Alexandra Avila

7-12 Certification
April 19, 2016
READ-4340.50
Case Study Summary

Overview:
Saul Zamora, Age 13, 7th grade. Sauls strengths include attempting to
do his work and pass his classes; he has really improved since the
beginning of the case study. The student needs to work on vocabulary
and sentence structure. Sauls interest includes playing outdoors and
video games. Sault needs revolve around applying more structure and
discipline when it comes to his studies.

Impact on child:
Saul liked assessments A, B, and C, the most because it made him
think about his learning experience and how he has progressed over
the years. He enjoyed, that I, a professional, took interest in his
personal life and took the time to ask him questions about himself.

For the lesson, Saul began to understand how reading on a daily basis
could help him become a better reader. He began to read a bit more
often in order to gain the ability to read fluently and with a higher
speed.

In summary, Saul learned new things about himself as a reader and a

student. He began to understand that not only in sports you should
practice everyday, but in school as well.

Assessment A
The emphasis on the assessment was to Asses the students home life.
For Assessment A, Saul demonstrated how he lives and his Home. The
tutee was a little shy at first, because he was not used to
teachers/tutors taking interest in his personal life. Most of the time, his
coaches are. Learning about the student, where he comes from, what
his home life is like, helps us as teachers understand where he needs
help, if he needs motivations, school supplies, anything that can make
learning a lot easier. Of course I expected him to play football and all
the sport he does because hes at the age were he wants to be active.
Overall, I think this is something I would implement in my classroom in
order to help me get to know who my students really are. I would not
however, interview them personally, I would assign it as a take home
exam in order to save valuable class time.

Assessment B
The emphasis on this assessment was to show Saul, that reading
does not only occur in school, but everywhere he goes. Saul was
surprised to see how often he used this particular skill effortlessly.
Assessment B was a bit of a challenge for my student, because it was a
very tedious assignment. He often mentioned how he did not like this
assignment although it was interesting to see how often he read
outside of classroom. It was not a surprise that he did not like this
assignment because I often notice he is sometimes lethargic to do his
work. I emphasized the importance of recognizing of reading not only
in the classroom but outside as well.

24-hour Reading Log for K-12 Students

Code Name (Fake Name for Tutoring_______________________
For a 24-hour period, write what you read within a 24 hour period. Be
specific (e.g., stop sign vs. sign). Have at least 4 items per number.

1.

When you get up and get ready for the day:

(example: cereal box)

Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
Clothes brands
Makeup brands
Tortilla brand

1. When riding in a car or bus or walking to school:

(Example: stop sign)

Facebook
Instagram Twitter
School bus
Stop sign
Street signs
Store signs
Billboards
School name on school

1. When at school:

(Example: Science book )

Milk sign during breakfast

Posters on the walk

Definitions on the wall
The numbers on the wall
The restroom signs
The definitions on the wall
The things the teacher wrote on the board
All the text books in my classes
The t-shirts the students are wearing
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram

4.

When doing homework:

(Example: Directions for homework assignment)

Lol I dont do homework

5.

During play (evenings, weekends, and days off school):

(Example: Comic book)

Video game box

The words they are saying when the game doesnt talk

The basketball game jersey

The score
The stats on the players
The commercials
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
House number
The soda sign

Assessment C
The emphasis on Assessment C was to analyze Sauls reading
confidence. More importantly I was able to find out the confidence
level my student had for himself, when it came to reading. For this
assessment, I was able to find out where he needed the most help
because of what he thought about his reading skills. He also
understood, where he stood and what he could do to improve.
Personally I think helping him understand what a good reader is,
helped him know what he has to do in order for him to start
understanding a lot more when he is reading. Helping his recognize his
own fears and weakness helped him understand why paying attention
in class is important. My tutee did was very lethargic at first to answer
my questions. He did not like this assignment and I personally think it

was because it made him see his weakness, but at the end of the day, I
think he understood what part of his life he needs to change in order
to become a better student.

Burke Reading Interview

by Carolyn Burke (1987)
Name ________________________________ Date___________
1. When you are reading and you come to something you dont know,
what do you do?
I ignore it and go on reading.
2. Do you ever do anything else?
No, like what, look it up in the dictionary? No, I dont.
3. Who do you know who is a good reader?
My classmate Abby, shes a huge nerd.
4. What makes him/her a good reader?
She reads a lot and shes always doing her homework and
doing good on exams.
5. Do you think she/he ever comes to something she/he doesnt know
when reading?
If your answer is yes, what do you think he/she does about it?
6. What do you think is the best way to help someone who doesnt
read well?
Practice? I know that when I practice in football I feel like I am
always getting better., so I feel like it would be the same thing.

