1

CSL 590- Literacy & Assessment

I.

Identifying Information
a. Name: Paulina
b. Date of Birth: 5/25/2003
c. Gender: Female
d. Grade: 6
e. Special Education Teacher/Case Manager: Renee Landsman
f. School: Commack Middle School
g. Examiner: Nicole Logozzo
h. Dates of Assessment: 10/14, 10/28, 10/29, 10/30, 11/10
i. Date of Final Report: 11/29

II.

Reason for Referral

a. Paulinas teachers concern is that she is a new arrival to the
Commack School District and could possibly be in the wrong
setting. Paulina moved to Commack two years ago from
Greece. She has a language barrier, but seems to do well when
working one-on-one at a slower pace with the teacher. The
teachers concern is that the school could be placing an ESL
student in a small self-contained class where she might not
belong.
b. Paulina lives with her mother who does not speak English. Her
mother is concerned with Paulinas overall performance and

adapting to a new school in a foreign country. She worries that

Paulinas struggle with English will make it difficult for her to
form relationships. Paulinas mother also worries that Paulinas
struggle with speaking English in school frustrates her when
trying to complete work on her own. Paulina has an older sister
to help her translate, but she also speaks little English.
c. Examiners Insights & Observations
Paulina is very enthusiastic and often laughing in class.
However, she does not like to read aloud or answer questions
orally. During class activities she has moved to hide behind
other classmates with hope she will not be called upon. During
our testing sessions she often waited for prompting like she
would typically receive during class time. She jumps the say I
dont know often. She puts in a lot of effort, but often gets
frustrated. Paulina seems embarrassed when she cannot
pronounce a word. I often tried to reassure her that it is
appropriate for her to struggle with academic vocabulary
because this is her second language and that she shouldnt be
embarrassed. However, she still seems to get upset when she
stumbles on words. It seems she would rather say I dont know
right away to avoid feeling nervous using word attack skills. I
have also taken note that Paulina gets distracted easily. We
completed our test in the back of the room, which is quite large,
and there are only five other students in the class. Often I had to

redirect her to stop listening to what the other students were

doing. She would also interrupt frequently to either tell me a
story or ask me personal questions.

III.

Background Information (Appendices A, B, C, & D)

Paulina is a sixth grade student in an upper-middle class neighborhood

in Long Island, NY. She is eleven years-old. Paulina travels from class to
class with a small class of self-contained students. Paulina moved here from
Greece two years ago and does experience a language barrier. She receives
ESL instruction, Speech and Language instruction, and AIS Math and
Reading. She is a bright girl who is enthusiastic about learning. Her
classification is speech and language impaired. Paulinas in class
modifications consist of reteaching material, checking for understanding,
repeated directions, preferential seating, modified materials, and she
benefits from manipulatives and visual cues. Paulinas testing modifications
are extra time, modified tests, tests are to be read aloud to her, and she can
use a calculator.

On individual testing, Paulina scored in the very low range on the Passage
Comprehension subtest. She scored in the low range on the Letter-Word
Identification and Reading Fluency subtest. Paulina is presently reading
below grade level expectations at the Fountas and Pinnell level J. On
individual testing, Paulina scored in the low range on the Writing Samples
subtest. She scored in the low average range on the Spelling and Writing
Fluency subtests.

IV.

Cultural Background (Appendix A)

Paulina is Caucasian. Her neighborhood is 89% white, 4.8% Hispanic,

4.7% Asian, and .9% Black. She lives with her mother, Ouravia, and older
sister, Fiona. Paulinas mother describes her as a hard worker who has a lot
of friends and laughs a lot. She seems happy, just as I have noticed in
school. Paulinas family speaks very little English. Greek is the main
language they speak at home. It is difficult for her mother to communicate
with the school. Her mother did not attend Open School Night due to fear of
being uncomfortable. It was recently learned that the location where Paulina
lived in Greek was an extremely rural area, where schooling was likely not a
priority and it was probably not a strong program. Paulinas mother has met
with her teacher and told her that she reads stories with Paulina in Greek at
home. Paulinas mother also said that she assists Paulina with her homework

assignments, but has trouble with the work herself. Paulina has said that she
wishes she could play soccer, but does not have enough time. She would
also like to be an ELA (English language arts) teacher in the future.
Paulina is very proud of her Greek background when speaking with me
individually in the classroom. However, once her classmates enter the room
she does not seem to want to speak about her culture. If a teacher tries to
tie in her Greek culture to a lesson she appears embarrassed. Paulina is very
outgoing, but does not take well to attention on her in the classroom. She
rarely raises her hand in class. The typical response Paulina gives is I dont
know or I dont know how to say it. At times it is true that Paulina has
difficulty with academic vocabulary pronouncing some words correctly, but in
most cases it is just her go to response. She has told me that she finds
school to be easy and that she enjoys middle school. From my
observations and discussion with Paulinas teacher she has a difficult time
focusing in class and gets off task easily. She is an extremely social girl and
appears comfortable with her small group of classmates. Her teacher has
also noted that she has some tendencies of learned helplessness.

