EDUC 529/683 Assessment and Treatment of Reading Difficulties

Artifact Description:
I have attached both the required graded rubric and the cover sheet for my case
study for the practicum course entitled EDUC 529/683. These artifacts represent
the assessment and intervention work that I completed with two elementary
students during this course. Both artifacts also exemplify INTASC Standard 9: The
teacher engages in ongoing professional learning and uses evidence to continually
evaluate his/her practice, particularly the effects of his/her choices and actions on
others (learners, families, other professionals, and the community), and adapts
practice to meet the needs of each learner; and WI State Standard 9: Teachers are
able to evaluate themselves. The teacher is a reflective practitioner who continually
evaluates the effects of his or her choices and actions on pupils, parents,
professionals in the learning community and others and who actively seeks out
opportunities to grow professionally. Without being able to reflect on my practice
and what influence it had on each of the students I worked with during the
intervention period, I would not have been able to help them achieve at higher
levels.

Professional Growth
Prior to this course I had looked at assessment and intervention as separated skills
from those that I draw upon for my regular lessons and whole class instruction.
Students who struggled needed extra time with different instruction, I felt, while
during the regular teaching time it was business as usual for the majority of
students, and pairing up those students who were not able to access the text of the
grade level with more able students.
Participating in this practicum has helped me look more closely at the lessons and
assessments I utilize with all of my students. According to INTASC Standard 6,
the teacher understands and uses multiple methods of assessment to engage
learners in their own growth, to monitor learner progress, and to guide the
teachers and learners decision making. It was not that I did not do this in my
intermediate classes, but I do not think I did it well. This course has taught me to
use multiple assessments both formative and summative in a more purposeful
way. In this course we spent a great deal of time learning to select appropriate
assessments to address specific learning goals and individual differences as well as

becoming more knowledgeable about how to analyze assessment data to

understand patterns and gaps in learning, to guide planning and instruction, and
to provide meaningful feedback to all learners.
Furthermore, the intervention sessions allowed me to differentiate for my students
particular needs around literacy development. Ongoing formative assessments
helped guide my instruction and planning for subsequent lessons, making
adjustments along the way as necessary, depending on the needs of the child. It
was wonderful to have my instructor as a guide on the side when I needed
feedback on lessons and assessment results.
As a result of this course, I feel more strongly that having a variety of tools to
draw from when planning and implementing interventions is essential. Without a
variety of strategies, I may not be able to find that one key to unlock the door to
learning for a particular student. When those aha moments come for a student,
they are engaged in the learning process and open to new learning. Knowing
when to guide and support and when to step back and honor the struggle that a
child may be having is not an exact science, but too often we err on the side of
giving answers to the detriment of the childs learning in the long run. As I
watched my intervention students struggle then come to new understandings
about words, sentences, content, and ways of thinking, I was able to help them see
how important that struggle is, while building their own capacity to learn and
become independent thinkers which is what WI Standard 9, Teachers are able to
evaluate themselves. The teacher is a reflective practitioner who continually
evaluates the effects of his or her choices and actions on pupils, parents,
professionals in the learning community and others and who actively seeks out
opportunities to grow professionally is all about.
While most of the intervention plans I designed were able to be executed as
planned originally, there were times when I realized I had released the student to
independence too soon and had to pull back and support with a we do strategy.
Being systematic with my plans, however, did help both of the students I worked
with to become comfortable in our routines. We could move from one part of the
lesson to the next smoothly and I think that was a comfort for children who often
feel one step behind their peers in the classroom. In future planning I would make
my sessions a bit longer or add another day to the week of intervention to go
deeper into some of the comprehension both of my students really needed. I think,
upon reflection, that I would also vary my lessons to address multiple modalities of

learning, as is illustrated in the INTASC Standard 1, the teacher understands how

learners grow and develop, recognizing that patterns of learning and development
vary individually within and across the cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and
physical areas, and designs and implements developmentally appropriate and
challenging learning experiences.
I also do not think I did enough kinesthetic or auditory type activities during
lessons as evidenced by my students inability to concentrate for lengths of time
without becoming wiggly and distracted. Knowing and understanding the stages
of literacy development is also extremely important in designing appropriate
lessons that will move a child up the literacy development continuum through
many modalities of engagement. I feel that this practicum has helped me to
better understand those stages, and in planning for future lessons I would
implement instruction that targets the childs needs more effectively.

Understanding and Application of Standards

In addition to the standards discussed above, I feel that I also dove more
thoroughly into INTASC Standard 7: The teacher plans instruction that supports
every student in meeting rigorous learning goals by drawing upon knowledge of
content areas, curriculum, cross-disciplinary skills, and pedagogy, as well as
knowledge of learners and the community context. This holds true especially
beyond the intervention sessions and into the regular classroom instruction
throughout the day. I feel that my instructional strategy bank account has grown
and matured in a way that has helped all of my students learn. I have
implemented more differentiation, both in the activities that students engage in,
as well as my overall instruction. I am better able to used targeted strategies to
address various learners throughout the entire lesson, not just in small groups.
Throughout the entire 316 course, I have become more skillful in teaching reading
in the way that WI Standard 1 is concerned: Teachers know the subjects they are
teaching. The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and
structures of the disciplines she or he teaches and can create learning experiences
that make these aspects of subject matter meaningful for pupils.

Impact on Student Learning

I worked with two students during this practicum course: Simone, a sixth grade
student in an urban school, and Marcello, a third grade student in my own school.
I met with both students for 30 minute sessions twice weekly. Both of my
students had very good attendance for these sessions, and I feel that we made
some progress in the nine weeks we worked together.
Simones comprehension was greatly aided by the use of graphic organizers. She
had difficulty summarizing what she read, and identifying important details, so
the support of a graphic organizer improved her comprehension immensely. She
was able to chunk words and passages with 75% or better accuracy with minimal
prompting by the end of the sessions. Interventions for word study reinforced
syllables and affixes, but the bulk of future work should move to a more in-depth
focus on harder suffixes and base and root words to help Simone move from
decoding to understanding unfamiliar words she encounters. Semantic mapping
helped Simone cement learning of new vocabulary.

In the interventions with Marcello, we began with the QRI-5 word lists
and he was able to breeze through the primer lists. He also felt confident with the
first grade list and scored in the independent range. His errors were mostly
medial or ending sounds, and he did not sound out very many of the words. On
the post-assessment, however, Marcello was having a difficult time focusing and
scored only 80% to his previous 90% on the grade 1 list. We continued the lists
the following day to try and focus more carefully. He improved his score on the
Grade 2 word list from 60% correct to 80% correct. His automatic score did not
rise greatly, but he took much more time to fully analyze more of the words and
not just guess based on the initial consonants and vowels. Marcello still was at the
frustration level on the Grade 3 list, but has made gains there as well especially in
his total words correct score where he went from 50% to 65%. He also became
more self-aware of miscues and trying hard to look through his words fully to
correctly say the words and to improve comprehension of the passages.
The components of word work, comprehension, and fluency practice all play an
integral part in furthering the literacy development of the child. This course has
taught me to be more purposeful in my work with students who struggle with
early literacy skills. The assessment and intervention work with both of my
students in the practicum has enhanced my work as a teacher. I have a great
depth of knowledge and ability to pinpoint reading difficulties, and to plan
effective instruction to meet the needs of all of my students.