RUNNING HEAD: Statement on Development

Development Statement: Student Portfolio Project

Violet R. Brooks

University of Alaska Southeast

Katy Spangler

5/19/2018
 2

Abstract:

Attached is a student portfolio created for Literacy and Young Children course at the University
of Alaska Southeast. In it, I track the work of Cailee H.R. throughout her first semester of
Kindergarten. Through performance tracking and classroom observation, I noticed that Cailee
H.R. was meeting most kindergarten expectations and growing according to state expectations.
Cailee H.R. did however leave us after her first semester to move out of state, which is all-to-
common in out title one school. I have also included ideas for my ideal literacy classroom and
how I plan to improve student literacy outside of curriculum materials.

Key Words: Title one, Kindergarten, Development, literacy, communication.

 3

Although it’s only been a year, I have learned so much from reviewing this work. Cailee

H.R. was a wonderful and bright student to work with who was always very excited to see me

come into the room. Although I worked with her as often as possible, we did have an issue where

she was often sick, so our time together lacked consistency. She did make notable gains

throughout the semester, improving on phonetic awareness and letter identification, but I feel if I

had been able to work with her more regularly and perhaps assign some homework ( her parents

were involved and invested in her education) she may have began reading simple books before

leaving after Winter Break.

Cailee H.R. came to us as an emergent reader. She was aware, during our word with the

“Sand” story, that each block of letters represented a word. She knew to start from left and read

to right. She knew that words connected with the pictures, and she knew how to correctly hold a

text (even going so far as to flip the book over when the images were upside down). Although

she could not read the words, she would make up her own and fit them to what was on the page,

much like a word puzzle. When I would read words to her, she would compare the starting letter

sounds to what was on the page. Cailee H.R. was not shy to let me know if I was reading it

“wrong”. Being very vocal and stating that “That’s not the right letter!”

I have noticed, as I moved through older grades, that some of my students are also

struggling with these foundational skills. Though many can put letters together to form words,

some are still struggling with phonetic awareness and non-traditional vowel sounds. Some of

these students are my English Language Learners, and others seem to be struggling with a

vocabulary gap. Since reading is so intrinsically intertwined with language, I feel the most

powerful way to improve reading is through discussion, read-alouds that encourage peer

interaction, and writing.

 4

Discussion is key because it empowers students to understand the intrinsic value of their

vocabulary (Giovacchini, M. 2017).. A wider vocabulary goes hand in hand with a better ability

to express oneself to others. Much like a painters pallet, by having more choices, they can paint

a clearer picture. Activities like root-word and Latin-root study will help students be able to

independently break down and understand words they may never have experienced before, both

orally and in print (Green, G. (2017). By teaching this ‘chunking’ of language, students will be

able to indentify phoetic blocks and more quickly move from alphabetic readers to word pattern

identifiers.

In my own classroom, I think I will included read-alouds to help with the phonetic

awareness and language acquisition, even up to middles school grades. This will not be simply

listening to an audio book, but instead will be a few chapters read during down time but

accompanied with movement breaks and student summation to encourage discussion and

improve comprehension (Kreider, C.S. 2018). These reading and brain break ideas will

incorporate movement and help with whole-body learning. Students will have to demonstrate

actions that are taking place on paper, which can help other students increase their own

vocabulary and make kinetic connections of words to actions(Weaver, 2002). Read alouds are a

golden tool. A student can listen and be entrapped by an energetic reader and be drawn into a

story if done properly. Because the physical act of reading is done for them, students can focus

on enjoying the story, assessing meaning and strengthening comprehension while building

vocabulary. The read aloud levels the playing field of a struggling reader(Meyer, N. K., &

Bouck, E. C.., 2017).

Too often students overlook books, or tune out readers, because they do not find value or

don’t understand the material. I have found, however, that an animated reading of the first few
 5

chapters will dramatically increase the likelihood of a student picking up and reading a book.

Specifically if it’s a book that I emphasize is a good one and have them create their own

animations or articulations for.

I will also make it a point to read students books that will surprise them. Recently, when

doing a 5th grade read aloud on James and the Giant Peach, I was blown away by how shaken

the students were when the two cruel aunts were crushed by the peach. As the students pointed

out, this was a children’s book. How could the author kill the aunts? Even if they were cruel to

James, that’s not “school appropriate”. When I compare this to my third graders listening to

The Witches however, the younger group is far more accepting of the information (The Witches

containing several stories of children being abducted and killed) and often lining up to check out

the book from the class or school library.

Students are often quick to point out that they’ve seen the movies for these books. I am

equally quick to mention how much of the book is edited so that the movie can be given a nicer

ending, or a better movie rating. I call on these students often when doing read alouds, to ask

them what’s different, or what is the same. This promotes student engagement and encourages

critical thinking.