V.

School Information (Appendix B)

a. Summary of Progress in School
Paulina is currently in grade 6. She is in a small selfcontained classroom setting. She receives AIS Reading services
in the Wilson Reading System four times per week for 40 minute
sessions. She also receives ELL support nine times per week and
Speech instruction three times per week. Paulina is currently
working on her short vowel sounds, words with welded sounds,
and blends. According to the WADE (Wilson Assessment for
Decoding and Encoding) Paulina demonstrates progress in all
areas of decoding real phonetic words and sight words and
encoding. She benefits from a multi-sensory approach to
reading, writing, and spelling. She has difficulty with letter
recognition, s for c and g for h. Vocabulary is also integrated into
Paulinas instruction because she often does not know what a
word means. She can decode many simple words, but even
common words cannot explain what the item is used for or
means. In grade 5 Paulina began reading, according to the
Fountas and Pinnell Scale, at an instructional level F (grade 2)
and is currently at an instructional level K (grade 3).

In Mathematics Paulina has difficulty subtracting three digit

numbers and computing long division. She also has difficulty
using money. Paulinas score was in the average range on the
Calculation portion of the Woodcock-Johnston III Test of
Achievement (Standard Score of 98). However, she scored very
low on the Applied Problems portion which assesses
mathematical reasoning. Paulina struggled a lot with word
problems and did not know the value of coins. She also could not
read the time on a clock. She often uses her fingers to help her
count. She received a standard score of 68. Paulinas overall
Math performance was low (Broad Math Cluster Standard Score
79).
b. Achievement in Specific Subjects:
Paulina struggles in all subjects because of her limited
vocabulary. In middle school the academic vocabulary becomes
more prominent, which is hindering Paulina even though she is in
small self-contained classes. She does well in Social Studies
because the content is taught over a much longer amount of time
and the vocabulary is given to her early, leaving a lot of time for her
to work to memorize the words. She also works on the words with
her ESL teacher. Paulina dislikes science and her teacher says she
seems to comprehend the information during the lesson. However,
when asked about the content Paulina cannot recall much of the
information. Since Paulina has such an enthusiastic attitude

towards learning, at times it is difficult to identify when she is lost.

She has a low ability to communicate using academic tier three
vocabulary words.
c. Results of Achievement & Other Tests
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV (Full Scale SS 69 PR
% 2)
Woodcock-Johnson III Test of Achievement
(Calculation and Math Fluency Average Range
Spelling and Writing Fluency Low
Letter-Word Identification, Reading Fluency, and Writing Samples
Low
Passage Comprehension Very Low)
d. Attendance/Repeated Grades
Paulina has a good attendance record. She has not repeated any
grades. However, she moved here from Greece about two-three
years ago and the district is unsure about the level of education
she received.
e. Description of Classroom Program in Reading
Paulina has a wonderful English Language Arts teacher who
caters to her needs. The reading teacher who works with Paulina
during the week In a small group also pushes into the classroom
two times per week to team teach with the ELA teacher. When
beginning a text Paulina is given the vocabulary ahead of time
and she works on learning the words with her reading teacher
during her AIS reading class. Her reading teacher informed me
that they spend a lot of time on vocabulary enrichment and
decoding skills. Paulina is in a reading class with other students,

but she has much different needs. Therefore, often Paulinas

work is tailored for her specifically. Currently, her teacher has
her reading a chapter book, one chapter per night
(approximately 4 pages with illustrations), and writing two details
from each chapter on a post-it note. Paulina finds this difficult
and does not enjoy it, which displays her lack of comprehension.
f. Special Placement or Special Help Given
Paulina is in a small self-contained classroom setting. She travels
with a group of 6-8 students. There is a teachers assistant in all
of her classes. She receives AIS Reading services in the Wilson
Reading System four times per week for 40 minute sessions. She
also receives ELL support nine times per week and Speech
instruction three times per week. Currently, Paulina has begun
meeting once per week with a teacher in the school who speaks
fluent Greek. He is not a language nor speech teacher, but he
touches base with her to ensure she does not have any issues
that she is having difficulty communicating.
g. Physical
Mother could not supply me information about Paulinas vision or
hearing.
i. Vision- Paulina does not wear contacts or glasses.
ii. Hearing- Hearing exam was done during intermediate
school and showed no reason for concern.

