Tutoring Case Study

Madeleine Heins

CI 5433, Prof. O’Brien

Spring 2008

Background: Demographics

• 12 Year old female• African American• Qualifies for free lunch/breakfast• Lives in north Minneapolis, MN• Raised by single mother• Father left when she was 4 years old• Oldest of 2 daughters• Has been suspended numerous times for

stealing and fighting

Background: Self Perception About Literacy

• Positive Self Perception About Literacy• Identifies Speed of Reading as Personal

Challenge• Does Not View Self as a Struggling

Reader• Perceives Own Reading Skills as

Comparable to Classmates

Background: Academic Background

• Sojourner Truth Academy: Charter School in North Minneapolis

• Mainstream 6th Grade Student• Not Eligible for Special Education or Other

Special Programming• MCA Reading Score, 2007: 527

• (550=Proficient)

• NWEA/MAP Reading Score, Fall 2007: 190• (222=Proficient)

Pre-Assessments

• Identified as Struggling Reader by Classroom Teacher Through:

• 5th Grade MCA Score• NWEA/MAP Score• Observation of Classroom Performance

Interventions

• Placed in Strategic Intervention Reading Group

• 6th Grade Math and Reading is Ability-Grouped

• Student’s Placement Based on 6th Grade Readiness Assessments Administered by Teachers in Fall

Instructional Resources

• Student Spends School Day With Primarily 2 Teachers:

• Advisor/Reading Teacher/Social Studies Teacher, 6 years Teaching Experience

• Math Teacher/Science Teacher, 30 years Teaching Experience

• Both are Licensed K-8 Minnesota Teachers

Student Perspective

• Student was Eager to Participate in Tutoring• Student Spoke Excitedly About Books and

Reading• Student Did Not Comment on her Ability

Grouping Placement• Student Described Herself as, “A good reader,

and I am getting better. Mr. P. is a great teacher!”

• Student’s Responses Demonstrated Eagerness to Please and Give “Right” Answer

Personnel Perspective

Advisor, Reading Instructor and Social Studies Teacher says student is accurately identified as struggling reader because:

• Fluency is solid• Struggles with comprehension• Tends to rush through work• Easily distracted and off-task• Does not apply word recognition or vocabulary strategies regularly• Struggles with behavior and anger negatively effect school

performance• Believes ability grouping, small classes and focus on

comprehension are effective interventions

Preliminary Instructional Plan

Affective Dimensions:– Student needs reinforcement and recognition of effort and improvement– Student needs personally relevant reading materials

Word Recognition and Vocabulary:– Student needs authentic practice using contextual clues for vocabulary– Student needs word recognition strategies (chunking, breaking into smaller

words) as she often guesses larger, unfamiliar words

Comprehension:– Student needs meta-cognitive tools to monitor comprehension– Student needs practice and encouragement making personal connections with

text

– Student needs opportunities to pose questions about texts to aid analysis

Additional Pre-Assessments

I want to find out more about:• Fluency and Accuracy (my findings varied from student’s

teacher’s description: • Specific Difficulties with Decoding• Struggles With Comprehension

I conducted the following additional pre-assessments:

• Dolch Sight Words List: Student read all words correctly• Johns IRA Passage, Grade 6, Sunflowers: 11 miscues, 5 significant miscues,

6 missed comprehension responses• Johns IRA Passage, Grade 5, Flight: 5 miscues, 4 significant miscues, 5 missed

comprehension responses• Johns IRA Passage, Grade 4, Oldest Living Things: 5 miscues, 4 significant

miscues, 5 missed comprehension responses

Post Assessments

Will administer Content Reading Inventory developed from texts used during tutoring

Student will take NWEA/MAP in May 2008; Score will break down proficiency in comprehension, vocabulary and literature

Instruction

2 texts were selected for instruction:• The Skin I’m In by Sharon Flake• Money Hungry by Sharon Flake

• These books tell the stories of African American pre-teen girls in the inner city, including struggles with school, friends and families

• These books have been awarded the Coretta Scott King Award• Student was enthusiastic about texts and made many self to text

connections, unprompted• She asked to take books with her and read on her own between tutoring

sessions

Instruction Continued

• Focus of tutoring in developing comprehension strategies into skills

• Questions Only: Student generated own questions during reading on Post-It Notes, as tutoring progressed questions reached higher levels in Bloom’s Taxonomy

• ReQuest: Student was enthusiastic and eager to practice this tool for developing comprehension

• Questioning the Author: Student struggled to stay on topic of text, questions tended to be more personal, required redirecting often to use this strategy

Instruction Continued

Vocabulary Interventions:– Four Square of words selected by student from

texts– Categorization of vocabulary words selected by

tutor

Fluency Support:– “Chunking” words– Searching for smaller, familiar words within large

words

Instruction Continued

Student requested use of texts outside of tutoring sessions

Student reported reading books, yet was rarely able to summarize what she read

Student continued to be an enthusiastic reader

Student generated a “wish list” of books on Amazon.com

Tutoring Log

Excerpt from February 12th, 2008:• Student is talkative and eager to participate in tutoring,

frequently swings conversation off topic. Eager to tell me about herself, seems to want/need attention

Excerpt from March 5th, 2008:• Student practiced Questions Only strategy today, most

questions generated were lower level of Bloom’s taxonomyExcerpt from April 9th, 2008:• We discussed MCA II’s next week. Student is nervous. We

practiced Questions Only. Student generated 3 higher level questions. We compared questions she wrote today to those from a month ago. She was surprised and pleased with her improvement. We practiced ReQuest,at student’s request.

Highlight of Tutoring Experience

DEFINITELY connecting with a student– She comes upstairs to greet me every morning– She “earns” time “tutoring” my 4th grade students

for good behavior in her homeroom– She is excited to finish the last text (Money

Hungry)– She reports feeling confident about her MCA II

performance

Questions? Comments?