CASE STUDYESSENTIAL LITERACY: READINGALEX DAVIS

In my field placement, I chose a student to be my reader for the semester. This chapter covers an in-terest inventory that I completed. I asked my reader questions about her interests. The purpose of this was to get to know my reader so that I could possibly recommend books for her or con-nect with her to make reading more personal.

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INTEREST INVENTORY

INTERVIEWQ: What do you like to do in your free time?A: I like to, like, play with my cats a lot, and I like to go jogging and stuff.

Q: Where do you jog?A: Um, well we don’t live near, like, a lot of parks or anything. We have a huge hill and I usually jog down the hill and up the hill and then back again.

Q: How many cats do you have?A: I have two.

Q: What did you do this weekend or what do you have planned for next weekend?A: Well, this weekend, I… people came over to celebrate Valentine’s Day and stuff, and then this weekend we’re going to New Orleans for Spring Break.

Q: What part of New Orleans?A: I don’t know, but we’re going because my mom’s business trip, but um she has to work and stuff, and so her college students are going to show me around.

Q: Is she a professor at Mizzou?A: Yeah.

Q: What does she teach?A: Biochemistry.

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?A: I want to be a vet.

Q: What kind of animals would you like to help?A: Dogs, and cats, and little animals.

Q: If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?A: Hawaii.

Q: Why’s that?

A: Because, it’s pretty, like bright colors, and there’s like lots of tropical fruits, and there’s like oceans and stuff.

Q: If you could jump into any book that you’ve read, which book would it be and why?A: Um, I probably… I’ve read the Hunger Games books. I’d like to be in there ‘cause it sounds like, even though it’s like, um, kind of dangerous, it sounds fun because if you do win the Hunger Games, then, um, you don’t have to do it again, unless, like, you do DO it again, and, so, yeah. The book sounds like if you win, you’d be heroic and everybody would like hail over you and stuff.

Q: What else do you like about the Hunger Games?A: I like Katniss because she’s brave and she shows other girls that they can be brave as well.

Q: What about if you could jump into any movie, which would it be?A: I would do the Hunger Games too, because the movie’s good, but they’re not as good as the books, because the books have more descrip-tion and because, um, I kind of like to win and stuff, but then if I lose, I would be sad, because then other people would have a chance to win.

Q: What are some things that you wish you were better at?A: Math, because I’m not that good at math, and I’m working on being better and I’d like to be bet-ter so I don’t have to do extra stuff on Saturdays, and stuff.

Q: What part of math do you think you’re not so good at?A: When I was little, I was not good at adding and stuff, but now I’m, I’m not that good… I’m better at division and stuff, and not that good at thinking of it very fast, but I’m good at like add-ing now and subtracting and division and stuff and multiplication, I’m just not good at thinking out loud that quick in my mind.

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Q: What is your favorite season?A: I really like winter because the snow is pretty and stuff and I like how the sun beams on it and I think of like winter wonderland and stuff.

Q: Do you have any holidays in winter that you really like?A: I like Christmas because I get to give stuff to other people and then they appreciate you and then I get stuff too.

Q: What do you do with your friends?A: Well, with my friends we usually have lots of sleepovers and then we, like, um, watch movies and stuff, and then like um, we take lots of pic-tures together and yeah.

Q: What kind of movies do you like to watch with your friends?A: We like to watch kind of like silly movies that are meant for little kids, but like we also like to watch scary movies or sad movies too.

Q: If you had a million dollars, what would you spend it on?A: I would spend it on the people who live in other countries that don’t have as much money and because then they would have money for food and then they could take care of their pets and other children.

Q: What is your favorite TV show?A: I really don’t know. I don’t watch a lot of TV shows.

Q: What about, um, what do you like to do during recess?A: I like to hang out with my friends and stuff and like talk about like what we’re gonna do on the weekend, and like if we can have sleepovers and things.

Q: Last thing, can you tell me a little bit about your family?A: Well, my family, um, my family is in Guate-mala. I was adopted when I was 11 months old and I have my mom and she’s nice and she’s a Biochemistry professor.

Q: Do you want to meet your family ever?A: Yeah, but I can’t, because it’s a lot of money, and, um, my mom found an agent person who could track them down, but I decided not to be-cause that would be too much money.