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VI.

Results of Assessment (Provide narrative, table, observations,

examples, verbatim)
a. Reading Self-Perception (Appendix D)
To complete the Reading Self-Perception assessment I read
off each statement to Paulina and she gave me her response.
This was to ensure that her reading difficulties wouldnt impact
her responses. We did the Reading Self-Perception assessment
on a different day from the Writing Self-Perception, which may
have affected her scores. Paulina answered the majority of the
statements with undecided. All of the statements that involved a
comparison to classmates Paulina responded with undecided or
disagree. I observed that she physically appeared uncomfortable
with any comparison statement. She also said agree to
statements that involved her teachers perspectives. I am unsure
if this is truthful or if she said agree because I work with her
teachers. Paulina responded disagree to all but two of the
physiological statements and one of the responses was a
strongly disagree. My overall impression was that Paulina is not
confident with her reading, which is understandable given her
strong accident, difficulties with pronunciation English words, and
that many subjects require her to read out loud. However,
Paulina has told me that she enjoys reading on occasion. I
believe she doesnt mind reading if it is done for pure enjoyment
and independently.

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Table 1. Reading Self-Perception (Appendix D)

PR

OC

SF

PS

23 of 45

13 of 30

27 of 45

22 of 40

Low

Low

Low

22 of 40

b. Writing Self-Perception (Appendix E)

Paulinas attitude when responding to the writing
statements was much different from the reading statements.
She seemed more positive when talking about her writing. I got
the sense that she is embarrassed of her reading, since that is
done out loud and her classmates can hear it. Many of Paulinas
writing statements were in the low-average range. She
responded to every Physiological States statements with agree,
the complete opposite of the Reading Self-Perception exam. She
also agreed with many of the General Progress statements. Her
responses were appropriate considering her highest score on the
TOWL-4 test was the Story Composition subtest. Paulina is
creative in her nature and it appears that is where her writing
confidence comes from. She expressed to me that she has
good ideas when writing.

Table 2. Writing Self-Perception (Appendix E)

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GPR

PR

OC

SF

PS

33 of 40

24 of 35

26 of 45

24 of 35

24 of 30

Low

Low

Low

Low

Average

c. Test of Written Spelling (Appendix F)

Paulina received a standard score of 77 on the TWS-4 form
A. Her Spelling Age is 7-6, which is approximately 4 years behind
Paulinas actual age. I noted that Paulina is easily distracted by
other students voices. She also was not interested in taking this
test. She is aware that she struggles with spelling and told me
before hand that she was going to stink at it. Paulina
completed this test rather quickly and appeared to rush through
it. I recommend that Paulina practice silent letters, such as the k
in knife or knew. These are rules that need to be memorized.
She wrote both knew and knife incorrectly on the assessment,
leaving out the silent letter.
Table 3. TWS-4 (Appendix F)
SS

Spelling Age

77

7-6

d. Test of Written Language (Appendix G)

Paulina scored below average on the TOWL-4. Typically
Paulina has a great attitude towards school, but during this
assessment she did not want to participate in it. She kept asking
if it was going to take long. On the Logical Sentences subtest

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the Little Bo Peep sentence confused her, which is logical since

Little Bo Peep is an American nursery rhyme and she only
moved here in recent years. I also took note that at times
Paulina would leave off the e in a word, such as she wrote
gav for gave. At times she would look at me for a signal of
correct spelling. The only subtest that she did not score below
average on was the Story Composition subtest. She scored in
the average range, which is not surprising because Paulina has
expressed that she enjoys writing. Her grade equivalent was a
9.0 on all subtests. She did not enjoy taking the exams and it is
difficult to identify if all of her responses are truthful or if she just
wanted to finish. Paulina is easily distracted by interactions
between other students. I moved to the library to complete this
exam in a quieter atmosphere, but even the sight of a student
looking for a book was distracting to her. She is a very curious
student and asks many questions about everything she
observes.
Table 4. TOWL-4 (Appendix G)
Composite

