Reading Profile: Miscue Analysis Summary Syntax and Semantics Question 1: Syntax Number

Question 2: Semantics

Percent

Number

Percent

Yes, acceptable

89

90%

73

74%

No, not acceptable

10

10%

26

26%

Total

99

100%

100%

99

Meaning Change Question 3: Meaning change Number

Percent

No meaning change (YYN)

55

75.4%

Partial meaning change (YYP)

9

12.3%

Yes, major meaning change (YYY)

9

12.3%

Total (do not include YN– or NN– )

73

100%

Graphic Similarity Graphic Similarity (for substitutions only) Number

Percent

High

85

83%

Some

11

11%

None

6

6%

Total

102

100%

Retelling Characters (40% possible) Plot (50% possible) Overall theme (10%) Total

20% (2/4) 25% (15/30) 0% (Did not mention theme) 45%

Child’s pseudonym: Alexis Child’s age and grade: 3rd Grade

Reading Profile Report View of self as reader (reported identity in interview and observations) Observations/examples -In the Burke Interview, Alexis responds, “Yes” that she is a good reader. She mentions that she is especially a good reader in chapter books. She thinks this because her teachers in 1st and 2nd grade told her that she is a good chapter book reader.

Interpretations -When Alexis mentioned to me that she thinks she is a great reader in chapter books, was excited to read chapter books, specifically because her teacher emphasized to her that she was a great reader I was excited and realized how much of an effect teachers have on their students. The term “self-fulfilling prophecy” came to mind and how even the smallest compliments can change a student’s frame of mind in the largest way. **”…Let children know when they’ve used a strategy correctly, encourage them to share their thinking with the teacher and their peers, challenge them to think out loud about how using the strategy help them as a reader…” “Let them know when they say or do something smart; give them credit and ask them to share.” (Debbie Miller, Reading with Meaning pgs. 11/26)

-Also in the interview, Alexis says that she “reads fast and can’t slow down, but it’s a good thing.” -Sometimes while reading, she would fly past an entire sentence or paragraph and I would have to refer her back to where we were.

-Alexis is right in establishing that she reads as a quick pace. This leads me to believe that she is depending highly on her graphophonics (relationships

between oral and written language – Goodman, Primary Voices) and syntax (the relationship among linguistic units such as prefixes, suffixes, words, phrases, and clauses (grammar) – Goodman, Primary Voices) cue systems. While reading quickly, she is

often able to correctly say, “sound out” the words, or keep the language in tact, but this does not convince me that she is necessarily reading for meaning. While being able to read the text on the page is a great quality in reading abilities, it does not promote reading for comprehension or critical thinking/questioning strategies that are important for students to use and be aware of. -I also interpreted this fast pace of her reading as a clue to her past reading assessments. Many reading assessments highly consider speed into the

quality of the reader **Dibels for example -Alexis also stated during the interview that she is a good reader because she “uses clues from the pictures” while reading (I observed her doing this often while reading with her – while reading, when she comes to a word she is unsure of, she often looked at the illustration to see if it would help her know the word)

-From this statement that Alexis made and my observations of her while reading, it shows that Alexis is using her pragmatic (the knowledge

-On a separate day from the interview, I again asked Alexis if she thought she was a good reader and she responded saying, “Yes, because I go back and reread, I try to burst it out – I mean chunk it out.” (She also brought up reading fast and chapter books again on this day) *Many times during her miscue, when she got to a word she did not immediately know, she would start trying to sound it out. For example, she came to the word “Throbbing.” To figure out this word, she first said, “Thro-“, then “Th-”, then “Thra”, then finally, “Throbbing.”

-From Alexis’ explanation of her “chunking” out the words and her miscue analysis, it clearly demonstrates her usage of her graphophonics cue system. This is her “chunking” or sounding out the word, using her graphophonics cue system. She is using her “knowledge of phonics – the system that connects the patterns of letters with the patterns of sounds.” (Freeman & Freeman, pg. 25).

-Each time we have read a book, Alexis has always asked me to read every other page. When we get to a page that have quite a bit of text she always tells me that I can read the longer pages.

-I interpret this as anxiety about reading text too quickly. When she sees a lot of words on the page she becomes intimidated and takes a step back. I interpret that she see the many words and isn’t sure if she is going to make it through without getting lost.

readers have about the ways in which language is understood by others in their culture – Goodman, Primary Voices) and semantic (the organization for the meaning system of language-Goodman, Primary Voices) cue systems. As she is looking at the

illustrations, she is referring to her world knowledge to see if the picture can help her with a word she might not know. This action illustrates her use of semantics because when she is using the picture to help her understand a word, she is giving meaning to the word, rather than just sounding it out to go on to the next word.

