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Reader Case Study
Shaina Hiatt
Dr. Victoria Eastman
EDUC 301
9 December 2011
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Table of Contents
Phase I
 Background Information on the student…………………….page 3
 Assessments…………………………………………………pages 3-4
 Assessment Database………………………………………..pages 4-6
Phase II







Administration of Screening Assessment…………………..page 7
Interpretation of Assessment………………………………..page 7
Plan of Action……………………………………………….page 8
Lesson Plans…………………………………………………pages 8-12
Parent Letter…………………………………………………page 13
Teacher Letter……………………………………………….page 14
Book Information Page………………………………………page 15
Phase III
 Implementation and Reflections over Lessons 1-6………….pages 16-29
Phase IV




Impact on Student……………………………………………pages 30-31
Assessment Graph…………………………………………...page 31
Impact on Researcher………………………………………..pages 32-33
Student Work………………………………………………...pages 34-61
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Reader Case Study: Phase I
Background Information:
The researcher has spent time familiarizing herself with the student during the first phase
of the reader case study. The student is an eleventh grade male. The student has no family and
his parents’ rights were terminated when he was only four years old. The student is an at risk
student who is a ward of the state and is completely dependent on state funding; therefore, his
socioeconomic status is extremely low. The most consistent person in the student’s life is his
CASA, which is a Court Appointed Special Advocate. According to records, the student has
moved 24 times within the last five years or so. Therefore, education has not been a priority in
his life. The student at this point only has five credits toward graduation, even though he is a
junior. Between full, half, and step, the student claims to have 14 brothers and sisters. The
student enjoys riding bikes, cooking, cleaning, and occasionally writing. The student has the
future hope of joining a trade school and becoming a chef. The student struggles with several
disabilities, including ADHD, Bipolar, Conduct Disorder, and ED. The student’s teachers say
that he thrives on direct instruction and attention. The student has difficulty understanding and
concentrating on reading and may shut down.
Assessments:
When the researcher discussed the student with his Developmental Reading teacher, she
discovered that his major weakness is comprehension. According to his teacher, the student is at
a reading independent level of third grade and an instructional level at fourth grade. The student
has the access to Read, Write, Gold, but does not choose to utilize it, or has difficulty utilizes it.
The student does not enjoy technology and claims to very much dislike computers. When
looking at the student’s previous test scores, on the Metropolitan Achievement Test, he received
a 6.6 on vocabulary and a 4.4 on comprehension, giving him a total score of 5.2. When looking
at the student’s Scholastic Reading Inventory, his Lexile is 232, Percentile is one, and NCE is
one. The student receives accommodations in school such as extra time on tests and assignments
and extra breaks in order to try and prevent him from shutting down.
The researcher will use three different stages of assessment with the student. For the
pre/post assessment, the fifth grade Criteria Referenced Competency Test will be used. This
assessment is designed to specifically focus on text comprehension. The middle monitoring
progress assessment will be an informal reading assessment over the book the student is reading
during the intervention. The first stage will be a screening assessment, where the researcher will
find a baseline for the student in order to see where to begin instruction. The second assessment
is a progress monitoring assessment, where the researcher will see if the student has made any
improvements. If the student has, the researcher will proceed with the instructional technique
that she has been using. If the student has not improved, then the researcher will change her
instruction in order to better meet the student’s needs. The final stage of the assessment will be
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outcome based, meaning that the researcher will use this score to compare to the initial screening
assessment. By comparing these two scores, the researcher will be able to document growth that
the student has made and determine whether or not the instruction was effective. The three scores
from the assessments will be documented in order to create a line graph that documents the
students learning.
Assessment Database:
NAME
GRADE HOW TO USE
WHEN TO USE
IT
Scholastic
Reading
Inventory (SRI)
K-12
The SRI uses
the Lexile
Framework in
order to
measure
reading
comprehension.
The SRI lines
up with state
tests.
The SRI
generally is
administered
three times a
year. It is
administered at
the beginning of
the year, the
middle of the
year, and the end
of the year.
DIBELS Oral
Reading
Fluency and
Retell Fluency
1-6
This
assessment is
designed to
measure
accuracy and
fluency along
with a
comprehension
check.
This assessment
is administered
at the beginning,
middle, and end
of the year.
INFORMA REFERENCE INFORMATION
TION
PROVIDED
The SRI is
http://teacher.scholastic.com
known to
help with
teacher
accountabili
ty and can
help keep
students and
teachers
focused on
reading
goals. It is
known as
one of the
fastest, most
accurate
reading
assessments.
This
https://dibels.uoregon.edu
assessment
is useful to
set goals
and monitor
students’
progress.
Students
read aloud
for one
minute. The
number of
correct
words for
one minute