SS

% Rank

Descriptor AE

Contrived
Writing

32

Below
Average

9.0

Spontaneo
us Writing

15

19

Below
Average

9.0

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Overall
Writing

47

Below
Average

9.0

e. Woodcock Reading Mastery Test (Appendix H)

Paulinas performance on the Woodcock Reading Mastery
Test overall was in the well below average range (refer to table
5). Her grade equivalent for each subtest was below grade 3. She
has difficulty with Word Identification, Word Attack, Word
Comprehension, and Passage Comprehension. Since English is a
second language to Paulina she struggles greatly identifying
words and pronouncing words. She has very little confidence
when reading and it showed through during her testing. She
often avoids answering wrong by claiming not to know an
answer. During the Word Analogies subtest I felt Paulina did not
fully understand what an analogy was. In a bunch of cases her
responses made sense for example, job-work game-play, Paulina
responded game-fun. In the context a game is fun. However, she
did not seem to grasp the idea.
Table 5. Woodcock Reading Mastery Test Revised G
(Appendix H)

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Subtest

GE

AE

SS

RPI

PR

Word Id

2.7

8.5

78

5/90

Word Att

2.0

7.5

78

25/90

Word
Comp

3.0

8.5

78

37/90

Pass
Comp

1.8

7.5

65

6/90

Basic
Skills

2.5

7.11

78

12/90

Reading
Comp

2.2

7.9

70

15/90

Total
Reading

2.4

7.9

75

13/90

Summary of Assessment
f. Areas of Strength
Paulina is very social. She is able to grasp concepts well, but
needs to learn slowly with adaptations made for her language
barrier. She has a great attitude towards learning. Paulina asks a
lot of questions and is a very curious student. On the TOWL-4
(Table 4) Paulina scored in the average range on the Story
Composition subtest, 25th percentile rank, which was the highest
she scored out of the subtest. Paulina is creative and able to
express her thoughts, even with her language barrier. Although
the writing sample is derived of statements that state exactly
what she saw I the image, Paulina did give the boy in the image

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a first name. When Paulina speaks her sentences sound short

and to the point, therefore it is not surprising that her writing is
similar. Paulina studies on her own and actively asks her
teachers for techniques she can pursue at home. She is
enthusiastic about learning.
g. Areas of Need
Paulina struggles greatly with academic subject based
vocabulary as well as general sight word vocabulary. Her limited
English language skills impact her greatly. She has a lot of
difficulty decoding words and does not read fluently as a result.
As Paulinas English strengthens her academic success will
improve. Currently the academic texts are too difficult for
Paulina, so I feel she pretends to be reading. It would benefit her
to have less text in simpler terms to ensure she is actually
absorbing the material for class. Paulina does not speak English
fluently. She does not pluralize her words and often stops mid
sentence to think of the word she is looking for. It is clear she
thinks in Greek and then tried to express herself in English.
Often she confuses words that visually look similar, as well as
homophones. . She did this many times throughout the
Woodcock Reading Mastery Test (Table 5). For example, she said
curtain rather than certain. She does not recognize that one
letter can change the entire word. On the TOWL, subtest 4
Logical Sentences, Paulina did not find the sentence She nose

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right from wrong. Paulina has difficulty recognizing words that

sound the same, but are different. She also struggled with her
spelling on the TWS achieving a standard score of 77, which is
the 6th percentile (Table 3). She has difficulty identifying when to
use the letter y rather than the letter I. For example bicycle
and and unify she responded with bisicle and unifi.
h. Conclusions
Paulinas struggles stem from her language and speech
impairment. She struggles with decoding of words and is lacking
certain English rules that make it more difficult for her to read,
such as silent letters and an e at the end of the word and
homophones. Learning English is difficult for her, especially
since only Greek is spoken at home. She needs to enrich her
vocabulary and work on her pronunciations. Paulina receives
extra supports in school, which I feel are suffienct for her.
However, she receives no reinforcement once the school day
ends. Paulina needs to have some type of English reinforcement
outside of the classroom.
VII.

Overall Recommendations
a. Major needs to be addressed: Paulina needs to be more English
proficient. The reason her reading is below average is because
she lacks a large English vocabulary. She is also hindered by
sight words. During lessons she gets stuck on very common
words, which completely take her thoughts off of the meaning
and she focuses on pronunciation.

