Artifact 7 Te 846 Literacy Learner Analysis

Literacy Learner Analysis Project
Megan Salada
TE 846
Brief Background and Reason for Project Focus

Literacy development is a complex process and no two children traverse the same
path. As such, it is a teachers responsibility to provide literacy instruction that will
effectively address students needs, skills, and motivations in becoming readers and
writers (Reutzel, 2011, p. 419). Different learners require different instruction, giving
rise to the nearly universal term differentiated instruction. Teachers can meet this
challenge by providing explicit literacy instruction, using frequent assessment to monitor
progress and inform instructional decisions, and incorporating a variety of grouping
configurations and instructional methods to support all students (Reutzel, 2011).
Having taught first and second grade for three years, I work with students during
some of the most crucial times in their literacy development. Differentiating instruction
for the wide range of abilities that fill my classroom year after year is a great challenge,
yet necessary to the successful development of lifelong readers and writers. It is to be
expected that some students will experience difficulty in their literacy development.
Research has shown, however, that most children experiencing such difficulties can
have their reading development accelerated when they have access to sufficient intensive
and expert reading instruction (Allington, 2011, p. 244). It is my goal to continue to
grow in my understanding of literacy development and effective instructional practices in
order to provide such expert reading instruction to the many students I instruct
throughout my career. This project will enable me to hone my skills in differentiating
literacy instruction based upon careful analysis of assessment results in order to improve
the literacy learning not only of this focus student, but every student I work with
thereafter.
Megan Salada
TE 846
Home and Family
Ashley is a Caucasian female child of European descent. She is presently 8 years

0 months of age and in the final weeks of her second grade year. Ashley has attended a
public elementary school in southeast Michigan since Kindergarten. Prior to that, Ashley
attended preschool at a local childcare and preschool center. Ashleys primary language
is English and she has never been evaluated, certified, nor received special education
services for a disability.
Ashleys current independent reading level is a DRA 20. In Ashleys district, that
is the mid-year second grade expectation, which places her approximately two marking
periods behind, or two reading levels below the expectation. Ashley has been reading
below grade-level expectations throughout the duration of her second grade year and
began receiving literacy support outside of the classroom at the beginning of second
grade (September 2014). A school reading interventionist meets with Ashley daily in a
small group for 20-30 minutes to implement an intervention entitled Guided Reading
Plus. In addition to classroom instruction and support, this focused intervention provides
Ashley with support in reading strategies, word study, fluency, writing, and summarizing.
Ashley lives primarily with her mother, older brother, and recently adopted pet
cat. Her parents are divorced and she stays with her father one night per week and every
other weekend. Both parents are employed within the school district where Ashley
attends school. Her mother currently works as a fifth grade teacher at Ashleys school,
while her father teaches elementary music at another school within the district. Ashleys
older brother, Michael, is 9 years 11 months of age and completing fifth grade at a
different elementary school. Michael was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome, an
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autism spectrum disorder (ASD), in 2011 and receives self-contained special education
services at his school. He also receives frequent therapy after school and exhibits
difficulty in social settings, which greatly affects the family dynamic.
During administration of a Reading Survey as part of the Motivation to Read
Profile Revised (MRP-R) (Malloy, Marinak, Gambrell, & Mazzoni, 2013), Ashley
described that in her free time, she reads some of the time (see Appendix A). Ashleys
mother freely admitted that they dont do a ton a reading at home. In recent years, the
vast majority of reading and discussion around text has occurred in response to Ashleys
homework each week. Ashley often requires a great deal of assistance with reading
homework if the passage is too hard for her. Her mother often reads homework passages
aloud to Ashley and sometimes scribes Ashleys oral responses to comprehension
questions.
Ashleys brother is not a reader, as described by his mother, since cutting his
finger on a chapter book years ago which has caused an aversion to reading, in general.
Ashleys mother expressed that getting her children to read at home is a battle. Instead,
she cited playing games, cooking together, and reading recipes as literacy-related
activities that she and her children engage in at home. Ashleys mother describes herself
as a reader, claiming that as a kid, reading was [her] absolute favorite thing to do. She
notes, however, that Ashley and her brother do not often witness her reading as an adult
because it typically occurs after they are in bed.
Ashley explained during the MRP R Conversational Interview (see Appendix
B) that she has some books at home and her mother buys her books from the Scholastic
Book Fair. As Ashleys teacher, I also know that her mother occasionally orders books
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from Scholastic Reading Club flyers. Ashley said that she mostly reads fiction books at
home because she doesnt have any nonfiction books. She also said that she has some
books that are too difficult for her, like in the fifth grade reading, that she will be able
to read when she is older. The family also makes occasional trips to the library, although
only when required for schoolwork. Ashleys mother noticed that Ashley has enjoyed
these trips and she is going to try to keep taking her to the library.
Emotional Climate
Since Kindergarten, Ashley has participated in daily Reading and Writing
Workshops in school, modified from units of study developed by Lucy Calkins (Calkins,
1994). She is able to self-select books at her independent reading level from a wide
selection of fiction and nonfiction books within her classroom. Ashley noted this as
motivating and hopes that in third grade, her teacher will have even more new books that
she has not read. Ashley also engages in partner reading multiple times each week with
another student in the class. She receives small-group reading lessons in the classroom
and intervention as described in the previous section. In Writing Workshop, Ashley is
often allowed the freedom to choose her own topic within various genres being studied.
She is a motivated writer with interesting ideas to tell. Ashleys mother commented on
her writing strengths, noting that her writing is so much further ahead than her reading,
which she cited as atypical of most struggling readers.
I administered the MRP - R (Malloy et al., 2013) to Ashley in order to determine
her self-perception and value of literacy. Before beginning the survey, Ashley eagerly
announced, I love reading and I love writing! Based on an expectancy-value theory of
motivation, Ashley has high motivation for reading, scoring 67/80 on the reading survey
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(see Appendix A). She values reading greatly, claiming that she likes to read often,
enjoys visiting libraries, and believes becoming a reader is very important. Ashleys
subscore on the Self-Concept as a Reader section was lower, although still quite high.
She generally views herself as a good reader who is able to read and understand most of
what she reads. The survey item Ashley responded least favorably to regarded talking
about books, for which she explained, I dont like to talk about my ideas because I dont
want people stealing them. The MRP R Conversational Interview (see Appendix B)
confirmed that Ashley has a healthy motivation for reading. She noted difficulty in
trying to stretch out very long words and referred multiple times to the decoding of
words as what makes texts easy or hard to read. She also referenced that nonfiction text
is more difficult for her to understand because of words she doesnt know.
During an interview with Ashleys mother, a very different picture of Ashley was
painted, as she described her daughters attitude toward reading as up until recently
avoidance. She gave past examples of Ashley crying, goofing around, and rolling on the
floor in response to reading homework. Now, Ashleys mother said her attitude toward
reading homework has somewhat improved as Ashley will try reading passages on her
own, perhaps rereading with help, and writing responses to comprehension questions on
her own. She no longer cries in response to reading tasks, although she still requires a lot
of help with the act of reading passages that are above her reading level. Ashleys
mother stated that she does not provide any rewards for reading at home.
Overall, texts at Ashleys frustrational level cause her to be disengaged with
reading, particularly when completing homework. Her mother has seen an improvement
in Ashleys general attitude toward reading throughout her second grade year, as have I,
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as her teacher. During the MRP R administration, Ashley never discussed negative
attitudes toward reading in the past, but clearly portrays a positive attitude now. Ashleys
healthy motivation for reading suggests a willingness to engage in [reading] and a
willingness to persist in that activity, even when it becomes difficult (Malloy et al.,
2013). Knowing that this motivation is rather recent, however, I will be cautious in
making instructional decisions so as to continue to foster Ashleys self-concept and value
of reading.
Literacy History
During the interview with Ashleys mother, we discussed some literacy
experiences that have shaped the reader and writer Ashley is today. She described
Ashley as a child who loved reading as a toddler. They would read together, sing songs,
and practice letters, which Ashley knew before entering preschool. Ashleys mother said
that Ashley loved preschool. In comparison to her brother, who was a high-achieving
young child, her mother said that she noticed Ashley did not enter Kindergarten at the
same high level as her son had. She described Ashley as very average, taking a bit
longer to grasp concepts.
Ashley entered Kindergarten unable to read words, although she loved to read and
made sure she read every night and really enjoyed [Kindergarten], influenced greatly,
her mother said, by a teacher that Ashley adored. In first grade, however, Ashleys
mother explained that Ashley stopped reading at night and did not want to read when
her mother would pull books out. Ashleys mother expressed great disappointment with
her first grade year, saying, I dont think she made any growth as a reader. Beginning
in second grade, Ashleys mother noticed that Ashley has, once again, started getting
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very excited about reading and wants to read more at home. Her mother is pleased with
the growth Ashley has made this school year.
District literacy data indicates that Ashley maintained above grade-level reading
scores throughout Kindergarten and the beginning of first grade. The second half of first
grade shows DRA scores approaching grade-level expectations, beginning second
grade below grade-level, which mirrors Ashleys mothers concerns with her reading
progress. Ashleys first-grade year does, however, show some growth in reading scores
from a DRA 8 to DRA 14, a jump of three reading levels.
Ashleys reading scores on the Northwest Evaluation Associations (NWEA)
Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessment also reflect slightly below-average
reading achievement, with her most recent score placing her in the 43rd percentile
nationwide for her grade-level. Despite failing to meet grade-level expectation, her MAP
scores indicate steady growth in Ashleys reading since the end of first grade. Ashleys
weakest area in reading on the NWEA MAP assessment was foundational skills, which
includes print concepts, phonics and word recognition, and phonological awareness.
Based upon her past literacy experiences and current difficulties at home and
school, Ashleys mother is happy that Ashley was selected as the subject of this project.
In terms of writing, Ashleys mother views spelling as the biggest issue Ashley continues
to face. Ashley wants it to be perfect, which makes writing a laborious and, at times,
frustrating task. In terms of reading difficulties, Ashleys mother names a lack of
confidence as the biggest impediment, explaining that her daughter thinks I dont want
to try it because I dont want to fail in front of people.
Megan Salada
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Tests Given and Summary of Test Results

