Stephanie Krive

TE 846 - Sec. 730

Spring 2015

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

I. Background and Reason for Project Focus
For this project, I will be focusing the analysis on a female student I will call Talibah.
Talibah is a very kind and very social young lady in my 6th grade class of English Language
Learners. She has a well developed level of verbal English, but is still in the early stages of her
written English literacy. I have chosen to put a focus on her for this project because she is one of
the many students who has a high level of Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS), but
seems to surprise you with a lower-than-expected reading and writing skill level when you begin
to investigate. Her Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) should be very developed
by the end of her 6th grade year, but we have a long way to go and this is something we are
working hard on every day.
II. Home and Family
Talibah is a 12 year old student who has come to the United States from Iraq. She is 6th
grade student, per her age and birthday, but her level of English literacy does not reflect that of a
6th grader who is meeting the states expectations. She arrived from Iraq about three years ago,
and is currently reading English at a 2nd grade reading level. Talibah is receiving English as a
Second Language services at school through both push-in and pull-out methods, along with
others in the class. While I know from experience that her Father speaks English effectively, her
family speaks Arabic in their home. When asked, she said she reads things of her choice in
English at home only sometimes. She is a student who turns in homework regularly and
receives plenty of support at home. To my knowledge, her older siblings have been

predominantly successful with their schooling. Her older sister is training to become a nurse.
III. Emotional Climate
In our classroom, I insist that kindness and respect come above all other things. This
promotes an environment of risk-taking and being OK with sometimes answering incorrectly. I
would always prefer trying over apathy. In general, Talibah volunteers in class a good amount of
the time. She often asks me to repeat certain words (character names, where a story takes place,
etc.), but otherwise answers with much confidence. Im very proud of how far she has come this
school year, given a certain traumatic incident she endured during her 5th grade year. She was
home-schooled for the majority of her last school year due to a near-fatal car accident she was in
with her family. While her health has since stabilized, she has come back to school in full force.
She wants to be successful. Her family has modeled great things for her to have a strong future.
While reading is not always her favorite activity, I can always get her to read about topics she
loves, such as fashion design. She feels very strongly that her passions lie there and that she will
become a designer one day. On the contrary to her reading, it is very easy to get her writing.
Even with her inconsistent spelling abilities, she is very good at getting her ideas down on paper
without getting hung up on errors. I think we will continue to make good strides this school year.
IV. Literacy History
Before Talibah arrived with her family in the United States, she attended formal schooling
in Iraq. She began her literacy instruction in Arabic when she was five years old. She remembers
liking school quite a lot. My teachers were nice and I felt happy there, she stated. She
continued to share her memories of school in her home country: I liked learning to write the
letters in Arabic because I thought they were beautiful. Knowing now how talented an artist she

is, this did not come as a surprise. I asked her if she found being introduced to Arabic an easy
task, and she replied, Not always.
In getting to know Talibah as a student and English learner this year, I have seen her
blossom as a creative writer, but not as much as a reader. She really seems to shy away from
going outside of her comfort zone when it comes to choosing her own text to read, in both
manners of difficulty level and topic. Because of this, her English reading ability has spent some
of this school year at a plateaued spot. She is also very much stuck in a habit of saying what she
thinks a word is quickly, and carrying right on in the text. She sees some familiar letters and
takes a guess at the word (often confusing words like when, went, what, etc.). This is a trait of
many early readers I have worked with, and as readers get older it is not a very good habit to
have. When what Talibah is saying out loud makes little to no sense, this should faze her as a
reader who is also seeking out meaning from the text. Unfortunately it doesnt faze her, which
shows she is still reading phonemically, just for the sounds. According to Marilyn Jager Adams
chapter in What Research has to say about Reading Instruction, the mappings from
orthography to phonology that is, from spelling to pronunciation are the nexus between
seeing and understanding the print on the page (p.8). She continues, Once the printed word has
been translated to language, the job [of the brain] is to give it meaning. Talibah is certainly on
the right track with her reading, using the sounds she recognizes and moving through text with
confidence, but she is still early on in the process of reading text for meaning and reading
comprehension.
Talibahs family is tremendously supportive of her English literacy development. I have
spoken with her Father and older sister on multiple occasions, mostly in person, and they are
always very interested in her growth and progress in English. They are willing and ready to help

