Groundwater1

Catherine Groundwater
March 14, 2014
Case Study
Educational Issues, Problems, Opportunities
a. Contextual Information
Haley is a fourth grade student at Mossy Creek Elementary School in Cleveland,
GA. MCES serves about 450 students in grades K-5 and is and is one of seven schools in
White County. The 2010 Census Data for White County shows that, of a total population
of 27,144 people, 647 of these people are Hispanic or Latino and 25,824 are Caucasian.
b. Data
Haleys Lexile measure ranges from 375-525L, which is far below the fourth
grade average of 600-830L (Approximate Lexile Range, 2014). Her performance on the
San Diego Quick Assessment shows that she ranks at a third grade instructional level for
literacy. Haleys school does not administer the IRI or 6+1 assessment, but CRCT and
MAP tests are used. Last year, Haley failed some portions of the CRCT and ranked
below level in the MAP tests. Haley has not been labeled as having ADD, ADHD, or
any other type of learning disability.
Regarding interest inventories, Haleys answers describe a happy and energetic
nine year-old. Haley loves dogs, the movie Frozen, and playing video games with her
dad. She humorously describes her favorite video game as, Call of Duty, Black Cops.
Haleys attitude surveys show that she is very confident in her reading and writing ability,
despite her lower-than-average Lexile measure and instructional reading and writing
level. In her attitude survey regarding reading only, Haley answered always to the
statement, It is easy for me to answer questions about stories I read. She also answered
always to, reading is interesting, and, I learn a lot when I read. Despite this
confidence, Haley also answered that she only sometimes enjoys her reading lessons,
likes reading out loud, and feels that reading is her best subject in school. Haley shows
obvious interest and excitement towards reading, yet her confidence is not one hundred
percent.
c. Educational Issues
While Haley is clearly very motivated to read and write, she struggles to establish
fluency in English. Haley has particular trouble mastering subject-verb agreement,
comprehending new vocabulary, and spelling. She is placed in an on-level language arts
classroom, but her teacher differentiates content by instructional level and provides
frequent opportunities for Haley to work with others at her own pace. Although Haley
has not been labeled as having any disabilities that cause distraction, she is incredibly
social; this often inhibits her performance in school. When given an assignment, Haleys
attention quickly focuses on talking with peers instead of working.
d. Problems
Of the multiple factors inhibiting Haleys ability to effectively read and write, the
primary factor is confusion brought about by speaking two different languages. Because
Haleys parents are originally from Mexico, everyone in the household speaks fluent
Spanish at home. While Haley can only speak Spanish, her use of the language at home
causes her confusion with both speaking and writing English at school. Haley struggles

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immensely with acquiring new vocabulary, and she often confuses Spanish grammatical
rules with English ones when writing.
Another factor affecting Haleys progress is her limited attention span. Haleys
frequent need for social interaction distracts her easily and greatly inhibits her
productivity. At this stage of her life, it seems that socializing has taken a much higher
priority over school. Although socialization is an important factor to child development,
the only strategies that have helped Haley stay on-task are those in the spectrum of
punishment.
A third factor influencing Haleys progress in school is her familys socioeconomic status. Haley is part of a large nuclear family, living with her mother, father
and two very young sisters. One of these sisters is a newborn, but Haley describes her as
low maintenance. She says she is relieved that she finally has a sister who sleeps
through the night. Haleys mother and father both work long hours. Her mother works
at Wal-Mart, and Haley says that she wants to work at Wal-Mart too when she grows up.
Her father works in the construction business. Haleys sister is four years younger than
she, and Haley says that they share a bedroom but often argue. While Haley seems to
have a very busy family, her descriptions of each member show strong positive
relationships. This being said, the busy schedules of each family member limits the
amount of time Haley has outside of school to practice her reading and writing. On top
of school, Haley works hard to help her mom take care of the new baby and tries to spend
time with her father whenever he is available. Haley could benefit highly if she stayed in
school longer to practice her reading and writing, but with such a busy family unit this is
not a consistent possibility.
e. Opportunities
I think Haley would benefit greatly from extra practice reading and writing
English outside of school; however, multiple factors hinder Haleys potential for success
in this task. Because both of her parents work full-time, Haleys only mode of
transportation to and from school is the school bus. If she were expected to stay after
school to work on assignments or receive tutoring, Haley could not be provided a
consistent mode of transportation. Additionally, if working after school or at home,
Haleys intense need for socialization could prevent her ability to concentrate on her
work.
Of upmost importance to Haleys success is establishing positive collaboration
between her Language Arts teacher and her parents. If Haleys parents agree that Haley
should practice her English outside of school hours, then they will be more likely to
reinforce the behavior, perhaps by limiting the amount of time spent playing video games
and replacing it with time to do schoolwork. If Haleys teacher understands her parents
point of view regarding language acquisition, she will be more in-tune to Haleys
educational needs. By positive collaboration with each other, Haleys parents and teacher
can establish an intervention plan for Haley that balances both work and play and also
helps her establish fluency in English.
Perspectives
a. Identify all individuals involved