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IMAGE 1.1 Map showing the location of Guatemala

REFLECTIONFrom my interest inventory, I learned a lot about my student. Let’s call her... Ava. Ava, who is in 5th grade (around age 10-11) shared a lot about her interests and what she does in her free time. One thing that I learned about Ava is that she is adopted. Her home family is from Guatemala. She was adopted when she was 11 months. I un-derstand that her adoptive mother is the family she currently has, and she seems very happy. Her mother is a biochemistry professor at the Uni-versity of Missouri, so Ava gets a lot of experi-ences at the college and with college students. One thing that she shared is that she is going to New Orleans with her mother on a “work trip.” I can assume that when Ava is not at school, she is mostly with her mother.

When learning about her family, I learned that Ava seems to be quite selfless. When asked if she was going to try and see her biological fam-ily, Ava proclaimed that it was too expensive to track them down, even though her adoptive mother offered to do so. Another instance where Ava came across as selfless was when asked which holiday was her favorite. Ava likes Christ-mas because she can give gifts to others. When I heard this, I felt like she probably views things a lot differently than some of her classmates, espe-cially because of her family background.

Ava’s cultural interests are reflective of the soci-ety she lives in, and are not too uncommon among children her age. With her friends, Ava likes to watch movies and have sleepovers. She has a best friend with her in my host classroom and they are practically inseparable. Ava is un-usual in that she doesn’t watch much TV. I can

infer from this that Ava spends a lot of time out-doors or playing with friends.

Ava reads books above the 5th grade maturity level, but seems to really enjoy them. I have no reservations in her reading these books, be-cause I read many books like these when I was in 5th grade. Before my interview with Ava, she was reading the book The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. This is a “cancer book” (what I call books where someone dies from cancer by the end of it). I avoid cancer books, normally, but I have read this one. I think that Ava is drawn to books about young adults, particularly around the age of 16 years old, because she enjoys the romances in the storyline that don’t appear in much prevalence in books about 11 year olds.

During the interest inventory, Ava showed great interest in The Hunger Games. From her ability to discuss what happened in this book and relate it

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IMAGE 1.2 Quote from The Fault in Our Stars

to outside experiences, I feel that Ava compre-hended the text well. Ava seems to use Katniss Everdeen as a role model because of her confi-dence and spirit as a female antagonist. She also seems to be engrossed by stories of adven-ture, dystopia, and romance, possibly as an es-cape from her everyday reality. She delves into books too mature for her age. While she may not understand all of the different variables affecting the storyline of the book, she finds joy in merely the basics of the story. I relate a lot with Ava and her reading habits. In fact, my interview took me back to long hours spent in bookstores picking out books, and late nights, unable to sleep be-cause I had to know what happened next. Over-all, I think that Ava is eager to learn and very in-sightful. She is an avid reader and seems to pick up a lot of her values from characters in books.

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A piece of our case study comes from administer-ing the Burke Reading Interview. This interview is meant to gauge a student’s general purposes for reading. Through this interview, the person who is interviewing should be able to determine what stu-dents focus on in reading.

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BURKE READING INTERVIEW

INTERVIEWQ: When you are reading and you come to some-thing you don’t know, what do you do?A: I usually go back and look at the other sen-tence and then, I see if it makes sense what I’m reading or if there’s a word that I don’t know I look at the other word to see if it’s like, if it con-nects to the other word to make more sense.

Q: Do you have anything else you do?A: I usually just ask a teacher what the word is, and then if she tells me then it makes more sense.

Q: Who do you know in your life that’s a good reader?A: My best friend, she’s a good reader.

Q: What makes her a good reader?A: She uses a lot of expression in her face a lot.

Q: What do you think that shows?A: That she’s, she likes to use expression and that she probably doesn’t make a lot of mistakes when she reads.

Q: Do you think she ever comes to something she doesn’t know when reading?A: Yeah, because sometimes she’s writing sen-tences about her stories she usually spells some words wrong, so she might… when she reads she might come to some words she doesn’t know.

Q: When she comes to words she doesn’t know what do you think she does?A: I don’t know, I guess maybe she looks over it, like I do, or something.

Q: What do you think is the best way to help someone who doesn’t read very well?A: Tell them nicely to read again and then if they don’t do well, you can help them by making them sound out the word a little better.

Q: How did you learn to read? Do you remem-ber?A: My mom got me Bob books, little small books that have small stories in them, about a boy or a girl, I can’t remember, named Bob and I would read those a lot and after I knew how to read well, I would give them to other people and then later on I would start to read even bigger books, so I had to read more books during times that I could go to a friend’s house. but it was okay.