I administered two assessments in order to determine Ashleys specific instructional
needs and plan lessons that would support her reading development. After administering the
MRP R (Malloy et al., 2013) and engaging in conversations with Ashley and her mother, I
suspected that one of Ashleys weaknesses was decoding words in text. As her classroom
teacher, classroom observations and previous running records confirmed this as an area of
weakness. In order to gain further information about Ashleys decoding skills, I administered
McKenna and Stahls (2009) Informal Phonics Inventory (p. 125). I believed this assessment
would reveal the pattern(s) that Ashley struggled to decode so as to focus the lessons I planned
on a specific phonics skill. I subsequently administered a second assessment from Pinnell and
Fountas (2003) Phonics Lessons curriculum entitled Matching Long and Short Vowel Sounds
with Letters (p. 13). The authors note several reasons for administering this assessment:
This assessment will help you learn the extent to which children understand that there are
(at least) two different sounds for every vowel. You will also get an idea of their
flexibility in using both long and short sounds and associating them with letters.
The writing assessment will give you a good idea of how children are thinking
about the construction of words, including representation of long vowel sounds. You can
use this same assessment to determine the extent to which children are using the silent
e at the ends of words with long vowel sounds because you will note how they are
differentiating between short and long. (Pinnell & Fountas, 2003, p. 13)
My purpose for administering this assessment to Ashley was to gain further knowledge of her
understanding of vowels and application within the spelling of words.
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Informal Phonics Inventory