is the
fluency
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Reading
Fluency
Benchmark
Assessor
(RFBA)
1-8
Using grade
level passages,
the RFBA
measures
students’
reading
fluency.
The
Abecedarian
Reading
Assessment
K-1
This
assessment
focuses on a
balanced
reading
score. This
assessment
demonstrate
s the
connections
between
reading
fluency and
reading
comprehensi
on.
This test should
This
http://www.readnaturally.com
be administered
assessment
three times a
can be
year. It should be entered
administered in
electronicall
the fall, winter,
y or
and spring.
manually.
This
assessment
can be used
to compare
students’
scores to
national
reading
fluency
norms. This
can also
help
teachers
screen
students for
reading
problems
and predict
how well a
student will
do on
standardized
testing.
This assessment This
http://www.balancedreading.com
can be given as
assessment
often as needed
provides a
to monitor
flow chart in
progress and
order to help
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CARSK-8
Curriculum
Associates
(Comprehensive
Assessment of
Reading
Strategies)
approach and
further
therefore tests
instruction.
all areas of
reading: letter
knowledge,
phonological
awareness,
phoneme
awareness,
alphabetic
principle,
vocabulary,
and decoding.
This
assessment
balances all the
reading areas in
order to
determine how
they are
affecting a
student’s
reading
comprehension.
a teacher
direct this
assessment.
Not all areas
of this
assessment
need to be
given, just
the subtests
that are
needed in
order to
provide the
teacher with
information
she/he needs
to drive
instruction.
CARS is
designed to
help teachers
discover
strengths and
weaknesses of
their students
based on
twelve key
reading
strategies.
CARS
http://www.curriculumassociates.com
emboldens
students to
use higher
level
thinking
skills, can
build
comprehensi
on skills that
are needed
for success
on
standardized
tests, and
uses selfassessment
to
strengthen
student
learning.
The CARS
assessment has
four steps which
include:
diagnosis,
instruction,
application, and
benchmarking.
Students are
assessed after
they complete
ten lessons.
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Reader Case Study: Phase II
Administration of Screening Assessment:
The researcher will work to improve comprehension skills with the sixteen year old male.
From previous discussions with the student’s developmental reading teacher, the researcher
decided to administer a Criteria Referenced Competency Test at the fifth grade level in order to
assess the student’s strengths and weaknesses in reading comprehension. This assessment was
administered at a class period of 2:22 pm through 3:12 pm, although it only took the student
about thirty-two minutes to complete the assessment. This assessment had three short stories and
a poem for the student to read and had a total of twenty-five questions for the student to answer
after the readings. The student answered nineteen out of the twenty-five questions correctly,
giving him the score of seventy-six percent.
Interpretation of the Assessment:
Following the assessment and a brief consultation with the student, the researcher
reflected upon the score of the assessment and the behaviors/reactions of the student to the
assessment. The score of the assessment, which was seventy-six percent, is passing. While taking
the assessment, the student was not at a deep frustration level. The only complaint that he had
was that he asked if the lights could be turned down some because he had a headache. Once the
lights were turned down, he had no more complaints. The student seemed to take time on the
readings and questions, flipping through pages when he felt he needed to go back to re-read
something. When finished, the student made a comment saying that the assessment was not “too
bad.” When looking at the questions that the student missed, it demonstrated that the student
struggled with main idea, opposites of vocabulary, comprehension, and sequencing of events.
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Plan of Action:
The student has not read an actual book in quite a while. For the first step in the plan of
action, the researcher wanted the student to choose a book that he would enjoy reading. When
asked this question, the student replied that he did not enjoy reading at all and did not have books
that he enjoyed. After some probing, the student had an idea. He had read the first book in a
series, called Lemony Snicket “A Series of Unfortunate Events.” The first book is titled The Bad
Beginning. The student decided that he wanted to continue with this series and read the second
book, titled The Reptile Room. This book is at about a sixth grade level, which the researcher
feels the student can handle with assistance. This book will be used for the six intervention
lessons. On the first day of the action plan, the researcher will give the student his reading
materials, consisting of: a composition notebook, medium and large Post-It notes, Post-It note
tabs, pencils and pens, a reading schedule and agenda, and a copy of Lemony Snicket’s The
Reptile Room. The researcher will also have all of these materials.
Lesson Plans:
*Lesson I: Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Student and Researcher will go over the plan for the duration of the intervention.
Researcher will give student reading materials and schedule, and describe what each
material will be used for. Introduce how the composition notebook will be used as a
literature circle tool where the students will write any unknown vocabulary, summarize
what is read, and ask two questions about pages that are read in between each meeting
session.