Q: What helped you learn how to read?A: A lot of times I got really mad because I didn’t know how to read and I thought I’d be really bad at reading, but then my mom told me that if I kept reading more of the books, then I would be bet-ter.

Q: What would you like to do better as a reader?A: Using more expression than I usually do and not stumble across my words sometimes.

Q: What kind of reader do you think you are?A: I think I’m a good reader because in 2nd grade there was a little chart, and it had all the people’s names that said what they’re good at and I had a lot of expressions and stuff so I think I’m good at that.

Q: Using a scale of 5 to 1, with 5 being the best reader in the entire world, what overall rating would you give yourself as a reader?A: I would give myself maybe like a 3, because I know that I’m a good reader, but I’m not such a good reader that I could outtake anyone else that’s a good reader.

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In giving the Burke Reading Interview, I noticed a pattern in Ava’s responses. From her responses, I can see that Ava is an advanced reader and thinker. For example, in response to the first ques-tion (about what she does when she comes to words she doesn’t understand), Ava said that she uses context clues to figure the meaning out on her own. This is a great strategy to have and is a thinking strategy that can help her in situa-tions regarding reading as well as outside of reading comprehension.

When Ava comes to words she can’t figure out, she told me that she asks a teacher. While some people frown upon students being dependent on the teacher’s help, I believe that this is not Ava’s situation. From my interview, I gathered that Ava does not ask a teacher until she is sure that she can’t figure out the meaning of the word herself. Admitting that sometimes she needs external help shows that Ava is able to admit that she doesn’t know it all. This is an important character trait for her to have, especially when it comes to school. Ava admitting that she asks the teacher for help (after she has shown me how much po-tential she has through her interviews) shows me that Ava is in a mindset of being a learner. I be-lieve that she understands that she can’t possi-bly have a grasp on everything in the world. This, to me, comes across as very humble.

Ava focuses on making meaning of what she is reading. She is less concerned with getting the syntax correct and more concerned with convey-ing a message. I observe this specifically from Ava’s focus on using expression while reading. In describing a good reader that she knows, Ava defines good reading with using a lot of expres-

sion while reading. I think that Ava uses this defi-nition because she finds that using expression helps convey the message in the way it was meant to be conveyed. By connecting expres-sion with not making mistakes, Ava believes that when a person can tell a story in an expressive way, then the reader has a good comprehension of the story.

Ava pays homage to the way she was taught to read when asked what to do to help a struggling reader. Ava makes mention of ‘sounding it out.’ This might show that Ava reverts to sounding out her own words and focusing on the individual sounds in the words. It could also show that Ava was taught by being asked to read again and sound out the words. Since Ava has shown to me that she cares deeply about the meaning of the text she reads, I interpret this response as a step-ping stone to understanding the story. If a reader doesn’t know how a word is said out loud, then how can the reader relate the word to everyday life and the story it is placed in? While reading one-on-one with Ava, I find that once she sounds out the words that she tumbles across (big words that she is unfamiliar with), she finds bet-ter meaning in the text.

When talking about how she learned to read, Ava makes strong connects with her mother. She opens a window into the way she and her mother interact. Ava was encouraged by her mother to persevere through the struggles with reading, this mindset is reflected in Ava’s work ethic and point of view. I believe Ava was positively im-pacted by her mother through the way she speaks about her. Ava’s reader started at a young age with cardboard books, which shows

REFLECTION

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that she had a loving environment to grow up in. This is contrasted by the children whose first ex-periences reading or holding a book occur in Kin-dergarten.

Lastly, when asked to rate herself, Ava gave her-self a 3. I think that this, coupled with Ava’s expla-nation, shows that she understands that she does well as a reader, but also understands that she has a lot more to learn. This relates to the dis-cussion I held toward the beginning of this reflec-tion. Overall, I think that Ava is a gifted reader who cares for literature and learning.

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For the third chapter in our case study, we are asked to give a running record of a student in our class. I have chosen to have Ava read the book, Bud, Not Buddy, written by Christopher Paul Cur-tis, published in 1999. Bud, Not Buddy is about the journey of Bud Caldwell, a 10 year old orphan, during the Great Depression. I chose this book be-cause Ava had not read it yet and it was the high-est leveled book in 5th grade, I felt it was appropri-ate.

