UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTHERN CARIBBEAN

MARACAS ROYAL ROAD, MARACAS, ST. JOSEPH.

Title of Assignment
Reading Assessment

An Assignment
Presented in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Course
SPED345 Teaching Students in the Inclusive Classroom

INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Yvonne John

By

Lookerisha Hamilton-Smith

5 November 2017

Approval
NAME OF STUDENT: Stephon Jobe

DOB: 20/05/07 AGE: 10 years GENDER: Male

CLASS: Standard 3

SCHOOL: Maracas Presbyterian Primary School

YEAR IN SCHOOL:

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION OF SCHOOL:

Maracas Presbyterian Primary School was established in 1904 in the village of Acono, which is

located in Maracas Valley, St. Joseph.

OBSERVATION:

This student was observed in his classroom on several occasions. From observation it was noted

that the student struggles with long and short vowel sounds. His reading contains some levels of

fluency. The student read two different stories for me before the test was conducted where he

struggled with the first story (because the text was at a higher lever) but read the second one slowly

while picking at the words as he went along. The student was able to read simple site words through

memorization.

LITERACY BEHAVIOURS/CHARACTERISTIC OF STUDENT:

It appeared that the student eager and enjoys oral reading, he loved stories and the characters within

them. The student at times, gets frustrated when he reads and comes upon a word that he does not

know. However, this does not deter him from continuing to read whatever he is reading. The

student will make several attempts to try and sound out the word, however if he is unable to sound

out the word the student skips the unknown word and continues reading.
LITERACY GAPS OF STUDENT:

Using short vowel sounds: (e.g. cap, ice, sock, rock, jog,)

Using long vowel sounds: (e.g. late, bike, cute, rain, meat, road)

Remembering consonants blends and digraphs such as (ch, sh, th, wh,)

STUDENTS ACTUAL DEVELOPMENT:

Text Knowledge: Beginning Literacy

Reading Behaviours: Beginning Literacy

Writing Behaviours: word by word

few sentences not half page

difficulty with spelling words

PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT:

It is my views that this student can strive if the correct intervention strategies are employed. He

would not only master his current Milestone but he will also progress and adapt into the Traditional

Literacy Milestone smoothly.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT STEPHON

Stephone Jobe lives in La Siava Light Pole (LP) #60 Maracas Village St. Joseph Trinidad. His

family is of mixed race where his mother is of Indo decent and his father African of decent. His

family structure resembles that of the extended family, where he lives with his mother, father and

other relatives.

Stephons mother describes him as an asthmatics, she claims that when he takes his medication,

it affects him socially and academically.

HISTORY OF STEPHONS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN SCHOOL

Stephon is two levels below his reading abilities and show little to no interest when he is in class.

He is often unfocused, dazed, easily distracted when given simple task to complete and

mischievous. The teacher must read instructions first before he attempts to complete the task.

During the lesson, Stephon would only participate if he were confident about the answer, but would

not raise his hand otherwise. During reading, Stephon would read and skip over words when he is

unsure of the word. Sometimes he would make an effort to sound out the word but if he tries and

still unable to sound it out, he would skip over words and continues reading. Upon completion, he

is unable to answer certain questions because he was unable to sound out certain words.

His current class teacher realizes that he is slow and struggling reader who reads below his age

and class. She stressed that even though he has the potential to do better much effort is needed

both on his part and at home. She also indicated that since he has been receiving some assistance

with the Reading Specialist, he has improved in reading.

His past class teacher indicated that Stephon also struggled with reading while he was in Standard

Two (2). Where it took him between two to three weeks to read one book but with guidance. His

past class teacher used the book Nelson West Indian Readers Infant Book Two (2) to help assist

Stephon with his reading.

Stephon will be due to sit the SEA examination in two years time, but he struggles with

comprehension and fluency once it comes to reading. It must be noted however, that his analytical

abilities in mathematics is commendable.