Student and researcher will have re-tell session over first book, Lemony Snicket’s The
Bad Beginning.
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
Researcher will give student the strips of major events from the first book. Student will
sequence the events. When events are in correct order, student will glue them in place
and keep the sheet with his reading materials (stapled into composition notebook).

Researcher and student will read aloud several pages in the beginning of the second book
The Reptile Room.

Student and researcher will decide what pages will need to be read before next meeting
and student will write this in his agenda.
*Lesson II: Thursday, October 27, 2011 (The student was absent this day. Therefore, the
researcher had to modify other lessons. Please see Phase III)

Researcher will begin by having a discussion with the student over the literature circle
assignment. Researcher and student will look up any unknown vocabulary in a dictionary
and write short definitions down in notebook.

Researcher will discuss the idea of schema and metacognition with the student.

Researcher will perform a think aloud with the student over the next few pages in the
book.

Researcher and student will spend the rest of the time reading and then will assign next
readings that need to be done before next meeting and the student will write them in the
agenda. Student will be expected to continue literature circle, this time adding the
assignment that the student needs to make two connections with the text.
*Lesson III: Thursday, November 10, 2011

Researcher will begin by having a discussion with the student over the literature circle
assignment. Researcher and student will look up any unknown vocabulary in a dictionary
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and write short definitions down in notebook. Student and researcher will discuss
connections.

Researcher and student will discuss cause and effect. Together they will fill out cause and
effect chart over parts of the book they have read so far.

Researcher will discuss context clues with the student and provide examples. This will
lead to the idea of making predictions.

With the remaining time, the researcher and student will read and then will assign next
readings that need to be done before next meeting and the student will write them in the
agenda. Student will be expected to continue literature circle, this time adding the
assignment that the student needs to make two connections with the text and at least one
prediction about what will happen next and what context clues leads him to believe that.
*Lesson IV: Thursday, November 17, 2011

The researcher will administer the progress monitoring assessment. This will be an
Informal Reading Assessment that the researcher creates asking comprehension questions
thus far about the book The Reptile Room.

Then, the researcher will have a discussion with the student over the literature circle
assignment. Researcher and student will look up any unknown vocabulary in a dictionary
and write short definitions down in notebook. Student and researcher will discuss the
connections, the prediction, and the evidence that supports that prediction.

After that, the student and researcher will decide the next amount of assigned reading and
the student will write it down in his agenda. He will be expected to do the same literature
circle assignment as last time: unknown vocabulary, summary of what was read, at least
two questions, at least two connections, and at least one prediction.
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*Lesson V: Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Begin lesson by the researcher having a discussion with the student over the literature
circle assignment. Researcher and student will look up any unknown vocabulary in a
dictionary and write short definitions down in notebook. Student and researcher will
discuss the connections, the prediction, and the evidence that supports that prediction.

Next, the researcher will further the discussion on context clues by talking about
inferencing. Researcher and student will practice inferencing skills.

Researcher will then introduce the story map and explain how it works.

Student will then fill out the parts of the story map that are known thus far.

After that, the student and researcher will decide the next amount of assigned reading and
the student will write it down in his agenda. He will be expected to do the same literature
circle assignment as last time, except he will now have to add one inference.
*Lesson VI: Thursday, December 1, 2011

Begin lesson by the researcher having a discussion with the student over the literature
circle assignment. Researcher and student will look up any unknown vocabulary in a
dictionary and write short definitions down in notebook. Student and researcher will
discuss the connections, the prediction, the evidence that supports that prediction, and the
inference.

The researcher and student will discuss the skill of comparing and contrasting (finding
similarities and differences).

The researcher will give the student the Venn diagram and explain writing assignment.
The researcher will show the student her own Venn diagram as an example. The student
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will be expected to fill out the Venn diagram and then write a story where he chooses a
character in the book The Reptile Room and has to write about the similarities and
differences between himself and that character.

The student will fill out the web and begin writing his story.

Student will write in agenda that story is due on December 6. The reading development
teacher will give student class time to work on this assignment as well.
*Lesson VII: Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Encourage student to continue using the composition notebook and reading tools as he
journeyed onto the third book in the Lemony Snicket series.

