticed that she often
doesnt participate in class and is prone to daydreaming. She sometimes talks to
her neighbor during class, but this often is not the problem with her focus. Its clear
that she simply doesnt care that much. After talking to her and my cooperating
teacher it also seems that expectations of her are different at home and this affects

her performance in school, as well. Overall, however, Sarah is very bright and I think
she has a desire to do well, but theres no fire behind it at the present time and Im
not sure how to bring that about.
In terms of quantitative assessment of Sarahs academics, I received her SOL
scores from 6th grade from my cooperating teacher and the results did not surprise
me too much. At the end of 6th grade, her SOL scores were 392 in Reading and 379
in Math. The passing score for these tests is 400. Sarah is very close to passing on
both, but that means that she is very close to the minimum score that is accepted.
She also took a Student Growth Assessment last year, which is a universal screening
test comprised of grade-level questions similar to SOL questions), and she scored in
the 24th percentile. In summation, Sarah struggles overall in her academics. These
scores show that, but the effort Ive seen from her in class shows that as well. Sarah
is, as mentioned before, in Power-Up for Reading Remediation, but she also receives
a full-length class period of Math Remediation during the Reading Period that other
students have. During Power-Up, she often does not complete the work and
activities that are required of her. In the assignments of hers that Ive seen when
grading class papers and worksheets, I can tell that she doesnt understand what
shes reading even if she knows what the words are. Its also interesting to see the
way she writes. Sometimes she writes everything in all-capitalized letters, and other
times she doesnt. Sometimes she writes very large, and other times she writes in a
normal size. From what Ive seen of her grades so far this semester, she is not
reaching for her full potential because, as I said before, she is a very bright student
and will choose to turn it on when she feels like it.
In terms of attitude, Sarah is generally very positive, friendly, and energetic,
but that seems to turn off when shes in the classroom setting. As the semester has
gone on, whoever, I have seen shifts in her attitude towards reading. At the start of
the semester, she didnt really enjoy any of the stories or activities being done in
Power-Up or in class. When I would have any reading conferences with her, she
would say that she didnt like the book and immediately ask to go to the library to
change it out. Although this might have been a method to waste time, it also did
show some part of her that wanted to find something to read that she would
actually enjoy. This exact thing happened a few weeks ago. I came to the classroom
one morning and she ran over to me and began to tell me all about a book she had
started reading the day before. To my surprise, it was one of the short books that

my cooperating teacher has in her classroom. She calls them Quick Reads and has
them organized by topic. Students are allowed to pick them up in the room
whenever they want, but I hadnt noticed many kids picking them up in my whole
time at the school so far. Thats why it was so surprising to me that Sarah chose a
book that had been sitting there all along. Somewhere in my mind, Id assumed that
she had read through them before and ended up not liking them. It was such a cool
experience to see her get excited about reading and telling me about these books
that had been sitting there the whole time. Although her attitude towards her
schoolwork hasnt changed much, its great to see her attitude towards reading has
changed a bit, and thats a big first step to take.
When I think of Sarah and students like her, I wonder what it would be like to
have them in my own classroom someday and think about the kind of lesson
planning I would have to employ. Students like Sarah (and all students, truthfully) all
have potential just waiting to be tapped into. For Sarah and students like her, I
would definitely think about the type of activities and readings done in class in order
to cater to what they need. For example, Sarah seemed much more engaged and
inquisitive when the class activities were visual and creative as opposed to multiplechoice worksheets, timelines, and things like that. If students are able to keep their
minds moving as they use the creative part of their thinking as they read and
comprehend a text, I feel like the result would be much more rewarding for them
and help them to grow a lot in their literacy. I would also plan for a lot of pair and
small group discussions because I know that Sarah has a very talkative side to her
when its appropriate, and she has a lot of great thoughts but her lack of focus in
class prevents her from sharing them with the rest of the students. In terms of her
reading ability, Id plan for her to have more intentional work that caters to reading
comprehension. I think that having conferences 1:1 and then allowing students to
have conferences about what they are reading would not only allow them to talk
and understand and work out the texts themselves, but also foster a strong
classroom community where they can support each other. These different strategies
to help struggling readers in the classroom while still allowing the rest of the class
to gain from the lessons are flexible, beneficial, and most likely effective, as Ive
seen in my current practicum placement and past placements.

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