Reader Case Study

Student Profile:

The student that I will be discussing is a nine year old boy who I will be referring to as Sam. Sam lives in Israel and goes to school in an all Israeli environment. He feels that his Hebrew is better than his English. Sam has one older sister and four younger siblings. He is quiet by nature and responds well to motivational prizes. He has a creative imagination and a sweet demeanor. Generally he needs limited choices to make decisions and is not one to do more than what is required.

 

Summary of activities:

I work closely with Sam once a week to review sight words and different rules in the English language. Some of the rules that we learn are “th”, “wa”, “ck’ etc. We also read together. Usually when I meet with him we begin with a sight word test. His sight words are work, word, world, girl, boy, brother, father, mother. These sight words were chosen by the director. After the sight word test we have a rules test with the following words: tooth, through, these, though, water, swan, wallet, brick, pick, back, etc. Next we play a game to review these words. I show Sam flashcards of the words in Hebrew and he tells me the word in English and how to spell it. Next we learn a new rule and do a writing activity having to do with that rule. For instance when we learned the “wa” rule we made a wallet and filled it with all of the “wa” words on the list. We then wrote a story about what would happen if someone lost his wallet. In this story the goal was to incorporate as many “wa” words as possible. After this activity we read a book called “The Marvelous Mixup”.

 

Assessment Analysis  and Recommendations for Future Instruction:

Sam has been involved in this program for the past eighteen months. Within that period he learned the ABC, phonetic blending, and common rules in the English language. Although he speaks English well, he has trouble remembering the rules. I feel that he did not fully grasp each rule before he learned a new one. As more rules were being taught the gap between the words that he was fluent in and the new words grew substantially. Now I feel that he is at the point where no new rules can be taught before he gains a handle on the old ones. When dealing with this type of situation it is difficult to regress without discouraging the student. Therefore, after discussing the matter with the assistant director, I decided that Sam should pick two words from every rule that we learned and compile a list. The words on this list were the only words that Sam was responsible for knowing. This method was meant to make the large amount of unknown material more attainable. Once Sam saw that he had a list of eight words instead of thirty words, he would feel that he was capable of learning these rules. Once Sam mastered this list more words can be added on. It is important that Sam feels invigorated throughout this process so that he does not lose his motivation to review the old words.  

 

Samples of student work and assessments should be included:

Sam’s list: water, with, true, want, they, rule, fruit, glue

 

Sam’s mistakes before he created the list:

Rule=rool

Fruit=froot

Glue=glew

 

The following is an article that Sam wrote about a cow jumping rope:

Who would teach a cow to jump rope? A farmer

Why would a cow jump rope? To lose weight

Where would a cow jump rope? On the farm

When would a cow jump rope? After eating

 

Reflection of this case study experience in comparison to the entire field experience in general:

This case study with Sam was unique compared to the other students that I work with. To start I believe that Sam is a middle to high beginner level according to the NYS limited English proficient level rubrics. Sam has been a part of this program for eighteen months. I would have presumed that Sam was well versed with the technicalities that were supposed to be taught in the past. The other older students that I work with catch on rather quickly and are enthusiastic to continue. I am obviously not a professional but I do not think that Sam has learning challenges that are preventing him from grasping the new rules. Rather I feel that Sam’s quiet nature probably misled his previous teachers into thinking that he understood what was being taught implying that he was ready to go on. I feel that Sam’s teacher needs to be aware of Sam’s quiet personality and be sure to perform proper assessments before moving on.

All of the students who I have seen work at their own individual pace. It seems that the same lesson plan format is encouraged to use for everyone. The director formulated a system to address the unique needs of Israeli children learning English. She adapted preexisting curricula to best fit her needs. The program consists of four different stages. The first stage teaches students the ABC. Students are expected to know the name, sound and formation of each letter. The next stage students learn phonetic blending and read stories from a reader. In the third stage students learn rules in the English language along with sight words. In the fourth stage students are able to write and read well and complete more sophisticated projects. This system has been implemented for the past fourteen years and has a positive reputation.

I feel that this program was based on solid research and has been tested and proven to be effective. At the same time I feel that teachers need to be flexible to adapt the program to the unique needs of their students. Furthermore, teachers need to incorporate their own innovative creativity to make learning exciting. English language learners, as well as any other students, need stimulating and motivating lessons in order to ensure growth.