Recommendations My recommendations are based highly towards encouraging reading for meaning/comprehension I would highly recommend to Alexis to slow down!! Slow down and read for meaning! She

seems to be rushing herself while reading, missing entire sentences – missing out on a lot of meaning! I recommend encouragement of reading strategies that will allow her to connect to the text and be more confident in herself as a reader. She becomes intimidated by pages with many texts and gives off a feeling of anxiety or nervousness. By slowing down and reading for meaning, she will have more confidence when she approaches a page with lots of text! Examples of how to encourage Alexis to do this are: -Think aloud – while reading texts, stop to make connections between self and text, ask questions about the text, make predictions about what is going to happen, explain how thoughts have changed from the beginning, basically saying anything out loud that is thought about the book while reading. **”They might share connections, predict outcomes and explain their reasons for the prediction, create a definition for a strategy, or even develop a plan for resolving an issue on the playground – anything that gives them practice thinking out loud about their thinking” – Debbie Miller, Reading with Meaning, pg. 56 A teacher can demonstrate this with students and helping them understand different strategies to use while reading and thinking aloud. **Debbie Miller (Reading with Meaning, pg. 55) promotes this demonstration by teachers – “Remember, you’re the model. What you say and how you say it becomes what they say and how they say it!” -Another recommendation for Alexis is to practice using mental images or visualization. These strategies will help slow down her pace down, allowing her to get into the text, make connections visually, and take ownership to the story. Alexis loves to draw, and by allowing her to do activities such as this – drawing the characters, the setting, a scene in the story – will potentially draw her attention to the deeper content of the story. **”When readers create mental images, they engage with text in ways that make it personal and memorable to them alone. Anchored in prior knowledge, images come from the emotions and all five senses, enhancing understanding and immersing the reader in rich detail” (Keene and Zimmerman 1997) (Debbie Miller, Reading with Meaning, pg. 77). -A recommendation that I have to take the conversation deeper and encourage more meaningful understanding of the text is to use strategies of questioning and inferring. While reading a book with her, the teacher could ask her to write down or ask any questions she has about the text. In order to ask a question about a text, the reader has to have understanding about the characters, the plot, the setting, etc. This will potentially allow Alexis to slow down the pace and think about what she just read, be able to consider anything that didn’t make sense to her or that didn’t seem “right”. **”The strategies of questioning and inferring are particularly helpful in teaching children how to take the conversation deeper. Asking children to choose a burning question from a chart we’ve created together, or posing an open-ending question myself and working with them to infer meaning is perfect way to get started” (Debbie Miller, Reading with Meaning, pg. 95)

Knowledge about genres and functions of reading (reported in interview and observed) Observations/examples -Mysteries – Alexis mentioned to me that she loves mystery books, thinks they are exciting, and they make her want to keep reading -Chapter books – Alexis explained to me in conversation and the interview that she loves reading chapter books because she thinks she is a great reader in chapter books

Interpretations -Alexis seems to have a distinct genre area that interests her. She is drawn towards this genre of fictional mysteries, adventures, and chapter series books when choosing a book to read for pleasure and maintaining relationships. I interpret that she sticks to what she is comfortable and shies away from anything outside of that comfort zone. I interpret that she has not been exposed to many types of genres that interest her.

-Book series – Alexis told me that she loves the Box Car Children series and asked me to bring some of those books to read -Adventure – I brought Winnie-thePooh for her to read and do some activities with, and she was excited and knew of Winnie-the-Pooh and characteristics about him and his friends before we read -Comedy – The first day I brought a comedic picture book about a Fox and a Pig “My Lucky Day” and she loved it, laughed a lot while reading, and had read it before -Reading to maintain relationships – Alexis told me in the Burke Interview that her father used to read to her every night before bed and it was a happy memory for her -Reading for educational purposesAlexis said during the interview that she reads a lot for school and explained a book chart that she used with her teachers when she was learning to read Reading for pleasure – Alexis loves

-Alexis seems to stick mainly to reading for pleasure and education, while sometimes maintaining relationships with family members. She never mentions talking about books with friends or discussing the message or content of a book afterwards. She seems to read the book and once it is done, it is done. The thinking about the book is over as the last page is turned. I interpret that she needs some practice and experience with conserving about literacture!

reading mysteries, such as the book series the Box Car Children. She might have been introduced to this book series in the classroom, but she keeps up on the stories on her own, showing that she reads them for pleasure and enjoyment -When I brought in an information book, I observed that she was not quite sure of what to do with it. She looked right past any of the subtext in boxes and solely at the pictures.