with homework assignments in any way that they can, but I do not believe there is much English
reading going on at home. There is a strong and understandable desire to maintain their home
language and culture.
V. Tests Given
In order to acquire a well-rounded picture of Talibahs level of English literacy, I
administered four pre-assessments. The first test was a Reading MAZE test, or R-MAZE, from
AIMSweb. This is an assessment that measures how well students understand a text they read
silently to themselves. As they read, they are given the choice of three possible words that might
fit into a spot for just one word in the sentences they read. One is correct and two are wrong.
They must circle the correct one. The second test was also from AIMSweb, but this was a
Reading Curriculum-Based Measurement, or R-CBM. This test is a form of running records,
administered for accuracy of reading a passage aloud. This does not measure comprehension.
The third test I gave was the San Diego Quick Assessment of Reading Ability. This test uses
word recognition to place a student at a grade level of reading ability. The final test I gave was
not to gauge reading, but to look at writing. In order to gain a more comprehensive look at
Talibahs literacy, I had her do a Cold Write to a given prompt, which I scored using the Write
Steps Curriculum Rubric.
1.) R-MAZE, given 1/26/15
In the R-MAZE assessment, which is the one that measures how well students understand a
text they read silently to themselves, Talibah appeared to have made it through the first
paragraph of text in the allotted three minutes. From the three possible words where only one is
correct for each item, she answered (circled) seven choices, making three errors and four correct
responses. With four correct responses, Talibahs performance was summarized as Average

and she was given a measure of 57.1% accuracy. Her AIMSweb Lexile Measure is 165L.
AIMSweb has recommended a continuation of her current program of instruction. Reader should
note that the Target Goal for grade 6 is 27 correct responses.
2.) R-CBM, given 1/26/15
In the R-CBM assessment given by AIMSweb, Talibah read through as much of the three
short passages as she could in the allotted time limit of one minute per passage. Comprehension
is not tested in this assessment, just correct words and errors. These are her results:

Her results, as reported by AIMSweb, are that she performed at a level of Below Average and
her Lexile Measure remained the same at 165L. Her accuracy in this assessment is higher than
the last at 66.7%, but her median score of 16 correct words is still far from the Target Goal for
grade 6, which is 149 correct words read. AIMSweb recommends further assessing of Talibah
and consideration of an individualized instructional program.
3.) San Diego Quick Assessment, given 2/10/15
The San Diego Quick Assessment of Reading Ability is the third test I gave to Talibah.
This is the test that uses word recognition through automaticity to place a student at a grade level
of reading ability. It is essentially a long list of words, printed ten to a box on a page, increasing
in difficulty as one continues reading down the list. What the student doesnt know is that each
box represents a grade level, starting with preprimer and going all the way through Grade
Eleven. Based on how students perform, they will have an Independent grade level, an
Instructional grade level, and a Frustration grade level. Independent means there was one or no
errors, Instructional means that there were two errors, and Frustration comes when there are three

or more errors in a list. Below is a table with her test results.

The directive to the administrator of this assessment is to stop after the grade level of Frustration
is discovered as there is no sense in causing unnecessary frustrations in our students. Based on
these results, Talibah is reading comfortably and independently at a first grade level, her
instructional level remains at grade two, and her frustration level is at grade three. This
assessment was found in the book that corresponds to a new (new, to me and my colleague)
reading intervention program, The Six-Minute Solution: A Reading Fluency Program. I am very
much looking forward to trying out this program with Talibah and the rest of my students. I think
she will benefit greatly from the repetition and structure that this intervention provides.
4.) Cold Write - WriteSteps Rubric, given 2/12/15
For this cold write, I gave Talibah and my other students the following writing prompt:
Imagine you are a wonderful painter and your parents will let you paint anything you want on
your bedroom walls. What will you paint? Describe what it will look like.
I scored Talibahs writing according to the WriteSteps rubric, which requests a score from 1-6 in
seven categories. A score of 1 designates poor while a score of 6 means outstanding. The
seven categories are listed in the table below.

