Self- Reflection

I worked with Student A over three and a half months watching progress in his ELA

pull-out classroom and our individual lessons. Student A is a hard working student whom I have

enjoyed being allowed to get to know and help progress into becoming a better reader.

My strengths during this time was making the content geared towards his interest. I made

the lessons I did with student A related to reptiles, especially snakes that would keep his interest

or at least have some relevant value to him. I also did a good job with using my students'

assessments to create learning goals for him that are appropriate and meet his needs. However,

even after all the assessments, especially the QRI assessments which put him at a primer level of

instructional for reading he was actually above this reading level. After my first lesson with

student A I realized a kindergarten leveled text was not challenging enough and my second

lesson using a first grade level text was also not challenging enough. From this new assessment I

noticed early on in working with student A that I needed to move his leveled text to a second and

third grade reading level. This proved to be much more of an appropriate challenge for student A

to practice his fluency and comprehension.

Also, something else I did well during my lessons with student A was working on him

decoding CVC and CCVC words in the different leveled text I had him read. Through working

on this skill the student while reading different leveled text strengthened his phonic skills. This

skill will be a foundational benefit to student A as he progresses in his reading ability to sound

out unfamiliar words. Next, student A’s fluency made a lot of progress with the use of tree

sentences. Student A’s fluency started to be at a much more smoother and good pace that helped

increase his comprehension. Part of this improvement I believe is due to the emphasized practice
of sight words student A did in his word building practice. These are some things I did very well

working with student A during my reading case study.

However, during this process there were a few weaknesses that occurred duire my

reading case study that I hope to improve for future students under my care. First, a challenge I

encountered working with student A who is a fifth grader who reads on a second to third grade

level. Because of this substantial difference in where student A should be reading makes it hard

to find material that interests the student. Through this process I could tell student A was

embarrassed and frustrated with himself reading on such a low level knowing he should be

higher. This was a hard issue for me to navigate while working with him on not just how to make

him feel encouraged, but feel the hard work he is doing is respectable and valuable for his

success. In the future I hope to find more content that is at a reading level appropriate for

students in higher grade levels, but still has content that is relevant to their interest.

Furthermore, when working with student A on his comprehension skills the student did a

great job at retelling key characters, main ideas and events that happened, but was not able to

relate what they’ve read to what they know. It is important for students to have background or

prior knowledge about the world when they read. They also need to be able to “read between the

lines” and pull out meaning even when it’s not literally spelled out. In the future I plan to also

incorporate this in my lessons I do with students, especially of older ages. Reading is not only

used to inform us about new information, but also to teach us life lessons which are important for

students to still learn today.

Lastly, another big thing I could have done for my lessons if I had more time to work

with student A is making our lessons more interactive and applying it to something meaningful.

By doing this it would have increased students' view of understanding how important and
valuable reading can be. By making lessons more interactive and meaningful activities that made

reading something he looked forward to instead of a chore. By doing these things better it would

have made reading a much more positive experience for student A and potentially change his

mindset towards reading to be more enjoyable.

I have learned a lot through this case study experience about reading interventions for

struggling readers. First, I need to make sure my lessons are keeping in mind the end goal.

Learning to read is very complex and as I work with students on various components of reading I

also need to make sure to foster a love of books, words, and stories. Also, I have learned that a

lot of my reading lessons with student A were not just to aid him in being a better reader, but also

a better speaker. Through working with students on reading skills I can also build their

knowledge of vocabulary, sentence structure, syntax, and purposes for communication. All of

these skills will be beneficial one day for students in having a successful career. Lastly, teaching

a student to read, especially a struggling student, is a team effort. Through my case study I had to

interact with student A’s teacher to review strategies and come up with a plan of action to best

meet his needs. In the future working with my other students Parents, teachers, caregivers, and

members of the community will emphasize to them the importance of reading and share in the

responsibility.

My reading case study went very well and student A was a wonderful participant. This

experience taught me a lot about things that I do well and could use improvement apone. I look

forward to growing my knowledge for the future on how to best help struggling readers and tring

new interventions to meet their needs.