DISABILITIES

Stephon has not shown any evidence of any physical disabilities except for his reading difficulties

and his mischievous behavior during class.

ASSESSMENT USED TO IDENTIFY THE STRUGGLING AREA

An informal reading inventory was used to determine Stephons current reading strengths and

established his reading difficulties as well as to inform the remedial instruction to show his growth

in reading. Three assessments were conducted in total and the running reading record was used as

an initial assessment. In order to determine the passages that Stephon read a list of words from

the Ministry of Education of Trinidad and Tobago Reading Inventory was used. The word lists

consists of twenty words.

 Original Word List

Year One Year Two Year Three

sea .. mother .. sing ..

come .. baby .. always ..

with .. flowers .. many ..

dog .. brother .. around ..

play .. going .. often ..

cold .. zoo .. because ..

jump .. banana .. both ..

wet .. first .. buy ..

too .. animals .. another ..

playing .. catch .. does ..

jumping .. seaside .. water ..

look .. stop .. dont ..

boy .. children .. fast ..

girl .. sunny .. found ..

my .. after .. green ..

away .. again .. right ..

did .. ask .. these ..

bed .. every .. would ..

mummy .. little .. next ..

daddy .. please .. very ..

SCORE .. SCORE .. SCORE ..

Sample of Stephons Word recognition from the Word List
 Original Word List

Year Four Year Five

begins .. whether ..

front .. thirsty ..

uncle .. harbor ..

biggest .. built ..

fence .. company ..

better .. already ..

clean .. silent ..

done .. wreck ..

drink .. improve ..

eight .. entered ..

grow .. realized ..

light .. several ..

never .. since ..

only .. thought ..

own .. lonely ..

start .. cleaning ..

together .. government ..

tomorrow .. increase ..

yesterday .. country ..

remember .. beautiful ..

SCORE .. SCORE ..
Sample of Stephons Word recognition from the Word List
The word list provided was used to establish a base line to determine the passage that Stephon read

during the exercise based on his word recognition skills. During his reading, errors made by him

was marked as he read aloud. Substitutions, omissions, insertions and mispronunciations as well

as words that he struggled with for three to five seconds were recorded as an error.

Stephon was asked to read a total of three passages consecutively, but the third passage was at his

frustration level so it was aborted. The first passage was selected based on his word recognition

from the word list and the level was year one. The passage was entitled, At the Zoo. The second

passage on the other hand was a year two passage entitled, At the Beach.

Sample Passage 1 read by Stephon

Answers given by Stephon based on Passage One
Sample Passage 2 read by Stephon
Answers given by Stephon based on Passage Two
The above running record completed for Stephon shows that at Year 1 both his Word Recognition

errors were at the Instructional Level while his Comprehension score was at the Independent Level.

At Year 2 however, his Word Recognition Level Instructional Level while his Comprehension

score was at the Frustration level. It is evident that some work needs to be done in the retelling

aspect of his comprehension skills so that he could make connections of when he reads for

understanding. It is also noted that Stephon has a limited understanding of what are the elements

that must be included in a retell. It would seem that he is proficient in some aspects of reading

comprehension but there are still some improvements so he can be up to speed.

INTERPRETATION OF THE ASSESSMENTS COMPLETED

After reviewing the results of the Informal Reading Inventory from the Ministry of Education in

Trinidad and Tobago which was completed, the following is deduced: Stephon needs much needed

tutoring in the areas of reading comprehension. Even though Stephon is reading at the Year Two

level which is equivalent to Infants Two level he becomes frustrated when asked to read at a level

four which is equivalent to Standard Three level. When Stephon was given the Word Recognition

List, he was able to read the Year Two Level list with mush ease but as he progresses to level one

and three of the word list, it got harder and he was only able to recognize 15 of the 20 words on

the list with much difficulty. This is known as his Frustration Level. His problem areas seem to be

in multi-syllable words. He is able to answer the first syllable and guess the rest of the syllables.