-From her reaction with the informational book, I interpret that as an indication that she has not been exposed to many informational books or that she has little interest in them. Many students have the misconception that informational books are boring and are connected directly to homework. This is incorrect! The informational book I brought in was asking the question, “who will win, a polar bear or grizzly bear?” Her first reaction leads me to believe she does not enjoy this time of genre and wanted to get through it was quickly as possible. After going through the characteristics of the different types of bears, her reaction was quite different. She became more interested in the book. This change of attitude leads me to believe if she were exposed to a variety of informational books – with subjects that interest her - she would enjoy them more.

-When I brought her the book, “Junkyard Wonders” (a realistic fiction novel) she seemed to become bored very quickly, asking if we could play a game or be done with the book.

-From what Alexis has said and my observations of her knowledge of genres and functions of reading, it is apparent that Alexis sticks to one particular genre of books while reading for pleasure. Her becoming bored quickly while reading a realistic fiction novel leads me to believe that she has not been exposed to these types of books outside of the classroom. While reading, she was “zooming” through the text and when I asked her to write any questions she had about the book so far, she had a very difficult time coming up with one without myself aiding her, probing her thinking, or looking back through the pictures to remind her of some of the characters. When reading realistic fiction, my hope is that students can expect to take something from the book, that it was written for a reason, but from what I got from my observations from Alexis, she was just reading the book to finish it as quickly as possible.

-Poetry – I brought in the poetry book “Mirror, Mirror” and she loved it, very interested in the way the text was playful, going backwards. We did not have a long time to look through the poems so she asked me to bring it back the next week.

-As of now, I am interpreting that Alexis’ range of knowledge of genre is not as broad as it could be. She pushes for mystery books – asking me to make sure to bring a mystery book the following week if I did not bring one that particular week. I attempted to bring other genres, but she seemed to have little interest in them, at first. She seems skeptical about the poetry book I brought for her, but after reading a few poems, she got more excited. I am interpreting that she has not been encouraged or directed towards poetry as a form of reading for pleasure.

Recommendations -My recommendations are focused on broadening Alexis’ variety and knowledge of genres. Alexis seems to stick to one genre that she is drawn to. It is very important for readers to have knowledge of many different genres and be able to make connections from these different types of books. Each genre available has a different point and message being sent. Readers should be exposed to all these types of genres and be encouraged to learn from them. Fantasy, realistic fiction, mystery, historical fiction, traditional literature, science fiction, biographies, autobiographies, informational, and poetry ALL have a place in the in a classroom. All students should be knowledgeable about all these genres and be encouraged to take advantage of them. I would recommend finding books from multiple types of genres that would interest Alexis. While reading the, she should be encouraged to find and notice connections between the texts and herself and the texts. Thinking aloud would be a great strategy, as well as promoting and demonstrating text-to-text connections. Debbie Miller illustrates this strategy when quoting, “Making text-to-text connections, or connections from one book to another, can help you understand the new story and make predictions about what may happen based on what you know from the other story. Let’s keep reading and see what happens next.” (Reading with Meaning, pg. 64) -Another recommendation that I have for Alexis is to be encouraged to talk about books! When readers read books and then talk about them, they gain different perspectives and more deeply understand the content, meaning, and message from a book. Alexis should be encouraged to read books with friends and then discuss them! A possible strategy for promoting this could be “Pair-and-share” in the classroom after reading a book. Syntax cue system Observations/examples 90% acceptable and 10% not acceptable Exs. of high and low quality miscues **For cue systems, please read observations/examples separately from interpretations—

Interpretations Syntactic Cues – “Good readers rely on more than letters and sounds… They also use their knowledge of how words go together.” (Freeman & Freeman, pg. 26). Due to Alexis’ high percentage of using her

interpretations are based as a whole versus interpretations of each example

syntactical cue system, I am interpreting that she has an understanding of how language flows and how words go together, and also that she has the ability to use more than just letters and sounds while reading.

Original Sentence:

In the examples I gave of her high-quality miscues, she came upon a word she did not know and substituted it with either a word she knew of that could also fit the context of language or a word that she made up, but could be a word used in the same context. Her doing this leads me to believe that she has a good understanding of grammar and she has an understanding of how words go together. She replaced a word she didn’t know that ended with “ing” with a more familiar word that ended in “ing” – keeping the flow of the language in tact – using a substituting word for the present participle (using her knowledge of syntax)

He heard a ship gliding to the dock. Read Sentence:

He heard a dark ship guiding to the dock. **This is a high-quality syntactic miscue Original Sentence:

A cold and clammy fog crept over the docks. Read Sentence:

A cold clam forgot to creep over the docks. **This is a high-quality syntactic miscue

Original Sentence:

The stars were shining brightly. Read Sentence:

The stars were suddenly bright. **This is a high-quality syntactical miscue

Original Sentence:

Suddenly, a car screeched to a stop in front of the dark ship. Read Sentence:

Suddenly, a car streets to a stop the front of the dark ship. **This is a low-quality syntactic miscue. Original Sentence:

On his nights off Ralph headed to the opera house to hear the starts sing… Read Sentence:

On his nights of Ralph had for the Oprah house to hear the stars sing…

In her low-quality miscues, she is using English words as substitutions, but the words that she is using disrupts the flow of language and are no longer syntactically acceptable. These low quality miscues lead me to interpret that she still has farther to go in her understanding of language and grammar.