Administer final assessment (same test as the screening test) in order to assess the
effectiveness of the interventions.
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Dear Parents/Guardians,
As you know, I have been working with your child to provide additional assistance in the
area he has been struggling with, which is reading comprehension. After administering a
screening assessment, I found several ideas that I wanted to focus on with your child. In order to
provide this additional assistance, I am using a variety of strategies and approaches.
Your child is able to read fluent enough that he can grasp an overall understanding of
what is being read. However, he is struggling with sequencing events, some vocabulary,
determining a setting, and being able to state the main idea of a story or paragraph. In order to
address these needs for your child, I have an intervention plan that consists of seven sessions.
The dates of these seven sessions are: October 25, October 27, November 10, November 17,
November 29, December 1, and December 26, of 2011. These sessions will be done during your
child’s fourth period class which is dedicated to developmental reading time. Your child will be
expected to do some work outside of class time between sessions and will have those
assignments written in his agenda, which is in his reading composition notebook. Although, your
child will also be given class time to work on those assignments. All of the materials needed in
order to complete assignments have been provided for your child.
The seven sessions will consist of working on: summarizing, vocabulary, making
connections, making predictions, inferencing, using context clues, creating questions while
reading, sequencing and filling out a story map, and comparing and contrasting. All of these
areas are designed in order to improve your child’s comprehension skills. Also, your child will
take a progress monitoring assessment and a final assessment in order to measure the
effectiveness of these reading intervention sessions.
Lastly, I would like to thank you for all your cooperation and for giving me the
opportunity to work with your child. At the end of our intervention sessions, it is my goal to have
helped your child significantly improve his comprehension, giving him strategies which will in
turn help him in all of his subject areas. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me
anytime at 260-894-1652 or by email at smclark@spartans.manchester.edu.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Shaina Hiatt
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Dear Teacher,
As you know, I have been working with your student to provide additional assistance in
the area he has been struggling with, which is reading comprehension. After administering a
screening assessment, I found several ideas that I wanted to focus on with your student. In order
to provide this additional assistance, I am using a variety of strategies and approaches.
Your student is able to read fluent enough that he can grasp an overall understanding of
what is being read. However, he is struggling with sequencing events, some vocabulary,
determining a setting, and being able to state the main idea of a story or paragraph. In order to
address these needs for your student, I have an intervention plan that consists of seven sessions.
The dates of these seven sessions are: October 25, October 27, November 10, November 17,
November 29, December 1, and December 26, of 2011. These sessions will be done during your
student’s fourth period class which is dedicated to developmental reading time. Your student will
be expected to do some work outside of class time between sessions and will have those
assignments written in his agenda, which is in his reading composition notebook. Although, your
student will also be given class time to work on those assignments. All of the materials needed in
order to complete assignments have been provided for your student.
The seven sessions will consist of working on: summarizing, vocabulary, making
connections, making predictions, inferencing, using context clues, creating questions while
reading, sequencing and filling out a story map, and comparing and contrasting. All of these
areas are designed in order to improve your student’s comprehension skills. Also, your student
will take a progress monitoring assessment and a final assessment in order to measure the
effectiveness of these reading intervention sessions.
Lastly, I would like to thank you for all your cooperation and for giving me the
opportunity to work with your student. At the end of our intervention sessions, it is my goal to
have helped your student significantly improve his comprehension, giving him strategies which
will in turn help him in all of his subject areas. If you have any questions or concerns, please
contact me anytime at 260-894-1652 or by email at smclark@spartans.manchester.edu.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Shaina Hiatt
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Information Page:
Title of Book: The Reptile Room
Author’s Name: Lemony Snicket
Copyright date: 1999
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Summary:
The Reptile Room is the second book in the series of “A Series of Unfortunate Events”
written by Lemony Snicket and illustrated by Brett Helquist. This book is about three siblings
who became orphans after their parents were killed in a tragic and mysterious house fire. The
three children, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire, were forced to live with a relative with the
name of Count Olaf. After Count Olaf was caught trying to unleash an evil plan in order to steal
the Baudelaire children’s fortune, he escaped and the children were now being forced to live with
another relative. The new relative’s name is Uncle Monty and he is a herpetologist. The children
are very happy in their new home until they come upon another misfortune. Uncle Monty
mysteriously dies and the children are once again confronted with Count Olaf. The children
survive, but Count Olaf escapes again and the children are now, once again, homeless.
The Venn diagram will be used in lesson six of the intervention stage on Thursday,
December 1, 2011. After the researcher shows her own Venn diagram to the student as an
example, the student will be expected to choose a character in the book and fill out the Venn
diagram comparing and contrasting himself to that character. The student will then use the Venn
diagram to help him write his paper over the similarities and differences between himself and
that character.
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Reader Case Study: Phase III
Implementation and Reflection
Lesson 1:



Opening
o The researcher gave the student the materials he needed for their work time
together and explained how they will be used.
o The researcher went over the plan for their meetings with the student.
o The researcher and the student had a re-tell session over the first book called The
Bad Beginning by lemony Snicket in order to prepare to move on to the second
book The Reptile Room.
Lesson
o After the re-tell session, the researcher had a discussion with the student on
sequencing events.
o After the discussion, the student was given strips of paper that contained major
events from the first book.
o The student was to put them in correct order and then glue them in his
composition reading notebook.
Close
o The student and researcher took turns reading aloud in the book The Reptile Room
by Lemony Snicket.
o The student and researcher decided what pages need to be read before our next
meeting.
o It was decided that pages 1-26 need to be read and the Literature Circle
assignment needed to be completed which was: read the assigned pages, write
down any unknown vocabulary, a short summary of what was read, and ask two
questions over the reading.
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Reflection over Lesson 1
The researcher was impressed by the student. The student said that he was excited and
was ready to begin the book. The student was appreciative of the materials that were given to
him. The student remembered the main events of the first book The Bad Beginning by Lemony
Snicket. The student responded well to the idea of sequencing and put all the main events in
order on the first try. The researcher was very impressed.
When the student read aloud, he seemed to have a good flow. He felt comfortable reading
aloud with the researcher. He even asked if he could read more than what the researcher read.
When the researcher read aloud, she made sure to read at a good voice tone and model for the
student how a fluent reader reads.
After this lesson, the researcher has high hopes that the intervention is going to go well.
The student generally spends most of his time on the computer throughout the day and seemed
anxious to do activities that did not involve computers. The student wanted to read the book,
which was more than what he had demonstrated for the reading teacher that year. However, due
to the disabilities that this student has, the reading teacher warned the researcher to take it one
day at a time. The reading teacher told the researcher that this student definitely has his good and
bad days and that they can be very unpredictable.
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Lesson 2



Opening
o The student and researcher discussed the Literature Circle assignment.
o The student and researcher looked up any unknown vocabulary words in the book
and tried to interpret the meaning.
o Then, the student and researcher looked up the vocabulary words in the dictionary
and wrote the definitions down.
o The researcher and student both read their summaries over what happened in
pages 1-26.
o The researched and student discussed their questions. They talked about whether
or not the questions were answered later on.
Lesson
o Discussing whether or not the questions were answered led into a discussion
about making predictions.
o The researcher and student talked about metacognition.
o The student wrote the word metacognition in his reading notebook and what the
definition is.
o The student also wrote what a prediction was and some thinking stems that can be
used when reading.
o The researcher modeled a think aloud about how she connected with a piece of
the story.
o Then, the student made a connection.
o The student and teacher practiced making predictions.
Close
o The student and researcher decided what pages need to be read before our next
meeting.
o It was decided that pages 61-90 need to be read and the Literature Circle
assignment needed to be completed which was: read the assigned pages, write
down any unknown vocabulary, a short summary of what was read, make at least
one prediction and connection, and ask two questions over the reading.
o The reason we were on page 61 is because the reader had read ahead on his own
time.
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Reflection over Lesson 2
Originally, the researcher was going to do seven lessons with the student. However, when
the day of the second lesson came around, the student was absent. Nobody had informed the
researcher that the student was absent until she arrived at the school. Therefore, the researcher
was disappointed because she had to find a way to modify the next lessons in order to make up
for lost time.
When the student and the researcher finally met, the second lesson went well. The student
had completed the Literature Circle assignment as well as the researcher. The researcher and the
student went over the unknown vocabulary, which was a decent amount. The student responded
well to finding “clues” within the text to find the meaning of each word.
The student was happy to share his summary over what he read. He then wanted to share
his questions. When the researcher and student discussed making connections and predictions,
the student began to discuss connections he had with characters from the book without even
being directed to do so. The student had read a great deal more in the book than what was
assigned.
The researcher was ecstatic about the enthusiasm the student was showing and the effort
he had been putting into the lessons. The student was doing even more than what was being
asked of him. The researcher is hoping that this positive progress continues. At this rate, the
researcher believes that more will be accomplished than she had planned on.
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Lesson 3