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Haley shows a very strong bond with her mother, father, and two younger sisters.
Haleys mother works at Wal-Mart, and Haley wrote in her Interest Inventory that she
wants to work the same job as her mom when she grows up. While her father also works
full-time, Haley is spends personal time with him outside of work. Haley says that
playing video games with her dad is one of her favorite parts of the day. Haleys sisters
are five years old and one month old. Haley loves her sisters, but admits that she argues
with her five-year-old sister often. She helps her mother take care of her baby sister
often, but says she doesnt mind doing so.
Of her school relationships, Haley speaks highly of all of her teachers. Many of
these teachers have known Haley since kindergarten and have strong bonds. Haley also
has many friends at school and talks often of sleepovers and play dates with classmates.
b. Perspective of student
Mrs. Sosebee, Haleys primary teacher for every period except for connections,
says that she loves Haley like her own child. She believes that Haleys primary struggle
with language stems from speaking Spanish at home. The knowledge of two languages
causes Haley to confuse spelling, subject-verb agreement, and other grammatical rules.
Mrs. Sosebee is currently preparing Haley for the upcoming CRCT but is worried that
Haley will not pass the Language Arts portion.
Haleys connections teachers (music and P.E.) also speak very highly of her.
While talking during instruction is a common complaint, Haley performs well in these
classes and does not struggle with anything language-related.
In regards to perspectives fro other personnel, Haley has not met with a counselor
or school psychologist, and her teachers do not express a need for her doing so.
Knowledge
a. Personal knowledge of student
From learning about students developmental needs through college courses and
ideas from Howard Gardners Theory of Multiple Intelligences, I have learned the
importance of positive social interaction as a context of healthy childhood development.
From this knowledge, it is clear that Haley needs to have her need for socialization
satisfied in a way that is conducive to learning. Additionally, other needs conducive to
positive development may help Haley manage her attention span and achieve progress in
school. As described in the Association for Middle Level Educations position paper
titled This We Believe, some of these needs include the ability to move around often,
frequent access to food and water, and differentiation in teaching methods and strategies
(AMLE, 2014). Based on Abraham Maslows Hierarchy of Needs, if Haley has these
basic social and physical needs satisfied, then she will be far more able to be successful
in higher order tasks in school (McLeod, 2007).
b. Theoretical Knowledge
Additional research supporting the theory for developmentally responsive
curricula comes from the work of Urie Brofenbrenner. Brofenbrenner was an American
Developmental Psychologist best known for his Ecological Systems Theory of Child
Development. His theory explained how everything in a child's environment affects how
a child grows and develops by examining and labeling four different levels of the
environment: the microsystem (the interaction between the child and other people close

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to him or her, such as parents or peers), the mesosystem (the interaction between parents
or peers in child's life and the child's outside environment), the exosystem (the interaction
between the child and other people not as close to him or her), and the macrosystem (the
interaction between the child and larger concepts, such as the economy, the cultural
values of the country, etcetera). In researching these different environments,
Brofenbrenner found that an unhealthy or unstable interaction in or between any of these
systems can significantly affect a child's ability to succeed in school. This research not
only supports developmentally responsive measures to address Haleys learning needs,
but also stresses the importance of positive collaboration between Haleys teacher and
parents.
c. Empirical Knowledge
From my own work with Haley, I have learned that she responds very well to
teaching when given multiple outlets to satisfy her developmental needs. For instance, if
administering a Quickwriting activity without any positive incentive, Haley is prone to
write only one or two sentences and then stop to tell me or another student a story
unrelated to the activity. If she is administered the same assignment but given the
opportunity to talk freely after completion, Haleys productivity dramatically increases.
When Haleys need for socialization is satisfied, she is far more able to concentrate on
her work.
Actions
Haleys frequent use of Spanish at home could be a reason for why she struggles learning
new vocabulary in school. In addition to new vocabulary though, many high frequency words
learned in previous grades are still a struggle for Haley. An effective intervention for Haley
would involve targeted instruction on high-frequency words. In concordance with this, Haley
should also receive daily practice opportunities for developing her reading and writing speed.
Finally, effective classroom management strategies should be practiced to keep Haley from
socializing during class without ignoring her developmental needs. The following strategies
represent recommended actions by Haleys teacher for this plan to succeed:
Implementing word walls in the classroom- Word walls are collections of words posted
in the classroom that students can use for word-study activities and can also refer to while
writing (Wagstaff, 1999). These are simple to create, requiring only construction or
butcher paper, and students and teachers can make them together throughout the school
year. Haleys teacher could even create an individual word list for her to reference in
other classes and outside of school.
Decoding by analogy- This strategy helps students identify unknown words by
associating them with words they already know. If Haley read an unfamiliar word, such
as fright, she may notice the ending -ight and think of a familiar word, light, to
help her decode by analogy.
Decoding through context clues- Haleys class recently learned about how to use
figurative language in reading to hypothesize the meaning of unfamiliar words in text.
Quickwriting- This is another strategy that Haley and I have worked on together and
seemed to show positive results. During this exercise, Haley is given an open-ended
question and 3-5 minutes to write on it. The goal is for her to write without thinking
about spelling or organization, and is solely meant to increase her writing speed and help
with writers block.

