EDLI636 Diagnosis and Remediation of Literacy Disorders

Here is the link to my lesson plan teaching fluency through learning to decode.

This week I assessed Riki, a 8-year-old girl who was more than glad to show me what she knows. We went through 4 vital components of being literate; print awareness, phonemic awareness, phonics and fluency. Print Awareness - In this area, Riki scored amazingly well. She pointed out the front and back of the book I presented to her. She also knew the title, author and illustrator. She started the sentence at the right place and also knew where a sentence ended. This proved to me that she has the basic skills needed to read. Phonemic Awareness - when assessing Rikki on this area I presented Riki with a list of words. I asked Rikki to identify single sounds words and she was able to do so perfectly. She was also able to pick out one word that doesn’t fit from a group of single sounding words. She was also able to combine separate sounds of a word to say a word. This made me confident that she quite aware in this area. Phonics : To test Riki on her phonics skills I used ...

Here is the link to my screencast

While administering the QRI assessment on Mary, I noticed that Mary correctly identified 18 of the 20 words on the level one word list. This led me to conclude that she the first word list is at her independent level. However, when reading the level two word list, Mary had a harder time. She made 3 mistakes and read 17 of the 20 words correctly. This gives her an accuracy rate of 85%, making it somewhere in between instructional and frustration level. The level 3 word list was much harder for Mary, it’s clearly at her frustration level.   After assessing Mary’s word identification level, the examiner completes a comprehensive assessment with an expository passage which is on level 2. Part 1- Assessment of Prior knowledge- Mary scores a 2/9 on this because she was only able to answer 1 of the 3 questions asked. Since Mary knows almost nothing about the topic she was about to read about she probably won’t have the easiest time understanding. Part 2- Oral Reading Miscue Anal...

Click here to view my presentation on intervention programs.

As teachers we all wish for our student’s success. We want students to grow and achieve greatest heights. For that to happen we must provide intervention when deemed necessary. RTI which stands for Response to Interventions is a means of making sure that intervention is effective. The multi-tiered approach gives students evidence-based instruction and intervention. In Tier 1 a general education teacher provides differentiated instruction. It usually is effective for about ¾’s of the students. The rest need more serious intervention. Tier 2 provides targeted intervention happens through small group instruction.   It helps the student catch up with the class while still being responsible for the same curriculum. For the students that this is still not enough Tier 3 provides intense intervention and is provided by a special Ed teacher. My question is what happens when the child does get the intervention needed, can he move back into a lower tier?

QRI-5, Qualitive Reading Inventory-5, is an  informal assessment method used to determine a child’s independent, instructional and frustration level. When administering QRI-5 ,students are given word lists and a few passages which determine the child’s ability to identify words, and the child’s comprehension skills. The purpose of this test is that it helps teachers determine what level text to use in the classroom, decide whether a child needs extra help, and group students properly for reading sessions. I have recently administrated a beginning of the year assessment that felt really similar to QRI-5. While assessing the student I first had her read me a list of words and then read to me two short passages. We used the results to determine where to place the students for reading groups . My impression of QRI-5 is that it is an assessment method worth using since it assesses the vital skills in literacy.

The challenging part of being a teacher are keeping lessons exciting, aligning their lessons with CCSS and ensuring that learning outcomes are met. It is a balance that is hard to find, and teachers must work hard to achieve it. It is imperative to include assessments that measure learning outcomes . The common core toolkit helps teachers remain focused and teaches how to create balanced lessons. The first sample student outcome: "Students demonstrate understanding of a text or texts by working together to identify and ask significant questions to clarify various points of view." In my classroom I would informally assess my students as they participate in literature circle discussions by observing each group . Sample students outcome#2: " Frame, analyze and synthesize information from a range of texts in order to solve problems and answer questions." In my classroom I would assess students formally by having them research a topic and answer questions based...