Description of Students Deficit

Reading fluency is the ability to read quickly and is the bridge between
decoding and comprehension (Tompkins, 184). Fluent readers are able to
recognize familiar words automatically without conscious thoughtIts
critical that students know most of the words theyre reading because when
they have to stop to decode words, their reading slows down (Tompkins,
184).
This research shows that if Steve is not able to automatically recognize
words, he will not be a fluent reader and also not be able to comprehend
text. Tompkins also writes that students are able to read text successfully
when they know at least 95% of the words. That is about 19 out of every 20
words. If students are not able to recognize this much of the text, then the
student is stopping too often to figure out the unfamiliar words (Tompkins,
184). Steves scores on the high-frequency words assessments every quarter
show that he is using the time to decode the words rather than be able to
automatically recognize the words.
Data of Student and Tier 2 Practice
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4

April 15
Q.1 - 15/24
April 22
Q.1 - 18/24
April 29
Q.2 - 15/24
May 6
Q.2 - 18/24

April 16
Q.1 - 14/24
April 23
Q.1 - 20/24
April 30
Q.2 - 15/24
May 7
Q.1 18/24
Q.2 16/24

For tier two instruction, I taught Steve and three or four other students
who are struggling. I used flashcards with each of the quarters sight words
written on it and showed each individual card to them for them to read off of.
The group of students had a difficult time with all four quarters sight words,
so I decided to focus on practicing only quarter one and two sight words. If
students were not able to read the word I had them practice making the first
letter sound to be able to help them read the word. If students were still not
able to read it then, I read it back to them. The card that I read to the
students I counted as a wrong. This process took five to ten minutes every
session. For the first two weeks I had students practice quarter one sight
words and the next three sessions I practiced quarter two sight words. The
last session was a combination of both quarter one and two sight words. I
decided to use the flashcard method of teaching sight words because
students need to be able to automatically recognize these words, so it should
be a quick process. I also used explicit instruction in teaching the sight words
because Tompkins writes, teachers teach the high-frequency words using
explicit instruction (Tompkins, 185).
The chart above shows the Steves scores over a four-week period,
twice a week. Above I used the abbreviations, Q.1 and Q.2, this represents
quarter one sight words, Q.1, and quarter two sight words, Q.2, that I
practiced tier two instruction on. Each quarter the students should be able to
learn 24 sight words every quarter. Thus the scores show the amount correct
over the total amount for that quarters sight words.

After looking at Steves data, it showed little improvement. His scores

seem to be stable or improve at a very slow rate. I noticed that most words
he had trouble on were words beginning with a B or D because he would
mix up the letter sound with a P sound. He would also mix up the letter
sound for M, usually using the letter sound, N, instead. Steve also had
difficulties with digraphs (ch, th, sh, etc.) and words that had a silent e at
the end of it like the word like. Here is a list of words that he got incorrect
for quarter 1 and quarter 2 sight words during my last session:

Quarter 1 Sight Words

Incorrect
Gave
Girl
Friend
Give
Father
Goes
Like
Had

Quarter 2 Sight Words

Incorrect
Dont
Book
Down
Came

References
Tompkins, G. (2006). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (6th
ed.).
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education/Merrill/Prentice Hall.