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Independent Reading Practice- Because Haley spends most of her time outside of
school playing video games, it would be very beneficial for her to read independently for
10-15 minutes every day at her independent reading level. This could easily be achieved
by making it a requirement for every student at the beginning of class.
Frequent contact with parentsSince Haleys parents have little time to volunteer at her school, it should be a top
priority for Haleys teacher and parents to remain in close contact regarding her
performance. It would be especially helpful if they could create an intervention plan
together to address Haleys fluency acquisition.
Although busy schedules could prevent their meeting in-person, perhaps
collaboration via computer would be the best way to create a plan. As stated by the Early
Childhood Education Journal, Home computer use provides an excellent opportunity for
teachers and parents to collaborate on students learning (Haugland, 1997). Haley
described in her interest inventories that she loves playing computer games, so it is
confirmed that her family has a computer at home. Communicating via email could be
the most consistent way for Haleys teacher and parents to monitor progress and
collaborate on educational strategies.

Consequences
Implementing word walls in the classroom- I think that a word wall would be
incredibly helpful for Haley, since her struggles with spelling significantly impedes on
her writing ability, thereby quickening her propensity to socialize instead of write.
Decoding by analogy- Students naturally learn to read and write through decoding by
analogy, so this strategy could come very naturally to Haley. At the same time, because
Haley is bilingual, she could confuse her analogies by language, thereby defeating the
purpose of the exercise.
Decoding through context clues- Haley and I have practiced this strategy during oneon-one tutoring sessions, and it improved her comprehension greatly. For this reason,
Haley would likely benefit greatly from continuing practice with this strategy.
Quickwriting- Although Haley sometimes shows apprehension towards this exercise, her
writing speed and eagerness to write has increased since starting this activity in the
beginning of the semester. The drawback to this exercise is that it does not prevent Haley
from wanting to socialize while writing. Something I have found helpful to combat this
drawback is to provide Haley with a social incentive to write quietly for three minutes.
Last time, I told her that she could tell me a story for the same amount of time spent
writing, as long as she doesnt talk while writing. This incentive proved to be incredibly
effective, and Haley doubled her writing speed.
Independent reading practice- By simply reading 10-15 minutes every day, Haleys
reading speed would likely increase immensely, as well as her comprehension. Again
though, there would have to be some sort of incentive or effective classroom management
policy in place for Haley to not talk to her classmates during this activity.

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Frequent contact with parentsEstablishing a positive relationship between teachers and parents is always a
crucial aspect to effective teaching; however, because of Haleys parents busy schedules,
it could prove very difficult to maintain constant contact with them. In the same way, it
could be difficult for them to reinforce planed strategies when their schedules are not
consistent.
Additionally, while computer use may be the best way for Haleys teacher and
parents to remain in contact, this may not always be consistent. Her parents may be too
busy to check their email daily, or they may not have email at all. These are important
factors to consider when brainstorming ways to promote parent-teacher collaboration.

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References
AMLE. (2014). This we believe. Retrieved from
http://www.amle.org/AboutAMLE/ThisWeBelieve/tabid/121/Default.aspx#122516-the16-characteristics
Approximate lexile range relate to grade level reading. (2014). Poway Unified School District.
Retrieved from http://www.powayusd.com/teachers/mdensmore/MAPS/Lexile
%20Range.pdf
California Department of Public Education. (n.d.) Developmentally responsive middle grades
practices. Retrieved from http://pubs.cde.ca.gov/tcsii/ch4/devresponmgprctces.aspx
Haugland, S. (1997). Childrens home computer use: An opportunity for parent/teacher
collaboration. Early Childhood Education Journal, 25(2). Retrieved from
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023%2FA%3A1025632822773?LI=true#page-1
McLeod, S. (2007). Maslows hierarchy of needs. Retrieved from
http://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html.
United States Census. (2010). 2010 census interactive population search. Retrieved from
http://www.census.gov/2010census/popmap/ipmtext.php?fl=13:13311