Developing Language and Literacy

Case Study

by

Pammella Laszlo

Spring 2015

Professor Bobbie Martel/ED291 Leeward Community College

Purpose of Case Study

Conduct a Modified Running Record

to assess a student’s:

• Current reading level

• Their skills with specific texts

• Their comprehension

• Their oral reading and retelling

• Recommend intervention(s)

Goal: “Not too easy nor too difficult.”

Note: A modified running record is usually performed for older children. They are slightly different than traditional running records

but yield the same valuable data potential to identify reading strengths and sources of glitches,

Information Gathering Methods

Direct Observation

• I conducted eight-hours of classroom service where I observed the student

identified to participate in this case study on his behaviors towards others

and how he approached learning. I also monitored and provided

constructive feedback to students rehearsing for their speech presentation

and monitored students making paper sun dials.

Interviews

• I conducted a short personal interview (*) followed by a Modified

Running Record with one middle school aged student who was selected

by the teacher.

*See Appendix ( ) Personal Interview Questions

Information Gathering Methods Continued

Reference Books

• Flint, Amy Seely. Literate Lives: Teaching Reading & Writing in

Elementary Classrooms. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2008. Print.

• Pringle, Laurence. "A Natural Force." SRA Open Court Reading.

Columbus, Ohio: SRA/McGraw-Hill, 2002. p.529. Print.

• Shea, Mary. Where's the Glitch?: How to Use Running Records with Older

Readers, Grades 5-8. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2006. Print.

Archival Records

• Student Service Support Teacher shared students Start Reading records for

2014 – 2015.

• Our Savior Lutheran School is a private school located in Aiea across from Toys R

Us. Founded in 1970.

• Grades: PK – 8, Enrollment 200

• Student: Teacher Ratio – 15:1 (National Average 13:1)

• Teachers with advanced degrees: 80%

• Diversity: Asian/Pacific Islander, Caucasian, Native Hawaiian, Black, Hispanic.

• Sports: Basketball, Cross Country, Volley Ball, Golf, Track & Field

• Extracurricular: A+, Study Club, Chess Club, Lego Club, Hula, Day Care, Japanese

Club, Music Lessons

• Languages: Spanish and Japanese

• School motto: Saints

Service Learning School

• Willie (not his really name) is the youngest of five children ages ranging from 11 – 23

years old. He is one of two boys and lives at home with his parents and two older

sisters (one in middle school; one in high school). The eldest brother lives on his own

(Aiea) and his eldest sister is a Sophomore attending college on mainland.

• He is 5’ 3” tall, sun kissed skin tone, dark brown eyes that are kind, dark brown hair

styled like a professional baseball player. He has a gleaming smile causing people to

gravitate towards him and his contagious laughter spills over onto everyone around

him. He is very respectful and polite. His ethnicity is Hawaiian/German.

• He is from the Waianae Coast which is an hour commute to and from school each day.

He is up at 5:00 am and out the door by 5:30 am. He usually sleeps on the way to

school and eats a light breakfast prior to school starting.

• His favorite subjects: art “because it reminds me of eating” and math “because its fun

and engaging, and I’m good at it.”

Description of Case Study Student

• His least favorite subjects: Shirley “because it’s hard to classify sentences and

memorize the jingle grammar rules” and reading “because I do not care for

reading but if I have to read I will pick action books written by John

Flannigan.”

• He is an avid athlete: football (3 yrs); baseball (7 yrs) and aspires to be a

professional baseball player.

• He is also a member of the OSLS advanced band and plays the Saxophone.

• During his spare time he likes to play video games/TV.

Description of Case Study Student Continue

• The teacher has established realistic classroom rules and procedures

that result in her classroom running very efficiently. Students are able

to transition from one lesson to the next with little guidance.

Lessons are interesting and creative prompting maximum student

engagement. There were no behavioral issues the day I observed

Mrs. Epperson’s sixth grade class. The teacher integrates technology

seamlessly to enhance her already challenging curriculum.

• When redirected to stay on task, Willie modifies his behavior quickly

to accommodate the teacher’s request.

• Willie is well-liked by his peers and works well in a collaborative

setting.

Classroom Observations

• Willie enjoys using classroom computers during his free time and is

very proficient at many different educational software programs.

• During a class read aloud session he remained engaged the entire

time and was ready to read on cue. When asked to read he was able to

read assigned text with fluency and without any miscues. He also

participated in answering teacher prompted questions about the

assigned text.

