Kaitlin Rossi

C&T 898

Learning Outcome 1B: Delivery

In C&T 841: Early Intervention in Reading Practicum, I administered and

analyzed literacy assessments to a beginning reader. I selected a struggling second grade
reader at my school to meet with for 14 weeks and work on specific reading skills that
needed improvement. I delivered instruction to my tutee by planning and implementing
practices in areas she needed direct instruction in. Over the course of our weeks together I
designed engaging lessons and tracked student growth to see if she was making
improvements. I was able to support my beginning reader in making progress in sight
word acquisition, isolating beginning and ending sounds, and identifying short vowel
sounds in CVC words.

This artifact, a Tutoring Report created for C&T 841, demonstrates evidence
towards Learning Outcome 1B: Delivery “plan and implement appropriate and varied
instructional practices, strategies, and methods to differentiate instruction, engage
students/learners, and improve learning”. There are three ways this artifact fits with this
learning outcome. First, the artifact shows how I can plan for instruction. I began the
tutoring sessions by administering assessments on literacy materials and then designed
and began implementing appropriate and varied instructional practices and strategies
based off of the results of the initial assessments. For example, I explained that the
student didn’t know how to isolate first and ending sounds in CVC words. Therefore, this
would be a skill we would work on throughout our tutoring sessions. In the tutoring
report I also included an overall summary of my tutoring sessions. My tutee had trouble
identifying the difference between short vowel sounds and long vowel sounds. Therefore,
I began the tutoring sessions by identifying what the short and long vowel sounds were.
Then once my tutee had a better understanding of this concept we moved to identifying
the vowel sound in CVC words.

The second way this artifact connects to Learning Outcome 1B is because it

explains the engaging literacy activities I implemented with my tutee. In the course I read
an article by Gambrell (2011) that discusses different rules to engage and motivate
students to read. Gambrell (2011) explained, “students are motivated to read when they
have ample opportunities to engage in sustained reading and when classroom incentives
reflect the value and importance of reading” (p.174-176). To keep my tutee engaged I
would have her work towards 5 minutes of free time at the end of each of our tutoring
sessions. This free time she usually wanted to spend talking to me about random things in
her life. Knowing that she was going to get to chat with me at the end of our tutoring
sessions kept her more engaged. One activity we worked on together was rainbow
writing. Rainbow writing is when you write a sight word but each grapheme in the word
is a different color. This helps identify all parts of the sight word. In the beginning this
was a practice we did together and by the end of the tutoring sessions it was something
she was able to do independently. The lesson plans demonstrate the varied activities and
opportunities my tutee was provided with each week. When designing my lesson plans I
organized my instruction in a way that benefitted both the student and me. For example,
the lesson plans progress through an I Do, We Do, and You Do gradual release model
throughout our weeks together. Once we reached the We Do portion my tutee and I
completed many of the instructional activities together. By the end of the tutoring
sessions my tutee was able to perform many of the instructional practices independently.
This can be seen in my lesson plans when discussing short vowel sounds. In the first few
weeks together I explained and demonstrated to my tutee what the short vowel sounds
were. Each week we would focus on a different short vowel sound. Then once this was
understood we watched instructional videos on each short vowel sound. At the end of our
time together my tutee was able to identify short vowel sounds in CVC words. I had to
establish instructional practices, strategies, and methods in order for the various days of
tutoring to build off of each other and connect.

The third way this artifact displays evidence towards Learning Outcome 1B is the
summary and recommendations of how I improved learning for my tutee. The tutoring
report was created to share with the student’s teacher and parents after the tutoring
sessions concluded. I consistently monitored student progress throughout the tutoring
sessions to see if the learning was improved. By the end of the 14 weeks my tutee showed
improvement in all three areas we focused on. Through explicit instruction, repeated
practices, teacher demonstration and engaging activities my tutee showed improvement
during our time together.

The Tutoring Report taught me the benefits of implementing specific strategies to

help a student improve in their learning. Throughout the tutoring sessions I learned what
strategies and instructional practices were beneficial to my student. I also became
informed in many new instructional practices. For example, I found that the strategy of
the heart word routine could be used to teach high frequency words to students. Heart
word routine is when you teach your student to memorize a specific part of a word that
they need to know by heart in order to know the word. Heart words help students read
and write words they encounter that have irregular spellings.

Since taking this course and working with my student, I have implemented the
strategies of heart word routine and Elkonin boxes in my classroom. Elkonin boxes can
be used to teach the sounds in words. I use these instructional strategies when delivering
phonemic awareness and phonics instruction with my Kindergarten students. I have
found that my students are able to remember sight words and letter sounds more with the
use of these strategies. The tutoring report also taught me the importance of organizing
instruction in a way where it can build off of each other. This is something I make sure to
employ in my classroom as well. I do not want to introduce a new piece of information to
my student without providing them with the necessary background information to
understand. My tutee was also an English Language Learner (ELL) and she was able to
explain to me in many instances that she understood what I was saying but previously
only knew how to do what I was asking in her home language. Terry Meier (2003)
explained, “despite their diverse backgrounds, all children bring to school rich linguistic
abilities acquired through social interaction in their homes and communities” (pg. 242).
This information has helped me when working with my ELL students in the classroom.
They may already be familiar with a literacy concept but not in the English language. The
tutoring report also taught me how to organize my instruction in a way that benefitted
both my student and me. The tutoring report demonstrated evidence towards Learning
Outcome 1B because it was a way for me to deliver instructional practices and strategies
to a student that needed to show improvement in specific learning areas.
 References

Gambrell, L.B. (2011). Seven rules of engagement. What’s most important to know

about motivation to read. The Reading Teacher, 65(3), 172– 178.

Meier, T. (2003). Why can’t she remember that? The importance of storybook

reading in multilingual, multicultural classrooms. The Reading Teacher, 57(3),

242-252.