The Informal Phonics Inventory (McKenna & Stahl, 2009) is designed as a tool to assess
students phonics skills. McKenna & Stahl (2009) define phonics as the ability to use lettersound correspondences to derive the pronunciation of words (p. 106). Initial observations and
classroom work with Ashley revealed her difficulty in applying the multiple and varied English
letter-sound correspondences to decode words, thus affecting Ashleys word recognition.
Administered orally, students progress through nine subtests of the Informal Phonics Inventory,
assessing the following phonics skills: consonant sounds, consonant digraphs, beginning
consonant blends, final consonant blends and ng, short vowels in CVC words, the rule of silent e,
long vowel digraphs, diphthongs, and r-controlled vowels and al. Reading from a list of letters,
letter combinations, and words, students orally dictate the sound or word presented. The
assessment is scored by analyzing the percentage of correct responses within each subtest,
indicating a level of mastery, needs review, or needs systematic instruction (McKenna &
Stahl, 2009, p. 125).
Pre-test.
I first administered the Informal Phonics Inventory (McKenna & Stahl, 2009) as a pretest to determine Ashleys strengths and weaknesses in regard to specific phonics patterns (see
Appendix C). The assessment lasted approximately nine minutes. Beginning with the
Consonant Sounds subtest, Ashley was able to quickly and effortlessly give the sound of 19/20
consonants. She was unable to give both sounds for the consonant C, but did correctly give the
/k/ sound. The second subtest, Consonant Digraphs, elicited 4/5 correct responses, with an
incorrect pronunciation given only for the ph digraph. The third subtest, Beginning Consonant
Blends, also proved relatively simple for Ashley, as she scored a perfect 20/20 on all blends
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presented. Using the accompanying scoring guide (McKenna & Stahl, 2009, p. 125), Ashley
demonstrated mastery on these first three subtests.
The fourth subtest, Final Consonant Blends and ng, required Ashley to read complete
words with a blend or ng ending. She was scored based upon correct pronunciation of the ending
only. Although Ashley only read 6/12 words correctly, she read 9/12 endings correctly (e.g.
lamp for limp). The scoring guide revealed this as an area in which Ashley would benefit from
review, although she clearly has some understanding and strategies to decode final blends.
The fifth subtest, Short Vowels in CVC Words, again, required Ashley to read whole
words; however, she was scored only on pronunciation of the medial vowel sound. She gave
correct vowel sounds for 8/10 words, indicating mastery on this subtest. The following subtest,
The Rule of Silent e, assessed Ashleys ability to change the pronunciation of a vowel when an e
is added to the end of a word. For example, I read the word cap, then pointed to cape and
prompted Ashley to read the word. Ashley experienced extreme difficulty with this subtest,
attempting to blend each individual sound or giving no response. She did correctly read kite,
giving her a score of 1/4 on this subtest and indicating a need for systematic instruction.
The final three subtests proved equally difficult, involving Long Vowel Digraphs,
Diphthongs, and r-Controlled Vowels and al. Ashley scored 5/10, 1/6, and 2/6, respectively on
these subtests, indicating a need for systematic instruction in each. On the Long Vowel Digraphs
subtest, I observed that Ashley was successful pronouncing 3/4 long e digraphs (ee and ea), but
struggled with long a, long o, and long u digraphs.
Ashley scored 69/93 on the Informal Phonics Inventory as a whole, falling in the needs
review range and confirming my belief that Ashley will benefit from phonics instruction. The
subtests revealed that Ashleys strengths are single consonant sounds, consonant digraphs,
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beginning consonant blends, and short vowel sounds. She was also moderately successful with
final consonant blends. I began to notice during the Final Consonant Blends and ng subtest that
many of Ashleys errors in reading a word pertained to incorrect vowel sounds. This was further
confirmed by Ashleys difficulty on the subtests involving long vowel sounds and diphthongs.
As such, I decided that Ashleys greatest need was phonics instruction with vowel sounds and
decoding strategies to correctly pronounce vowels within words. This was the basis for my first
lesson with Ashley.
Post-test.
The Informal Phonics Inventory was administered as a post-test nine days later to
evaluate Ashleys growth and phonics development after instruction in decoding vowel
combinations (see Appendix C). The post-test lasted approximately eight minutes. Ashley was
very consistent in that she scored exactly the same on the first three subtests: Consonant Sounds,
Consonant Digraphs, and Beginning Consonant Blends, demonstrating mastery in each.
Again, Ashley scored 9/12 on the Final Consonant Blends and ng subtest, although this
time she was able to read the word band, but not pact. This data indicates that Ashley needs
continued review with final consonant blends. It is likely that Ashleys difficulty with this
particular subtest was also influenced by her lack of familiarity with the words and their
meanings. Words she struggled to decode on the post-test (e.g. apt, lilt, pact) were words which
Ashley had likely never encountered in her prior reading nor heard spoken in everyday language.
Words that she was able to decode (e.g. bank, limp, list) were more commonly used words she
had likely encountered before in her reading. This subtest not only revealed Ashleys ability to
decode final consonant blends, but her attempts to make meaning from words she reads.
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The focus of my lessons with Ashley centered on vowels. The post-test revealed that
Ashley increased her skills with short vowel sounds from 8/10 to 9/10 correct words,
maintaining her mastery level. Ashleys largest gain was in The Rule of Silent e subtest,
which improved from 1/4 to 3/4. She incorrectly read tote with the long u sound. Following the
assessment, I prompted Ashley to reconsider the vowel and she was able to correctly decode tote.
Her score of 3/4 indicates a need for continued review, although, no longer an area of high need
for systematic instruction.
Ashley continued to struggle on the final three subtests, although she demonstrated slight
improvement with long vowel digraphs and diphthongs (a one-point and two-point increase,
respectively). Overall, Ashley scored 74/93 on the Informal Phonics Inventory post-test, five
points greater than her pre-test score. The scoring guide places Ashley on the high end of needs
review, marginally close to the mastery range. The results of the post-assessment indicate
that Ashley improved her ability to decode words with short and long vowel sounds. She will
need continued practice with these phonics skills as well as systematic instruction in diphthongs
and r-controlled vowels and al.
Matching Long and Short Vowel Sounds with Letters
The second assessment I administered came from Pinnell and Fountas (2003) Phonics
Lessons, Grade 2, a phonics and word study curriculum for second grade. Pinnell and Fountas
(2003) provide a variety of assessment tasks within the curriculum, which are intended to help
identify childrens strengths and needs so you can make the most effective teaching decisions
and document childrens progress (p. 2). Using my initial observations of Ashleys decoding
struggles, I chose a letter/sound relationship assessment with a spelling component: Matching
Long and Short Vowel Sounds with Letters (Pinnell & Fountas, 2003, p. 13). The assessment
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involves two tasks: (1) a picture sort and (2) a spelling task. First, the student is asked to sort 24
pictures (Pinnell & Fountas, 2003, p. 30-32) according to the medial vowel sound, matching each
to the appropriate letter heading. The spelling task (Pinnell & Fountas, 2003, p. 35) asks the
student to write the word for 15 pictures containing different short and long vowel sounds. The
student is scored only on the correct vowel spelling pattern.
Pre-test.
I began the pre-test with the picture sort activity. I said aloud the word represented by the
picture and Ashley placed it under the vowel sound she heard. Ashley sorted all 24 pictures in
less than three minutes, scoring 22/24 correct (see Appendix D). The two incorrect responses
were pictures of a flute and a mule, both containing the long u sound. Upon seeing the flute,
Ashley placed it between the o and u vowels, saying I think its both, so Ill put it in the
middle. She incorrectly placed the picture of the mule under the vowel o.
On the spelling task, I said aloud the word represented by the given picture and Ashley
independently spelled as much of the word as she could (see Appendix E). Overall, Ashley
spelled 11/15 words accurately. She spelled all eight of the short vowel words correctly,
including each of the five short vowels (e.g. flag, sled, fish, box, duck). Ashley only spelled 3/7
long vowel words correctly: rake, bone, and kite. Of the four incorrect spellings, Ashley did
make an attempt to represent the long vowel sound in two of the words by adding a silent e: wele
for wheel, gote for goat. The other two incorrect responses were spelled with a short vowel
representation: snack for snake, smock for smoke.
Ashleys success with the picture sort revealed that she was able to hear and identify the
different vowel sounds in spoken words. The pictures contained both short and long vowel
sounds, indicating that Ashley recognized multiple vowel sounds for a single vowel and matched
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the sounds to their corresponding letter. Her single area of weakness in this task was the long u
sound, which she had difficulty distinguishing from the o vowel sounds.
The spelling task revealed that Ashley was able to correctly spell short vowel words with
each of the five vowels. She struggled with long vowel spelling patterns, either substituting an
incorrect long vowel pattern or a short vowel spelling. For the purpose of planning a lesson to
address Ashleys needs, I decided that she would benefit from instruction in distinguishing
spelling patterns in short- and long-vowel words. Although Ashley was able to spell short vowel
words correctly, she did not demonstrate a complete understanding that long vowels are
represented differently in words. When she did attempt to represent long vowels in words, she
added a silent e to the end of the word, but not consistently and sometimes incorrectly.
Developing the understanding that short and long vowels are represented differently in words
will improve Ashleys decoding skills (by recognizing short and long vowel patterns) as well as
her spelling skills (by representing vowel sounds with known short and long vowel patterns).
This would serve as the basis for my second lesson with Ashley.
Post-test.
Based on Ashleys success with the picture sort on the pre-test, I chose not to readminister the task on the post-test. The spelling task post-test revealed minimal improvement in
Ashleys ability to represent long vowel sounds with letters (see Appendix E). Again, Ashley
correctly spelled 11/15 words in all. In addition to spelling all eight short vowel words
accurately, on the post-test, Ashley did represent one additional long vowel spelling correctly (ee
in wheel), although did not spell the digraph correctly. This single change from the pre-test
spelling may indicate Ashleys further understanding of long e spelling patterns, although that
was not the focus of our lessons together. Other errors in long vowel spelling patterns persisted
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and Ashley continued to use short vowel patterns or incorrect long vowel combinations to
represent long vowel sounds (e.g. ack for ake, ock for oke, ote for oat). The work Ashley
engaged in during our lessons together did not result in improved spelling of long vowel sounds
in words. Ashley will need continued instruction in the many vowel representations found in the
English language as well as the difference between short and long vowel patterns.
Lesson Plan Matrix
Lesson Foci/Date
Objectives
Lesson Focus:
Distinguishing
between short and
long vowel
sounds
Objective:
Student will correctly sort
pictures and words
according to their short
and long vowel sounds by
segmenting words into
their phonemes to isolate
the vowel sound.
Dates:
6/8/2015
6/9/2015
Common Core State

Standard:
RF.2.3.A Distinguish
long and short vowels
when reading regularly
spelled one-syllable
words.
Objective:
Student will accurately
decode or self-correct
unfamiliar words in
continuous text by trying
the short and long vowel
sounds and choosing the
word that sounds right and
makes sense
Common Core State
Standard:
RL.2.10 By the end of the
year, read and
Instructional
materials
Pre-assessment
student work
Goal bookmark
Sorts 7-10
(Invernizzi,
Johnston, & Bear,
2004, p. 22-25)
Marker
Whoops book
(Haselhurst,
1996)
On-going
assessment
Informal
observations
Short and Long
Vowel Sorts (a,
i, o, u)
Oral reading of
Whoops
Informal
Phonics
Inventory
(McKenna &
Stahl, 2009)
post-assessment
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comprehend literature,
including stories and
poetry, in the grades 2-3
text complexity band
proficiently, with
scaffolding as needed at
the high end of the range.
Lesson Focus:
Spelling short and
long vowel
sounds in CVC
and CVCe words
Date:
6/12/2015
Objective:
Student will correctly
spell short-vowel CVC
words and long-vowel
CVCe words by listening
for the vowel sound and
using a single vowel to
represent short vowel
sounds and adding a silent
e to represent long vowel
sounds.
Sorts 9-10
(Invernizzi,
Johnston, & Bear,
2004, p. 24-25)
Highlighter
Two-column
chart
Tape
Pencil
Informal
observations
Blind sort
Matching Long
and Short Vowel
Sounds with
Letters (Pinnell
& Fountas,
2003) postassessment
Common Core State

Standard:
L.2.2.D Generalize
learned spelling patterns
when writing words.
Reflections on Differentiated Literacy Lesson Plans