• During a speech practice session, Willie said he did not like reading

and struggled to read through his entire speech which was “The

Sermon on the Mount.” The teacher assigned this speech because of

Willie’s religious background .

Classroom Observations Continued

• Willie comes from a very stable family where education is a priority. Both of

Willie’s parents work, however, Willie’s mom works part-time at the school he

attends and part-time at another elementary school nearby as well as teaching

hula after school two days a week. Mom is the primary care taker as dad works

longs hours running a family business with his father-in-law.

• Here is a sample of Willie’s weekly Spring schedule:

• Monday – Friday attends school 7:50 am – 3:00 pm

• T/TH Days/times baseball practice 4:30 – 6:30

• Sundays attends church services with his family

Description of Home Environment and Schedule

Steps for Conducting a MRR

1. Schedule a session for the MRR.

2. Prepare the environment. It should be

comfortable for the reader and recorder,

and relatively quiet.

3. Explain the reason for the MRR and

what you’ll be doing while the student

reads.

4. Introduce the reading selection. Ask

questions to determine background

knowledge. Give an overview of the

text, predictions, and questions expected

to answer after the student is done

reading.

5. Give directions for the task.

6. Allow the student to begin reading while

you record markings on a photo copy of

the text.

7. Complement the student when s/he is

finished reading then ask him/her to

retell.

8. Briefly share highlights of your notes

with the student. Stick to one or two

teaching points. Then thank the student

for his/her cooperation and direct

him/her to return to his activity or class.

9. Complete the tally sheet and summaries

of results, comments, and conclusions.

Assessment Tool:

MRR Tally Sheet

A MRR was used to

measure Willie’s reading

proficiency and accuracy

while reading aloud a new

story that his teacher

selected for him.

This tool will help to

identify any glitches Willie

may have with literacy

(accuracy, fluency,

vocabulary,

comprehension) and

also help to identify

learning strategies to

develop literacy skills that

he struggles with.

Modified Running Record: Reading Material

• Text Book: SRA Open Court Reading, Grade

6 by WrightGroup/McGraw-Hill, January 31,

2002, Columbus, Ohio

• Story: *A Natural Force, by Laurence

Pringle, Page 529.

• Reading Level Equivalent: 6.9

• Summary: In this selection, the reader will

learn that natural fires help the environment.

• Illustration: Elk in Wyoming feed on willow

and cottonwood, plants that produce new

sprouts after a fire.

*MRR materials provided by student’s teacher

Modified Running Record Interview Process – Dialogue

Interview

Pammella: “Willie, how are you doing today?”

Willie: “Good.”

Pammella: “Did Mrs. Epperson inform you about what you will be doing today?”

Willie: “Yes, something about helping you with your school work.”

Pammella: “Yes, I am hoping you might help me complete one of my college assignments.” “I am required to perform a Running Record,

like a reading assessment on one student.” “Do you feel comfortable taking part in this assessment for me?

Willie: “Sure!”

Pammella: “Wonderful!” “Pretend that I do not know you , can you please tell me about yourself, family, and interest?”

Willie: “I have a large family, 1 brother and 3 sisters, I’m the youngest.” “I like to play baseball and football, play video games and watch TV

and I’m funny.”

Pammella: “What are your favorite and least favorite school subjects and why?”

Willie: “Art and Math because Art reminds me of food and Math because it is engaging, fun and I’m good at it.” English and reading are my

least favorite because Shirley is hard to classify sentences and I don’t like memorizing the jingles.” “Reading because its boring and takes

too long.”

Pammella: “What types of genre do you enjoy reading?”

Willie: “Action books, adventure, science experiments.” “My favorite author is John Flanagan author of Ranger Apprentice.”

Pammella: “I’ haven’t read Ranger Apprentice can you tell me a little about this book?” Retelling was very vague but was excited to tell me

about the book but kept saying, “You know and yeah, yeah.”

Modified Running Record Dialogue Continued

MRR

Pammella: “Willie, now we are going to begin the MRR.” “When you are ready, I would like you to begin

reading in your SRA Open Court book on page 529, the entire page.” While you are reading I will be

following along and making some notes.” “After you are finished reading I will ask you a few questions.” “Do

you have any questions about the MRR?”

Willie: “No.”

Pammella: “Willie, this story is about controlled forest fires taking place in Michigan” “You will also read about

the effects of a forest fire and what happens to wildlife during a forest fire.” “What do you think happens to

wildlife during a forest fire.” “Willie, you may begin reading when you are ready.” Willie reads very well, self-

correcting along the way and only making a few miscues. When Willie is finished I thank him for his

cooperation. I then ask him to retell what he just read and continue to listen to him until he tells me, “That’s

all.” At that point, I engage Willie in conversation about the text by posing comments or questions.