If he did not know the word, he attempted to call it but if he did not get it, he was encouraged to

go onto the next word.

INDIVIDUALIZED INTERVENTION PLAN FOR STEPHON

This plan is designed to assist Stephon in the following struggling areas:

1. Syllable Segmentation Pronunciation

2. Context Clues

3. Reading Comprehension Fluency

4. Retelling Fluency

5. Punctuation

6. Reading Specialist assigned

7. Support at home
 Individualized Reading Improvement Plan for Stephon Jobe

Strategy/Program Group Size Days per Minutes per Day Date Started Date Ended
Week
Syllable Individual 2 30 Mins 1 Nov, 22 Dec,
Segmentation 2017 2017

Contest Clues
Reading Individual 2 30 Mins 29 Nov 6 Dec,
Comprehension 2017 2017

Retelling

Reading At Home Plan

Date provided with Read at Home Plan

1 November 2017

Date of Training and permission granted by Parent/Guardian

10 November 2017

Yes X No

Materials Provided for Read at Home Plan

Worksheets were given to Stephon for continued practice at home, reading comprehension
passages and questions to practice his reading fluency. The worksheets will be corrected
to monitor his progress in his reading ability.

COMMENTS

PARENTS/GUARDIAN SIGNATURE:

TEACHERS SIGNATURE:
Intervention Plan for Stephon will begin for a duration of six weeks and the sessions will commence as follows:-

Week 1-2

Areas of Difficulty: Syllabic Words Pronunciation

Name of Strategy M T W THU FRI Remarks

15 15 Timeframe:1 hr per week

mins mins
This strategy has been chosen to remedy Stephons problem with Stephon was able to grasp 75% of the instruction on

pronunciation and syllabication. This strategy will assist Stephon to syllable segmentation but with continued practice, he will

It helps students with the correct pronunciation of words. be able to comfortably sound out his words when doing

It helps students to hear all the sounds in words. read-aloud or independent reading.

It is an advance form of phonemic awareness.

Decode (read) and spell words.

DETAILS OF INSTRUCTION Further Practice:

Rules regarding syllables Speed Drills:

1. Every Syllable contains only one vowel sound. One drill contains 20 common syllables in random order.

2. R-controlled vowels stay together The other contains words with a specific syllable-spelling

3. Vowel Teams stay together pattern (consonant + -le) Stephon is given time to practice
4. Open vowels = long vowel sound reading the syllables or words on the drill. Then, he is given

5. Closed vowels = short vowel sound one minute to read as many syllables or words as he can.

The mispronounced syllables are marked and he counts the

1. Divide syllables before a suffix e.g. teach er number of syllables or words read correctly and mark this

on his progress chart.

2. Divide syllables after a prefix e.g. re wind

3. Divide between a double consonants e.g. fur ry

4. Divide between two middle consonants e.g. pump kin

5. Divide after an open syllable with a long vowel sound e.g.

a corn

6. Divide after the consonant when the nearby vowel has a short

sound e.g. plan et

7. Divide before consonant le word chunks e.g. rum le

8. Divide Compound words between the two words e.g.

sun shine

Sample Syllable Speed Drill

The fifteen words are as follows:

1. Front 2. Uncle
3. Fence 4. Done
5. Eight 6. Tomorrow
7. Whether 8. Harbor
9. Built 10. Silent
11. Entered 12. Realized
13. Several 14. Since
15. thought
Week 3

Area of Difficulty: Context Clues

Name of Strategy M T W THU FRI Remarks

Context Clues 30 mins 30 mins 1 hr per week

This strategy has been chosen to assist Stephon in finding meaning from the passage as he

reads. This strategy will help improve his fluency, vocabulary

Details of Instruction ALWAYS REMEMBER:

There are different types of context clues:- Strong readers will always read the

I Inference Meaning is not given so you must use E.g. Dont want to walk sentences surrounding the unknown

context clues with Tom, unless you word to look for clues.

want to hear him talk

about himself. He is so

arrogant.