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RUNNING RECORD

RUNNING RECORD

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IMAGE 3.1 Bud, Not Buddy (page 2)

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IMAGE 3.2 Bud, Not Buddy (page 3)

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IMAGE 3.3 Bud, Not Buddy (page 4)

In watching Ava read, and performing a running record, I found that Ava was correct almost 97% of the time. She read a passage with 620 words in it. She correctly read 600 words in the pas-sage. Ava made more miscues than 20, but cor-rected herself as she made them.

I think that Ava is a very advanced reader for her age. It’s difficult to pay attention only to the red marks on the page and the calculations made. Ava is a great reader, but I think that she is so used to reading silently to herself, that when she reads out loud, she tries to go as fast as she does in her head and stumbles over words.

From this reading, I felt that Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis, would be a good individ-ual text for Ava. I think that it could also serve as a good text to supplement other subjects for Ava since she shows a good comprehension of the concepts presented in the text. For example, if the class were to read Bud, Not Buddy as a part of a unit on the Great Depression, the text would not serve as a limitation to Ava’s learning.

If it were used as an instructional text, I would want to focus on the concept of dialects being used in writing. Bud, the narrator, does not talk the same way that 10-year-old’s talk today. I could tell that when Ava miscued, it was be-cause the text didn’t say what she thought it was going to say. For example, on page 3 of Bud, Not Buddy, we see this miscue:

Text: “...but it seems like my eyes don’t cry no more.”

Reader: “...but it seems like my eyes don’t cry any more.”

This shows that Ava was taught English well, but it also shows that she is unfamiliar with different ways of speaking. Another example appears be-low (from page 4 of Bud, Not Buddy):

Text: “...they talk to you and expect that you un-derstand everything they mean.”

Reader: “...they talk to you and expect - you to understand everything they mean.”

This is a different type of miscue, but it shows the same concept that Ava would say that sentence differently than the narrator would.Teaching Ava about different dialects from different areas is a transferrable skill to all parts of her learning (e.g., cultural studies, social interactions, other books, history, etc.).

REFLECTION

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For my literacy observation, I observed a class-room lesson on figurative language. Specifically, we were discussing proverbs and adages. Stu-dents completed a pre-test, discussed the an-swers and then created a visual project of a prov-erb of their choice.

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LITERACY OBSERVATION

For my literary observation, I observed my host teacher’s lesson on proverbs. The class is cur-rently learning about figurative language. They recently wrapped up a lesson on idioms, similes and metaphors. During this lesson, students were introduced to the concept of proverbs. First, my host teacher had students complete a pre-test on relatively well-known proverbs. Students had to fill in the blanks of prov-erbs with words from the word bank. Stu-dents completed this on their iPads in Nota-bility and then up-loaded their com-pleted pre-test to Google Classroom. Google Classroom is widely used in my host classroom.

After students com-pleted their pre-test, the class went over each proverb and what they mean. Stu-dents were then intro-duced to resources available to them that define what a proverb is and what sepa-rates it from an idiom and an adage. These resources came from a McGraw Hill eBook. Accord ing to the

eBook, proverbs are statements that express everyday wisdoms in a simple way, whereas ad-ages are well-known proverbs. My host teacher went through other examples of proverbs with the class by using inspirational images that are commonly found online in places such as Pinter-

THE LESSON

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IMAGE 4.1 Ava’s work on the Proverbs Pre-Test

est and Tumblr. She used these images as a kick-start for the assignment she had in mind.

My host teacher had students create their own proverb poster using elements that were preva-lent in the posters she displayed. Students used the application Pages to create their posers. Some elements that were discussed were (1) the balance that was shown in the images, (2) the way that the pictures, if there were pictures, were related to the proverb , (3) the special print that was used to point out the key points in the prov-erb and (4) the simple fonts that were used to create a peaceful image. I did not work with Ava on her proverb poster, I worked with another stu-dent who was struggling. However, I did get a chance to see what Ava created. Ava used the proverb “There is no place like home.” She high-lighted the word ‘home’ in the quote to empha-

size the importance of that word. Ava also used painted wood paneling as a background to her poster. As you have already guessed, her poster can be found below. Most people in the class completed their proverb posters. Students used proverbs such as “People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones” and “Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.”

I assume that my host teacher is using this les-son as a beginning of a study on proverbs. I think that the class will continue to study them in depth and use them in writing, reading and art-work.