Talibah wrote about how she would paint New York City on her walls. She would put it above an
ocean so that there could be a reflection of the buildings in the water. She would make it look
like night with lights in the buildings. Talibah scored an overall 3, average, for her piece of
writing. Per her usual writing, her Conventions are really quite poor, but her limited skills do not
stop her from earning a 5, very good, in the Voice category. She speaks her creativity into her
writing so beautifully, and I am very thankful that she does not feel limited by her current skill
level when it comes to spelling and sentence structure.
VI. Lesson Plan Matrix
Lesson Foci / Date

Objectives /
Standards

Instructional
Materials

On-Going
Assessment

I can determine the

meaning of a word
Word Identification using grade
- Common Prefixes
appropriate affixes.
and Suffixes
- Lansing School
District 6th Grade
Pacing Guide,
developed directly
from the CCSS

Word cards
Prefix cards
Suffix cards
White board and
marker
Level-appropriate
reading passages

Formative
assessment - checks
for understanding
Exit ticket where
student shows
comprehension of
unknown words using
new knowledge of
affixes

2/25/15

White board and

marker (teacher)
Variety of books at
appropriate level
One book for teacher
to model good
comprehension
strategies

Formative
assessment - checks
for understanding
Listening to student
read, providing any
necessary support
Checking over graphic
organizer for strengths

2/18/15

Reading with
Purpose - finding
meaning in the story
and citing evidence
to support it

I can cite from a text

to support analysis.
- Lansing School
District 6th Grade
Pacing Guide,
developed directly
from the CCSS

3/4/15

I can maintain a
formal style
throughout a piece of
writing.

Conventions in
Academic Writing,
with focus on editing
and revising
- Lansing School
District 6th Grade
Pacing Guide,
developed directly
from the CCSS

graphic organizers
that correspond to
books

and weaknesses for

next time

White board and

marker
Paper and pencils
Sample sentences to
be fixed
WriteSteps Rubric student clearly know
expectations
Writing Prompt

Formative
assessment - checks
for understanding
Continued work on the
same piece of writing revising and editing
over the next few days
Conference w/ teacher

VII. Reflections on the Differentiated Literacy Lesson Plans

Through the course of this semester, I put a large focus on my student and literacy learner,
Talibah. I executed three lessons that, while they were taught to the whole class, were designed
with her skills in mind (Strategies table, Boushey & Moser, 2009). The lessons were diverse in
that they each had a special emphasis; the first on vocabulary, the next on fluency and reading
comprehension, and the third on writing with proper conventions. Based on the pre- and postassessments, I did see a slight change in Talibahs skills. It always seems that during data
collection times people hope to see drastic and dramatic changes, and I was no different in this
case. Unfortunately, I did not see the huge leap forward that I was wistfully hoping for.
Fortunately for my student, however, there was some progress made.
Our first lesson was on affixes and how to then use our knowledge of common ones to
understand now vocabulary containing them. My take-away from this lessons effect in the postassessments is that it was likely more helpful for the long-term educational process than the short
term. While I did see some mild changes on her San Diego Quick Assessment (Adams & Brown,
2007) and her R-MAZE (NCS Pearson, Inc., 2015), I dont know that these changes were

