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Keyrilis Arenas
Student Impact Learning Project
EDUC 313

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Introduction/Contextual Factors:
During my observation a Lower Dauphin High School, I offered tutoring services to two specific students
in the 10th grade English classroom. The tutoring sessions consisted of a 45 minute period for duration of
4 weeks. Two students were chosen by my host teacher who clearly identified them as good selections
for reading comprehension improvement. In the selection of the two students, I was given specific
materials such as a Edgar Allan Poes poem The Raven, a short story called Contents of the dead Mans
Pocket, and a cause and effect lesson to work with in the time I would meet with them. Both students
were placed in the tech prep class, a lower level of academic achievement and were in need of
improving reading comprehension skills; as for the state would test them on this skill through the
keystone exam. Before tutoring the students, I considered the community and school factors that may
have affected their learning along with all the materials the school provided for them to utilize as
learning tools.
Lower Dauphin HS, is a public, middle sized, High School with a population of about 1,219 students
enrolled. It forms part of the Dauphin School District which includes 8 schools and 3,832 students
enrolled. The demographic setting consist of a suburb environment with mostly 2 parent family homes
with the male figure surpassing the female figure as the provider for the family. The median income for
the county is about $26,374. Households race include a percentage of 74.6 whites, 18.6 black, and less
than 1% other.
The High School section, in which my two students assisted, includes grades 9-12 with an increased
number of male students vs. female students. The enrollment by gender includes: 613 males/ 606
females with 88.5% consisting of White students. There are 322 students enrolled in 9th grade, 287 in
10th, 311 in 11th, and 299 in 12th grade. To have a clearer view of the race and ethnicity of the High
School, the enrollment by race/ethnicity include: American Indian (3), Asian Pacific Islander (7), Black
(13), Hispanic (56), and White (1,080), other (60). Without a doubt, there was not much diversity in race.
Most of the student population was whites and this was the case for teachers also.
There are multiple options for student courses. Categorized by discipline, there are 22 English, 22 Math,
20 Science, and 22 History courses available to students throughout grades 9-12. Although these are
available, some classes are categorized by the level of academic achievement, such as honors English. If
students were placed in lower levels such as life skills or tech prep, as were my students, they did not
have much of a choice on what classes to take. Students who were in need of extra tutoring had a

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learning support class in their schedules to complete assignments, tests, and receive extra help from a
teacher who was trained in all subject areas. Together the content teacher and learning support teacher
worked hand in hand to ensure students were receiving the help they needed.
Furthermore, there are many in class resources that are available to students. Most classes if not all
were provided with smart boards and laptops. In the situation of my students, their teacher did not use
the smart board other than to project Power Points presentations. I do believe that this tool could have
been used for differentiating instruction, but every teacher has their teaching style which they believe to
be effective in the classroom. Students at the tech prep level had a laptop and participated from a
Hybrid model each day. The Hybrid model is a learning system that was first adopted into Lebanon
schools and has become an effective tool in student learning. As a result, Lower Dauphin adopted the
model for tech prep classes, which included students who scored high on state exams but average in
schools academic subjects. These students were lacking motivation and effort but were capable of
reaching high academic standards. The goal of implementing Hybrid into the classroom was to include
active learning in the classroom environment and maintain students motivated.
Hybrid model consist of three components:
1. Direct Instruction- During this time students sat in a circular listening to the teacher read the
short story or poem. As they listened, they were to complete specific exercises such as
underlining the conflict, setting, plot, and suspense of the story. In the process of reading,
students could ask questions or add comments when a discussion was held. In this manner, the
teacher provided direct instruction to the group (about 5-6 students), and students felt
comfortable asking questions.
2.

Collaboration-Students are placed in groups of 4-5 to work on a project based assignment these
could include a PowerPoint describing the plot of the story, an invitation card that describes an
event from the story, and etc. The goal is to enhance student learning by social learning theory
and including active learning through group collaboration.

3.

Individual instruction- This last section allows students to work on their own. It is similar to
silent reading, except students also complete a worksheet in the process of reading to check for
comprehension.
Implementing the Hybrid model also includes students to rotate from station to station each
class day. For example, if today I was in collaboration then tomorrow I will rotate to
independent. In this manner, students benefit from all three stations.

Now, considering all these factors in the students classroom environment, I decided to take them to a
quiet place, the library, where they can concentrate to the specific skills I would teach them.

Day 1: I began my first tutoring lesson with a short introduction of myself, chatting with them about
their life, and establishing goals that both my student and I could accomplish by the end of four weeks.
Student 1: 15 years old, Female, Mexican, Catholic.
Speaks both English and Spanish; enjoys running, wrestling, and cheerleading at Lower Dauphin.
In her spare time, she listens to pop music. Her favorite food is Mexican tortilla made from
scratch. When asked to tell me something interesting about herself, she shared that she lived in
California for many years. She explained how education in California was easier than in
Pennsylvania. Also, she commented in how she has adapted to the fashion trends in P.A rather
than in California where no one wore sweat pants for school. Everyone was always dressed up
because fashion is a big deal in California.

Student 2-: 15 years old, Female, American, Christian.

Spoke only English and was taking a Spanish course; Enjoys forming part of the softball team and
manager of the football team at Lower Dauphin. In her spare time she enjoys playing outside
with her brothers. Her favorite foods are ribs and bacon cheese burgers. She aspires to one day
work with kids as she enjoys being around them.