MRR:

Text Markings

•This is the story passage

selected by the teacher.

•It contains 234 words

•Initial read was ‘new’

•Read twice to reassess

comprehension because

the student struggled with

comprehension during the

initial reading.

MRR Tally Sheet

Analysis

A MRR was used to

measure Willie’s reading

proficiency and accuracy

while reading aloud a new

story that his teacher

selected for him.

This tool will help to

identify any glitches Willie

may have with literacy

(accuracy, fluency,

vocabulary,

comprehension) and

also help to identify

learning strategies to

develop literacy skills that

he struggles with.

MRR

Comprehension

Analysis

Data Interpretation

Overall, Willie is a strong reader, achieving an accuracy score of 93% which

is right in the middle of the acceptable literacy target rate (90% – 95%) putting him right

where he should be in terms of his reading literacy level based on his age and grade level.

Metacognatively he is doing very well, self-correcting immediately after he realizes he has a

miscue. He is able to demonstrate vocabulary proficiency in automatic and sight vocabulary

words. He understands syntax, meaning and visual cues and is able to make logical

predictions based on contextual knowledge, however, I noticed a pattern of word omissions,

substitutions and miscues of punctuation. I attribute these literacy glitches to the pace of

reading (too fast) and possibly not wearing his reading glasses. Initially, Willie struggled

with comprehension, however, after becoming more familiar with the text (after a second

reading), his comprehension level increased significantly.

Number of self-correction: 2

Number of words read

correctly: 227/234

Number of errors: 7 (omissions/substitutions)

Many of these errors were due to the student reading too fast.

Another possible reason for miscues could be attributed to the

student not wearing his corrective lenses when he took the MRR.

This may have distorted the results due to his eyes not functioning

with the clearest vision possible.

Action Plan

Here are some strategies for improving Willie’s literacy based on the results of his MRR.

Vocabulary building – suggest student keep a vocabulary journal and write down words that

are familiar to him and give a short definition and example how to use the word in a sentence.

If the student is a visual learner encourage him to use a picture to illustrate the meaning of the

word.

Strategies to boost comprehension

Pre-reading activities – by discussing what you know about “forest fires and their effects, what

you want to know, and what you want to learn. A simple KWL chart is useful during this type

of pre-reading activity.

Partner sharing – is also a fun way to brainstorm and share about the topic “forest fires and

their effects.” Suggest partnering this student with a stronger student to help facilitate

Learning.

Action Plan Continued

Strategies to boost comprehension continued

•Predict what might happen prior to reading the text, for example: “What might happen during a

forest fire to wildlife?” “What are the effects of a forest fire?” Prediction will help the student

focus on these themes when reading causing him to search for clues that will help him with

his comprehension.

•Read aloud as much as possible because you read slower and with inflections, which

gives you more senses through reading and hearing to help improve comprehension.

•Read with a partner, in ability groups, and teacher directed. Then partner share retelling the

story.

•When reading have a pencil handy to underline, highlight, and make notes.

•Write in the margin of the book or make check marks to go back and re-read. Stop to reflect

on what was read after each paragraph and pay attention to summary words: as a result,

therefore, in conclusion and think to yourself what is the main points the author is

trying to say before you get to the summary. If you cannot, then go back and re-read

the passage.

Conclusion

Finally thoughts….

It important that the student understands what he is working on when it comes to

reading fluency so that he can be aware of his literacy goals. In Willie’s case, his

literacy goals would include:

• reading accurately (reading all the words with no substitutions),

• reading with expression and punctuation,

• and increasing comprehension.

It is also recommended that Willie wear his glasses to give him clearer vision when

reading and doing other academic activities. This will help facilitate

A thank you letter was sent to the OSLS principal and Mrs. Epperson for supporting

my educational pursuit of becoming a teacher. I also included a copy of this case study

for consideration to be placed in the student’s portfolio as evidence of developing

competencies.

References

Flint, Amy Seely. Literate Lives: Teaching Reading & Writing in Elementary

Classrooms. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2008. Print.

Pringle, Laurence. "A Natural Force." SRA Open Court Reading. Columbus,

Ohio: SRA/McGraw-Hill, 2002. p.529. Print.

Shea, Mary. Where's the Glitch?: How to Use Running Records with Older

Readers, Grades 5-8. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2006. Print.