directly related to the lesson. Again, this was truly a linguistic awareness lesson that she will
likely take with her as she continues to pick up more and more English vocabulary.
Based on our lesson about reading with purpose and becoming readers who ask questions
and want to seek more information, Talibahs R-CBM (NCS Pearson, Inc., 2015) assessment
changed in two ways from pre- to post-. It was clear that she had begun taking that lessons
advice, because while she read fewer words, she actually read more words correctly. She has
been slowing down her pace and making sure that she deciphers and understands the words in a
text. I never wanted her to become a choppier reader by slowing her down, but she was flying
through with so many errors that she was getting very little if any meaning out of texts. This
proves to me that our second lesson has truly affected Talibah as a literacy learner.
Our third lesson on basic writing conventions is a topic that we have revisited multiple
times throughout the year, in various forms. These sixth grade English learners are still acquiring
the language, at the same time as being submerged in the social media scene. To the teacher, this
visibly has a tremendous effect on students abilities to produce a well-written, formal piece of
writing. So often, students (including Talibah) will turn in pieces of writing that include u
instead of you or numbers in place of words (4/for, 2/to, etc.). This lesson did make a
contribution to Talibahs overall understanding of literacy and her reading process. Her writing
completed after the lesson was much improved in the sense of proper conventions, with an
exceptions for some continued spelling errors which she often struggles with. I am happy to
continue teaching these basics to the students as it is only with these that they can become really
great writers. Although attention to the activities, techniques, methods, or the how of teaching
literacy has shown moderate effects on young childrens early literacy learning, teaching the
essential elements of reading and writing are of even greater significance (p. 414, Gambrell &

Morrow, 2015).
During each of the lessons, I tried to support Talibahs learning through various methods.
During independent work times, I circulated around and always kept an eye out for her. During
partnered activities, I carefully paired her up with another student who could help support her.
And during the reading with purpose lesson, she was in the small group I took to the back table
with me. I was able to closely monitor her reading and questioning skills that way. I did a lot of
modeling in that lessons introduction, as well as with the small group. We worked on skills like
making inferences as we read, and then retelling the story back before answering any questions
about it. A retelling can suggest the presence of good reader behaviors. For example, good
readers determine what is important in the text; they summarize and reorganize ideas in the text;
and they make inferences and predictions (p. 67, Caldwell, 2008). These skills must be
practiced before they can become second nature. The skills we were practicing were great not
only for this lesson, but any and all future moments of reading for comprehension.
Some critical moments I experienced when working closely with Talibah were both not
pushing her too much, while simultaneously not giving her the answer by guiding her right to it.
I wanted to give her good feedback without giving it all away or essentially thinking for her.
feedback [from formative assessments] must be focused on the specific task the student was
asked to do and provide specific suggestions or cues about how to improve (Farstrup & Samuels,
2011). I wanted to provide her with feedback that not only helped her in that moment, but that
would show her a skill to continue using throughout her education. These include those reading
comprehension strategies, writing convention skills, and even the linguistic awareness with
knowledge of affixes. Sometimes these critical moments went well, and in others there was too
much guidance on my end when I felt she was confused. Thankfully, there were many more

positive critical moments.

If given another opportunity to teach these lessons, I would try and make them more
stimulating. For Talibah (and the whole class), when lessons begin to drag on is when behavior
issues begin to arise. This generally comes in the form of talking too much to a neighbor, which
is entirely distracting to others and the teacher. Some ideas of ways to promote participation and
interest would be to include a game of some kind, especially one that encourages competition.
When there are points and prizes involved, students always want to be a part of the fun. The hard
part about this is that the reward for learning becomes candy, etc. as opposed to the value of the
knowledge itself. Perhaps that makes me sound old fashioned, but I am a life-long learner for the
knowledge itself, and I want to promote that idea to my students. Incorporating technology is
always something that helps as well. If we always had the opportunity to do our writing on
computers, students would be far more engaged. The other side of that, however, is that
penmanship is already falling by the wayside more than ever.
One of the newly learned techniques that are demonstrated through my lessons is the use of
assessments to specifically tailor my lessons in ways I had not done before. Data-driven
instruction has always been encouraged, but I had never really taken that idea to the depths that I
now have. One of my favorite pieces of information to which I am now constantly referring is
Kathleen Stricklands If a child then chart (p. 9-18, Strickland, 2005). This user-friendly
chart highlights (seemingly) every possible situation in which a literacy learner could be, once
they have been assessed, and the very best instructional possibilities for them. This has opened
my eyes to how even the simplest differences between two students could lead to two very
different methods to helping them best reach their individual potentials.
VIII. Recommendations to Teachers and Parents/Caregivers

