Literacy Tutoring 4

L's Spelling Words

My fourth tutoring lesson was a little more tough than the other lessons, although I did learn some valuable information that I can work on with L to improve his literacy skills.   As usual, we started with the survey assessment.  This weeks survey assessment was spelling.  I knew going into this lesson that it might be a struggle, and it proved to be hard for L.  L got the first three words spelled correctly, but those were the only words he got out of the list.  By the middle of the list, L had a lot of trouble focusing.  One of the hardest parts of the lesson was encouraging L to keep going.  Towards the middle, I received a lot of “ I don’t know” answers.  I could tell he was getting frustrated.  Even though he had trouble with spelling words, I read all the words to make sure to give him a chance to try.  I think working on confidence and continuing to encourage him to just try is a skill we can work on.  Though the assessment was a challenge to get through, I did learn that L is pretty good at his ability to sound phonetic words with short vowels.  He knows most of the sounds of the alphabet and is able to put them together.  A challenge for L was the blends and digraphs.  L would hear the first letter of the word and just place that without acknowledging that there may be other letters in the word. Even though L did not try every word and he looked a little discouraged, I tried to reassure him that he was doing a great job listening and trying his best.  Additionally, assessments such as these are helpful to me to understand what I can work on with L during our remaining sessions.  

L's survey assessment 

After the assessment, we moved over to reading together.  This week we were focusing on reading comprehension.  I wanted to read a fantasy book that fits perfectly into our nature theme, so I chose The Lorax. As I reflect on this lesson, I think I would use this book during a different survey assessment where the survey assessment doesn’t last quite so long.  As I was reading the story and looking at the clock, I realized that we would not get the whole story read, so I had to adjust a little.  I was originally planning on reading the whole thing and then doing a notecard activity at the end of the book to check for comprehension.  Instead, I focused more on doing comprehension throughout the book.  I stopped to ask questions about the characters, what was happening, and so on.  These were the questions that I had written on the notecards, but I wanted to ask them throughout because we were running out of time.  We did not quite finish the book, but L was able to answer questions about what we had read so far in the story.  Since we were short on time this week, we did not have the chance to work on the ABC thematic unit book.  Hopefully next week we will have a little extra time to spend on that, since it seems like it’s an activity that L really enjoys doing.  

The questions I asked throughout the reading!

As far as differentiation, as with all my lessons so far, I like to find book with vivid and fun images.  This allows L to see what is happening in the story.  As an English language learner, it seems very helpful for L.  Although The Lorax has some fun and goofy images that may not be easy to recognize, L seemed to be able to pick up on what different images may have represented.  During the spelling survey assessment, I said the words in a sentence. I realized that some of the words were words he may not have ever heard before, so I wanted to give a little more context.  Therefore, I used the provided sentences to help L a little more and give him time and context to think about the words.  

After doing the survey assessment, I have come up with a couple of goals to work on with L.  First of all, I would like to work more on blends and diagraphs.  I think spending even just a few minutes each session practicing a couple of blends would be helpful so L can see how letters come together to make different sounds.  I also have the goal to continue to encourage L and allow him to feel confident, even if he makes mistakes.  He struggles trying if he is not absolutely sure, and I want to teach him that it’s ok to try and get an answer wrong; that’s one of the best ways to learn!  

Literacy Tutoring 3

Process:

On my third literacy tutoring experience, I once again started with the survey assessment.  This week’s assessment was “Concept of Print.”  I thought that this assessment may take a little longer than the other parts of the lesson, so I really wanted to make sure I had plenty of time.  I wanted to feel relaxed about the time so L wouldn’t feel any pressure, either. Before starting the assessment, I made sure I had all of my papers out so I would be ready to record and follow the protocol.  I followed the administration instructions as L helped me read “Sand.”  L did a really great job knowing the parts of the book, such as what is the front, where to start, and which way to go.  I noticed more of a struggle when L was required to actually look at the words.  For example, when the words were switched in the sentence, L did not notice it.  I think L relies a lot on hearing and listening to the stories and books instead of actually reading and recognizing the words.  This can be something we can continue to work on throughout the other literacy lessons.  I also noticed he was good at understanding the meaning of the comma and quotations marks, as well as recognizing letters when there was more direction.  When I asked L to show me one letter, then two, he had more trouble.  I wonder if I was not as clear as I could have been or if there was a communication gap since it seems like L does recognize letters.  Overall, the concept of print really allowed me to see some of L’s strengths while showing some areas to work on. 

L's Survey Assessment 

After the survey assessment, L and I read “Little Fish Lost” by Nancy Van Laan.  Before the book, I asked L some questions to predict what the book might be about.  Throughout the story, L was really captivated by the pictures and was willing to make more predictions throughout the book, which I thought was great.  I could see him making connections and pointing to the different animals in the story.  L was understanding what was happening and using the illustrations to help him out.  After the story, I asked L what he liked about the book and he really liked the happy ending.  L was good at making connections and understanding the emotions that the characters were feeling.  Even though some of the words are hard for L, he is very good at using what he has to truly understand what is going on.  

