Case Study by Diana Tsonis https://padlet.com/dtsonis1/g4ljncqu7v6r Student A is an 11 year old 6th grade male student attending elementary school. He currently holds a 2.0 average. He has been on the honor roll all through school until this past quarter. He attends school in Prince George’s County. He is a Caucasian student attending a predominantly African American middle school. He is of average stature for his age. He lives with his mother and stepfather and visits his biological father every other weekend. He is of average stature for his age. He enjoys playing all sports and is active on multiple team sports teams outside of school including baseball, basketball, football and swimming. Reading is not one of his hobbies. He has had the opportunity to make his own choices when doing reading at home and despite being able to chose anything that his heart desires he just “hates to read” says his mother. en-us 2017-03-14 23:20:32 UTC 2025-11-20 19:44:14 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Terminator.png Prescriptive Plan for overcoming comprehension difficulties. dtsonis1 https://padlet.com/dtsonis1/g4ljncqu7v6r/wish/160128161 The student lacks metacognitive awareness when reading. The student has no problem reading the words in the text but is not getting meaning from what he is reading. First it is important to help the student with his confidence in reading. Allowing the student to partner read and share responses within small groups can do this. These two techniques may make him more comfortable to share his responses. Regulating his own learning and deciding which of the techniques to use for a specific type of reading is imperative for the student’s success in mastering the text. For example knowing when to make predictions when reading a novel verses looking at facts while reading a nonfiction text. Using the technique of monitoring and introducing more frequent stops in reading, the student can take the time to make inferences, predictions, and conclusions or self question what was read. This is also a good time to look up unknown words that the student has encountered. By breaking down a lengthy reading assignment into smaller chunks the student will be able practice their comprehension strategies with a less information. The teacher can gradually lengthen the text to fit the student’s needs. Lastly, making use of repairing strategies while reading can give the student the comprehension that they are lacking when reading a text that is uninteresting to them. Repairing strategies include reading slower, rereading or using look backs (which the student has proven to need to have mastery), reading aloud to a friend or to self, using textual aids and paraphrasing.  
Additional recommendations for this student’s teacher include giving the student a purpose for reading to keep him focused; I call this a “thinking job”. Reminding the student to use visualizing while reading can help to create memories and to personalize the text read. Allowing the student to discuss text with a friend or pair up for a buddy read can help him to practice his comprehension skills for the purpose of discussing with a friend. Also giving the student physical tools to use while reading may keep him more focused. For example having different colored highlighters, sticky notes and flags can help to keep the student focused on finding main ideas and supporting details and then be able to mark them for look backs. If this student were in my class, I would try to allow him the choice (when possible) of the type of text that he would be interested in reading. 
Strategies that I would suggest to a parent would be to encourage the student to read different types of text. Since the student is really into sports, he may be more interested in reading the sports page of a newspaper or Sports Illustrated magazine than reading a novel. His parents could then engage him in conversation about the article. Conversations are an informal way that parents can help their children with their comprehension. The student may also be interested in a “How to” book where he then can use the text to complete a task or project with their parent or with parental supervision. Creating the project after reading the “How To” book makes reading meaningful. 
 
]]> 2017-03-14 23:24:01 UTC https://padlet.com/dtsonis1/g4ljncqu7v6r/wish/160128161 Three things I learned from doing this case study. dtsonis1 https://padlet.com/dtsonis1/g4ljncqu7v6r/wish/160128422 1. There are many different ways to assess student's reading interest. The surveys alone do not provide enough insight. A personal interview gives a much better feedback into what the student's interests are. 
2. Doing running records and word lists takes practice!
3. Students do not use their repairing strategies as much when they are reading a text that they don't like. It is important to have students invested in the text that they are reading in order to have a maximum in effort. ]]> 2017-03-14 23:26:58 UTC https://padlet.com/dtsonis1/g4ljncqu7v6r/wish/160128422