Before beginning instruction with Ashley, I reviewed the pre-assessments with her in
order to help Ashley reflect upon her own strengths and weaknesses. Jennifer Serravallo (2015),
literacy consultant and Heinemann author, recommends that teachers confer with students about
formative assessments in order to set goals because when the goal can come from the student,
the student will be all the more motivated to work on it (p. 5). When looking over the Informal
Phonics Inventory (McKenna & Stahl, 2009), Ashley quickly identified the sections that she
referred to as easy namely the first five sections. When we reviewed The Rule of Silent e
subtest, Ashley remembered, I couldnt do these ones, and accurately identified that and
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subsequent portions as challenging words for her to improve upon. We also reflected upon the
Matching Long and Short Vowel Sounds (Pinnell & Fountas, 2003) pre-assessment. Ashley
noted that she felt the picture sort was rather easy: Just one of them - I didnt know if it was an
o or a u. She also felt pretty good about her spelling on the assessment and cited a few words
that she thought she might have spelled incorrectly.
When I asked her to formulate a reading goal, Ashley articulated that she would benefit
from learning strategies for stretching out words long words. I expressed that I agreed with
her and explained that I would be teaching her some strategies to help her reach that goal over
our next two meetings. This goal is confirmed worthwhile by research that claims reading with
fluency and productive comprehension depends integrally on having acquired deep and ready
working knowledge of spelling-sound correspondences (Adams, 2011, p. 5). The phonics skills
that Ashley engaged in will provide a foundation for her future reading success. Upon
completion of the lesson, Ashley demonstrated growth in her reading ability when decoding
CVC and CVCe words by trying different vowel sounds. Although she met the learning
objectives of the first lesson, she needs continued work with long vowel spelling patterns before
mastering the objective of the second lesson. This is work that Ashley will continue in her third
grade literacy development.
Lesson One
The first lesson I engaged Ashley in took place over two days (see Appendix F for full
lesson plan). The goal of this lesson was to review the two sounds each vowel makes and guide
Ashley in applying those sounds to the decoding of unknown words within text. I used explicit
instruction through a gradual-release-of-responsibility model to scaffold Ashleys learning of this
specific phonics skill (Gambrell, Malloy, & Mazzoni, 2011, p. 23). I began by modeling the
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sorting task and strategy of segmenting words into their individual phonemes, followed by
guided practice in which Ashley took over some of the sorting responsibilities while I prompted
her when she experienced difficulty. Each sort ended with Ashley completing the sort
independently. The success of this lesson and Ashleys growth in decoding short- and longvowel words can be attributed to the scaffolded instruction in phonics (Gambrell, Malloy,
& Mazzoni, 2011, p. 23) consistent with best practices for comprehensive literacy instruction.
Sorting tasks. The first sort that Ashley completed contained short and long a words.
At the beginning of the sort, it was apparent that Ashley was able to easily hear and distinguish
between the different vowel sounds. Throughout, I observed Ashley carefully consider the
vowel sounds and segment the phonemes in an exaggerated manner, as I had modeled. This
approach to reading words is what Ehri termed sequential decoding (in Madda, Griffo,
Pearson, & Raphael, 2011, p. 53) and is one of four approaches students must employ as they
learn to decode words in text. Ashley physically compared each word with the key short- and
long-vowel headings by holding the word card next to the headings and saying each in sequence,
listening for common vowel sounds. In addition to segmenting each word, she used rhyming
skills to pair like short and long a words (e.g. bat has a short a like cat because they rhyme).
Ashley showed strength in using multiple strategies to decode words, applying this analogy
approach (Madda et al., 2011, p. 53) in addition to the sequential decoding I focused on during
our lesson.
During the a sort, Ashley initially struggled with the word whale, as the sound differs
slightly from other long a words. In this instance, I supported Ashley by segmenting the word
for her and prompted Ashley to consider which of the key words it was most similar to. In the
end, we agreed it was a long a word, but a tricky one, at that! After a demonstration and guided
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practice, Ashley was able to complete the sort independently in about five minutes (see all
completed sorts in Appendix G). I then prompted her to check each column of the sort and she
was able to confirm that all were sorted correctly. During each subsequent vowel sort, Ashley
was able to follow the process with ease. I found that I only needed to model two examples for
the vowel i before she was able to complete the rest of the i sort independently. She completed
the short and long i sort in only three minutes with no errors. The o vowel sort was equally
successful, completed in approximately three minutes, with only one error, which Ashley selfcorrected upon checking her sort.
The vowel u proved to be the most challenging sort for Ashley, although she was still
successful with the task. It took her slightly longer (just over four minutes) to complete the sort
independently, with one error, which she self-corrected upon checking the sort. The long u
sound is more difficult than other vowel sounds as it does not always sound like the letter name u
(as in cute). In many words, the long u sound is much like the double oo sound (e.g. tube, boot),
which Ashley had previously encountered in her second grade word study curriculum. Ashley
noted the similarity in sound and repeatedly referred to the long u as the sneaky o sound (a
term she coined herself). I did not want her to confuse it with the short or long o sounds, so we
clarified that she actually meant the double oo sound. Later in the lesson, she even requested
that we write sounds like oo next to the long u example on her strategy bookmark (see
Appendix H). During our second lesson together, Ashley began referring to the long u sound as
the sneaky two os.
As described above, Ashley made few errors when completing each of the sorts
independently. When she did misplace a word, Ashley was able to self-correct without
prompting when she checked her final sorts. For example, Ashley had placed the word hose in
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the oddball column, indicating it sounded like neither the short nor long o sound. Upon
checking her work, she compared the word hose to the key word bone and changed it to the
column of long o words. She did the same for the word drum during the u sort, self-correcting
her mistake of placing it in the oddball column. She orally segmented the word and compared
drum to the short vowel key word cup, ultimately deciding, it goes here [short u] this
definitely goes here, definitely. Ashleys success with the word sorts and her ability to selfcorrectly errors with ease demonstrated attainment of the first learning objective: correctly sort
pictures and words according to their short and long vowel sounds by segmenting words into
their phonemes to isolate the vowel sound.
Strategy bookmark. The bookmark proved to be an effective visual support to record
the strategy Ashley was learning (see Appendix H). In the midst of the lesson, I decided it would
be more appropriate to allow Ashley to choose the pictures and words recorded on the bookmark
in order to make it more meaningful and likely that she retain and apply the examples of each
short and long vowel. When we first created the bookmark by adding the short and long a
example, Ashley requested, can we write under them short a and long a? I had not
considered this in my original lesson plan as the focus what not on the technical language of
vowel sounds; however, I took Ashleys request to be a sign of her understanding and a scaffold
to help her make connections between the vowel sorts and her strategy bookmark. We added the
labels under each example.
Reading task. The final task of the lesson involved Ashley reading a portion of a leveled
book in order to apply her learning of decoding vowel sounds to continuous text. Allington
(2011) described that explicit instruction is strengthened by integrating such demonstrations
into classroom reading and writing [rather than] isolated skills instruction and practice (p. 251).
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As Ashley engaged in reading the book Whoops (Haselhurst, 1996), I observed her making use
of the strategy bookmark and applying the vowel sounds she had learned in an authentic reading
context. While reading, she incorrectly read the word mope as mop. When she did not selfcorrect, I prompted her to reconsider the word and use her bookmark. She needed further
guidance in trying both of the vowel sounds, so I modeled the two o sounds and she observed as
I thought-aloud which word made sense and sounded right in the context of the story. As she
continued reading, Ashley was more successful attempting the strategy on her own. She
correctly read the word cope after verbally trying the short o (cop) and long o (cope). She later
self-corrected the word spite by changing the vowel sound from short to long -i. When
necessary, I used prompting such as check your vowel or try the vowel sounds. When
Ashley encountered the word state, she demonstrated great flexibility with the new strategy,
attempting the long a sound first because it has an e [on the end], recognizing that a words
spelling pattern can guide her in pronouncing the vowel sound.
Changes. Due to the success of the lesson and Ashleys measured growth, I would make
few changes to the original lesson plan. After observing Ashleys ease with the initial vowel
sorts in this lesson, I feel that that portion of the lesson could have been condensed. It would
have been wise to allocate more time to the reading task in order to focus on the second objective
of applying the strategy to decode words within continuous text. When segmenting words, I also
noticed that Ashley tended to isolate the vowel by saying it multiple times (e.g. c-a-a-a-t), rather
than a single, exaggerated sound (e.g. c-aaaaa-t). Throughout the lesson, I modeled and
prompted for her to segment words by saying each sound only once, but she continued to prefer
stuttering it multiple times. I worry that this will negatively affect her overall fluency when
blending words on-the-go during reading. If I were to teach the lesson again, I would be more
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clear and precise in teaching the skill of segmenting at the beginning of the lesson so as to
develop Ashleys fluency as well.
Lesson Two
My second lesson with Ashley was less successful than the first, given the results of the
post-assessments described in previous sections of this paper. The goal of the lesson was to spell
