ARP Part 1 (Introduction) Reading comprehension is foundational to any students success.

It provides the layout for students to glean knowledge from printed sources as they move from learning to read in Kindergarten through third grade to reading to learn in fourth grade and beyond. When a child struggles in basic reading comprehension skills in the intermediate grades, the gap between her and the class widens. By junior high, the gap is self-evident in the first few days of school and the student clearly struggles in all classes due to comprehension. In the area of reading and literature, basic elements like character, setting, and plot can be challenging.

This particular student is a 6th grader english language learner who struggles with reading comprehension. She tends to have a quiet nature and will rarely raise her hand to participate. When she does want to participate in a small group, her soft-spoken voice will timidly ask if she could share. She only participates when there can be no right or wrong answer. In terms of reading aloud or discussing a piece of literature, she is likely to sit quietly in her seat as a sea of her peers hands shoot up in anticipation. Her answers vary on review questions, journals, and exams due to a lack of comprehension.

The purpose of this study is to investigate if peer mentoring can help improve my struggling students comprehension. The questions it deems to answer are as follows: Will pairing a struggling student with stronger peers increase her understanding of the

text? Does providing graphic organizers with the text help improve her comprehension as they work together in pairs work? One modification I plan on implementing with my student is to supply a graphic organizer as she works in a pair or group. I will model how to use the graphic organizer before they begin their assignment, which will provide a clear example on how to use it.

ARP Part 2 (Literature Review) The essential parts of reading development are fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. In the earlier grades, kindergarten through second grade, the emphasis tends to be on fluency, which also encompasses phonological awareness. When a students fluency is strong, it is likely that their reading comprehension will advance (Pilonieta, P., Hancock, S. D., 2012). As a student progresses into the intermediate grades, most of the learning is garnered through their ability to read and process the information. In terms of english language learners, if they have poor comprehension or have poor word reading skills with poor comprehension, learning can be compromised. They will need to develop their reading skills, and with time, need to improve on phonemes, syntax and morphemes to advance in their comprehension (Lipka, O., Siegel, L. S., 2012).

To help improve reading comprehension, one must lower students apprehension. When students are taught new information, they tend to struggle by themselves as they complete necessary coursework. All too often, coursework is left incomplete or is

incorrect when working alone. On the other hand, students grow in their awareness of a topic when they work with their peers. Cooperative learning provides a way for students to not only socially interact with each other, but can be used as a means to learn from one another (Dollman, Morgan, Pergler, Russell, & Watts, 2007). It helps create a positive learning setting that causes productivity to go up and fosters well-being in the classroom. For an english language learner, it negates the high intensity struggle that most undertake daily. The student can learn from their peer and vice versa, which creates added reinforcement of the concepts taught.

Another way that teachers can use to improve reading comprehension is through graphic organizers. They provide a visual way for students to follow the events happening in a story to what points are being made to persuade a reader to follow an opinion. In Boulineau, Fore, Hagan-Burke, and Burkes research on story-mapping, graphic organizers play a tremendous role for students to understand and observe the different parts of a narrative. They improve recognizing various story components, which strengthens students reading comprehension (2004).

As the above strategies are sound, successful in their own research, I will examine if cooperative learning with the use of graphic organizers can be fruitful in my classroom. My hope is that using both hand-in-hand will help my english language learner comprehend better and feel more comfortable with the reading tasks at hand.

ARP Part 3 (Cycle 1 Establish a Baseline) Jacqueline is a reticent and soft-spoken 6th grader. She comes from a mixed family her mother is Asian and her father is of European descent. Unbeknownst to most teachers, one would assume that her dad is missing from her life. She rarely talks about him, and her mother often picks her up from school. Jacqueline has a strong Asian accent, even though she was raised in the United States since she was in the 2nd grade. She is sociable in pairs or small groups, often sticking to the same group of children that she grew up with. In the classroom, she is more comfortable in pairs or trios than talking out loud in front of everyone. Once in awhile, she will come up to me and ask to share her jumpstart - a journal writing activity that the students start with and several share out loud with their peers. It is rare to see Jacqueline raise her hand in class when it comes to talking about a story that we are reading in the basal reader or a novel. She does not come up to me to ask questions nor will she ask her peers. However, the times that she does like to share is after class. Jacqueline will share a tidbit about her life or her thoughts about a tidbit in class.

In the beginning of the year, each student takes a CORE Reading Maze Comprehension assessment. The area that I teach at tends to predominantly have higher assessment and test scores. However, compared to the students in her class, she has one of the lowest comprehension scores, scoring an 8 out of 35. Her CORE Vocabulary assessment is high, suggesting that the terminology used in class and the textbooks is not the obstacle. (See Figure 1: CORE Assessment.)

