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.