short- and long-vowel words by noticing and applying CVC and CVCe spelling patterns when
stretching out words (see Appendix F for full lesson plan). After a lesson on using the strategy
to read short- and long-vowel words, I followed Reutzels (2011) recommendation to focus on
both decoding and spelling, reading and writing processes that help children better understand
the reciprocal nature of all reading and writing processes (p. 427). By using her knowledge of
short and long vowels to spell a variety of words, Ashley would make gains in both reading and
writing simultaneously.
Blind sort. This lesson involved a Blind Sort in which Ashley was asked to spell the
words under a short- or long-vowel heading, rather than sort the word and picture cards (see
Appendix G, Figure 5). Ashley did demonstrate success with this task, using the observed
spelling patterns to correctly segment and record short- and long-vowel sounds in words. As in
the previous lesson, she also used her knowledge of rhyming to help her spell words, which I had
not anticipated. When attempting to spell the word June, Ashley considered both the short and
long u headings, ultimately deciding upon the long u and recording each sound correctly.
When I asked her how she determined the correct spelling, she said, I figured it out because
June and tune they kind of rhyme a little. Later, Ashley generalized her understanding of
rhymes and explained, if they rhyme, they go together [in the same short- or long-vowel
column].
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Ashley also demonstrated understanding of the silent e in long vowel words. Even in the
first lesson, although it was not the objective, Ashley had begun to consider spelling patterns she
observed as she sorted, noting, some have an e and some dont! During the i sort, Ashley
generalized the purpose of the e, stating, the e changes the i sound! During the review sort at
the beginning of the second lesson, Ashley directly compared the words cut and cute. She
explained that cute belonged in the long vowel column because a silent e was added to the end of
cut, a short-vowel word. Later, during the Blind Sort, when she was asked to spell the word
huge, Ashley wrote the word under the long u heading and generated the correct spelling.
When I asked her about her thinking, she explained, I remembered it because it has the word
hug in it and then you add the e.
Based on Ashleys success with the words from the word sort cards, I decided during the
lesson to extend the Blind Sort to other short- and long-vowel words. I called them challenge
words and Ashley was very motivated by the added challenge of words she had not encountered
during the sorts. She was successful applying the work to many other words, although she
demonstrated some difficulty with stole. She struggled to decide whether the o sounded like a
short or long vowel. I prompted her to compare it to each of the heading words (sock and bone)
and she was then able to decide that the o sounded like the one in bone and applied the spelling
pattern correctly.
Changes. After reflecting upon this lesson and the struggles that Ashley continued to
experience on the post-test, I would change several aspects to improve the effectiveness of the
lesson. One component that I feel would have drastically improved Ashleys understanding of
applying vowel patterns to the spelling of words is explicitly modeling the Blind Sort. While
Ashley was able to spell most of the words correctly during the task, this did not transfer to the
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post-assessment. Reutzel (2011) explained that effective explicit instruction must involve
teachers show[ing] children how it is to be done, using lots of talking out loud about our
thinking as teachers (p. 417). Because I neglected to model the process by thinking aloud about
using spelling patterns to write short- and long-vowel words, Ashley did not internalize the
thinking processes behind the strategy. The lack of transfer also indicates this is a skill that,
although she has begun to develop and experienced some success with, will evolve over time and
require continued practice.
I also felt that the review sort for u and o was unnecessary in this lesson, as Ashley had
already demonstrated success with these tasks in the first lesson. As an alternative, it would have
been more efficient to have Ashley glue the final sorts during our first lesson in order to have a
quick reference available during the second lesson. This would have saved time as the words
would already have been sorted and the focus could remain on noticing spelling patterns.
Recommendations to Teachers and Parents/Caregivers
Recommendations for Teachers
Ashley is a wonderful student and has made great progress in reading throughout second
grade. She is currently reading a DRA level 20. Recently, her goal has been to improve her
print work, specifically decoding, skills in reading. I recently engaged Ashley in a series of
lessons focused on decoding and spelling short and long vowel sounds in words.
Ashley is a very motivated reader and puts forth great effort to improve her literacy skills.
In the past, Ashley held very negative attitudes toward reading, but has become more confident
in her abilities throughout second grade and improved her attitude. I caution you to be aware of
her prior distaste of reading so as to continue to foster a positive motivation and self-concept in
her future reading instruction. Ashley has a solid foundation of letter-sound knowledge,
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demonstrating strength in decoding consonants, consonant digraphs, consonant blends, and short
vowels. Following instruction, Ashley demonstrated growth in decoding words with short- and
long-vowel sounds following the silent e pattern. She will need continued practice and review of
the CVCe long vowel pattern in order to maintain her recent improvement.
Although Ashley has made gains in her application of phonics skills, she struggles with
the more complex English phonemes when decoding words: vowel digraphs, diphthongs, rcontrolled vowels, and -al. She will need explicit phonics instruction with these patterns as she
demonstrates readiness as well as support in applying her current vowel knowledge to
multisyllabic words. In addition, Ashley continued to struggle applying CVC and CVCe vowel
patterns to her spelling of words after our lessons together. While she demonstrates surface-level
knowledge of the silent e spelling, she was unable to transfer the skill to other contexts. Ashley
will need continued instruction comparing the spelling patterns of short and long vowel words.
In particular, she needs focused instruction with the final /k/ sound in words as the spelling
becomes more complex, requiring ck after short vowels and ke after long vowels. She would
also benefit from instruction in other long vowel spelling patterns after mastering the common
CVCe pattern.
Recommendation Letter to Parents/Caregivers
Dear Parent/Guardian of Ashley,
I enjoyed working with Ashley and learning about her as a literacy learner and brighteyed, eager second grader! During our sessions together, Ashley focused on developing her
reading skills by practicing strategies for reading longer words. Difficulty reading words in text
is what Ashley and I determined cause her trouble during reading. Specifically, we focused on
vowel sounds in words because vowels can make more than one sound, which make decoding
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especially complex. Ashley also worked on spelling different short and long vowel words by
applying the rule of the silent e.
Ashley is a very motivated reader and has recently begun to enjoy reading more and view
herself as a reader. This is so important to her self-concept as a learner and something that we
will want to continue to foster throughout her literacy development. One way to ensure Ashley
maintains this motivation is to provide her with books at a level she has success with. Ashley
often becomes frustrated when texts are too difficult, so encourage her to choose books at her
just-right level. Additionally, allow her to choose books she is interested in! She has
mentioned that she enjoys going to the library and I would encourage you to continue to make
frequent trips to keep growing that love of reading.
After our sessions together, Ashley demonstrated improvement in reading words with
different vowel sounds. She created a bookmark that I would encourage her to make use of
while reading at home. If she gets stuck on a word, you can tell her to try the other vowel sound
or point to her bookmark as a strategy. She will need continued practice with vowel sounds in
both reading and writing. One way to practice at home is to notice words in text with the same
vowel patterns. Encourage Ashley to make connections between words that have the same
spelling and their pronunciation (for example wipe and stripe). Noticing these connections
between words will help Ashley apply vowel patterns she knows to other words as she reads.
Most importantly, encourage Ashley to do a lot of reading at home every day! The more words
she reads, the better she will become at decoding as she has more opportunities to practice the
skills we learned together.
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References
Adams, M. (2011) The relationship between alphabetic basics, word recognition, and reading. In
S.J. Samuels & A.E. Farstrup (Eds.), What research has to say about reading instruction
(4th ed.), (p. 4-24). Newark: DE: International Reading Association.
Allington, R. (2011). Research on reading/learning disability interventions. In S.J. Samuels &
A.E. Farstrup (Eds.), What research has to say about reading instruction (4th ed.) (p. 236265). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Calkins, L.M. (1994). The art of teaching writing. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Gambrell, L., Malloy, J., & Mazzoni, S. (2011). Evidence-based best practices in comprehensive
literacy instruction. In L. Mandel-Morrow & L. Gambrell (Eds.), Best practices in
literacy instruction (4th ed.), (p. 11-36). New York: Guilford Press.
Haselhurst, M. (1996). Whoops! Crystal Lake, IL: Rigby.
Invernizzi, M., Johnston, F., & Bear, D. R. (2004). Words their way: Word sorts for within word
pattern spellers. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Madda, C., Griffo, V., Pearson, P., & Raphael, T. (2011). Balance in comprehensive literacy
instruction: Evolving conceptions. In L. Mandel-Morrow & L. Gambrell (Eds.), Best
practices in literacy instruction (4th ed.), (p. 37-66). New York: Guilford Press.
Malloy, J. A., Marinak, B.A., Gambrell, L. B., & Mazzoni, S. A. (2013). Assessing motivation to
read: The Motivation to Read Profile Revised. The Reading Teacher, 67(4), 273-282.
McKenna, M. C., & Stahl, K. A. D. (2009). Assessment for reading instruction (2nd ed.). New
York, NY: The Guilford Press.
Pinnell, G. S. & Fountas, I. C. (2003). Phonics lessons, Grade 2: Teaching resources binder.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
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Reutzel, D. R. (2011). Organizing effective literacy instruction: Differentiating instruction to