Opening
o Today was the day to give the reader his Informal Reading Assessment.
o This assessment was six questions over what the student was supposed to have
read up to that point in the book The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket.
o The assessment had five multiple choice questions and one short answer.
Lesson
o The student did not complete his Literature Circle assignment and reading and
asked if he could spend the time finishing the assignment.
o Since there was not much time left, the researcher allowed the student to use the
rest of the time to read silently and work on the assignment. (It was his choice to
read silently)
Close
o The researcher and student decided that the student needed to read pages 72-90 by
the next meeting and have finished the Literature Circle assignment.
o They had a discussion over the importance of doing the work and working on
reading, even if he does not like the subject.
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Reflection over Lesson 3
The researcher has very mixed feelings about how events went in lesson 3. The
researcher was very happy because the student earned a 100% on his informal reading
assessment. The student was excited as well and bragged about the score to several of his
teachers. The researcher felt that this was a good experience in order to help the student gain a
higher self-esteem when it came to reading. The researcher is also hoping that this will help
motivate the student to want to continue to work in order to gain more success.
However, the researcher was extremely disappointed to realize that the student did not
read the assigned pages from the last lesson and did not complete the Literature Circle
assignment. The student requested work time to read the pages. The researcher granted the
student that time since there was not much time left and since the student put a lot of effort into
the informal reading assessment.
The closing of the day did not end well in the opinion of the researcher. The researcher
and student re-assigned the pages and Literature Circle assignment. That is when the student
decided to complain that he hated reading. The student wanted the researcher to ask her professor
if they could do writing instead. The researcher discussed the importance of reading with the
student and why they were working on it. The student then said that he knew how to read and did
not need to work on it. He claimed that he only had to be in the helper reading class because he
did not try hard on the test because he hated to read. The researcher tried to encourage the
student to continue working hard and that he could eventually test out of the class if he
improved. The researcher tried to cheer the student up by telling him that soon they would be
doing a writing assignment.
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Lesson 4



Opening
o The student did not do his assignment. He had read most of the pages
but did not do the Literature Circle assignment.
o Therefore, the researcher gave the student some time to finish the
assignment.
o Then, the researcher and the student went over the unknown
vocabulary, summaries, the connections, the predictions, and the
questions for the assigned pages.
Lesson
o The researcher went over inferencing with the student and had him put
the definition in his reading notebook.
o The researcher used a paragraph in the book to model inferencing.
o The researcher pulled out two more different parts of the book and had
the student practice inferencing.
Close
o Since the student was refusing to do the Literature Circle assignments,
the researcher decided to make a change.
o The researcher told the student the plan for their last two meetings
together.
o The researcher encouraged the student to continue reading the book
and begin thinking about a character he would like to write about.
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Reflection over Lesson 4
The opening of lesson 4 was stressful and did not start out on good terms. The reader did
not bring his book and the library did not have an extra copy. Also, once again the reader did not
do his assignment. He had read most of the pages but did not do the Literature Circle assignment.
The researcher told the student that he needed to borrow her copy of the book and finish reading
the pages and then do the assignment. The reader was immediately angry and refused to do the
assignment. The reader went on and ranted about how he hated reading and school. The
researcher gave the student a moment to calm down. Once he did, he worked on the assignment.
However, he did not fully complete the assignment and stated that it was because he could not
make any connections and that he did not care about vocabulary. The researcher helped the
student find some connections. The researcher did not push the student any further than that in
hopes that she could still help the student learn something new that day.
The researcher then worked with the student on making inferences. At first, the concept
was difficult for the student to grasp. However, after some practice, he began to understand the
concept and could apply it in several situations in the book. Since it was becoming clear that the
Literature circle assignments were not going to be done by the student, the researcher decided to
not assign another one.
The researcher is disappointed about the Literature Circle assignments because she
believed that if the student completed them, they would be beneficial toward home gaining
progress with reading. However, they were causing the student to act out and were not getting
completed. When getting ready to close, the student complained that the reason he did not have
his assignment done was because the researcher lied to him. According to the student, the
researcher claimed that she would only come on Thursdays. The researcher calmly told the
student that she did not tell him that and that she gave him the agenda in his reading notebook at
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the beginning of the intervention so that he specifically knew when she would be coming. The
student then claimed that maybe the researcher was not the one who had lied to him but that
someone had.
The researcher was very disappointed in the way that the lessons were going at this point.
The student no longer wanted to work on reading and was refusing to participate. When the
researcher discussed the problems with the special education teacher and the reading teacher,
they both said that the student had been consistently having behavior problems in every class.
They said that the student was refusing to do work in any class at that point. They did not have
any suggestions to tell the researcher.
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Lesson 5