**This is a low-quality syntactic miscue.

Original Sentence:

“Big Al Kidnapped me,” said Eduardo.. Read Sentence:

“Big Al Kidnapped me,” so Editor. **This is a low-quality syntactic miscue

Semantic/Pragmatic cue system Observations/examples 74% acceptable and 26% not acceptable Exs. of high and low quality miscues

Interpretations “Semantic acceptability means that the miscue results in a sentence that makes sense in the whole story or article.” (Goodman, Primary Voices).

Original Sentence:

Alexis’ examples high-quality miscues lead me to interpret that she does have an understanding of making sense of the text on the page. In these examples, she is able to hold the meaning of the sentence and how it connects to the rest of the text, without using the exact words on the page.

Ralph whirled around. Read Sentence:

Ralph rolled around.

**This is a high-quality miscue Original Sentence:

“Who’s there?” Ralph cried out. Read Sentence:

“Who was that?” Repundle cried out. **This is a high-quality semantic miscue Original Sentence:

“We can signal for help!”

Alexis’ reading speed is set at a quick pace. I interpret that her speed has a high correlation with her nonsense word miscues. These nonsense word miscues might have high graphic similarity, having similar letters to the original word, but the fact that the word is nonsense takes all meaning away from the sentence.

Read Sentence:

“We can sign for help!”

**This is a high-quality semantic miscue Original Sentence:

“Look! Flares!” shouted Ralph. Read Sentence:

“Look! Flars!” shouted Repel.

**This is a low-quality miscue. Original Sentence:

A police-boat siren wailed in the

Alexis’ percentage of semantic acceptable sentences is still pretty high, but not nearly as high as her syntactical miscue percentage. This lower percentage causes me to interpret that she needs work and practice with reading for meaning and comprehension of the sentence When deciding on if a sentence is semantically acceptable, we ask ourselves, “Does it make sense?” The article Coding Miscues quotes, “When we decide if a sentence contained miscues is semantically

distance.

Read Sentence:

A police-boat sen walled in the distance. **This is a low-quality miscue

acceptable, we’re looking to see if the student is reading in such a way that the text makes sense.” If a nonsense word is used, the sentence loses all meaning and is not acceptable. Alexis is using nonsense words and more familiar words as substitutions and not realizing that they completely change the meaning of the sentence.

Original Sentence:

“Who are you?” Eduardo asked suspiciously. Read Sentence:

“Who are you?” Ednard asked supposedly.

**This is a low-quality miscue. Graphophonic cue system Observations/examples 83% high, 11% some, 6% none Exs. of high and low quality miscues (Note: NOT HIGH GRAPHIC SIMILARITY, but HIGH QUALITY)

Original Word: ransom Read Word: rainsom **This is a low-quality miscue because it is a nonsense word Original Word: gliding Read Word: guiding **This is a high-quality miscue because the meaning is kept intact Original Word: whirled Read Word: rolled **This is a high-quality miscue because the meaning is kept intact Original Word: sack Read Word: snack **This is a low-quality miscue because the word changes the meaning of the sentence an the story as a whole Original Word: black

Interpretations Alexis has a high percentage of high graphic similarity words and very few some and none. I interpret this as her using her graphophonics cue systems very effectively and efficiently. **High graphic similarity is coded “if one word is entirely contained in another, or there’s more than 50 percent overlap, that would also be coded as “high”. (Coding Miscues, pg. 75). **Some graphic similarity refers to when “one of the three parts (beginning, middle, and end) looks the same in the two words, or if the general configuration is the same, particularly for short words” (Coding Miscues, pg. 76). **No graphic similarity is “when the text and miscue share no letters in common and aren’t highly similar in their configuration (such as number of letters)” (Coding Miscues, pg. 76). I had a hard time finding graphic similarity examples that were high quality miscues and found myself repeating the high-quality miscues from earlier in this profile. This made me begin to interpret that Alexis is many times focusing on the letters on the page when coming to a word that she does not know. Many of the words that she substituted had high graphic similarities, but were either nonsense words or words that did not make