Dear future Teachers and loving parents of Talibah,

It has been an absolute pleasure working with Talibah throughout this, the 2014-2015
school year. She is truly one of the kindest young ladies I have encountered thus far in my
teaching career, as well as one of the most motivated. And while it goes without saying, that is
honestly something special for a student who is experiencing all the changes that 6th grade has to
offer. While many students are worrying about impressing their friends, she is staying very
focused on doing her best, a quality I can nearly guarantee she will carry with her through her
years. She is wonderfully artistic, always hoping to create new and beautiful designs, and it is so
lovely to see this come forth in her writing as well. Her written English skills are still
developing, and her reading skills are improving as well.
To her parents, I want to thank you for your unending support of her. She really shines with
confidence that she is getting from home. I encourage you to continue pushing her to read in
English whenever she can, and Ill leave you with this: a brief review of relevant research
suggests that families active involvement in their students education across childhood and
adolescence is indeed generally associated with students development and use of personal
attributes and skills that are essential to successful school learning (p. 31, Christenson &
Reschly, 2010). Thank you!
To her future teachers, I recommend that you keep her going on her English sight words.
Her knowledge of words is wonderful, but she still struggles very much with spelling them.
Thankfully, this does not hold her creativity back. Enjoy having such a gem of a student!
Kindest Regards,
Stephanie Krive

IX. Appendices of Work Lesson Plans

Word Identification - Common Prefixes and Suffixes
Teacher: S. Krive
Date: Feb. 18, 2015

Grade Level: 6th Grade Self-Contained, ESL

Subject: English Language Arts

Standards/Objectives
Content Objectives for Todays Lesson:
I can determine the meaning of a word using grade appropriate affixes.
I can determine the meaning of a word using context clues.
Language Objectives for Todays Lesson:
I can read familiar and unfamiliar words, using the reading strategies I know
determine their meaning.
I can discuss with my classmates word meanings and how to use them in a
sentence.

to

Before the Lesson

1. Prepare materials: word cards, prefix cards, suffix cards, white board and marker, levelappropriate reading passages, paper, and supplementary pencils for students
2. Write goals on the board
Lesson Description
1. Begin by telling students we will be focusing on vocabulary today, for reading and writing
2. Go over todays goals
3. Start whole-group instruction on what prefixes and suffixes are - use specific examples and
the white board to show how words with prefixes and suffixes have root words inside of
them
4. Next, pass out some base word, prefix, and suffix cards and have students work in groups to
match them up to try and make new words
5. Have students share out - follow up with a discussion about the common use of some of
these words
6. Now, pass out the reading passages that contain affixes and have students read through in
groups or in partners, identifying the affixes with which they are now more familiar
7. Come back as a group again, discussing the found affixes - use this chance to explicitly teach

any new or unusual vocabulary 8. Discuss the benefit of using affixes in English, as opposed to just having new words for each
- pose the question to students about their home languages, Do you have words changes in
your language like this, where one word can be transformed slightly and the meaning or part
of speech will change, too?
9. Chat about the importance of knowing these words as good readers and writers
10. Thank the students for their efforts today and go over goals from beginning of lesson
11. Assign an exit ticket that wraps up the lesson and allows student to show an understanding of
new words using new knowledge of affixes
Reading with Purpose
Finding Meaning in the Story and Citing Evidence to Support It
Teacher: S. Krive
Date: Feb. 25, 2015

