Update #5

This project has helped me really become a more confident and competent Reading teacher.  It has allowed me to understand the assessments to give to students and what to do once the results are in.

Instruction needs to cater toward the needs of your students along with the interventions.  Understanding the assessments allow teachers to understand what the next step is in instruction.  Students were assessed on comprehension strategies, fluency, writing, and recall abilities to diagnosis general areas of struggles.  The target audience for this project were the fourth grade teachers I work with and myself.  Due to this project, teachers are able to deliver more precise interventions and gain further insights in their students' struggles. For example, my homeroom are fairly strong readers. Most of these students are on or close to being on grade level, but they struggle with comprehension.  These students need repeated practice in using these strategies along with the teacher continue to reinforce these strategies through daily instruction.

The CLP has given me more direction as a teacher.

Update #4

With SOLs being less than 30 days away, classroom time is precious and I was unable to have Mrs. T to administer the Fluency section of this module.  Therefore, I administered the DIBELS Fluency and Recall test to 8 students during after school tutoring.  All of these students happened to be in my homeroom and it was a unique experience for me to be involved in using DIBELS.  First of all I have never used DIBELS so I had to learn the structure of it and the purpose.  (Remember I have been a math teacher for 4 years!).  I found that almost all the students read without expression.  I feel that since kids do not know how to read the text correctly, comprehension becomes more difficult.  I have the opportunity to become the Reading teacher for fourth grade next year and I will be using this Fluency and Retell exam to help me figure out what needs to be taught to the next group of students.  Mrs. T agreed with me that teaching how to read using expression would help increase comprehension and she has tried to this.  Unfortunately, being in year 2 of improvement, she was told to follow the IStation program and unable to really deviate from it.  Now she is teaching test taking skills with State Assessments so close.

Comprehension is improving in fourth grade, but it still low over all.  In the skills section of IStation, 59% of students are in Tier 3 (the worst tier).  It is the weakest skill by far with only 29% of students in Tier 1 and 12% in tier 2.  Many students are moving up in the Tiers for overall skill.  The program claims that students in Tier 2 could pass the SOL exam.  (We will see....)  In one class, 4 kids moved up a tier, 3 of those moved to Tier one!  Yay for progress!  In the same class, one student moved down.  This child is Hispanic and I wonder if he movement was a cause of a language barrier.  Even though he is fluent in English, Spanish is the primary language at home and vocabulary words are becoming more complex.  He might be having trouble translating and comprehending the passages.

Text fluency is also at 53% in Tier 1.

Update #3

Since the last update, Ms. S and I worked on giving a writing snapshot to a class.  This snapshot really helped us see what the students really need work on.  Basically, our students need more time to write.  Creating ideas was difficult for them.  She allotted 30 minutes for this activity, but it took about 30 minutes for most students to come up with a memory to write about.  As Ms. S modeled a snapshot the students were engaged and excited about pursuing this activity.  This activity could be stretched into at least a week because for these students, they need constant modeling to boost their self-confidence.  After a couple of days of modeling, students could buddy write while the teacher monitors and assists.  Finally, students will be able to complete the assignment on their own.  Finding time to write is a definite issue in my school.  Writing is not tested until 5th grade so many teachers do not see it as their job to teach writing because it is not tested.  


Currently I am working with Mrs. T to administer DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency for fluency and with Ms. S on a Cloze activity to measure vocabulary knowledge in Virginia Studies.  These test should take about two weeks.  Test will be given during tutoring times after school since giving up class time (right before Virginia's state tests) is not an option. 


I am also working on what should happen next in instruction.  I hope to update this by April 3.  As I make more progress on this project, I am beginning to feel more confident in diagnosing Reading issues in the classroom and where to go from there.  I feel this project is really going to help me make a major impact in my classroom when I take over Reading next year for fourth grade.

Progress Upated #2

 Students are supposed to be using their processing and comprehension strategies whenever they read, but of course that is not the case.  After reviewing the classroom-modified reading strategy use table taken Friday, I found that they are "sometimes" doing the things that we ask of them.  Stopping while they read either to ask questions, clarify unfamiliar words, or make sense of something is low on the priority list.  Students claim that when they are stuck, they go back and reread any parts that were confusing.  The question is do they know what to do after they reread the confusing part of the story?  Are they able to figure it out and if not, what do they do next?  Students need to learn to stop during the story to think.  This group is so focused for reading for a particular question (like the state tests) that they do not stop to think about the story.  They need to work on asking questions in the middle of the story, checking predictions made in the beginning and continue to make predictions while reading. 