Read Word: blank **This is a low-quality miscue because it changes the meaning of the sentence Original Word: wailed Read Word: walled **This a low-quality miscue because the word changes the meaning of the sentence Original Word: rescue Read Word: recieve **This a low-quality miscue because it changes the meaning of the sentence

sense in the sentence. I interpret this to mean that Alexis needs practice with reading for meaning of the words. It seems she tries to sound out the word and just guess, rather than using context clues or the pictures to help her figure out the word. She never re-reads the sentence during the miscue analysis and she rarely makes corrections during her reading. I am interpreting that her speedy pace during reading is beginning to create problems as she is constructing meaning from a text. **”…when a reader is going along fairly rapidly and makes a miscue perhaps even on a word she does know, we may see a miscue that’s very meaningbased or one that’s more closely tied to the letters on the page..” “What’s interesting, and important, is how effectively readers use this cueing system—the print on the page and its connection to sound – to construct meaning” (Coding Miscues, pg. 74). I am interpreting from Alexis’ miscue analysis that she is having trouble connecting the text on the page to construction of meaning.

Recommendations based on analysis of cue systems High-quality miscues vs. Low-quality miscues – “high-quality miscues preserve a reader’s meaning construction, and low quality miscues result in disruption of meaning.” (Flurkey, Taking Another Look). After coding, observing, and interpreting, I have realized that Alexis has her strengths in reading but she also has some weaknesses that she needs practice with! She seems to have a sense of how language flows and effectively uses her syntax cue system. She creates examples in her reading of constructing mean in sentences through substitution of words that keep the meaning intact (using her semantic cue system). She has a high percentage of high graphic similarity substitutions; therefore she is taking advantage of her graphophonics cue system. Although she is using all of these cue systems, I am worried that she is not constructing mean as well as she could be! In order to help her practice constructing meaning I would recommend: -Try covering up the word and re-reading the sentence to figure out what belongs there -Using context clues to help figure out what the word could be in connection with meaning of the sentence **A close procedure would be a great way to practice this! -Think aloud strategies would be a great way for her to make connections to the story -Questioning strategies, such as thinking of “burning” questions and going back through the

book to answer that question -Predicting what might happen next or how the story will end -Using illustrations to help find meaning to the word -Using illustrations to also help predict the story or word, then using the word to confirm or disconfirm prediction All of these recommendations can be used in the classroom to help Alexis practice constructing meaning from text and begin to move away from focusing mainly on the letters in the words. Retelling (Unaided followed by aided) Observations/examples Provide a holistic score of 1-10

Interpretations

-Alexis was somewhat “foggy” or unsure of the character names when retelling the story. She practically avoided using names. She thought the diner was called “Rapal” – the name she used for the main character while reading the story. She instead used “he” to describe people in the story.

-She did not use names during the un-aided retelling and this is probably due to the fact that she was pronouncing the names incorrectly throughout the entire story and she has probably never heard the word, “Repel” before, so she was most likely not constructing meaning to the word understanding “this is the name of the main character” – I interpret this as she was reading the letters on the page but not necessarily digging deeper or thinking critically about the names/characters -Alexis seems to remember only surface details and is not attempting to constructing meaning from the text/sentences/story/theme. She remembers phrases that catch her attention such as, “fish and fries” – this might be due to her pragmatic cue system—meaning that it has relevance to her life (maybe she has eaten fish and fries before)

-She seemed to remember specify sentences that she read from the story such as the sentence about “fish and fries” or when Ralph and Eduardo climb up the mast. She doesn’t go into great detail about these certain aspects that she remembers. It seems like those sentences just stuck out to her for some reason. -She remembered that characters were discussing something but could not recall what they said. -During the unaided retelling, she mentioned “Repal” and “two rats” that I named “minion rats” on the retelling guide. She was only able to remember Eduardo or (Edero) and characteristics about him (such that

-Because she was able to speak of Eduardo (or Edero) when I was probing her, I interpret that she did understand more than what she originally stated during the retelling. I interpret that during the unaided retelling she was trying to reach back in her mind to literally anything she remembered or certain parts that stuck out to her. When it came to themes or characters, she struggled. When I probed her about a certain character, it sparked some memories and she able to remember.

he was famous) when probed during the aided retelling -I observed after listening to the retelling recorded, that she tended to retell only surface details about the story, but never really dug deeper into the point or overall theme of the story. She does not mention singing or anything about the characteristics about Ralph as a main character. She mentions the two characters climbing up something, which was when they were on the boat but leaves out a boat when retelling the story.