meet student needs. In L. Mandel-Morrow & L. Gambrell (Eds.) Best practices in
literacy instruction (4th ed.) (p. 412-435). New York: Guilford Press.
Serravallo, J. (2015). The reading strategies book: Your everything guide to developing skilled
readers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
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Appendix A
Motivation to Read Profile Revised

Reading Survey
Teacher: I want to find out how you feel about reading and about writing.
Ashley: I love reading and I love writing!
1. My friends think I am ____.
a very good reader
a good reader
an OK reader
a poor reader
Ashley: I dont actually know. A good reader cause I told them Im in level 20.
2. Reading a book is something I like to do.
never
almost never
sometimes
often
Ashley: Often!
3. When I come to a word I dont know, I can ____.
almost always figure it out
sometimes figure it out
almost never figure it out
never figure it out
Ashley: Sometimes figure it out.
4. My friends think reading is ___.
really fun
fun
OK to do
no fun at all
Ashley: Fun because its like not really fun because its like more stuff to do than like
read, so.
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5. I read ___.
not as well as my friends
about the same as my friends
a little better than my friends
a lot better than my friends
Ashley: A little better.
6. I tell my friends about good books I read.
I never do this
I almost never do this
I do this some of the time
I do this a lot
Ashley: Number 3 (I do this some of the time.)
7. When I am reading by myself, I understand ____.
everything I read
almost everything I read
almost none of what I read
none of what I read
Ashley: Only in nonfiction I sometimes almost
Teacher: So are you thinking [repeated options]?
Ashley: Almost everything I read.
Teacher: You said nonfiction is a little bit harder?
Ashley: Yeah.
8. People who read a lot are ___.
very interesting
sort of interesting
sort of boring
very boring
Ashley: Hmmm. Very interesting because Im a reader and I think its interesting.
9. I am ___.
a poor reader
an OK reader
a good reader
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a very good reader

Ashley: A good reader.
10. I think libraries are ___.
a really great place to spend time
a great place to spend time
a boring place to spend time
a really boring place to spend time
Ashley: A really great place to spend time because because I like reading new books!
11. I worry about what other kids think about my reading ___.
a lot
sometimes
almost never
never
Ashley: Never because its my reading not theirs.
12. I think becoming a good reader is ___.
not very important
sort of important
important
very important
Ashley: Very important or youll never be able to read the menus at restaurants or
reading stuff thats like on like what to do recipes! Youll never be able to
cook!
13. When my teacher asks me a question about what I have read, ___.
I can never think of an answer
I almost never think of an answer
I sometimes think of an answer
I can always think of an answer
Ashley: I can always think of an answer because were doing this right now!
14. I think spending time reading is ___.
really boring
boring
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great
really great
Ashley: Great.
15. Reading is ___.
very easy for me
kind of easy for me
kind of hard for me
very hard for me
Ashley: Kind of easy for me. And I only get stuck on a couple words.
16. When my teacher reads books out loud, I think it is ___.
really great
great
boring
really boring
Ashley: Really great.
17. When I am in a group talking about books I have read, ___.
I hate to talk about my ideas
I dont like to talk about my ideas
I like to talk about my ideas
I love to talk about my ideas
Ashley: Um I like to talk about my ideas sometimes because they could steal my ideas in
writing or something if were writing or were doing something about books.
Teacher: So what are you thinking [repeated options]?
Ashley: I dont like to talk about my ideas because I dont want people stealing them.
18. When I have free time, I spend ___.
none of my time reading
very little of my time reading
some of my time reading
a lot of my time reading
Ashley: Some of my time reading.
19. When I read out loud, I am a ___.
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poor reader
OK reader
good reader
very good reader
Ashley: Good reader.
20. When someone gives me a book for a present, ___.
I am very happy
I am happy
I am unhappy
I am very unhappy
Ashley: I am very happy! I love books! And plus if I never heard it before its actually a
good book.
MRP R Subscale Scores

Value of Reading
Item
Ashleys Score
2
4
4
3
6
3
8
4
10
4
12
4
14
3
16
4
18
3
20
4
Value Score
36/40
Self-Concept as a Reader
Item
Ashleys Score
1
3
3
3
5
3
7
3
9
3
11
4
13
4
15
3
17
2
19
3
Self-Concept Score
31/40
Total Score: 67/80
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Appendix B
Motivation to Read Profile Revised: Conversational Interview

