Joe's+Page

2/7/11

Jacob absent

2/8/11

Kyree absent

2/14/11

Jacob absent

2/15/11

Kyree absent

2/21/11

Jacob

I met Jacob for the first time today. (Due to this I am unaware of when I should do a running record for him) I had him complete News About Me from Johns and Lenski's "Improving Reading: 5th edition." I learned that he likes to play video games and watch movies. He said that he loves animals and enjoys reading information books on them. (I will be going to the library soon to get some). The best book he has ever read was, "Catching Fire." He does have a library card but says he does not use it. When he grows up he wants to own his own wildlife sanctuary. How great is this??? Isn't it great when students take a liking to a particular subject? I wonder if he enjoys reading informational text as much as she does narrative texts. Research indicates that good informational text readers are good fiction readers; however, good fiction readers are not always good at reading informational text. So if he likes reading informational texts, this is good news. His favorite subject is math, with his least favorite being Social Studies. There are some great graphic novels on historical events that he may be interested in. We then completed an "Inventory of Experiences" from the same book. He likes football, and collecting stuff. His favorite TV show is Deadliest Warrior, he enjoys watching TV in his free time. He said that he does not like to read to others. I asked him to tell me more, he said, "If I come to a word and don't say it right thats embarassing."

We also completed the Burke Interview Modified for Older Readers. When he is reading and he comes to something that gives him trouble he sounds out the word. One of my goals this semester is to teach Jacob different ways of reading words other than sounding it out. I might ask him if he knows a part of the word, or if he can chunk the word. Excellent idea. He can also use syntax (grammatical) and semantics (meaning) from the sentence to help determine the word. He learned how to read by sounding out letters and putting them into senteces he says. When he comes to a word he does not know he will skip it. When I asked him to describe himself as a reader he said, "I am not a very good one." I can see that this semester will be filled with affective goals to help increase his confidence as a reader. He is also at that stage where he may be able to sound out the word, but if he's not heard it before he won't know if what he has said is correct or incorrect. It would be great if he could also download stories to his iPod (if he has one). As an educator something you can offer in your classroom are books on tape. If you have the technology means to use a Flip or an podcast, this could work, too. Sometimes students need supplemental vocabulary through authentic communication that they may not be actively receiving from their environment. As a teacher in the classroom I am certain you will do an excellent job using vocabulary that will help stretch their minds and build their word banks.

I gave him three books to chose from. He chose "Diary of a Wimpy Kid." When I asked him if he would read it out loud he said no. After he silently read a few pages I asked him to read one page out loud and then he could go back to reading it to himself. (I didn't want to push it but I also wanted to hear him read) It seemed as though this was a leveled text for him as he read with few miscues that I am aware of. Even though he is older, do not feel as if you cannot read to him or that he won't enjoy it. @http://www.naesp.org/resources/2/Leadership_Compass/2008/LC2008v5n3a4.pdf Here is a great resource supporting research on reading aloud. "The 1985 report, "Becoming a Nation of Readers," stated that the read aloud was the single most important thing we could do for building the knowledge required for future success in reading." I pulled this from page 2 of the PDF. Obviously you do not want to read to him the entire time. :)

Then we talked about writing. I asked him how he felt about his writing. He said that people have told him that he has messy handwriting, and he does not like to write. I told him that people have said the same thing about my handwriting. As far as spelling goes I asked him what he does when he does not know how to spell a word when he is writing. He said that he, "Sounds it out." He also mentioned that he will pick a different word if he does not know how to spell a word. Please feel free to use the Mac books for him to develop his writing. Since you have limited time for reading, you certainly do want to focus on this; however, if you would like to explore writing, this is an option.

Until next week......

2/22/2011

Today Kyree and I were able to meet! We started off by doing an inventory of experiences. I learned that he loves football and he is on the wrestling team. He is also a band member and plays the snare drum. He has a dog at home which he takes care of. He enjoys talking to friends and playing video games in his free time. He spends about two hours in class on the computer and about thirty to forty minutes a day at home on the computer. He has a library card and he uses it. He enjoys reading books that are biographies and his favorite book is Hatchet. He does not enjoy having someone read to him, but says that he sometimes enjoys reading out loud to others. Ooops! I spoke too soon. Interesting. I would be curious to know why. I still enjoy hearing people read out loud. Hmm...perhaps it is an autonomy thing: I can do it on my own. ;)

Then we completed the News About Me survey. Kyree has two brothers and three sisters. He says that he and his family like to have fun. I does not like to play alone. He helps at home by doing what his mother says. The thing I like to do at home the most is practice the snare drum, he mentioned. The best book he ever read was "Brian's Winter." He said he has about 1,000 books at home. He reads outloud to his brother, and his mother reads to him. When he grows up he wants to be an engineer and design cars. His favorite subject in school is math. The subject he dislikes the most is Language Arts. He is best at solving math problems and wishes he was better in Language Arts. He has a computer at home, and watches MTV, BET, and cartoons.