The book we read! 

After reading, we worked on phonics.  I used some words from the book and letter tiles to have make words.  For example, the word “slap” and “lap” were in the book and on the same page.  Therefore, I decided it was a good idea to keep that page open and let L see those two words.  Then, using the letter tiles, I took away the l and the s and had L make words that ended in “ap,” such as tap and gap.  We then did this for other letters, such as “ot” and “et.”  L did a nice job sounding out the words using the tiles.  This was also a good experience for L because sometimes he would just add a letter to the root and make a word that was not actually a word.  When this happened, though, I was able to ask him if he had ever heard that word before.  When he would say no, I would describe how that is not a word.  

Practicing phonics 

After practicing phonics, we used the remaining time to work a little on the ABC thematic unit book.  L was able to come up with words that started with the letter C and D and he drew the images to correspond with the words.  

Differentiation:

As I have been doing, I chose another book with complementary pictures to the story.  This allows L to get a better understanding what is going on.  As he continues to work on his English skills, this is a helpful way for L to gain comprehension skills.  During the phonics lesson, I decided to keep a page open with the words that we used to change and make new words.  This way, L could see the word root and what letters were added on.  

Goals:

After my first lesson with L, one of the goals I had was to allow L to feel a a little more confident  around me.  I wanted to mention that I think he has become more confident already.  While there is still work to do, I think it is important to mention the progress that I have seen.  The first week I had trouble getting any words out of him, but recently he has been more willing to share and participate.  

A new goal I have with L is to become a little more familiar on the words on the page.  When I am reading, I may be more intentionally about having L look and follow along with each word.  This way, he can focus a little more on how to move throughout the story with the words.  

Literacy Lesson 2

Instructional Decisions:

I think that my second literacy lesson went well!  Like last week, I started this tutoring session by doing the survey assessment.  This weeks survey assessment was the names and the sounds of the alphabet.  I had notecards with capital letters and notecards with lowercase letters.  We went through the letters, and I had L say the name and the sound of the letters.  I was really impressed with L’s ability to recall the names and sounds.  There were a few that L missed, but that is something we can work on in future lessons.  For example, the letter “y” was a challenge.  L pronounced it as “E.”  Knowing just a little about his background and that he is an English language learner, I can understand why this pronunciation could be a challenge.  Interestingly, both the upper and lower case “U” presented a challenge.  L called this letter “up.” As L was saying the sounds and letters, I kept track on the printed sheet I had with me. I checked what was correct and circled what was incorrect.  After the lesson, I went through the scoring paper to write down what L said.  

This is the official scoring sheet for L. 

The check marks show a correct response.  I labeled
the incorrect letter responses above
the letters and the incorrect sounds below.

After the survey assessment, we moved to reading and the mini lesson.  This week, I focused on fluency.  To practice this, I used echo reading as the technique to allow L to practice reading.  We looked at the book “A Stick is a Wonderful Thing,” which is a book of poetry about outdoor games and activities.  Before reading, I asked L to predict what he may think the book was about.  He thought the book would be about sticks, which I thought was a really great prediction to have.  L used the images and the words in the title to make this prediction.  Although the book is not only about sticks, he was using what he knew to make his prediction. 


During the book, I started by reading a poem to L.  I just read one poem by myself first.  Then, we worked on reading a poem together.  In the second poem, I read it first.  Then, I had L echo the lines I said.  We practiced doing this together for the rest of the time.  During this part, I think that a lot of it was just L repeating what I was saying.  I tried to have him point to the words, but I think I ended up pointing to most of them.  Even if L wasn’t reading all of the words, I was really proud of his ability to listen and repeat.  Just hearing the sounds is a great thing, especially since L is an English language learner.  

The book of poetry we read!

A poem that we used during echo reading.

After the poems, I asked L a few questions about what he likes to do outside.  This was a good opportunity to learn a little more about L.  Since he was so quiet the first week, I was happy that he was willing to share with me.  In the last few moments, we continued to work a little on our ABC thematic unit book. 

I decided to once again use this format because it seems to work well.  Doing the assessment first helps to make sure I’m not rushing L.  It also leaves enough time to end on the activities that L finds more enjoyable.  


Differentiation: 

I think that the book I used was helpful for L.  Again, it had vivid images that matched the text, which helps L understand what is happening.  Using a book of poems was actually a great fit because the poems were short, yet fun with just enough challenge.  The shorter length of the poems helped keep L’s attention.  It also made the task of echoing more doable.  The shorter poems also seemed to allow L to better understand what was happening in the poem.  I think a longer book could have been used to practice fluency, but I think that some of the understanding would have been lost.  Throughout the lesson, I did more modeling with the echo reading than I had originally planned.  I also ended up pointing to the words instead of having L point to the words.  


Goals: 

Next tutoring session, I would like to work with L on a few of the letters he missed.  I would specifically like to review the "u," "y," and "g." I would also like to continue working on some FAST words with L.  Finally, I would like to continue to help L build confidence in his speaking.