Grade Level: 6th Grade Self-Contained, ESL

Subject: English Language Arts

Standards/Objectives
Content Objective for Todays Lesson:
I can cite from a text to support analysis.
Language Objective for Todays Lesson:
I can read with automaticity and for meaning, going beyond word sounds in
order to piece together an understanding of a text
Before the Lesson
1. Prepare materials: white board and marker (teacher), variety of books at the appropriate
level, one book for teacher to model good comprehension strategies, graphic organizers that
correspond to books, and supplementary pencils for students
2. Write goals on the board
Lesson Description
1. Begin by telling students that todays lesson will be about reading with purpose by paying
attention to the details of the story as we read
2. Go over todays goals
3. Start whole-group instruction on what it means to be a good reader - not just knowing how to
say all the words, etc.
4. Next, model how good readers read through a passage, asking themselves questions to gain
more information or make inferences
5. Go to the graphic organizer now, showing how to answer questions in complete sentences by
using the text itself as evidence for those answers - make expectations clear
6. Distribute reading passages and questions/graphic organizers to students, and take the group
of lowest readers to the back table to read through together - this allows teacher to hear these
students read and ask guiding questions regarding comprehension throughout the passage as
opposed to just at the end
7. Teacher may step away, leaving the students to group read together, in order to circulate
through the room and check over graphic organizers for strengths and weaknesses for now

and for next time - This time may also be used to explicitly teach any new vocabulary
8. Thank the students for their efforts today and go over goals from beginning of lesson

Conventions in Academic Writing - Editing and Revising

Teacher: S. Krive
Date: Mar. 4, 2015

Grade Level: 6th Grade Self-Contained, ESL

Subject: English Language Arts

Standards/Objectives
Content Objective for Todays Lesson:
I can maintain a formal style throughout a piece of writing.
Language Objective for Todays Lesson:
I can write to respond to a prompt using proper conventions and without
social networking language.

using

Before the Lesson

1. Prepare materials: white board and marker, sample sentences to be fixed,
WriteSteps Rubric - students clearly know expectations, writing prompt, paper, and
supplementary pencils for students
1. Write goals on the board
Lesson Description
1. Begin by telling students that todays lesson will be about writing using a formal style, the
way we write at school and not on Facebook or in texts
2. Go over todays goals
3. Start whole-group instruction on what it means to be a good academic writer - paying
attention to topic sentence use, sentence length, capitalization, punctuation, and voice
4. Next, model how good writers edit and revise by carefully reading through some sentences
that are in need of correction
5. Now, announce that it is time to do some brainstorming of our own, and then write about A
time when I was the happiest
6. Distribute paper for brainstorm, and then to begin writing
7. Circulate around the room, encouraging students throughout the writing time to add as much
detail as possible and to remember the good writing habits
8. When students finish, have them edit and revise their own, and then a partners work - save
for next lesson
9. Thank the students for their efforts today and go over goals from beginning of lesson

X. Bibliography
Adams, G. N., & Brown, S. M. (2007). The Six-Minute Solution: A Reading Fluency Program
(intermediate level) grades 3-6. Longmont, CO: Sopris West Educational Services.
Boushey, G., & Moser, J. (2009). From Assessment to Conferring: Sample Needs and Strategies.
In The CAFE book: Engaging all Students in Daily Literacy Assessment & Instruction.
Portland, Me.: Stenhouse.
Caldwell, J. (2008). Chapter 3: The Informal Reading Inventory Process. In Reading
Assessment: A Primer for Teachers and Coaches (pp. 49-92). New York: Guilford
Press.
Christenson, S., & Reschly, A. L. (2010). Chapter 2: Motivation and Commitment to FamilySchool Partnerships. In Handbook of School-Family Partnerships (pp. 30-60). New
York:
Routledge.
Farstrup, A. E., & Samuels, S. J. (2011). What Research has to say about Reading Instruction.
Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Gambrell, L. B., & Morrow, L. M. (2015). Best Practices in Literacy Instruction. New York:
Guilford Press.
NCS Pearson, Inc. (2015). AIMSweb Login. Retrieved from https://aimsweb.pearson.com/
Strickland, K. (2005). Chapter 1: Planning for Instruction. In What's After Assessment?: Followup instruction for phonics, fluency, and comprehension (pp. 1-18). Portsmouth,
NH:

Heinemann.