We then completed the My Ideas About Reading Survey. He does not think reading is boring. He is some where in the middle of agreeing and disagreeing that reading is fun. The same is the case when given the statement I am not a very good reader.

We also completed the Burke Interview Modified for Older Readers. When he is reading over something that gives him trouble he reads it over and looks for context clues. He said his teacher is a good reader, and never comes to things that give her trouble. When she would come to something that gave her trouble he said she would go to a dictionary to fix it. He would help someone who was having reading difficulties by telling them to use a dictionary. A teacher would help this person by giving them extra help. He said he learned to read by doing word searches. He wishes he could be a faster reader. When describing himself as a reader he mentioned that he is not the best, but he can comprehend what he is reading. The most difficult reading he has encountered was the Articles of Confederation. Well, goodness...who sits around reading the articles of confederation all day? ;) So, l take it he won't be a history teacher.

Until next week......

2/28/11

Jacob

Today we read a book //Dogs// because Jacob had expressed an interest in learning about animals. One of the goals that I have for him is to read with infleciton in his voice. He is reading word for word with a monotone voice. I may be introducing Reader's Theater in the near future to allow his access to different characters and creating different voices for each .YES!!! That would be fantastic. Has he contributed to Reader's Theater within his classroom?

Today Jacob read outloud for thirty minutes! GREAT! Even though he is not fond of having people read to him, I would tell him that you would really like to read a couple of pages. Modeling appropriate fluency-if needed with him, not the reading for fastness, would be great. My student thought that she needed to read for speed, as well. This was as I see it an improvement from last week. I allowed him twenty minutes to read //Diary of a Wimpy Kid// to himself.

3/1/11

Kyree

Today we focused a lot of time on writing. He wrote 82 words in fifteen minutes! I then asked him to spell a few words. He spelled dessert as desirt, eperience as expirience. Believe as beleve, eventually as eventualy.

I asked him what he wanted to do during our sessions and he expressed an interest in making stories on computers. He also said he wanted to read some how to magazines. These are definate possibilities in the near future.

3/14/11

Jacob

Today I recorder him reading orally. I took a running record of him (which i still have yet to turn in...sorry) and have found out the following information. His miscues were correct at the beginning of the word 72% of the time, in the middle 31% of the time, and at the end 40% of the time. The number of miscues that were acceptable in context (I take this to mean that it did not change the meaning of the text) was 45%. A strategy he is using 11% of the time is self-correction. I am thinking of having him listen to himself reading (a recording of him reading) and using this strategy to hopefully help him improve this strategy.

3/15/11

Kyree

Today I recorded Kyree reading orally. I took a running record and found that the graphic similarity in his miscue and what the text actually said was 40% at the beginning of the word, 22% at the end of the word, and 18% at the end of the word. His miscues were acceptable in context 86% of the time! He used self-correciton as a strategy 32% of the time.

Until next time.

3/21/11

Jacob

Today we read //Swallowing Stones by Joyce McDonald.// I read this book when i was in 8th grade and LOVED IT. It is by far my favorite book and therefore I know it is something I will enjoy reading with Jacob. Before reading this book I really did not like to read. I could read well, but I was often bored with reading in general. Then I read this book and it is so full of suspense and it was a real page turner. This book is great for character development as each of the characters go through multiple obstacles. I told Jacob I would read one chapter and he would read the other. (I now have two copies of the book so for future sessions we can each have a book to read while the other person is reading.) I wanted to model fluent reading to Jacob. When we were done reading two chapters I wrote on the white board each characters name and asked him to name different characteristics of each. I am thinking this helps with reading comprehension. When the session was over Jacob said he liked the suspense in the book! (without any prompting or conversation starting from me) HURRAY!

3/33/11

Kyree

I had the stomach flu this day, session was cancled by me.