According to their English teacher, there overall grade was good compared to the class average.
Although they scored proficient, there assignments showed low levels of reading comprehension and
were in need of scaffolding. Below is a chart describing their grade comparison.

300%

250%

200%
THE LEAP QUIZ
150%

MONKEY PAWS EXAM

AVERAGE GRADE

100%

50%

0%
STUDENT 1

STUDENT 2 CLASS AVERAGE

Goals:
After they introduced themselves to me, I felt comfortable to explain my purpose of meeting with them.
I explained my goal of improve their reading comprehension skills, and they both agreed they would
benefit from the tutoring sessions. I set 3 specific goals to accomplish by the end of four weeks. These
included:

Students will be able to analyze an authors message by breaking the text into sections
and examining the plot.

CC.1.2.9-10.E Reading Informational Text: Analyze how the authors claims are developed by
specific sentences or paragraphs.

Students will identify how Edgar Allan Poe utilizes symbolism and repetition to create a
gothic style in his work.
CC.1.2.9-10.F Reading Informational Text: Analyze how words and phrases shape meaning and
tone.
Students will be able to write and speak with complex language while learning an
authors vocabulary.
CC.1.2.9-10.K Reading Interpretational Text: Clarify the meaning of unknown words and phrases.

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Day 2: I introduced The Raven. Since I would be teaching this lesson in their class, I decided to have
them read it out loud during the tutoring session. I had both students underline and highlight key words
they did not recognize. After reading each stanza, we took time out to discuss the students
interpretation of Poes language. Afterward we defined difficult terms such as seraphims, prophet, and
reviewed the tone of the poem. In collaboration, my students understood how Poes gothic style was
used in his writing.

Day 3: Students began this session by taking a test on The Raven. I told them it wouldnt affect their
class grade but it served as a tool to examine how much they learned from the previous tutoring
session. Therefore, I gave them each the test and observed in what questions they struggled to answer.
These were the results for both students:

Student 1

Student 2

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Both these test results show that the students comprehension level were good. They learned and
retained the content, but they struggled with defining vocabulary words they were not familiar with.

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Day 4: At this point, students had finished the unit on Poe and moved along to a unit that focused on
descriptive language and Characterization. Because I noticed that in previous assignments, my students
had struggled with vocab, I wanted to focus on language. This session was dedicated for reading
Contents of the Dead Mans Pocket. More than focusing on the story line, I focused on how the author
utilized descriptive language to describe a scene or character. As we read, students identified specific
words that created suspense and emotion on the story. To wrap up students created a character profile
for the two main characters and explained how this affected the plot of the story.
Day 5: We continued and finished reading contents of the Dead Mans Pocket. After answering any
questions and discussing their feelings about the story, the students took a Pre-test. I created this test
to help them review for the quiz they would have in class the following day. I wanted to ensure that they
knew how language created suspense in the story. Below are the test results to compare between the
two students.

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Student 1

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Student 2

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Comparing the two results, student 1 has more grammatical errors than student 2. For student 1, I had
her correct her paper as if she were the teacher. This way she realized how many mistakes she had on
her test and fixed them before I graded her exam. I noticed the students rush through assignment to get
it done quicker, but this does not always work out to their advantage. From that moment on, I had both
students proofread their assignment before handing them in to me or their classroom teachers. They
realized how many points they were losing; not because they did not know the answer, but because
they did not proofread their work. Overall, they did a great job on the Pre-test. The next morning, they
took the quiz given by their English teacher. He noticed how great they had performed and how much
detail they wrote on their responses. Below are the results of the Post Test.

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Student 1

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Student 2

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Day 6: During this week, students were exploring how the author uses cause and effect to teach us a
lesson or to demonstrate the conclusion of a conflict. We began this session talking about cause and
effect in ordinary situations. I gave students the opportunity to describe some examples and explain
why they thought this was important to point out when reading literature.
Day 7: In the beginning of my observation, the teacher discusses with me the results of my students
homework assignment. They had received less than half the question correct. I was a bit conflicted and
decided to create a practice worksheet of Cause and Effect. When the session started, I brought up their
initial homework assignment and reviewed it with them. They seemed to have a good understanding of
how cause and effect worked. The issue was that they turned in their assignment a day later and
therefore received half credit. As a result, this had lowered their grade to less than 50%. Still I wanted to
ensure that they learned the concept, so I gave them the worksheet to work on. Below are the results of
both the homework assignment and practice worksheet given to both students.

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Student 1

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Student 1

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Student 2

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Student 2

By comparing the results of the homework assignment versus the exercise sheet I provided for the
students, I concluded that the students comprehended the differences between cause and effect. After
grading their assignment I discussed the drastic results of both worksheets with the students. Their

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response was that they rushed through the assignment to get it over with. When I sat with them to give
them my assignment, the only option they had was to take their time, focus, and complete it.
To conclude their reading comprehension progress, I discussed with my host teacher ways in which the
students could focus on their work without distractions. If the students I was tutoring have a quiet and
focused environment to work or read in, then their comprehension level will increase drastically. It was
a learning experience watching my students work through their weaknesses and help them analyze
literature in a profound manner. I hope these students will implement the strategies learned throughout
the tutoring lesson on a daily basis as they will become successful in reading comprehension.