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11/15/2017
AE 3
Cynthia is 8 years old. She is in 3rd grade. Cynthia is currently testing at a first grade
level according to her teacher. Cynthia was tested using Flynt and Cooter ‘Level Assessment
Protocols’. The levels she was tested on were “Pre Primer, Primer, Level 1 and Level 2”. Cynthia
was classified as having a first grade reading level when I first started student teaching. I have
seen development in her reading skills. However, I feel that there are areas that she struggles
with specifically, which have yet to be identified. By starting with Pre-primer and continuing to
test her until we find a level that is most appropriate for her abilities, I will be able to see what
emerging reader skills she has developed accompanying each level and likewise what areas need
to be strengthened to help her develop to the next level of literacy.
As stated prior, Cynthia is 8 years old and in the third grade. She lives with her
immediate family, which consists of her two parents, two sisters and 2 brothers. She enjoys
drawing in her free time. She is very talkative when given the opportunity, but is well behaved
and quiet in class. She has difficulty reading, but excels in mathematics. I recently found out at a
parent teacher conference, that Cynthia was living in Egypt last year. She informed me that she
had been taught Arabic while attending school there. This explains why she is not at the same
level of literacy as her classmates who have been studying English for their entire elementary
education.
Cynthia did very well in her Preprimer and primer assessments. She did have a few
mistakes on her Primer assessment, but it was most likely due to her rushing, as she was able to
self correct. While Farrah read the Primer story, she read the sentences word by word, rather than
with fluidity.
Cynthia also did very well on her Level 1 assessment. She was able to retell the story showing
comprehension of the main idea, characters and vocabulary from the story. She tends to omit the
suffix of words, such as /-ed/ in ‘walked’. Due to the observation of fundamental behaviors
utilized when reading this text, and few errors, we continued onto a Level 2 assessment.
Cynthia was once again able to retell the story accurately, using key details from the
Level 2 Assessment story, without aid. However when asked, “What lesson did Mary learn about
getting something you really want?” She answered, “She should clean to get it.” I then asked
Cynthia, “What you or I really wanted something in life? How would we go about getting it?
Allison Simons
11/15/2017
AE 3
What did the story teach us?” The suggested answer for the question on the Level 2 Assessment
Protocols page said, “it takes time and hard work”, but Cynthia once again answered that “we
should clean to get it”. This signaled to me that Cynthia sees the text as a very literal thing; the
story is confined to it’s pages and that perhaps she does not yet grasp the idea of stories having
an overall lesson or theme that can be related to the reader’s lives.
Beyond the comprehension of a greater meaning, which is understandable that a 3rd
grade student might not be able to grasp yet, Cynthia did struggle moreso with this passage than
with others. Many of her errors were classified as “visual” on the error sheet. She continually
omitted the /-ed/ suffix from the text. She substituted words she knew for words that she did not,
such as reading “carpet” instead of “carport”. After completing the error analysis for the level 2
story, “Mary’s New Bike”, Cynthia's biggest struggle was classified as “Visual” (6 mistakes),
followed by “Syntax” (3 mistakes), and “Meaning” (2 mistakes).
These assessments were more useful in identifying what Cynthia struggles with. It seems
that her biggest errors were visual mistakes. Cynthia tends to break down unknown words into
syllables and then proceeds to sound out the syllables. However, I noticed that she substituted
words that she knew for words that she did not know, even if it did not make sense with the
story, which is where her syntax errors often stemmed from. Having observed Cynthia read
before with the RTI program that is currently intact at her school to help her develop as a reader,
as well as the prior Flynt/ Cooter evaluations that I have conducted, I know Cynthia can read
words quickly and sound out new words. It seems that the biggest issue or her is that she has
poor vocabulary skills and it is affecting here comprehension. As I was reading through Flynt
and Cooter, I came across the following sentence, “Poor listening comprehension will necessitate
repetition of classroom instructions and preferential seating close to the teacher so as to reduce
distractions. (P.22)” This accurately describes Cynthia. I have often had to repeat instructions to
her and tell her to make eye contact with me, while I am talking so that I know she is not
distracted. Her vocabulary and listening comprehension is something that needs to be
strengthened.
To address Cynthia's poor vocabulary skills, Morphemic analysis should be strengthened
by using word walls, direct instruction on structural analysis and peer teaching. I think that word
Allison Simons
11/15/2017
AE 3
walls would be the most beneficial of the suggested strategies, because it would help her develop
her understanding of word endings and prefixes.
Using the Table 3 “If-Then Chart or Phonemic Awareness” (P.24), Cynthia has the
learning need of phonemic segmentation of spoken words and Blending sounds into spoken
words. To strengthen both of these, it is recommended that strategies to be utilized with her are:
word rubber-banding, add/ take a sound from spoken words, add/take a sound, environmental
print/logos, and songs, chants, raps, poetry. These strategies should be utilized to develop her
phonics skills. The Word Attack Skill that I observed needing the most help would be ‘onset and
rime’. To remedy mistakes made in this category, Flynt and Cooter recommended explicit
instruction, making words, tongue twisters, word boxed, letter sound cards, and nonsense words.
Strengthening her understanding of onset and rime would help Cynthia with her struggles with
suffixes and her habit of omitting them.
To develop her comprehension skills, I truly think it would be the most beneficial for the
instructor to start with Table 5 “If- Then chart” and spend time developing each segment listed
within that chart, one-by-one. Cynthia needs development in each of the areas listed on that
table, which are;
1. Parts of a story (story grammar)
2. Sequence of events
3. Use of background Knowledge
4. Book selection skills (interest)
5. Self Monitoring of comprehension
6. Main idea
Because I have addressed many areas of Cynthia’s literacy skills that need development and
strategies that can be used to strengthen these areas, I think it is necessary to state in what order I
word work on those skills using the suggested strategies. I would first focus on her phonemic
awareness skills,as that is the foundation for being a strong reader, then I would focus on
vocabulary, followed by Reading Comprehension (Narrative/ TExt stories). As stated before,
Cynthia haws a lot of areas that need development in her literacy skills, however after
conducting these assessments and seeing the recommendations that Flynt and Cooter suggest, I
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11/15/2017
AE 3
feel that a better RTI can be planned for Cynthia rather than the one that is in place now, which
seems to focus on reading rate, which she is fairly good at. This assessment definitely helped me
pinpoint her areas of weakness and what to address in our next session.
Cooter, R. B., Flynt, E. S., & Cooter, K. S. (2007). Comprehensive reading inventory: measuring
reading development in regular and special education classrooms. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall.