Anna Henrickson

EDRD 716

November 16, 2016

Self-Reflection
EDRD 716 Self-Reflection

If the childs language development seems to be lagging it is misplaced sympathy to do his

talking for him. Instead, put your ear closer, concentrate more sharply, smile more rewardingly
and spend more time in genuine conversation, difficult though it is (Clay, 1991, pg. 69). This
quote guided me throughout my tutoring sessions at Seven Oaks with Noah B. Using varied
reading assessments, HT observations (Stephens, 2007), and peer collaboration allowed me to
hone in on Noahs strengths and growth areas as a reader. My observations not only helped me
to learn about Noah as a reader, but helped me to identify my own patterns, strategies, and
weaknesses as a reading teacher.
Although I was not paired with another teacher while tutoring Noah, I often collaborated
with other groups after my sessions. I found myself asking questions that mainly revolved
around how I could engage Noah more successfully while reading books and help keep him
focused during our short time together. With the advice from my professor and peers, I began by
creating a schedule that allowed Noah activity breaks which kept him focused and engaged
during our work period. These short breaks, often drawing a picture or creating Play-Doh
sculptures, were normally only five to ten minutes long and gave Noah the opportunity to work
out his energy before returning to a book or instruction.
My peers also helped me to realize that Noah understands that reading is about makingmeaning based on his reading miscues, yet he may still rely heavily on teacher confirmation.
Noahs high-level miscues often did not change the meaning of the story; however, when I
initially asked Noah what he would do if his friend was struggling to read, he answered that he
would tell them to ask the teacher. This observation led my peers and I to believe that he was
not confident enough in his own reading abilities to help his friends. Therefore, one of my goals

Anna Henrickson
EDRD 716

November 16, 2016

Self-Reflection

during our reading sessions was to build Noahs confidence as a reader. Johnston states that,
Inviting a child to attend to internal feelings of pride builds upon the sense of agency and at the
same time attaches an internal motivation to the activity (2004, pg. 25). It was my hope that
bolstering his reading confidence would also strengthen his positive feelings towards reading.
I quickly learned that Noah is a bright and energetic first grader who loves to read and
watch anything that involves Marvel comic book characters. With this knowledge, I began to
bring books to our meetings that included characters like the Avengers, Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles, and Spider Man. The idea behind this focus was to, help [him] use the knowledge [he]
has to figure out the unknown (Stephens, 2013, pg. 98). Noah already had a large amount of
background knowledge of the characters and stories outlined in these books, and due to his
confidence with these stories, he could more successfully read and predict words. He was also
able to build on his preferred reading strategy of using picture clues because he recognized the
characters and story lines.
While using these familiar books, I tried to incorporate new and different stories,
Clifford, Skippyjon Jones, and Mo Willems books, in hopes of broadening Noahs reading
confidence. These books also incorporated vibrant and relatable pictures which I felt would
encourage Noahs confidence when using his chosen reading strategy. For our first assessment,
the Running Record, Noah read Clifford Makes a Friend by Norman Bridwell (1998), guided
reading level G, a Kindergarten book. During his reading, Noah read cartwheel as backflip
in the sentence The dog did a cartwheel. The picture accompanying the text showed a dog
performing a cartwheel over the boy. This high-level miscue confirmed my belief that Noah
could successfully use the pictures to help him decode unknown words.

Anna Henrickson
EDRD 716

November 16, 2016

Self-Reflection

As we continued our sessions, I began to understand that self-corrections help us see

what the child can do; they are indications of problem solving in action. (Johnson, 2006, pg.
162) It was clear that Noah was monitoring his reading, often working on a phrase in his reading
until it made sense. While conducting my miscue analysis, Noah repeated a line six separate
times until he felt satisfied that it made sense within the story. During this assessment, Noah
read I Am Invited to a Party! By Mo Willems (2007), guided reading level H. He read fancy
as funny in the sentence, Wait! What if it is a fancy party? making the sentence, Wait! What
if it is a funny party?. Later on, during our RMA, I asked Noah, What makes you think this
word says funny? he responded by stating, because the elephant is dressed up funny and the
word has the letters f and y. Although he was continuing to use his picture clues, he had
begun to use a new reading skill, the beginning and ending sounds of words. This conversation
and my observations allowed me to notice Noahs strengths and growth even in the short time of
a couple of sessions.
The more tailored the instruction is toward each childs specific needs, the more
beneficial the interaction will be for that student. (Johnson, pg. 2) Therefore, it was important to
pay close attention during both formal and informal assessments to help Noah learn skills in the
most organic way. Towards the end of our sessions, I found that Noah had not yet been taught,
or did not remember, how to deliver a re-tell of a story. I found this the most pressing gap
because re-tell is an integral part of the reading assessments that he will be given in school.
My mini-lesson gave Noah a set of steps to help him re-tell a story to the best of his
ability. First, we read King of the North Pole by Lisa Shea (2012), a Marvel book in which Loki
steals the North Pole from Santa Clause, and the Avengers must work together to save Christmas.
After finishing the story, I asked Noah, If you liked this story, how would you tell someone

