Jessica Henry

READ 436
Dr. Sullivan
23 April, 2017
Exit Slip #1
Describe the assessments you will use for instructional level readers, define the levels
(independent, instructional, frustration), and explain the factors that will influence your
grouping for instruction.
When thinking about reading levels, there are 3 levels: independent, instructional, and
frustration. At the independent level, the student is at the highest level of reading at which they
have enough background knowledge to understand the content and can easily access the text
without any assistance. At the instructional level, the student has the background knowledge
necessary to understand the topic, but is not quite at the independent level because some
assistance is needed in reading the text. At the frustrational level, the student does not have
proper background knowledge, cannot access the text, and cannot meet the levels of accuracy
and rate needed to be at the instructional level. To assess a students instructional level I will use
and IRI or informal reading inventory. The IRI allows me to assess a students strengths and
weaknesses in areas including word recognition, word meaning, and comprehension, giving me a
well-rounded view of their abilities. An IRI assessment also tests fluency and specifically scores
words recognized in context and words per minute. Another assessment tool that will help me
keep track of reading levels as the year continues is running records.
In grouping my students, it is important to consider these IRI assessments and running
records and determine each childs specific reading level. Then, from there, I think it is important
to consider there understanding of word features. I must consider what students are using, but
confusing and group kids as well as I can based off that knowledge so that word study can be
conducted properly. However, I think it is important to try my best to make the levels of each
group unknown to the others. To do this, I will give the groups names that follow the class theme
that do not show any sort of superiority over another. Also, another way to prevent this is to use
as much variation in grouping in other subject areas when possible.