IMAGE 4.2 Ava’s Proverb Poster

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In watching Ava complete this literary challenge, I was impressed by her knowledge. Ava has obvi-ously been exposed to common proverbs, known as adages, and has a keen eye for de-sign.

While Ava completed the pre-test on proverbs, I noticed that while she filled in the ones she knew from memory, when she got to ones she didn’t know, she would just put in words, regardless of what they meant. I felt as thought Ava may not have been thinking about how the words fit into the saying, only that she wanted to complete the assignment. She also didn’t go back and change any of them. For example, on number 13, Ava fills in “As you sow, so shall you ______” with ‘pol-icy,’ which, to a 5th grader at her reading level, does not make any sense. Ava had already used the word reap and had made no effort to go back and recheck. This shows that she was fo-cused on the completion of the assignment more than the accuracy of her work. This is under-standable considering that the work wasn’t for a grade.

While completing this assignment, I also noticed that Ava used two strategies for multiple choice that were good: she (1) skipped ones she didn’t know to return to them and (2) crossed off words that she already knew. This shows that Ava was thinking logically during the assignment and is very organized in her mind. I can see Ava being more of a meticulous person that others, espe-cially evident in her proverb poster.

Speaking of her proverb poster, I did not work with Ava on her poster, I worked with another child who was struggling. Ava’s work, compared

to the work completed by the rest of the class, shows that Ava is aesthetically inclined. She uses a background that is simple and home-like (relating to the quote ‘There is no place like home.’). Ava also uses black font, except for the word home, which she emphasizes with a color that matches the brightness of the blue back-ground.

I see a lot of connection between Ava’s thought processes and my own. Through Ava’s aestheti-cally pleasing poster, I can assume (like I said before) that she cares about how things look and she knows how to match colors/textures/fonts etc. This may show that Ava cares a great deal about what the cover of a book looks like. She may also relate more easily to a book character that expresses this same inclination to be more organized and meticulous.

REFLECTION

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In this chapter, I give my recommendations for Ava as she continues on in her growth as a reader. My recommendations include those in books to read and strategies to pay attention to. Throughout the semester, I have watched Ava read, I have gotten to know her interests, I have watched Ava com-plete classwork, and I have noted how she feels about reading. These things all compile into the recommendations I have for her.

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RECOMMENDATIONS

BOOKS

For Ava’s next adventure in reading, I have two book series that I would recommend to her. I would recommend the Matched series by Allie Condie. This series consists of three books: Matched, Crossed, and Reached. It is about a society that matches their members (that is, tells them who they will marry) at the age of seven-teen. Our protagonist is Cassia, who starts to find glitches within the society’s overseers. The government controls the media, the families, and the professions of those living under it. The books are about Cassia’s discovery of the gov-ernment that oversees her society and the goals they have for their members.

The other book series I would recommend is the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld. This series consists of three books: Uglies, Pretties and Spe-cials. It is about a ‘utopian’ society that performs surgery on their members to make them pretty. The protagonist is a girl named Tally who finds a friend who wants to rebel against the plastic sur-gery, which takes them on an adventure where they discover mysteries within their society.

I feel that Ava would enjoy these stories because they both have a female protagonist, a love story line, and some sort of society that is based in fu-turistic means. These recommendations are based off of Ava’s interest in the Hunger Games, which is also a story set in a dystopian future. I think that she takes great interest in female pro-tagonists and is drawn into stories that have a ro-mance involved.

To help Ava with her struggle to understand texts with different dialects, I would recommend she continue to read Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher

Paul Curtis. I think this would help her feel more comfortable with dialects as she transitioned into middle school and the books she will be reading for class.

READING STRATEGIES

When Ava was reading out loud to me, in her run-ning record and at other times in the semester, I noticed that she gets ahead of herself and mis-reads words and phrases. I think this is because she is so used to reading in her head, that when she reads out loud, she wants to go just as fast as in her head, therefore miscueing. I would sug-gest to have Ava read out loud more often and remind her to focus on each word and slow down. A PALS strategy where students pair up and partner read, may also be helpful with Ava. The higher-performing reader serves as a model and then the lower-performing reader would fol-low suit. Having a peer model out loud reading for Ava may help her be more aware of the words and phrases she is miscueing.

Ava may also need to work on her stamina with non-fiction literature. I say this because I haven’t seen her read non-fiction works. Ava could be given a work of non-fiction that she enjoys to read as part of a book club. By becoming more proficient and aware in non-fiction literature, it will help Ava with textbook reading in middle school classes.

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