Scenario:
George, grade 5, has been doing poorly in reading and literature. His recent tests show that he does well in spelling, and his parents say he reads aloud quickly; however he doesn't seem to fully understand what he's reading. He is full of energy, but is easily distracted and often loses his homework or takes too long finishing tasks.
Assessing the Situation:
After I review George's recent tests and schoolwork, I have him take the McLeod Assessment of Reading Comprehension. When he is finished we begin working on his homework for the night: reading a passage about how seeds grow and answering comprehension questions. I ask him to read aloud. He reads quickly, but without attention to natural pauses and punctuation. As I help him, I notice that his homework, worksheets, notes, and schoolwork for all subjects are all held in one folder, and that he doesn't have his homework assignment written down.
After reviewing George's McLeod diagnostic, I find that his scores put him on an early fourth grade reading level (one year behind). I suspect that improving his reading fluency will also improve his reading comprehension, but I will want to see how he scores on the Fry Oral Reading test before we begin to set goals. His disorganization is no doubt adding to the length of time it takes him to complete his homework, so I will want to set up some organizational systems with him as well.
When George and I meet for our next session, we begin by setting up his new assignment notebook where he will record each day's homework. I also have him sort his worksheets and assignments by subject, and he assigns each subject to a different section of his binder. I remind him of how important it is for him to keep his papers in the correct section, and I tell him that I'll be checking his binder & assignment notebook to make sure that they stay organized. He then begins working on the Fry Oral Reading diagnostic. When he is finished, we move on to his homework for the evening: a few math problems and a reading passage about Thanksgiving. As he reads the passage aloud, I question him about the meanings of the more difficult vocabulary words, and explain the words he doesn't understand. When he is finished reading, I ask him for the main idea of the passage, but he is unable to identify it.
After reviewing George's Fry Oral Reading diagnostic, I find that he is again scoring at a fourth grade reading level. His oral reading was very rushed and without regard to pauses and punctuation. However, he does not seem to have trouble sounding out words he is unfamiliar with.
Setting Goals:
George can sound out words he doesn't understand and does well in spelling; however, he does not understand the bulk of what he is reading. He has trouble finding the main idea of a passage, and his reading is rushed and without expression. He finds more advanced vocabulary challenging, and often gets distracted or loses his assignments. Thus, he, his parents and I set the following goals:
1. Improve George's reading comprehension as measured by the McLeod Assessment of Reading Comprehension. George will improve from an early fourth grade level to a late fifth, or early 6th grade level.
2. Improve George's oral reading fluency as measured by the Fry Oral Reading Test. George will improve from a fourth grade level to a 6th grade level.
3. Improve George's vocabulary. This goal is set informally, but George and I will practice regularly with sets of vocabulary words from appropriate grade levels.
4. Improve George's organization and attention to tasks as measured by regular checks of his binder and assignment book, as well as an informal assessment of how efficiently he works.
Achieving Success:
George will need to learn different concepts and skills in order to succeed in each of his goals. George's most important goal is to improve his reading comprehension (Goal 1). The rest of his goals are steps to achieving this larger goal, so we will work on them first, beginning with Goal 2: Improving Reading Fluency. Once he has improved his fluency and vocabulary, he will be better prepared to attack Goal 1: Improving Reading Comprehension. Here are the steps we will take in achieving each of his goals, beginning with Goal 2.
Goal 2: Improve Reading Fluency:
George will improve his reading fluency by regularly practicing reading aloud with me. I will model appropriate pauses and intonation and he will echo me. We will also read a few passages together, in which he will fill in the next sentence (with correct intonation) when I pause. Other practice techniques will include identifying where pauses should go in written exercises, and reading chorally with me to mimic intonation. George will practice these skills with me during each session, and we will use his reading homework to put these skills to use.
Goal 3: Improving Vocabulary:
George will improve his vocabulary through direct lessons on specific words, in addition to learning how to figure out what a word means by himself. I will use grade-level vocabulary lists to give him regular lessons on new vocabulary words, and he will practice them through a combination of oral, kinetic, written, and visual means. Furthermore, George will learn how to use context clues, references books, and the parts of a word (roots, suffixes, prefixes) to figure out the meaning of a word.
Goal 1: Improve Reading Comprehension
Once George has achieved his first two goals of improving his reading fluency and vocabulary, he should already be a long way towards improving his overall comprehension. However, he will also begin learning direct reading comprehension strategies (summarizing, finding the main idea, putting events in chronological order, determining true/false and fact/opinion, making predictions, determining the author's purpose, describing a character, etc). George and I will practice these skills together using the reading he needs to do for homework. We will concentrate on one specific skill or strategy at a time. I will begin by describing and modeling the skill and then we will practice doing it together. When George feels comfortable, he will practice using this skill on his own until he feels ready to move on to the next one.
Goal 4: Improve George's Organization and Attention:
George will improve his organization by writing his assignments down everyday and keeping his papers in order. I will check his binder and assignment book during each session to make sure he is doing this. George will also have a checklist of everything he needs to bring to tutoring. Before he can sit down, he needs to check everything off to make sure that he has everything he needs. If necessary, he can also make checklists for heading to school or coming home. If his preparedness improves significantly, he will get a small reward (perhaps playing a vocabulary game instead of making flash cards, or getting a small reward at home). Hopefully, George's growing investment and interest in his success will cause him to become less distracted during homework time; however, if he still has trouble concentrating, more direct methods could be used. For example, he could use a stopwatch to track how long he's able to stay on task without getting distracted.
Measuring Progress
George and I will set a schedule for each session showing how much time we will spend on his homework and each goal he is striving towards. We will measure his progress after a set number of weeks so that he can see that the work he is putting in is paying off. Each goal is measured by either retaking the original diagnostic, or by continually tracking his performance over time. George's results will be communicated to him and his parents, and his successes will be celebrated so that he understands how important his education is.
Communication Results:
After each session, I will email a report to George's parents containing George's homework assignment for the night, what work he completed, how his behavior & efficiency fared, what skills and goals we worked on, and how well he mastered each concept. Additionally, each time George retakes a diagnostic test, these results will also be included in the report.