**I made the mistake of not making the retelling guide before doing the miscue analysis. When she gave her retelling I was originally thought she retold the story beautifully. After coding the analysis and re-listening to her retelling of the story, I began to realize that she never expressed the understanding or comprehension of a theme. I began to realize that while she told me specifics about the story, she was not showing me that she understood critical parts of the story – for example, that Ralph was kidnapped and he helped to save Eduardo, his favorite singer, who was kidnapped by the same people. After realizing this and knowing what I know now, I am going to have a retelling guide with me before hand and have more questions ready to ask if the comprehension of the theme is not shown. I have a regret thinking that Alexis probably could have remembered many more important details about the story had I been more prepared going into the miscue reading!! -The fact that she remembers characters discussing something but she has no idea what they were saying reiterates the fact that she was speeding through the words to sound them out and say them, but not making a strong effort to comprehend what the characters were saying.

-When going through the sequence of events, she mentions all parts of events, but never gives detail on events that are taking place -She does stick to the timeline of the story and tells what she remembers in the correct order, without skipping around from the beginning to end back to the middle, and etc.

-Because she is able to keep the sentence in structure as far as beginning, middle, end leads me to interpret that she understands the way literature works from beginning to end and what she read at the beginning of the story was at the beginning and what she remember of the end is supposed to be told at the end.

-She read the book very fast, someone skipping entire paragraphs or pages and I had to refer her back to where she need to be reading. -When she was finished with the book she said, “OK. I’m Done!” (look to top interpretation about

-My interpretations from Alexis’ retelling is that she has a habit of reading text simply as text, looking at the words and the letters (using her graphophonics cue system) and speeding through the words, finishing the book as fast as possible.

speed) **On the total retelling, if I were to get her a holistic score from 1-10 I would give her a 5. In the retelling portion of the first page of the profile, the percentage was 45%. Recommendations **”Without a sentence structure that holds together, the sentence as a whole can’t make sense” “Over and over again, we find that even readers with many miscues that don’t reserve syntax and meaning still have quite a strong understanding of what is being constructed during the reading process, but since oral reading is only a window on the entire operation, it’s always possible that more is being understood than what the miscues suggest.” (Coding Miscues, pg. 68). The recommendations that I have for Alexis concerning retelling are again to focus on reading for meaning! From my interpretations I feel that she reads certain books to say the words on the page and to finish them. I believe it is very important for students to become connected to a book through themselves or some type of lesson or message through the theme. I realize that it might be a stretch for all students to connect to Mystery on the Docks on a personal level, but becoming connected the book through the theme can still happen! Recommendations that I have are: Thinking aloud—stop and say what you think is interesting or point something out that is new, exciting, or something that you recognize - Ask questions that you have - If there are questions at the end, go back and see if you can find the answer, if you just skipped over it - Slow down, stop, and make predictions! If Alexis would have stopped, considered and predicted what was going to happen when Ralph went on the dock to stop the rats and they has disappeared, she might have connected better to the story. - Use illustrations for understanding more characteristics about the characters! Many times the illustrations show or “say” things that the text is not. Had Alexis slowed down to look at the characters in the pictures, she potentially could have connected better to them and remembered them in the retelling of the story. - During the retelling, I would recommend not to rush! Think back to the story and what you learned from it, if you learned absolutely nothing, it might be helpful to go back and look! If you do not remember any theme, go back and reread! - If one has issues with not understanding or taking away a theme from the story – being aware that there are literary elements is a great way to start! Just being aware that characters, setting, plot, theme (point/message), and etc are very crucial and important to a story will potentially draw more attention to the point of the story, aiding to the retelling. **”When readers make predictions about what they’ll learn, they activate their schema

about the topic and what they know about the type of text they are about to read.” (Debbie Miller, Reading with Meaning, pg. 145). This is very important for the retelling that and use of strategies! If students understand that when they read a mystery, there are going to be cues and foreshadowing elements in the story, they can look for them and connect better to the story! I recommend educating students and expressing the importance of this knowledge and understanding. Evidence of reading strategy use (Look at the strategies in F&F pp 27-30 as well as Miller and S&S) Observations/examples -While reading “Junkyard Wonders”, Alexis turned to a page and immediately looked at the illustration. The characters in the picture were holding tube-like objects in their hands. She pointed and said, “What are those?” She them began reading the page to find out what they were.

Interpretations - In this specific example of the tube-like objects in the picture, I am integrating that Alexis is using the reading strategy of integrating. While looking at the picture, Alexis probably saw these objects and realized that she didn’t have a word or prior knowledge of ever seeing students using or playing with objects like this. She read the page to try to figure out what they were. At the end of the page she looked back and noted, “Oh that’s what those are.” – With some probing from myself. I asked her “Did you figure out what those were?” She is using this strategy of in order to integrate new information. **”As they continue through a text, readers continually integrate new information. They do this with cues from all three systems, and they do it at the level or word, phrase, sentence, and whole text.” (Freeman & Freeman, pg. 30)

-During the same session of reading “Junkyard Wonders” I had asked her to write down some questions she had about the book. I told her the sky was the limit. She seemed completely stumped. She told me that she did not have any questions. I then probed her about characters and looked through the pages asking her if she had any questions about characters I was pointing at. She seemed to be agitated and even asked, “Can we play a game now?”