Students have been given a CAPS bookmark to remind them to use their strategies during independent reading time. C stands for clarify and connections.  A stands for ask questions.  P stands for predictions and S stands for summarize.  These skills aren't in order like before, during, and after the read, but are listed for the during time of reading a selection.

Students read grade level texts and passages along with their own lexile level found during designated library times.  Mrs. T assesses students comprehension using Accerlerated Reading program (AR).  She will spend one week on a book focusing on different skills.  By Friday, students take the AR quiz.  Students also take an AR quiz for independent level books.

I feel compelled to teach these students Questioning skills while they read.  It is difficult for students to be reading and thinking at once.  I would want to focus on stopping while we read during points in the story to think, ask questions, make predictions, and visualize what is happening in the story.

CMRSU and Metacomprehension Stategy

I gave my students two different assessments on Friday to gauge their use of comprehension strategies found in Strategies for Reading Assessment and Instruction on page 282 and page 284. The Classroom-Modified Reading Strategy Use Table Assessment showed me that most of my students are using some type of comprehension strategies when reading.  The mean score was a 2.  The lowest score was a 1.8 and the highest at 2.4.  According to the assessment, most students were not stopping while they read to ask questions to assess their own comprehension.  Retelling in their own words, associating new words with pictures, and drawing a map or outline for clarification in the story also is a problem.  So Mrs. T can use this data to help figure out which strategies she should stress more.

Score Updates

Reading Benchmark scores are in.  Students scores have gotten much better since the first benchmark test.  In fact, only 4% passed the first test compared to the 53.5% passed on the second test.  A significant improvement.  Test shows students are struggling in several areas.  In the nonfiction passages, students need help formulating questions that might be answered, drawing conclusions, summarize, and cause and effect.  In the fiction passages, author's purpose, sensory words, and context clues need to be improved.

Far as IStation reports are concerned, students movement from Tier 3 to Tier 2 has increased between January and February. 
  Class    Tier 1                         Tier 2               Tier 3
B           29% (no change)       21% to 36%       50% to 36%
T            20% to 27%            20% to 27%       60% to 47%
S             13% to 25%           44% to 38%        44% to 38%

So at least students are making some improvements using this program.  This program was started in late November.  I did not include Dec scores because students scores were set back in January due to the two week break. 

In the beginning...

After some work, I finally figured out this website!  I'm so proud of myself! :)

As of right now, the conversations with my collaborator consists of asking her if she would be willing to work with me on this project.  (She said yes!)  I plan on speaking with her through email tomorrow since I won't actually be in school due to a workshop I have to attend.  Mrs. T is a fellow 4th grade teacher.  I'm aware of the students' current situation and the problems she face.  I teach math so I have the same students in my class.  I decided to focus on all three classes, not just one.  In total, there are 50 students in fourth grade.  The lowest class has the IEP students in it, but most of the students are low.  At the present moment, we have 38 children identified as "at-risk".  Only 69% of these students passed the SOLs last year (Virginia's Standards of Learning State Test).  This group of students is teh reason why we are still in AYP improvement status. 

The students currently are on I-Station for 120 minutes a week.  This reading computer program works on comprehension skills then lets the teacher know what type of lessons are needed.  The program also has scripted lessons.  As of the current moment our administration is making her use this script.  (Really goes against everything we are taught, but that's what you get when you are in year 2 improvement).  The Title 1 teacher works with Mrs. T.  Two groups are on the computers and two groups are with the teachers.  Students meet with both teachers twice a week.  On Friday, a cold read (a reading passage that students would see on the State Tests) is given as a test grade.  Since using I-Station, students cold read scores have improved. 

As far as writing is concerned, Mrs. S, the V.A. Studies teacher will be taking over this section.  I will probably be able to make more of an impact with her. Mrs. S is in her first year of teaching fourth grade and a second year teacher. Once the writing assessment lesson is taught, I look forward to using that with the students to help Mrs. S center her instruction.  I will be able to use the "mentor" role more for her than the other teacher.  In fact, Mrs. T has two masters, one as a Reading Specialist.  She is likely to replace that position next year.  So I will be learning more from her than she will from me!