Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Dr. Styslinger
EDRD 600
Literacy InterviewReaders Profile
It is very clear that after interviewing my two students that
literacy foundation is very important for studentsit is also of the
utmost importance that we recognize and work to make sure the
students we serve are being introduced to literacy and taught how to
navigate it at a very young age. More and more students are coming to
high school without ever being introduced to their love of booksfrom
my interview, I am quite certain that when you tap into a student
and invest the time to get to know them, they will find their passion in
reading.
I was given the opportunity to work with two students, for the
sake of this interview they will be known as Q and R. Both are 16-yearold African American males who live at Camp Aspen as part of their
counseling and rehabilitative substance and substance abuse DJJ
program. Below, you will find two separate reader profiles for each
student.
I believe that since both students are so much alike, I would be
able to find a book that they both would enjoy reading. Both provide
many funds of knowledge that they bring to literacy. Their ability to
imagine and conceptualize the books that they are reading makes me
think that they are not s struggling as I initially thought they would be.
Possible selections include:
Thug Lovin by Wahida Clark
Darkness Before Dawn by Sharon Draper
Out of my Mind by Sharon Draper
Q
Q is a very vibrant and overall cheerful student who I can tell never
had a passion for school growing up. From the beginning, he often
talked about how he was ok in school, but didnt like it as much
especially reading. Q quotes, Im ok in schoolI can read, but I just
didnt like readingI dont know why. After talking with Q about his
likes and dislikes in school, he noted that most of his dislikes stemmed
around the fact that when reading was involved, he was not the
student to be called on.
Besides academics, Q is an exceptionally talented football player citing
that hes one of the best in running back. He someday hopes to be
able to return to this sport because it makes him happy when he plays.
He knows that on his team, he has a vital role, and so working together
is one of the key strategies to winning.
reluctant reader, often citing that when he was younger he never liked
reading, he notes that his mother was an avid reader however. She has
numerous books in her house and can always be seen with a book. Q
says that he never would have read any of those stories because they
were not his style. "When I was younger, I didn't like to read very much
because I used to read very slow Like very very slow. I used to repeat
words over again and now I probably just look at the first line and
visualize the next lines as I'm going through."
From my understanding in interviewing with Q, I am led to believe that
he is a part of the subscales model in reading. He is able to understand
letters and words, however when it comes to word family recognition
this is when he has numerous issues in his reading. Due to him not
understanding or being able to recognize words, this hinders him from
wanting to read out loud. He is able to make meaning of the text that
he is reading. This is evident by the detailed reading summaries that
he has provided throughout this interview.
I am very interested in knowing what about this program has made Q
so much more interested in reading? What type of skills and
assessment labs do they offer students, and how are students
determined to be struggling readers or not. From what I gather from Q,
I do not believe that he is a struggling reader, however I do believe
that due to his lack of reading at a young age his vocabulary is very
limited which hinders him from being comfortable reading out loud and
with others.
R
R is almost very similar to Q. Both come from similar backgrounds and
neither had a big passion for reading when they were growing up. From
this interview however it is clear that this student rely mostly on Q to
gather input on how to answer questions. R never had a passion for
school either. He quotes, "I never used to go to school. Once I started
middle school that's when I started skipping." He notes that he also
hated reading and never got interested in it. "I like to see stuff If it's
a book I would like to read, it has to be interesting to me. By seeing
stuff I mean I like to see it in my mind it has to relate to me in my
life." It is clear to me that the student dislikes reading became more so
because of the text that he was required to read growing up in school,
and also because of his being behind in relation to other students.
R states that he learned to read in school as well. He remembered
group reading at tables with the teacher. He stated that he absolutely
hated that to because he was forced to read out loud. He made it very
clear that he doesn't like to read out loud, and that is something that
he still struggles with today.
He does believe that people read for different situations like jobs and
school. "You got to read for stuff like paperwork. Here, people just
signed their names without reading what it is and that's not right." He
notes that in order for someone to be a good reader, they must have
confidence in themselves to read out loud.
R is someone who also reads a lot of Buford series. He says that these
books deal with hard stuff that people go through and he is able to
relate to that often noting that these types of situations are so real. He
knows that he has just finished reading a book called Street Farm and
was able to provide will be three minutes of very detailed information
about the book. I also believe that with him, he does not have an issue
with reading, it's the fact that he does not understand some words and
is often turned off when he is forced to his peers.
R looks at books a little differently than queue. He states that he will
often look at the cover first and then read a little bit on the back of the
book he states that, "When I was in middle school, I didn't pick up
books, but now I will. I haven't conquered my fear of reading out loud
but I am somewhat."
On average in the last six months he is right about 17 different books.
But what is very interesting is the fact that he has not finished many of
these books. He cites that sometimes he gets uninterested, and just
stops reading the book.
When it comes to words that he does not know and books, he states
that he will try to figure out or skip over it he says that if you keep
reading it'll come back and you'll figure it out. Growing up he states
that at home he personally had 2 to 3 books for himself. He says that
his mom is a great reader because she reads a lot as well. He believes
that when she comes across worries that she does not understand she
will sound them out or ask Siri.
When asked the same question that if you were a teacher in his
principal asked him to describe characteristics of a struggling reader,
he stated that he believes that if a student doesn't like to read it
shouldn't be mandatory for him to do that, he believes the student
might get embarrassed. He also believes that you can tell a student is
struggling when you give them a test to determine if they have been
reading, and the student often fails the test. I do believe that for him,
this may have been an issue for him when he was growing up. Often he
did not read books because he was not comfortable reading out loud,
so I do believe this provided a lot of issues for him. He says that he
deafly does enjoy books that deal with things he is going through, that