Opening
o The researcher started the session by showing the student the Venn diagram and
explaining the different pieces of it.
o The researcher discussed the importance of organizing thoughts before writing a
story.
o The researcher went over again what the writing assignment was. The student
needed to fill out the diagram finding similarities between himself and a character
from the book. Then, the student needed to write about it in his reading notebook.
The purpose of this writing assignment was to help the student make connections
to the text in order to promote comprehension.
Lesson
o The student filled out the Venn diagram.
o The student wrote about the similarities and differences in his reading notebook.
Close
o The researcher told the student that their last meeting was going to be his final
assessment.
o The student wanted to know what the assessment was going to be like.
o The researcher told the student what the format of the assessment would be.
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Reflection over Lesson 5
Lesson five ended up being split into three parts due to the behavior of the student. The
researcher began by explaining the writing assignment to the student. The student refused to do
the Venn diagram. The student claimed that the diagram was “stupid” and for children. The
student was very angry. The researcher re-explained the importance of the Venn diagram and
how people of all ages use these types of organizational graphs. The student still refused to do
the Venn diagram.
The student continued to ignore the researcher and began the writing assignment without
doing the Venn diagram first. The researcher continued to work on her own Venn diagram in
order to model it for the student. The student had to leave for a meeting. Therefore, the
researcher decided that when they met again later that day she would again bring up the Venn
diagram and try to get the student to do it.
When the student came back, the researcher noticed that he was not in a good mood. The
student claimed that his meeting that he had to leave for earlier did not go well. The student was
very non-compliant and refused to listen to anything the researcher had to say. The student raised
his voice and said some obscene words. The student then stood up, pushed his chair over, and
left the room.
The researcher was in a bad position and had to get the dean of discipline at the school.
The dean of discipline had a meeting with the student and allowed him time to reflect and cool
off. Then, the student came back to work with the researcher. The student said that he did not
want to talk and that he just wanted to finish his work. The researcher formed a compromise with
the student. The researcher allowed the student to do his own Venn diagram in his reading
notebook and then had to add one more paragraph to his paper and then he was free to leave.
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The student agreed to the compromise and finished his work. The student then left and went back
to class.
The researcher felt extremely frustrated and saddened when looking back at the events of
the day. The researcher felt at a loss for why the student behaved the way he did. The student had
been looking forward to writing, but then when he was asked to do a writing assignment, he
refused. When the student was upset, the researcher remained calm and asked why he was so
upset over the assignment. The student did not have an answer other than the fact that he was
mad.
Even though the researcher was upset with how the lesson went, she was pleased at how
calm she remained in the situation. The researcher used techniques that she had learned from
college courses in order to try to de-accelerate the student. Even though the student did not
exactly calm down, he left the room rather than continue to yell. The special education teacher
told the researcher that she handled the situation well.
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Lesson 6