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b. Skills/Strategies Taught- Sight Word Recognition, Synonyms and

Antonyms, Vocabulary, Academic Vocabulary (SS), Homophones,
Pluralizing words
c. Techniques Used- Sight Word Ring, Cloze Reading Activities,
Letter Cards, Letter-Sound Matching, Computer Games, Sight
word bingo, Homophone matching game, Read-alouds, RazKids
(online books)
d. Materials Employed: Paulina used a dry erase board to practice
synonyms and antonyms. She also used paint sample cards to
create a collection of synonyms and antonyms for each word.
Paulina collected sight words on index cards and used a ring
clasp to keep them together for her to study. She also used a
cloze reading activity, where she inserts the sight word into a
paragraph using context clues, to check for understanding of
the word meaning. Paulina used Razkids in school to read on
the computer, while listening to the sounds of the words. To
organize Paulina when learning synonyms and antonyms of
words she used paint sample cards (3 samples per card, she
wrote the word in the middle and a synonym and antonym on
each side). Paulina also played homophone matching games
and sight word bingo, which are teacher generated for her
needs.
e. Suggestions for School Support: Paulina receives many services,
which I agree are appropriate for her needs. I would only
suggest that she continues with her school support. Paulinas

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work is modified, but I suggest modifying subject based texts to

be on her individual level or as close as possible. After school
assistance would also benefit Paulina, even if she attended
homework helpers. I would suggest the more time she spends
with fluent English speaking teachers and students the better
and quicker she will acquire better speaking skills. I would
suggest if possible Paulina have some contact with another
student in the school who speaks Greek, it can be a scheduled
time or a lunch period.
f. Suggestions for Parental Support: Paulinas mother and sister do
not speak English. I would suggest that her mother supply
Paulina with a reading tutor to assist her needs at home. She
cannot get much English reinforcement in her home since her
mother does not speak any English.
g. Suggestions for Student: Paulina enjoys reading independently.
I suggest she continue reading, even though the books are at a
2nd grade reading level, the more Paulina reads the better she
will become. I also recommend that Paulina continue to study
her sight word collection on her own. There are many ipad apps
and on-line games to promote vocabulary and quick recognition
of sight words. Paulina should utilize these tools to help herself
on her own time. I also recommend that Paulina use the Razkids
reading program to read on the computer and listen along using
headphones.

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LESSON PLAN 1:
LESSON TOPIC: Sight words
NEED(S) ADDRESSED: Identification of common English sight words
ASSESSMENT DATA INDICATING EVIDENCE OF NEED:
On the Woodcock Johnson Reading Mastery Test in the Word
Identification subtest Paulina scored well below the average range. Her
standard score is a 78 and her percentile rank is 7. Her age equivalent is 8
years and 5 months and her grade equivalent is a 2.7. Since the Word
Identification subtest is primarily a measure of sight-word vocabulary Paulina
would benefit from sight-word instruction.
COMMON CORE STANDARDS:
RL.6.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a
text
L.6 Acquire and use accurately a range of general words and phrases
sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and
career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary
knowledge when encountering an unknown term important to
comprehension or expression.
OBJECTIVE:
The student will be able to do each of the following:

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1. Associate the appearance of each sight word with its image

2. Read sight words in context
3. Recognize sight words quickly and effortlessly (rapid recognition).
MOTIVATION OR ANTICIPATORY SET:
The teacher will dictate a sight word and Paulina will hold up the card for the
sight word that she hears.
BRIEF PROCEDURE:

The teacher will introduce a list of grade 2 sight words for the student

to look over
The teacher will read each word aloud to the student
Then, the teacher will present the student with a paragraph that uses

all of the sight words

The student will read through the paragraph and highlight each sight

word that she identifies

After, the student will be presented with a cloze reading activity where

she will insert the appropriate sight words using clues from the text
Once finished, the student will read her finished paragraph a loud
Finally, the student will make a flash card for each of her new sight
words and add them to her personal ring of sight words

MATERIALS USED:

Sight word cards

Pictures
Cloze reading activity sheet
Sight word ring

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ASSESSMENT:

The student will be able to quickly identify the 6 new sight words orally
The student will appropriately insert the sight words into the cloze

reading activity
Long term: The student will constantly review the words on her sight
word ring to test for recall