SOLOM (STUDENT ORAL LANGUAGE OBSERVATION MATRIX)

Student’s Name: Sam  Robbins (pseudo name)			Grade: 5th	Examiner’s Signature: Aviva
Language Observed:English/Hebrew			Date:11/13
	A.  Comprehension	B.  Fluency	C.  Vocabulary	D.  Pronunciation	E.  Grammar
1	Cannot be said to understand even simple conversation.	Speech is so halting and fragmentary as to make conversation virtually impossible.	Vocabulary limitations so extreme as to make conversation virtually impossible.	Pronunciation problems so severe as to make speech virtually impossible.	Errors in grammar and word order so severe as to make speech virtually unintelligible.
2	Has great difficulty following what is said.  Can comprehend only “social conversation” spoken slowly and with frequent repetitions.	Usually hesitant; often forced into silence by language limitations.	Misuse of words and very limited vocabulary make comprehension quite difficult.	Very hard to understand because of pronunciation problems.  Must frequently repeat in order to make himself/herself understood.	Grammar and word order errors make comprehension difficult.  Must often rephrase and/or restrict himself/herself to basic patterns.
3	Understands most of what is said at slower-than normal speed with repetitions.	Speech in everyday conversation and classroom discussion is frequently disrupted by the student’s search for the correct manner of expression.	Frequently uses the wrong words; conversation somewhat limited because of inadequate vocabulary.	Pronunciation problems necessitate concentration on the part of the listener and occasionally lead to misunderstanding.	Makes frequent errors of grammar and word order, which occasionally obscure meaning.
4	Understands nearly everything at normal speech, although occasional repetition may be necessary.	Speech in everyday conversation and classroom discussions is generally fluent, with occasional lapses while the student searches for the correct manner of expression.	Occasionally uses inappropriate terms and/or must rephrase ideas because of lexical inadequacies.	Always intelligible, though one is conscious of a definite accent and occasional inappropriate patterns.	Occasionally makes grammatical and/or word-order errors which do not obscure meaning.
5	Understands everyday conversation and normal classroom discussions without difficulty.	Speech in everyday conversation and classroom discussions is fluent and effortless approximating that of a native speaker.	Use of vocabulary and idioms approximates that of a native speaker.	Pronunciation and intonation approximates that of a native speaker.	Grammatical usage and word order approximates that of a native speaker.

SOLOM (Student Oral Language Observation Matrix)

Teacher Observation Scale

Student’s Name: Sam Robbins (pseudo name)
Language Rated: English/Hebrew			Grade: 5th	Date(s):11/13, 11/6, 10/30
School: English Chug			Teacher: Sara Rochel Reinman	Total Score(s):21
	A.  Comprehension	B.  Fluency	C.  Vocabulary	D. Pronunciation	E.  Grammar
1	Cannot be said to understand even simple conversation.	Speech is so halting and fragmentary as to make conversation virtually impossible.	Vocabulary limitations so extreme as to make conversation virtually impossible.	Pronunciation problems so severe as to make speech virtually impossible.	Errors in grammar and word order so severe as to make speech virtually unintelligible.
2	Has great difficulty following what is said.  Can comprehend only “social conversation” spoken slowly and with frequent repetitions.	Usually hesitant; often forced into silence by language limitations.	Misuse of words and very limited vocabulary make comprehension quite difficult.	Very hard to understand because of pronunciation problems.  Must frequently repeat in order to make himself/herself understood.	Grammar and word order errors make comprehending difficult.  Must often rephrase and/or restrict himself/herself to basic patterns.
3	Understands most of what is said at slower-than normal speed with repetitions.	Speech in everyday conversation and classroom discussion is frequently disrupted by the student’s search for the correct manner of expression.	Frequently uses the wrong words; conversation somewhat limited because of inadequate vocabulary.	Pronunciation problems necessitate concentration on the part of the listener and occasionally lead to misunderstanding.	Makes frequent errors of grammar and word order, which occasionally obscure meaning.
4	Understands nearly everything at normal speech, although occasional repetition may be necessary.	Speech in conversation and classroom discussions is generally fluent, with occasional lapses while the student searches for the correct manner of expression.	Occasionally uses inappropriate terms and/or must rephrase ideas because of lexical inadequacies.	Always intelligible, though one is conscious of a definite accent and occasional inappropriate patterns.	Occasionally makes grammatical and/or word-order errors which do not obscure meaning.
5	Understands everyday conversation and normal classroom discussions without difficulty.	Speech in everyday conversation and classroom discussions is approximating that of a native speaker.	Use of vocabulary and idioms approximates that of a native speaker.	Pronunciation and intonation approximates that of a native speaker.	Grammatical usage and word order approximates that of a native speaker.
Score	5	5	4	4	3