Opening
o The researcher began by congratulating the student for his work throughout the
intervention.
o The researcher gave the student a brand new book that was his to keep.
Lesson
o The researcher gave the student the 5th grade Criteria Referenced Competency
Test.
Close
o After the student was finished with the assessment, the researcher once again gave
a verbal appreciation.
o The student thanked the researcher for the book and taking the time to work with
him.
o The student was free to go back to class.
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Reflection over Lesson 6
When the researcher went to get the student do to the final assessment, she could tell the
student was having a better day. The student was smiling and was waiting to go work. The
student told the researcher that he was having a good day today and had not been in trouble for
poor behavior all day. The researcher congratulated him.
The researcher began by giving the student a book that he gets to keep. The researcher
was not sure how the student would respond, but was very pleased when he got excited. The
student asked if the book was really all his to keep. The researcher replied that it was his to keep
and that it was a present from her and the professor for him participating in the intervention.
The researcher then gave the student the final assessment. It was the same assessment
that the student took before the intervention began. The assessment was a fifth grade Criteria
Referenced Competency Test. During the assessment, the student complained that he was very
tired and was having a hard time reading. The student asked if he could take a break and go to
the restroom. The researcher allowed him to use the restroom.
When the student returned, he finished working on the assessment. The researcher
walked the student back to class. The student still seemed to be in a good mood. The student
thanked the researcher again for the book.
The researcher was pleased that the behavior of the student was much more positive
today. The researcher was happy to end the intervention on a positive behavior note. However,
when grading the assessment, the student received a worse grade than the pre-assessment. This
was very disappointing to the researcher. When discussing the results with the special education
teacher, she said that if he was tired, it could have caused him to read carelessly, which could
have led to the student missing more questions.
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Reader Case Study: Phase IV
Impact on Student
The student developed some positive growth during the intervention. When the
researcher gave the student an informal reading assessment in order to monitor progress, the
student earned an A+, getting every single question correct. However, this growth is not shown
in the final assessment. The researcher believes that the final assessment did not show the
student’s growth due to his lack of sleep and consistent behavior problems at school. Although
growth was not shown during the final assessment, the researcher noticed positive progress
throughout the lessons.
From the first day of having discussions with the student, he said that he disliked reading.
When asked what kind of books he would enjoy reading, the reader claimed that there were not
any. The reading development teacher told the researcher that the student always refused to read
books. Finally, after looking for a while together, the student found a book that he and the
researcher could agree on. The book was The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket.
In the beginning, the student was anxious to begin the lessons and to begin reading the
book. As time progressed, the student’s work efforts began to dwindle. However, the student
continued reading the book. Therefore, even if the student did not do better on the final
assessment, he was still reading, which is something that the reading development teacher said
that he would never do before. This is positive progress that was demonstrated throughout this
intervention.
Even though the student’s efforts dwindled as time went on, he still completed each
assignment that the researcher had asked him to do. The student may not have always been
happy about completing the work, but he did it. This was also progress that the researcher
witnessed. According to many of the student’s teachers, he will just refuse to do assignments and
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then will never complete them. Therefore, the fact that the student completed each assignment
that the researcher gave him was a sign of growth and positive progress.
The researcher also noticed that the student’s self-esteem when reading got higher as time
went on. By the end of the intervention, the student had hopes of passing out of his reading
development class when tested in January 2012. The student claimed that he was a good reader.
The researcher did recognize that the reader had good fluency; however, the student was later not
remembering what was read. Therefore, his problem was with comprehension. After the student
passed his informal reading assessment with a 100%, he bragged to many of his teachers and
said that his reading was getting much better and that he was starting to understand more.
The researcher is pleased that the student showed growth by gaining a higher self-esteem,
actually reading a book, and completing all of his assignments. The researcher was disappointed
that the final assessment did not show growth, even though there were underlying reasons behind
it. The student’s results are graphed below.
Intervention Results
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
Series 1
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
CRCT
IRA
CRCT
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Impact on Researcher
This intervention gave the researcher many experiences to reflect upon. The researcher
benefitted from the intervention as well as the student. The researcher gained more knowledge
on the best practices to help a student who is struggling with reading as well as learning to deal
with negative behavior. The researcher struggled with getting the student to do work. When the
researcher discussed this with the special education teacher and the reading development teacher,
they had no suggestions and claimed that they were also having these problems with this
particular student in other classes.
The researcher learned that it was best to stay calm and in control when the student was
acting out and refusing to do the work. The researcher learned that it was best to give the student
a moment to calm down and then have a discussion about why he was upset and did not want to
do the assignment. The researcher recognizes that this was easier to do in a one on one situation
rather than in a classroom full of other students. The student worked best in a quiet room without
other student distractions. The researcher also realized that in order to get the student to do the
work, it worked best if they decided on a compromise. This gave the student more choice and
helped him demonstrate more positive behavior rather than escalate the negative behavior.
The researcher also learned that the Literature Circle assignments were not being done
outside the intervention time, even though the student had reading class time to work on these
assignments while the researcher was gone. Due to this, the researcher decided that if she was to
do this intervention over, she would tie the assignments to some sort of point system in order for
the student to reach an overall goal. Hopefully, this way the student would be more motivated to
get work done on time.
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The researcher also gained more experience in how to be flexible and adapt plans. Due to
the student being absent, the plans for the intervention had to change and adapt. Also, due to
negative behavior, the plans had to adapt because time was taken away from the lesson. These
experiences helped the researcher grow in understanding of how lessons do not always go as
planned and that the researcher had to be flexible and adapt.
Through this intervention, the researcher developed future goals in order to become a
more effective reading teacher. The first goal is to be able to have more strategies to motivate
students who refuse to do work and assignments. The second goal is to learn how to take the
experiences from working one on one with a reader to working with a whole class of readers. In
order to accomplish the first goal, the researcher plans on doing research about students who
refuse to do work and ways to motivate that student. Also, the researcher plans to talk with
several special education teachers and behavioral specialists in order to gain more ideas and
strategies. In order to accomplish the second goal, the researcher plans on working closely with
her supervisor in her student teaching placement who is in charge of literature groups at her
school. Also, the researcher plans on doing conferencing with her students daily in order to
determine the needs of each of her students. The researcher will also use many different types of
assessments to monitor progress for her students. This will help the researcher teach her students
assessment driven instruction.
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Student Work
1. Pre-Assessment: 5th Grade Criteria Referenced Competency Test
2. Sequencing Events
3. Literature Circle Assignment
4. Vocabulary and Terms
5. Literature Circle Assignment
6. Comparing and Contrasting Paper
7. Venn Diagram
8. Informal Reading Assessment
9. Post-Assessment: 5th Grade Criteria Referenced Competency Test
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