REFLECTIVE ENTRY
This lesson worked well with Paulina. Since we do our work during the
school day, it was an appropriate length of time and did not overwhelm her.
Paulina is consistently working on her sight words with her reading teacher
and ESL teacher. It was good to work with her extra to reinforce her skills.
She struggles with English words, especially words that cannot phonetically
be sounded out. I noticed that she would usually try to sound out a word
even when I told her this was a memorization word. This activity allowed her
to use clues to identify sight words and their meanings. It kept her engaged
since she seemed to take it on as a challenge. Paulina has a great attitude.
She is very active and loves to learn. She does often say she does not know
the answer to questions during class time. During this lesson, she did initially
start saying I dont know and I immediately explained to her that this
lesson is done one-on-one to help her and that I want her to always try,
rather than give up quickly. After that brief discussion, she did not dismiss
any of the words. She put in a great effort. A few times during the
introduction when Paulina could not grasp a word I showed her a picture and

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asked her if she could explain the word in Greek, but she said no. I am not
sure exactly how much of her classification is affected by English being her
second language.
Paulina was successful at this lesson. I had anticipated this lesson
would be on a suitable level for Paulina. I was trying to set her up for
success since often she seems embarrassed when she is incorrect. I did
have to give her some prompts when placing some sight words into the cloze
activity. However, it was difficult for me to tell if she truly was mixing up the
word meanings or just being silly because there was a lot of laughter. I
would rather there be laughter than frustration. I did not want to overburden
her with the lesson, especially since it was additional to her services. Also,
since Paulina really tries to succeed I did not want to cause her to doubt
herself.

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LESSON PLAN 2:
LESSON TOPIC: Synonyms and Antonyms
NEED(S) ADDRESSED: Word comprehension
ASSESSMENT DATA INDICATING EVIDENCE OF NEED:
On the Woodcock Johnson Reading Mastery Test Paulina scored well
below average on the Word Comprehension subtest, which tests synonyms
and antonyms. Since Paulina is an English language learner vocabulary is
difficult for her.
COMMON CORE STANDARDS:
RL.6.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a
text, including figurative and connotativemeanings; analyze the impact of a
specific word choice on meaning and tone.
OBJECTIVE:
The student will be able to:
Identify a common words synonym
Identify a common words antonym

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Know the meaning of antonym and synonym

MOTIVATION OR ANTICIPATORY SET:
The student will watch a Brainpop video clip describing synonyms and
antonyms
BRIEF PROCEDURE:

The teacher will call out words that have the same basic meaning and
call out words that are opposite meaning words. The teacher will ask
students to listen for patterns and relationships among the words as he

reads them.
The teacher will model by listing several words on the board. The

teacher will then list a synonym and antonym for each word listed.
The teacher will then give the student a small white erase board. The
teacher will then call out a word and ask for the synonym or antonym

of that word.
The student will use paint sample cards to write a word, its synonym,

and its antonym

Independently the student will read a sentence, which does not make
sense because an antonym will be placed in the sentence. The student
will identify the incorrect word in the text and switch it to make the
sentence have the correct meaning (sample: The girl was so sad she
laughed! - Change laughed to cried).

MATERIALS USED:

A computer

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Dry erase board

Marker
Paint sample cards
Activity sheet

ASSESSMENT:

The student will correctly identify a words synonym and antonym

Observation of participation in whiteboard activity

REFLECTIVE JOURNAL ENTRY:

Paulina did well with this lesson. She enjoyed using the whiteboard to
write down synonyms and antonyms to words. She used it like it was a
game. She did have difficulty more with synonyms than she did with
antonyms. Often she would dismiss a word and say she could not think of a
response. The independent activity sheet was more difficult for Paulina than
I had anticipated. I did have a inclination that some of the sentences she
would struggle with, but even the more simple ones she had trouble
answering. I was planning on only doing two sentences together to model
and then having Paulina complete the activity independently. However, I had
to prompt her throughout the entire worksheet. She was unsure of herself
most of the time and looked at me for confidence in responding.
I believe this lesson enriches a skill that Paulina needs to work on. I do
feel she needs to practice identifying synonyms and antonyms much more
often. She grasped the concept of what the meaning of the words synonym
and antonym are, but showed difficulty creating them on her own. Paulina
loved the whiteboard activity. Of course any opportunity to use dry erase

27

markers students tend to enjoy. She responded appropriately to almost all of

the words I gave Paulina. Yet, I did use basic vocabulary during this portion
of the lesson to boost her confidence and to allow me to assess her level. I
was already aware from her test that she needed to develop this skill, but
once we moved to more challenging common words Paulina started to shut
down. She looked to me for assistance often. Towards the end of the
independent activity Paulina did not want to do anymore work.

Appendices
(Actual completed documents)