7. How did you learn to read? What do you remember? What helped
you to learn?
I dont really remember I just knew how to read, but I do
remember my teacher reading to me and we would say things
back to her.
8. What would you like to do better as a reader?
I would like to be able to read more but I just find it very
boring and it gives me a headache.
9. Describe yourself as a reader.
Kinda slow. I stutter and I am embarrassed to read out loud
sometimes.
10. Using a scale of 5 to 1, with 5 being a terrific reader, what overall
rating would you
give yourself as a reader
2
Assessment D
The emphasis on assessment D was for the student to see where he
compares to on standardized exams. As early as January, teacher
starts prepping students in preparation for the upcoming. Of course,
being a middle school student he was unhappy about testing on the
day of. I used the assessment the teacher gave during a rehearsal for
the real STAAR exam. He is impatient and hating testing because the
school was on lockdown. The student did poorly; he scored a 37% on
the exam. I later asked him about it and he stated he hated testing and
put whatever. I tried to emphasis the importance of standardized

test. I believe he is capable of getting a higher score if he were to put

more effort into his exams.

Assessment F
The emphasis for assessment F was for Saul to visualize the story and
create something using only paper and his hands. In this assessment
his artistic skills became shown and he was able to see how creative
he could be. The student did fairly well on the assignment and got 10
points of extra credit. I am glad I was able to see the students creative
side and how he well and how much he can achieve when he puts his
mind to his work. He has a very creative mind and his picture came
out simple but lovely.

1. Tell me about the snapshot from the story that you created.
I did the little boy who gave his only cow because I like how
he only had that one and he chose
to give it away.
1. Why did you choose to create that picture? What was it
about that particular scene that made you
want to take your time to work on it?
I just thought it was very nice of him because not a lot of
people would give up the only thing
they had. I like how he stepped up and idk I just liked it.
1. When you were creating the picture, what was going
through your mind?
how nice it was of him to give up the cow
1. Why did you make yourself look like this? (The graphic
representing self as reader)
I dont know I just feel like he would look like this in my
mind.
1. When we were doing the SRI, what was going through your
mind? What thoughts were you
having?
I was just picturing how he might have pictured the attack in
America. I dont know I just really
liked how he helped them, I dont think I would have been able
to do what he did.
1. Tell me about what you did, where you placed yourself.
I placed myself next to the cow because it was like I felt like
thats where the boy in the book
would have been if I had drawn him out.
1. What did you see?
A bunch of people together giving the person from America a
lot of cows.
1. What did you feel?
I felt really glad that they gave America the cows because not
a lot of people who give them the
thing they loved the most or took care of the most so that
made me happy to see that.
1. What did you hear?
The jeep coming really fast and all the cows really loud
breathing
1. What did you smell?
Dirt
1. What did you taste?
Dirt because it was everywhere with the jeep
1. Anything else you want to tell me about this?
Uhm not really. It was a nice story.

Assessment G
The emphasis for Assessment G was to analyze Sauls reading ability,
comprehension and word per minutes. He understood where his
weakness is. The student is a slow reader, but that is well because he
can always improve. The student did have quite a few mistakes, but
they were mostly mispronunciations and words he would skip because

he did not know what they were. Personally, I think he did a good job
because he finished the assigned piece, instead of quitting half ways.

Lesson
The activities and materials in my lesson plan centered on learning
where my student was academically in reading. All the materials
consisted of me analyzing where Saul needed more work and where he

did not need as much practice. The materials I used, since he is in

middle school, where the only thing needed was pencil, paper, and
cooperation. The materials need in Assessment A was 20 minutes of
the students time and my questions. We sat down in a quiet classroom
(away from his classroom) and he quickly answered my questions
about his home life. In assessment B I gave the student a small pocket
size notebook and a small pencil in order to quickly jot down anything
he read. In assessment C, it was mostly like assessment A, a small
interview in order for me to see his confidence level in reading and a
reflection for him in order for him to understand what a good reader is.
In assessment D, I did not need any materials because the teacher was
already administrating the exam; therefore I got teacher consent and
copied the exam on to my pin- drive. In assessment F the materials I
needed in order to have a successful lesson was construction paper,
two copies of the story, glue, pencil and paper. Finally in assessment G
I printed out two copies of the same stories and how my tutee read
aloud while I followed along and marked his mistakes.

Reflection

Coming into the class I had know idea it was centered around a case
study project. At first it was a drag but slowly but surly, I learned a lot
about having patience, understanding a struggling reading, and
helping someone understand that they can become a better
student/reader with just a little bit of practice. For instance, my student
started losing interest in my assessments toward the middle of the
case study therefore; I had to use other techniques such as using
bigger prizes and bribes because my grade was dependent on his
cooperation. I also learned that not everyone could read and
comprehend what they are reading at a fast pace. Finally, the case
study taught me that I can make a change in someones life and I can
help motivate him or her to want to become a better student. Having
that privilege in helping something made this entire case study a
complete success. All in all, I learned that assessment and instruction
work hand in hand in helping analyze and instruct a struggling reader.