Case study 1: Luke (level a case 1)

Luke has issues with phonemic awareness. This is a very difficult issue and affects many areas

of reading. I can see how both strategies would be good for this student, but I think

Model-Lead-Test might work the best, at least at the beginning. This would help because he

can’t fudge his way through since it’s direct instruction.

Model-Lead-Test is a strategy where the teacher models the correct response (ex: if the

teacher is working on rhyming words, she demonstrates a correct pairing), then she states the

correct response again and asks the students to repeat the correct response, and then she asks

the students to do it on their own. So the teacher would probably show a few examples of

rhyming words and then have the students repeat it and then choose a word and have the

students rhyme it on their own. This can be done with many of the phonemic awareness things,

like changing the first letter, initial and ending sounds, and practicing the sounds of letters while

sounding out words.

I believe this strategy would benefit Luke because it would give him more direct practice

in a non-threatening way. The teacher would be able to pinpoint more what the issue is and

work with Luke to help him see how to solve the problem. Direct instruction would help him

because it would be at a slower pace than it would be during whole group time and so he

wouldn’t feel so lost.

Case study 2: Tawanna (level a, case 2)

Independent practice is a good strategy for practicing reading skills. The students work

independently to improve their reading skills through a variety of activities at their level. They

can play teacher made games, or adapted games (like Candyland), they can do activities on the

computer, or read independently. I would think that teacher made games or computer games

would help her the most because they are self correcting and independent, so she wouldn’t be
embarrassed if she made a mistake. Also, computer games can go up in difficulty as she

masters skills.

The Model-Lead-Test strategy would also work for Tawanna. The teacher would model

rhyming words and show how they rhyme (like that the first letter changes to make a word that

sounds similar but is new), then the teacher would say rhyming pairs and have Tawanna repeat

them until she’s comfortable with it. Then the teacher would have her make rhyming words,

probably by asking her to rhyme a word with another one (like what rhymes with cat?). This is a

good strategy because it is direct instruction, which Tawanna probably needs. It is also good

because the teacher can check for understanding and reteach as often as necessary until she

gets it right.

If I were to make an independent activity for Tawanna, I would probably make a memory

game for her. I would have pairs of rhyming words turned face down and then have her say

each word as she turns them over and ask her if they sound the same. This would give her

practice with matching rhyming words. And hopefully she would have fun doing it too.

Case study 3: Orlando (level a case 4)

Graphic organizers are diagrams that can show a few things related to comprehension.

It can show beginning, middle and end, it can be used to ask about setting, characters, and

what happened, and it can be used to compare stories and figure out what is in common

between them. This would be good for Orlando because it would put things all down in one

place. It would probably help him if the teacher would go over what they were looking for before

reading the story, and then pause to fill in the graphic organizer as the story was being read.

This way no one has to remember things until the end of the story, which they are more likely to

forget.

Repeated reading involves reading a passage multiple times and having students repeat

what is being read line by line. It can be done whole group or partner. It’s done with easy books
that the students have heard before. You can also use this technique for words by creating a

word wall and making flash cards. You can also do other games using the word wall. The one

technique that I think would help Orlando the most would be reader’s theater. This would help

him with comprehension because he would be acting out the story and that would help him

know all the parts and what the story is about.

Comprehension strategies are about directly teaching comprehension instead of

indirectly teaching it. The STAR sheet talks about 5 strategies, although I think they should all

go together when directly teaching comprehension. They are predicting, summarizing, retelling,

rereading, and questioning. Predicting is done before reading by looking at the pictures and

reading the title of the story. Predicting incorrectly is also a good thing because it teaches

students that you can’t always tell what the story is about based on the pictures or title.

Summarizing is good for identifying the main idea of the story, helping the students to focus on

the main concepts and not the fluff. Encouraging students to identify the main idea of the story

in as few sentences as possible is one way of doing this. Retelling is another strategy that can

be effective if taught directly. The student needs to make sure to include the main idea of the

story, the sequence of the story, and the characters, setting, and main event. This should be

directly taught since a student may not know what to include when telling a story after they hear

it. Rereading is another really important strategy. Students need to know that they can go back

into the story and reread it to remember important things. This is good when being asked on

tests to recall information, or when writing a paper and trying to summarize the information they

are writing about. Questioning is the last strategy that envelopes the rest. A student should be

able to answer the 4 w’s and 1 h.

Orlando would benefit from all these strategies directly taught. The teacher would need

to make sure he has plenty of time to practice the strategies, and that he understands one

before moving onto another one.

Case study 4: Raymond (level b, case 1)

The first strategy I would use with Raymond would be repeated reading. I would do this

so he could get the middle of the story sequence. I would use reader’s theater for this so that he

would have practice acting out the whole story remembering what comes next with his friends. It

would help him in a fun way to remember the sequence of the story, and would be a hands-on

way also.

For the CVC and rhyming words I would use independent practice in the form of games.

Something like a memory game where he has to match the rhyming cards to take a pair. This

could be done with peers and a parent or para to make sure the answers are right and to

reinforce the concepts. If he’s doing this with peers that also have trouble with rhyming words he

won’t feel bad that he doesn’t know, and the teacher present will help the group to hear the

rhymes.
 For home, parents can help Raymond sequence three or four events when reading a

bedtime story to him. They can pick stories that he’s heard before and enjoys and help him with

retelling the story as they read or after they read the book. Parents can play memory at home

with rhyming words or with beginning sounds using the letters he has trouble with. They would

only do this with lower case letters since that’s his goal.

Case 5 Amanda (level b case 2)

I would want to address Amanda’s goals in this order:

● Given a letter or letter combination Amanda will say the corresponding sound

● Shown sight words, Amanda will state the word automatically

● Given a CVC word prompt, Amanda will be able to say the word slowly (sounding it out)

and then say it fast

● After listening to a story, Amanda will recall three or four sequenced events

● Given a brief reading passage on her instructional level, Amanda will read the passage

and be able to retell the main ideas

I want Amanda to get her letters and sounds down first, I think that’s most important. I think

independent practice is the way to do this. I would use computer games and games like Bingo

to help her learn this skill. Computer games because it’s immediate feedback and fun games,

and Bingo because you can play it in many different ways depending on her needs, and the

needs of the kids in her group.

I think Amanda’s parents can be involved by helping her with reading comprehension at

home. They can do this at night when they read stories to her, going over what the story was

about and the main idea and characters. This would probably not seem like work to her since it’s

reading with her parents and non-threatening at bedtime. I would encourage her parents to do it

in a fun and relaxing way so she doesn’t get defensive or feel sad before bed.