My final idea is to improve literacy through writing. Even in the younger grades, the

importance of writing and becoming more comfortable with pencil, pen, crayon, etc. is

important. As technology advances, we see children becoming less and less tactile and we

should encourage comfort and pleasure in writing as much as possible. This can be done in a

variety of ways from things as small as a pencil grip and slant boards to allowing children to

write anywhere in the room. Students should be encouraged to write out their thoughts even in

the emergent stage of literacy. Making that connection that letters are an expression of
 6

individual though, and empowering the act of writing down what is important to the individual at

early scaffolding will help to instill a love of writing early in a child’s development. Advancing

this later with typing instruction and tools like spell-check and grammar-check can help a student

to improve in both reading and writing as they identify errors through repetition and correct

them.
7
 8

UAS ED 661

Student Assessment
Portfolio
Cyliee H.R./ Ms.Meissner’s Class
Violet Rainbeaux Brooks

Fall 2017

[TYPE THE COMPANY ADDRESS]

 9

Table of Contents

Introduction: Page 3

Concepts About Print: Page 4

Assessment of Student Writing Samples: Page 7

Current Running Record: Page 9

Summary: Page 11
 10

Introduction:

Cyliee H.R. is 6 years old and can only be described as an outgoing, fantastic, well

spoken little girl. She is incredibly loving and eager to please, but by can be stubborn and proud

as well. When she first began school, there was some fear of learned helplessness since she is

the only child of two older parents (56,62). She is used to getting her own way, and is easily

distracted. She loves praise and being helpful however, so asking for her to help you with a task

is often the best way to get her back on track.

She is tenacious in her learning. When we initially met, she was not yet reading but she

has made stronger and stronger connections between spoken and written language. Cyliee

initially presented with an understanding of a 1:1 ratio of oral language to written word. In her

Concept About Print assessment, she knows the proper way to hold a book, she can identify

when text is upside down and she understands the deep connections between images and text.

Cyliee could point out letters, but did not know the differences between question marks,

commas, or periods. She was very proud of showing me examples of letters and words that she

could identify around the room.

Over the course of our time together, Cyliee has strengthened as a reader in her

understandings of letter sounds and whole word identification. Where Cyliee originally would

barrel through a text making up her own words to fit the number on a given page, she now slows

down and assesses letters and sight words and compares them to the illustrations provided. The

evolution of Cyliee’s ability is phenomenal in the way that only a kindergarten brain can be. As

she and her classmates move through curriculum and improve their vocabularies and letter/word

recognition, they are blooming into emergent readers who are preparing to conquer the world.
 11

Concepts about Print:

12
13
 14

Assessment of Student Writing and Sample

This emergent writing sample was collected in the kindergarten class of Ms.Meissner. The

Student, Cyliee, was one of several students who’s work was analyzed. The ASW is a process

ref;ectomg the analysis of all samples. However, the names and writing samples of classmates

other than Cyliee have been removed. The data was left unchanged and is included with the

presentation for Continuity. Cyliee’s work sample is included.

 15

Met Developing Not Yet

 objectives
Letters objectives
facing the right Student name objectives
contained errors Writing illegible

direction Student had most symbols on Student gave up.

 All Symbols present paper Student broke down.

Sight Word written on Student did not understand Student failed to follow any

back directional terms instructions.

 Student read sight word Student could not identify sight

to teacher when turning word when turning in paper.

in paper

 Student
Students: maintained
HL, ID, JV, PL, RH, Students: EW, SK, CH, KH, Students: AS, JH, KH, LC, CM,

SA, good attitude KN, PB, LE, LV, RM MR

29 % of class 43 % of class 29 % of class

Met Developing Not Yet

possible skills to work on for possible skills to work on for possible skills to work on for
 Whole word  Letter identification  Time on task
this group of students: this group of students: this group of students:
identification  Name identification  Positive mindset work

 Storybook analysis  Directional terms  Self-motivational

 Advance shape (above, below, inside) techniques

identification  Sight word  Practice in

 Practice writing identification drawing/orally telling

stories.
 16

Exemplar:
 17

Current Running Record

18
 19

Summary of Understanding:

Cyliee is doing very well from her beginnings earlier in the year. Her can-do spirit is

helping her to excel in her reading. Repetitive books with lots of visual cues seem to be the right

reading level for her at the moment, and I would recommend audio books to help improve her

vocabulary. During the course of our running records, Cyliee has learned to slow down and

examine words she is not sure of. In her running records, we can see this progression. We had a

teachable moment with compound words and although I suspect it’s a problem she will run into

again, I don’t see it holding her back for long.

Cyliee’s writing is well within range for her grade, and as she continues to work on it, her

hand is becoming more steady. She is copying complete sentences now, and can sometimes

write sentences using sight words that are available on the back wall of the room. When given

cards with the sight words on them, she can reliably make sentences. She does still struggle with

some vowel sounds when given letter sound cards (21/26 correct) but this will improve with

more time reading.

 20

References:

Meyer, N. K., & Bouck, E. C. (2017). Read-Aloud Accommodations, Expository Text, and
Adolescents with Learning Disabilities. Learning Disabilities: A Multidisciplinary
Journal, 22(1), 34-47.

Giovacchini, M. (2017). Timed Partner Reading and Text Discussion. English Teaching
Forum, 55(1), 36-39.

Green, G. (2017, January 1). Oral Vocabulary and Language Acquisition Strategies to Increase
Literacy. ProQuest LLC,

Kreider, C. S. (2018). Read and Move: A New Approach to Read-Aloud Time in Primary
Grades. Childhood Education, 94(2), 64-71

Weaver, C. (2002). Reading process and practice. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.