Ashley* May 28, 2015
Teacher: What kind of reader are you?
Ashley: Im on level 20, so its like, like kind of almost to the third grade levels so I just have
to change three times and then Im all good to go. So I think Im a little I think Im a
good reader so far. But if I get in fluorescent yellow chapter books and then level 30,
then that means Im a very good reader!
Teacher: Whats the easiest thing about reading?
Ashley: Hmm. Looking at the pictures.
Teacher: Ok. Anything else that is easy?
Ashley: Reading, but when you get stuck on words, its not actually kind of easy.
Teacher: So mostly its easy except when you
Ashley: Like, no wait, its easy what the words I know. Its easy with words I know.
Teacher: Whats hard about reading?
Ashley: Trying to stretch out very long words.
Teacher: Hmm. Anything else?
Ashley: Like if it was a shape book and a long word like quadrilaterals, I might not figure it out!
Teacher: Anything else thats hard about reading?
Ashley: Mmm, no!
Teacher: What do you have to do to become a better reader?
Ashley: Maybe at home I should my mom should write down some words I dont really
know know how to stretch out and then I try to stretch them out!
Teacher: Ok, so mostly the words?
Ashley: Yeah. I think she could try to put write a piece of paper with words that that I dont
see her write!
Teacher: Anything else that you think you might try or should do to become a better reader?
Ashley: Always try to try to figure out the word and then if I figure it out, you could try it
again just to make sure you dont forget it!
Teacher: What do you think I (or any teacher, maybe your third grade teacher) could do to help
you become a better reader?
Ashley: Hmmm. Maybe like at recess, you could allow me to bring out a book and I could sit
like in the shade and read a book?
Teacher: So, like, more reading, youre thinking?
Ashley: Yeah.
Teacher: Anything else in school that your teacher or next years teacher could do?
Ashley: Umm, maybe just like two books in a higher level the next higher level for me?
Maybe then I can like do it like youre doing for me, like two fluorescents in my bag.
Teacher: Like a challenge, kind of?
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Ashley: Yeah, its like a challenge for me and those fluorescent books were pretty easy for me!
Teacher: What kind of books do you like to read?
Ashley: Hmm I like cat books a lot.
Teacher: So you like cat books. Tell me about them.
Ashley: Umm, I like these little chapter books because I was I was gonna read, like, to
another chapter each day. Its inside the spaceship.
Teacher: So, kind of like shorter chapter books, youre saying?
Ashley: Yeah, and chapter books because theyre really these books are interesting. This
ones very interesting! Minnie and Moo Save the Earth.
Teacher: Did you know thats a series? Have you read any other Minnie and Moo books?
Ashley: Yeah, I did.
Teacher: Oh, so you like that series, too?
Ashley: Its the Valentines one.
Teacher: Is there any other series that you like?
Ashley: Jack and Annie.
Teacher: Magic Tree House?
Teacher: What about any certain genres? Like fiction or nonfiction, or mostly realistic fiction
or fables?
Ashley: I like cat series.
Teacher: So when you say cats, do you mean fiction and nonfiction?
Ashley: Nonfiction.
Teacher: Mostly nonfiction?
Ashley: Because I can learn more about cats and then I could, like, help my cat out! So I can
help them a little.
Teacher: Do you read different things at home than you do at school?
Ashley: Yeah.
Teacher: Like what?
Ashley: Um like I dont have any nonfiction, so I think we should get nonfiction cat books.
Teacher: You mean at home?
Ashley: Mmhmm. Cause we dont really have any
Teacher: So what do you read, then, at home thats different?
Ashley: Um, like, some fiction books that are that some from the book fair. Theyre pretty
interesting but I already and my mom got me, like some very high level books for me.
Its like, like in the fifth grade reading? So when Im in fourth grade, I can try the fifth
grade reading.
Teacher: So you have some harder books there, too? Are they yours or your brothers?
Ashley: Mmhmm. Mine. My mom get me when I get older I can read them.
Teacher: What kind of things other than books do you read at home?
Ashley: Hmm. Well, if I, like saw an important video but it was in Spanish, I would read the
words.
Teacher: So, sometimes, like words on the screen?
Ashley: Yeah, on a screen. Hmm. Words on the computer!
Teacher: Oh, like what kind of words on a computer?
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Ashley: Um, like what if youre reading something that was important to your job that you had
to print? And then you had to read it before you do it to make sure its not in Spanish!
Teacher: So do you read on the computer?
Ashley: Yeah.
Teacher: What do you read?
Ashley: I read some books.
Teacher: Oh, you do?
Ashley: I try to read some chapter books.
Teacher: On the computer?
Ashley: Mmhmm.
Teacher: Where do you find chapter books on the computer?
Ashley: Um theres, I think we can I havent tried this yet but I was thinking about going on
the computer and, like, finding some books. Like
Teacher: So you dont usually?
Ashley: Yeah, I dont usually.
Teacher: What about on a tablet or anything?
Ashley: Yeah, I read on my tablet.
Teacher: How do you find out, then, about books that you might like to read?
Ashley: Umm, maybe in Scholastic.
Teacher: You said Scholastic, you look through?
Ashley: Yeah, um, and I look through and see if theres any books I can get.
Teacher: Ok, any other way you find out about books that you might want?
Ashley: Um, on commercials. We can find books.
Teacher: What about here in school? How do you find out about books that you might want to
read? Or in the library?
Ashley: I look in the library and see new books.
Teacher: So, mostly, you look around?
Ashley: Mmhmm.
Teacher: What books do you want to read now?
Ashley: Umm, any kind because I want to figure out whats, like books I havent read before
because theyre like if you havent read it before, then youll probably like it!
Teacher: So are there any that are on your wish list? Like youve been telling your mom I
really want to read this book?
Ashley: Hmm, no. I would just tell her to get me any book!
Teacher: What do you think teachers (either me or even your third grade teacher) could do to
make reading more enjoyable or more fun?
Ashley: Its already very fun.
Teacher: What about when you are going off to third grade? Is there anything you want me to
tell your teachers, You should definitely do this because thats how reading is
enjoyable for Ashley?
Ashley: Umm, its very enjoyable for me and if I read some new books and I dont get any
new books that I already read.
Teacher: So having lots of books to read?
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Ashley: Yeah. Maybe, like, my third grade teacher could pick me out some books that I havent
read before.
Teacher: So do you want your teachers to pick out your books or do you like to choose your
books?
Ashley: I dont really like to pick out my books because, like because I want them to be
surprises and then I could read them and I wont even know what they are.
Teacher: So you kind of like to read everything
Ashley: I like surprises. I really like em.
Teacher: Do you think its important to learn to read well?
Ashley: Mmhmm because, like, what if there was something important like when you grow up,
you got to, like, read books to your kids and then you gotta read recipes, how to make a
cake for your kids birthday or if it was any sleepover or something, then you gotta
know how to read or you might set the house on fire! And, like, what if there was a
warning sign and you couldnt read it, and then you went where it told you not to on the
warning sign!
Teacher: So you mentioned signs and recipes.
Ashley: Yeah and what if your mom wrote a thing by the microwave and taped it and said
Do not put metal in the microwave and you had a spoon stuck to ice cream and you
put it in there and you burn the house on fire.
Teacher: So, reading notes?
Ashley: Mmhmm.
Teacher: What kind of reading will you do when youre an adult?
Ashley: Hmm, I might read, like, some chapter books and loads of other books because I really
like reading.
Teacher: For fun?
Ashley: Yeah.
Teacher: Is there any other time you might read?
Ashley: Hmm, when Im bored.
Megan Salada
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Appendix C
Informal Phonics Inventory Student Data

Pre-test Results
Post-test Results
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Megan Salada
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Appendix D
Matching Long and Short Vowel Sounds: Picture Sort

Picture Card
Correct Response
Short Vowels
flag
X
lamp
X
chess
X
sled
X
bed
X
crib
X
grill
X
mitt
X
box
X
dog
X
pot
X
bus
X
duck
X
rug
X
Total 14/14
Long Vowels
grapes
X
snail
X
key
X
wheel
X
slide
X
tire
X
cone
X
goat
X
flute
mule
Total 8/10
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Appendix E
Matching Long and Short Vowel Sounds: Spelling Words

Pre-test Student Sample
Matching Long and Short Vowel Sounds

Represents long vowel sounds when spelling words
Represents short vowel sounds when spelling words
3/7
8/8
Megan Salada
TE 846
Post-test Student Sample
Matching Long and Short Vowel Sounds

Represents long vowel sounds when spelling words
Represents short vowel sounds when spelling words
4/7
8/8
Megan Salada
TE 846
Appendix F
Lesson Plans
Lesson 1:
Distinguishing between short and long vowel sounds
Date: 6/8/2015 and 6/9/2015
Objective(s) for todays lesson:
Student will correctly sort pictures and words according to their short and long vowel
sounds by segmenting words into their phonemes to isolate the vowel sound.
o Common Core State Standard: RF.2.3.A Distinguish long and short vowels
when reading regularly spelled one-syllable words.
Student will accurately decode or self-correct unfamiliar words in continuous text by

trying the short and long vowel sounds and choosing the word that sounds right and
makes sense.
o Common Core State Standard: RL.2.10 By the end of the year, read and
comprehend literature, including stories and poetry, in the grades 2-3 text
complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the
range.
Rationale (Explain why this content and/or skill is important and worthwhile, and how you will work to make it
relevant to your students lives):
One of Gambrell, Malloy, and Mazzonis (2011) best practices for comprehensive
literacy instruction states that students need scaffolded instruction in phonemic
awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension to promote independent
reading (p. 23, emphasis added). In order to decode increasingly complex words,
students must recognize that English vowels make more than one sound. Beginning
readers must first segment a word into its individual sounds and then blend those sounds
together to produce a word. In this lesson, the student will apply this skill to words
encountered within a text she reads in order to situate the skill within the actual act of
reading continuous text.
Materials & supplies needed:
Pre-assessment student work
Goal bookmark
Sorts 7-10 (Invernizzi et al., 2004, p. 24-25)
Marker
Whoops book (Haselhurst, 1996)
Procedures and approximate time allocated for each event
Introduction to the lesson (5 minutes)
Academic, Social and Linguistic

Support during each event
Teacher begins by showing the student the preassessments administered in prior sessions. Together,
the student and teacher will reflect on the preassessments to identify the students strengths and
weaknesses.
Based on areas of difficulty, the student and teacher will
together articulate a goal to improve the students
reading skills (namely, increase accuracy by using
strategies to decode words).
OUTLINE of key events during the lesson (50 minutes)
Teacher will restate the goal articulated at the beginning

of lesson and give the student one strategy to work
toward that goal. I want to teach you one strategy that
will help you read more words accurately. Vowels can
make more than one sound. When you see a word you
dont know, you can try different vowel sounds to read
the word accurately.
Teacher will explain that the student will learn the

different sounds vowels can make by sorting words and
pictures.
On the table, lay out pictures and words from Word
Sort 7: Short a versus Long a (CVCe) (Invernizzi et
al., 2004).
o Teacher and student will read all words/pictures
together and discuss any unfamiliar words.
o Teacher will ask if the student notices anything
about the words laid out. [They all have the letter
a in them.] Teacher will ask about the vowel
sounds in all of the words. Do they all have the
same vowel sound?
o Demonstrate: Teacher will introduce the short
a symbol, long a symbol, and oddball
headers from the sort. Explain that the oddball
category is for words that do not fit into the other
headers. Teacher will provide an example of
each vowel sound. Model how to segment a
word into its phonemes to isolate and identify the
vowel sound. Teacher will demonstrate the
sorting process by saying each word and
comparing it to each of the headers key
word/picture/symbol (short a, long a, and
oddball).
o Guided Practice: Have the student join in the
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If the student struggles to

articulate a goal, the teacher
will prompt student to
consider the difficult parts of
the assessments.
If the student does not

recognize a word, the teacher
will read it aloud and have the
student repeat it.