Figure 1: CORE Assessments Type of CORE Assessment Core Vocabulary Screening Core Reading Maze Comprehension 24 Student Class Average Highest Score in Class 27 29 30 Highest Possible Points

18

35

38

Later on in the year, the class was given a learning styles questionnaire to assess how they best learn. Jacqueline best learns auditory - a fact that I found interesting as I am a visual-audio learner and tend to instruct that way. (See Figure 2: Learning Styles.)

Figure 2: Learning Styles Learning Styles Kinesthetic Visual Auditory Visual/Kinesthetic Visual/Auditory/Kinesthetic 16 11 7 2 1 # of Students 43% 30% 19% 5% 3% % of Students

In terms of summative assessment, Jacqueline has received Ds in the past 3 comprehension tests. This has taken place in the course of six weeks. (See Figure 3: Comprehension Tests.)

Figure 3: Comprehension Tests Date 9/14 10/2 10/17 9/13 9/13 8.5/13 Test Scores D+ D+ D Grade

As a result of the data collected, Jacqueline needs to vastly improve in her comprehension skills. I am optimistic that my intervention will help her develop a stronger understanding of what she reads as it is tailored to her learning style.

ARP Part 4 (Cycle 2 Intervention and New Benchmark) My plan to help Jacqueline raise her comprehension skills is two fold: she would be paired with a stronger peer to increase her understanding of the text while utilizing her learning style preference. Furthermore, her interactions with her partner would be systematic: she would have a graphic organizer each time they met. I would model how

to use the graphic organizer before they work together. The kinds of organizers I used dealt with characterization and Freytags pyramid.

This would help her organize her thoughts efficiently and structure the time that they would use to discuss. They compared their answers and examined what it could be. It will help Jacqueline to learn from her partner, the entire class, and from myself auditorywise.

I repeated this same process for two stories from the basal reader to see how Jacqueline progressed.

ARP Part 5 (Analyze Intervention and Reflection) Figure 4: Comprehension Tests After the Intervention Date 11/9 12/2 13/18 7/13 Test Scores CF Grade

Overall, the intervention could be seen as successful as well as a failure. Jacquelines comprehension skills improved from being paired with a stronger peer . She felt more confident in her abilities to recall the story, as well as increased the number of times she

heard the tale from several people. Furthermore, the use of the graphic organizers to connect to the text scaffolded the thoughts and discussions she had with her partner. There was less of a delay in reviewing the material since they were both prepared for the time they had together. Gradewise, Jacqueline has moved up from a D to a C-, which is a vast improvement from the previous three exams.

However, the last test, showed a plunge in Jacquelines comprehension skills. Instead of maintaining a C-, in a month she had managed to receive an F. Although she felt sure of her progress, this last test grade was a surprise to both of us. I think that several factors played into such a descent. First off, each story was discussed in the span of 2 weeks, followed by a comprehension test. The last storys exam was taken place a month later. Within that month, Jacqueline could have felt that she knew the story all too well and because the test was after some time, she couldve forgotten some key elements. Also, our language arts focus for the month of November was more on writing a novel. Jacqueline could have focused more on the writing aspects than the reading aspects for those several weeks. Thus, she could have been less prepared even though there was the same amount of preparation for the November exam. I learned that the next time that I administer an assessment, I need to give it as soon as possible. The window of time that a student learns the material should not be too far apart from the time of the exam. Thus, it is possible for Jacqueline to achieve a higher score. I will continue to help her grow in her comprehension skills through her learning style preference.

References Boulineau, T., Fore, C., Hagan-Burke, S., & Burke, M. D. (2004). Use of Story-Mapping to Increase the Story-Grammar Text Comprehension of Elementary Students with Learning Disabilities.Learning Disability Quarterly, 27(2), 105.

Dollman, L., Morgan, C., Pergler, J., Russell, W. & Watts, J. (2007). Improving social skills through the use of cooperative learning. Retrieved from ERIC. (ED 496112)

Lipka, O., & Siegel, L. S. (2012). The Development of Reading Comprehension Skills in Children Learning English as a Second Language. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 25(8), 1873-1898.

Pilonieta, P., & Hancock, S. D. (2012). Negotiating First Graders' Reading Stance: The Relationship between Their Efferent and Aesthetic Connections and Their Reading Comprehension. Current Issues in Education, 15(2). Retrieved November 2, 2012, from http://cie.asu.edu/ojs/index.php/cieatasu/article/view/947/336