-Debbie Miller devotes an entire chapter in his book Reading with Meaning on the strategy of asking questions and how important it for students to construct meaning from a text. She makes a chart asking questions, “What do we know about asking questions? How does asking questions help the reader? And How do readers figure out the answers to their questions?” then quotes, “Asking children questions like these gives them opportunities to process their learning…” (pg. 126). -I wanted to try a questioning strategy out with Alexis and probe her to ask questions during the text. Although I put her in this position and it was not strictly an observation, I still observed her behavior towards the activity. Her reaction to being asked to ask questions mid text seemed like a foreign idea to her. I am interpreting that she has

not had much practice with this type of strategy and she is reading the words to say them and sound them out, not always understanding and connecting to the story through questions. -During one of our “buddy time” sessions, Alexis was reading “The Pumpkin Head Mystery” – a Box Car Children series book. After the first 2 chapters, I asked her to make a prediction. She was having issues thinking of anything, so I decided to let her write about anything she remembered from the book. She wrote about direct quotes from the characters such as, *exact words “The had asked him how did you break your leg” and “Bessie said gost are not real said Bessie and the man said I no”

*”An important strategy in reading is predicting. Readers use their background knowledge and information from each of the cueing systems to make prediction” (Freeman and Freeman, pg. 27). -While reading this book with Alexis, from my point of view I was already able to predict who was the pumpkin headed ghost from the first 2 chapters. I did not go into this book expecting her to know who the pumpkin head was, but I was hoping that she would be asking some sort of question such as, “Who is the pumpkin man?” While making an interpretation, I asked myself, “why was it clear to me, and not to her?” I realized that it is because I have more experience with series books and literature. I am aware of, expecting, and looking for the clues and foreshadowing, allowing my use of the reading strategy of predicting. I am interpreting that Alexis need practice with the strategy of predicting.

-At a session, I brought in an informational book about Polar Bears and Grizzly bears. When I handed her the book, she looked at the cover, flipped through the pages, looking at the pictures, and set it down pretty quickly after. She flipped very quickly through the pictures with the scary faces of the bears she said “ah!” while looking at one page. After realizing what the book was about, I asked her if she had any predictions. From just flipping through the book once and noticing a page about their height, Alexis said, “I think the polar bear will win the fight because he is taller.”

**”As readers become more proficient, they learn where to focus, and they begin to sample just enough text to get the graphophonics cues they need. They use these cues along with syntactic and semantic cues to construct meaning. They don’t ignore the print cues, but neither do they focus on them too much. Effective sampling allows a reader to gather just enough information to make prediction” I thought this quote was perfect for this because I think this is exactly what Alexis did. She read the title, flipped through the pages, stopped at one page noticing the difference in heights of the bears, and made a prediction based on what she had gathered. I interpret that she has used this type of reading strategy before. Possibly when using a basal and comprehension questions, looking through the text to figure out exactly the information she needs to answer the question.

Recommendations For recommendations for Alexis, I believe it is extremely important for students to be

aware of and take advantage of the use of questioning strategies while reading. I wish I had been given more knowledge about this when I was a young reader. I would recommend making a questioning chart, and explaining the importance of asking questions. A great starting point is to demonstrate this with her! Think aloud together and model how one might ask a question before, during, and after reading a book. Many students might be under the impression that there are only questions that can be asked after a book is read (comprehension questions!!!). But the point is, no!!!!, it is okay to ask questions before, during, and after to help construct meaning and understanding. Use of questions strategies can overlap with many reading strategies such as sampling, predicting, inferring, and confirming or disconfirming! **”I learned that as my questions became less literal and more sophisticated, so did the children’s; as I began to think more deeply about my reading and learning, so did they; and as I began to ask questions that truly mattered to me, they did, too.” (Debbie Miller, Reading with Meaning, pg. 124).

Summary Summarize results; include observations not yet noted (repeated miscues, fluency, enjoyment, reader comments, etc.); describe significant features of text/reading conditions; clearly identify strengths; state final conclusions.