Anna Henrickson
EDRD 716

November 16, 2016

Self-Reflection

about it? I felt it was important to explain the meaning of [something] not only as it relates
to the context of the story, but also with another example connecting to the childs own life.
(Johnson, 2006, pg. 59) Therefore, by explaining retelling as something he would use in his
everyday life, even outside of the classroom, I was hopefully making it seem more significant to
Noah personally.
The steps I included in my mini-lesson were, First start by telling them where the story
happened, then who was in the story, the characters. Next you would tell them the problem.
Third you can tell them how they fixed the problem, and finally, you would tell them what
happened at the end of the story. Noah and I talked through these steps one-by-one using a
poster that I used in my own classroom for re-telling. This outline helped Noah to include more
details, major events, and the problem and solution of the story during his re-tell of King of the
North Pole. When our session ended, I allowed Noah to take home the poster that we used so
that his mother could use it when he read after school.
In addition to collaborating with my peers, I had the opportunity to work with a science
teacher in New Orleans. Every week, over the phone, we would have a work session about the
reading abilities of her students and how to differentiate the reading material for her unit. Her
first unit had a heavy focus on motion, and some of her students were struggling to read the
material that she presented to them in class and for homework. We looked at their English
reading scores and determined the level at which these students would be able to access the
information. Using this knowledge, we worked together to differentiate the texts so that lowerlevel reading students could access the material without much support. Using websites like
readworks.org, scholastic.com, and the textbooks in her classroom, we leveled the texts based on
the students abilities. This allowed for all students to gather the information regardless of their

Anna Henrickson
EDRD 716

November 16, 2016

Self-Reflection

reading ability and ultimately helped improve discussions in class and fact retention based on the
results of her weekly exit slips.
The best method [for teaching reading and writing] is one in which children do not learn
to read and write but in which both these skills are found in play situations... In the same way as
children learn to speak, they should be able to learn to read and write (Vygotsky & Cole,1978,
p. 118). Throughout our ten sessions, Noah and I had many conversations over a wide variety of
subjects. I felt it was imperative to engage Noah in conversations where I asked him questions
because it pushed him to think about his own feelings and thoughts about reading. We discussed
his favorite books, characters, and what he found challenging about reading. As we continued to
learn from each other, Noah became more comfortable and confident. Noah proved that his
reading abilities improved when he chose books that he was interested in, was very focused
when writing stories, and excelled at communicating his ideas through art.
I am hopeful that our sessions together taught Noah to begin to love reading and gave
him the confidence, and hence the freedom, to be more proactive about reading, choosing books
that he loves and reading on his own. Literacy is inseparable from opportunity, and opportunity
is inseparable from freedom. The freedom promised by literacy is both freedom from from
ignorance, oppression, poverty- and freedom to- to do new things, to make choices, to learn.
(Koichiro Matsuura, UNESCOs director general, Johnson, pg. 179)

Anna Henrickson
EDRD 716

November 16, 2016

Self-Reflection
References

Bridwell, Norman. Clifford Makes a Friend. New York: Scholastic, 1998. Print.
Clay, M. M. (1998). Conversation as one model of teaching interactions. In Clay, M. M., By
different paths to common outcomes. York, ME: Stenhouse.
Johnston, P. (2004). Choice words: How our language affects childrens learning. Portland, MN:
Stenhouse Publishers. ISBN: 978-1571103895.
Johnson, P. (2006). One child at a time: Making the most of your time with struggling readers K6. Stenhouse. ISBN: 978-1571104342.
Shea, Lisa, Dario Brizuela, and Andres Ponce. King of the North Pole. New York, NY: LB Kids,
2012. Print.
Stephens, D. (2013). Reading assessment: Artful teachers, successful students. Urbana, IL:
NCTE. ISBN: 978-0814130773.
Stephens, D. (2007). Hypothesis-test sheet. [Class Handout]. College of Education; University of
South Carolina, Columbia, SC.
Willems, Mo. I Am Invited to a Party! New York: Hyperion for Children, 2007. Print.