D Definition the meaning of the word is explained in the E.g. Tom is so arrogant.

sentence He think he is more

 important then everyone

else.

E Example an example of the word is in the sentence or E.g. Tom is so arrogant. Stephon was able to grasp this

nearby sentences. He is bragging about concept quite well and with

how great he is in sports. continued practice, he will be able to

A Antonym A word with opposite meaning is used in E.g. Tom is so arrogant. acquire understanding and put his

the sentence or nearby sentences. He needs to learn to be reading into context to obtain

humble like his little meaning as he improve his reading

brother Jose. skills.

S Synonym words with similar meaning are used in E.g. Tom is so arrogant

or near the sentence. proud, self-centered and

over-bearing.

After this instruction on Context Clues is completed with Stephon, a number of practice

exercises are given to him as Guided Practice and for Independent Practice.
 Context Clues Worksheet Guided Practice
Name: __________________________________ Date: ___________________________

Directions: For each underlined word, use the context clues or words that surrounds it to find the

meaning.

Example: The River was dry so we could not get any water. Answer: dry a lack of water.

1. My mom said that I am perfectly able to get straight As.

___________________________________________________________________________

2. My dad didnt want anyone to know his real age.

___________________________________________________________________________

3. We bought a lot of candy before entering the movie theatre.

__________________________________________________________________________

4. The captain of the ship was in charge of steering it to shore.

__________________________________________________________________________

5. I always do my homework at my desk.

___________________________________________________________________________
Week 5

Area of Difficulty: Fluency

Name of Strategy M T W THR FRI REMARKS

Reading Comprehension 60 MINS 60 MINS

In this session, the strategies highlighted below will assist Stephon with his reading comprehension

skills. It will also help to build his vocabulary, help him to make connections in his reading and

visualization. Once he masters these skills his interests in reading will not only improve but he would

get into habit of reading for pleasure.

Details of instruction:

to become a good reader, you need to do:-

1. Self-Monitoring Stephon was explained what self-monitoring is all about and the main

points to remember in self-monitoring.

2. Choose a Just Right Book

3. Understand the difference between Fake Reading and Real.

4. Defining Words
5. Decoding

6. Building Fluency

7. How to tackle long text

Week 6

Area of Difficulty: Fluency

Name of Strategy M T W THR FRI REMARKS

Reading Comprehension 60 MINS 60 MINS

In this session, the strategies highlighted below will assist Stephon with his reading comprehension

skills. It will also help to build his vocabulary, help him to make connections in his reading and

visualization. Once he masters these skills his interests in reading will not only improve but he would

get into habit of reading for pleasure.

Details of instruction:

to become a good reader, you need to do:-

1. Self-Monitoring Stephon was explained what self-monitoring is all about and the main

points to remember in self-monitoring.

2. Choose a Just Right Book

3. Understand the difference between Fake Reading and Real.

4. Defining Words
5. Decoding

6. Building Fluency

7. How to tackle long text

8. Retelling
 Overall Assessment (Personal Review)

Stephon attended one session of interventions due to the time that I received the letter. The

Informal Reading Inventory was administered once time to Stephon and the result and the results

was showed that he was at the infants year two level. Based on the fact that came up through the

school it is safe to say that the system has failed him.

His overall attitude towards reading, Stephon has a desire to read but still only wants to

stay focused in the books that interest him. As I continue to work with him and his parents, I

believe that his reading interest will graduate to reading books of other genres as oppose to sticking

to just one type of reading genre. In addition, I am working with his family to build an interesting

home library that could not only benefit Stephon but the entire family.

The entire assessment exercise was an eye opener for me since I have had to cover a good

bit within a short space of time. This exercise has shown me what is necessary as a teacher in

planning for reading instruction based on the needs of the students.

 Reference

Informal Reading Inventory Manuel. Ministry of Education of Trinidad and Tobago. Reading

Assessment.docx