sorting and together, isolate, identify, and sort
the medial vowel sound. Teacher will model the
word what and how to decide when a word does
not fit either category.
o Independent Sort: Teacher will mix up the
words and pictures, leaving the headings above
each column. Have the student sort them into
columns by short a and long a sounds. Tell
the student to say each word aloud as they sort.
o Check: When the student finishes the sort,
prompt her to check the sort by reading each
word and picture in a column to make sure they
have the same medial vowel sound.
o Reflect: Teacher will ask the student how the
words in each column are alike and how they are
different from the other words.
Strategy bookmark
o Begin creating a bookmark for the student to
reference with the strategy of trying different
vowel sounds. At the top, write the students
goal and todays strategy: Vowels have more
than one sound.
o Teacher will add the vowel a to the student
bookmark.
o Review that a has the two sounds from todays
sort (short a and long a). On the bookmark,
draw a picture and key word for both the short
and long vowel sounds. Explain that the student
can try both of those sounds when they see the
vowel a in a word they dont know.
Repeat the process above for vowels i, o, and u. Add

each to the bookmark after sorting.
Reading Task
o Teacher will demonstrate for the student how to
use the strategy bookmark while reading. When
you come to a tricky word, one strategy is to try
different vowel sounds. When you try different
vowel sounds, you will recognize the word you
read as a word you know that makes sense and
sounds right.
o Teacher will model by reading the first page of
the book Whoops (Haselhurst, 1996), stopping to
try different vowel sounds on an unknown word.
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Teacher will continue to
model more examples and
have the student mimic
segmenting and isolating the
vowel sound, if student
demonstrates difficulty.
If the student does not notice

an error, teacher will prompt
with: One of these doesnt fit.
See if you can hear which one
as I read them all.
Extension: Prompt the student
to observe the spelling
patterns in each column to
notice how short and long
vowels are indicated in
spelling.

o Student will continue by reading the rest of the
book, using the bookmark to try different vowel
sounds.
Closing summary for the lesson (1 minute)
Teacher will remind the student of her reading goal from

the beginning of the lesson. Every time you read,
always remember to try both vowel sounds. You can use
your bookmark to help you when you get stuck.
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Teacher will prompt student
to use the bookmark if she
becomes stuck on a word.
Teacher will model additional
pages, if necessary.
Transition to next learning activity

Assessment
Academic, Social, and Linguistic

Support during assessment
During the word sorts, the teacher will observe whether the
student is able to segment the words into individual phonemes
and isolate the vowel sound. The teacher will look for the
student to compare a word to each of the headings, saying
aloud the words to listen for the same vowel sound. The
teacher will look for the student to check each sort and notice
similarities between the vowel sounds in each word in a
column.
During the reading of Whoops, the teacher will look for the
student to stop at unknown words. The teacher will observe
the students use of the strategy bookmark to consider possible
medial vowel sounds. The teacher will look for the student to
try the short and long vowel sounds to determine which makes
sense and sounds right.
The Informal Phonics Inventory (McKenna & Stahl, 2009) will
be administered as a formal post-assessment upon completion
of both lessons.
The teacher will point to or

model use of the bookmark if
the student does not do so
independently
Megan Salada
TE 846
Lesson 2:
Spelling short and long vowel sounds in CVC and CVCe words
Date: 6/12/2015
Objective(s) for todays lesson:
Student will correctly spell short-vowel CVC words and long-vowel CVCe words by
listening for the vowel sound and using a single vowel to represent short vowel sounds
and adding a silent e to represent long vowel sounds.
o Common Core State Standard: L.2.2.D Generalize learned spelling patterns
when writing words.
Rationale (Explain why this content and/or skill is important and worthwhile, and how you will work to make it
relevant to your students lives):
Reading and writing are reciprocal processes. Practicing the skill of spelling short and
long vowel words will help students to make connections between the words they read
and write. Spelling patterns for short and long vowel words are different and students
must learn the various patterns to aid in decoding words quickly and automatically.
Materials & supplies needed:
Sorts 9-10 (Invernizzi et al., 2004, p. 24-25)
Highlighter
Two-column chart
Tape
Pencil
Procedures and approximate time allocated for each event
Academic, Social and Linguistic

Support during each event
Introduction to the lesson (10 minutes)
Teacher begins by reminding student of the previous

lesson.
Teacher will ask the student to review by sorting and
checking the short and long u vowels cards (Invernizzi
et al., 2004).
Teacher will introduce todays lesson objective and
activity. Explain that the student will engage in a
different kind of sort a Blind Sort in order to practice
spelling short and long-vowel words. Noticing spelling
patterns will help you be able to read and write the
vowel sounds in words.
OUTLINE of key events during the lesson (30 minutes)
If the student struggles with

the sorting review, reteach
and remind the student of the
strategy from the previous
lesson.
Spelling Inquiry
o After the student has sorted the short and long u
words as a review, the teacher will prompt the
student to notice the spelling of the words.
o What do you notice about the spelling of the
short and long u words? What letters make the
short u sound? the long u sound?
o The teacher will highlight the u that makes the
short u sound in the first word. The teacher
will guide the student in highlighting each u that
makes a short u sound in the sorted words.
o The teacher will highlight the u_e that makes the
long u sound in the first word sorted. The
teacher will guide the student in highlighting
each u_e that makes a long u sound in the
sorted words.
o The teacher will explicitly state the spelling
pattern observed in the sort. When you hear a /u/
[short u] sound in a word, you know it will be
spelled with a u. When you hear a /u/ [long u]
sound in a word, you know it will be spelled with
a u and a silent e on the end.
Blind Sort
o The teacher will display a two-column chart and
place the short and long u heading cards at the
top of each column.
o The teacher will explain the directions for a
Blind Sort. The teacher will shuffle the word
cards and randomly draw a short or long u word
and read it aloud to the student (without showing
the card). The student will sort the word by
spelling it under the short or long u heading.
The teacher will then reveal the word card and
the student will check her spelling.
Repeat the review sort, spelling inquiry, and Blind Sort
with short and long o.
Closing summary for the lesson
Remind student that short vowels and long vowels are

spelled differently. When reading and writing words,
you can use the spelling patterns you know when you
hear short or long vowels.
Megan Salada
TE 846
Have the student say each

word aloud to listen for the
letters that make the vowel
sound.
Highlighting will draw
students eyes to the letter
representations that make the
vowel.
Prompt student to first decide

if the word has a short or long
vowel and point to the correct
column.
Draw students attention to
the spelling pattern of the key
words in the headings.
Repeat with additional
vowels, if student
demonstrates difficulty.
Megan Salada
TE 846
Transition to next learning activity

Assessment
(How will I gauge the students learning as I implement the lesson

plan and once the lesson is completed? Specifically, what will I look for? How will
I use what I am learning to inform my next steps?)
During the blind sort, the teacher will observe whether the
student is able to determine whether the word has a short or
long vowel. The teacher will look for the student to compare a
word to each of the headings, paying attention to the spelling.
The teacher will look for the student to spell short vowels with
only the vowel (CVC) and long vowels with a silent e (CVCe).
The Matching Long and Short Vowel Sounds with Letters
(Pinnell & Fountas, 2003) will be administered as a formal
post-assessment upon completion of the lesson.
Academic, Social, and Linguistic

Support during assessment
Megan Salada
TE 846
Appendix G
Student Work
Figure 1 Short and Long -a Sort
Figure 2 Short and Long -i Sort
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Figure 3 Short and Long -o Sort
Figure 4 Short and Long -u Sort
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Figure 5 Blind Sort
Megan Salada
TE 846
Appendix H
Ashleys Strategy Bookmark

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Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Brief Background and Reason for Project Focus

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Ashley is a Caucasian female child of European descent. She is presently 8 years

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Tests Given and Summary of Test Results

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Informal Phonics Inventory

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Common Core State

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Common Core State

Reflections on Differentiated Literacy Lesson Plans

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Reutzel, D. R. (2011). Organizing effective literacy instruction: Differentiating instruction to

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Motivation to Read Profile Revised

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

a very good reader

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

MRP R Subscale Scores

Total Score: 67/80

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Motivation to Read Profile Revised: Conversational Interview

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Informal Phonics Inventory Student Data

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Matching Long and Short Vowel Sounds: Picture Sort

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Matching Long and Short Vowel Sounds: Spelling Words

Matching Long and Short Vowel Sounds

Literacy Learner Analysis Project

Post-test Student Sample

Matching Long and Short Vowel Sounds

Literacy Learner Analysis Project