Introduction William Allen Senior at ASC majoring in elementary education. Currently student teaching at Evans Elementary School. My honor to present what I learned from a 3 month reading intervention with a 5th grade English language learner.
These people helped us along the way. Questions? Thank you for your time and giving me this opportunity.
Parents immigrated from Guatemala with older brother. He was born here and has attended school here in Alamosa. Both work at the mushroom farm. Mom home at 11pm. Dad goes to work at 3am.Q’anjob’al is the primary language at home. Speaks some Q’anjob’al, Spanish and English, but cannot write either with any real proficiency. Legal issues - Truancy a problem. 4 month trip to CA to work the fields. ILP, IEP, ELL, CSAP scribe and Resource class.
CSAP – Unsatisfactory in all areas. 180 is the lowest possible score. No answers to constructed response questions. Star reading and math – Computer based test developed in conjunction with accelerated reading and math system sold by Renaissance Learning. Grade level equivalent scores. QRI4 – A reading inventory that tests fluency ,accuracy and comprehension. Scored 1 narrative. NWEA (North West Evaluation Association)– Newer computer based achievement test generally given twice a year. RIT (Rasch Unit) Score of 167. Should be scoring 208 for this time of year and his grade level. A 192 is considered 2+ years behind.
Spelling – went down initially because of prior grading system (wouldn’t give him lower than a 60%). Accuracy as measured by QRI4 and IRI’s. Started at 79% (frustrated) with no self correction. Would skip over words or use words that have similar beginnings. Finished with a 94% (instructional) and a self correction rate of 1 in 3. This is at 4th grade level reading. Fluency as measured with QRI4 and IRI’s.Started at 26wpm and achieved 47wpm. Still a lot of work to be done.
Identified the absolute lack of correct vowel usage. Spelling was almost completely invented and lacking vowels or using incorrect vowels. Used these two sheets to learn long and short vowels. Once vowels were understood, it was easier to guide both his reading and spelling using the new knowledge of vowels (e.g. “It’s a long ‘i’ sound”). Brought in the “Sneaky E” and “Y” later.
Familiarized myself with his language – I had ignorantly assumed it was similar to Spanish. Was assisted by Dr. Ludwig, Ms. Maestas and Dr. Goddard in learning some of the mechanics of language. The understanding of his native language made many of his struggles seem very clear. He had problems with C when it makes the “s” sound such as in “race” or “cents.” As you can see, the C by itself doesn’t exist in his native language. Vowels are used very differently in his language as well. Much more concentrated at the beginning and end of words rather than in the center. It didn’t necessarily solve any problems, but it helped me to understand them. He thought it was pretty cool to be teaching me how to speak his language!
Sheltered instruction. Used some of the SIOP techniques I had learned in previous classes. Put pictures with each of the vocabulary words to help him understand the meaning of the words. Emphasized problem areas by underlining them.
Color coded 3X5 letter cards – Yellow for consonants, green for long vowels, blue for short vowels, red for sneaky e and y. Limited his confusion by only giving him the cards required to spell that weeks vocabulary words. Repeated practice spelling with the cards and taking practice tests. Concern – It’s a one trick pony. I needed more tools in my toolbox to use. Also tried spelling in shaving cream. Went from 60% to 100% in one week!
Likes cars, so we started reading about super cars. Lamborghini and Bugatti are not very useful words. A small body of research demonstrating the effectiveness of comic books in teaching literacy (See handout). They are cheap They contain a good amount of text and good vocabulary Great illustrations to help with comprehension Comics bridge the gap between his reading level and his maturity level.