Alexis is a fabulous young reader who is confident in her abilities. Her attitude has been great to work with during every meeting so far this semester. She is excited and willing to learn and try new activities. She is a caring and passionate young girl and I have loved working with her! Alexis has shown me many areas of strength in her abilities as a reader. One of her many strengths is using her graphophonic cue system. Using this cue system she is focusing on the letters written on the page and able to sound them out efficiently. Another high strength that she has regarded reading is her ability to keep language in tact while reading a sentence (also known as effectively using her syntactic cue system). When presented with a word she was not familiar with, she, many times, was able to use a different word (whether a more familiar word or a word that she made up to make sense) in substitution, but still kept the language flow consistent. These strengths that she has demonstrated are very important for young readers to encompass. I have learned a great deal about reading and cue systems from working with her. While Alexis has been illustrating her strengths to me, she has also given me some insight into what areas of her reading development need practice and attention. One area that I have given many recommendations for is to enrich the use of her semantic cue system (cue system that involves the meaning and comprehension of the text). There are many great and helpful activities that I have recommended for her to take advantage of in order strengthen this part of her reading abilities. I have given recommendations such as thinking aloud, using various questioning strategies, predicting, and making connections. I have recommended that she slow down her pace of reading to make connections to the book, to enjoy the story and take meaning away from the theme. Alexis has such a bright spirit and attitude towards reading. I believe that if she were aware and understood how meaningful reading be by using the strategies that I have listed above, she would take much more meaning and

understanding from any text that she reads.

How do you plan to teach reading in your classroom? I am honestly amazed at how much my idea of a reading classroom has changed since the beginning of this class. I cannot imagine what my classroom would have looked like before learning this new information and seeing all the great strategies of instruction of reading. I feel as if after being exposed to all this insight, I can’t even remember what I considered reading to mean beforehand. This is exactly how I want my students to feel about reading in my classroom. I want to expose them to a completely different environment and outlook on reading than they have experienced before. I took numerous ideas from Debbie Millar’s book Reading with Meaning. I plan to use many of the strategies she describes in her book. I plan to use thinking aloud, demonstrating first, and then releasing the responsibility to my students. I plan to use the various questioning strategies that promote reading for comprehension and understanding. I want the students in my classroom to feel comfortable and be excited about asking questions before, during, and after reading a text. These questions are extremely crucial for clarification, comprehension, and building connections. I plan to create and use a reading program. This reading program will include whole class, small group, and individual instruction. In order to create an effective reading program, I plan to use many of the ideas that we have talked and learned about in class. For the whole class instruction, I intend to use read aloud strategies. These strategies include interactive reading aloud, demonstrating thinking aloud, to introduce genres, content areas, and numerous reading strategies. I want my students to be a community of learners. Spending time, as a whole class discussing and reading together will encourage this community. In my small group instruction, a strategy I will use is guided reading. This will allow me to gain insight to what and how my students are thinking about the text. I will be able to hear and see what connections they are making to the text. I will also be able to see where students need some guidance and practice in order to strengthen their understanding of a text. Another strategy I plan to use in small groups is literacy study groups. I believe these are very important to able students to collaborate and bounce ideas off each other and gain multiple perspectives on a text. Every student in the classroom comes to a text with a different background and perspective. I believe it is important for students to feel comfortable sharing and being able to accept multiple perspectives on a text. This ability will allow them to broaden their horizons to exciting and interesting experiences in their future. I believe this type small group communication is essential for students. Along with hearing multiple perspectives, in the small groups, I also plan to allow the students the responsibility of choice. I am very passionate about the idea that students will learn, comprehend and apply knowledge much more effectively if they are reading a text that is relatable to them or interest them. I do realize that controversial literacy is a touchy subject for classrooms, but I also think it is essential for students to have access to it. Judging by the great amount of insight I have taken from the very few controversial children’s books I have read, I believe teachers can make such a difference for students who feel as if they cannot identify with many of the books offered. I also feel that introducing these books in appropriate scenarios will allow students to gain perspective and

acceptance of other types of cultures and family structures that they might not learn about at home. An important strategy that I plan to use for individual reading instruction is notebooks. I want my students to be writing a LOT in combination to their reading. I want them to write down anything and everything they think about a text. I want them to be writing connections they are making with the text, any questions they have before, during, or after reading the text, opinions they have about the text, and etc. I want my students to realize that the “sky is the limit” when it comes to their notebooks. I will encourage my students to draw, color, or write about any visual images they get from the book. I do not remember this type of instruction or encouragement of writing when I was in elementary school and I want my students to take full advantage of this strategy. I have learned many strategies in this classroom that I now feel are essential to reading instruction. I plan to have a classroom filled with reading, whether it is in specific reading time or in multiple areas of curriculum. I want my students to have a love for reading that took me many years to find. I want my students to talk about reading. I want my students to be social readers and feel this drive to find someone, anyone to talk with about what they just read. My views of reading and reading instruction have changed since I became aware of how meaningful reading can be. I plan to exemplify this meaning and love for reading with my students and I hope that my attitude and instructional strategies will allow them to feel this love, too.