Week 9 Assignment 3

Summarize each assessment battery tool. 

QRI5 is an informal reading inventory used to assess the level at which a student is reading.  The measures assess whether students are able to read independently and how much they need help from the teacher.  Passages provided for students are chosen based on student grade level and the level at which they are expected to read.  Students are assessed based on the words per minute they are able to read and their ability to retell a story.  QRI5 is used to identify students’ independent, instructional and frustration levels as readers.

DIBELS is a system of assessments that are used to measure different aspects of reading.  The system is used to assess early level reading and literacy skills.  The assessments are used often and are brief.  Phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, comprehension, vocabulary and fluency and accuracy with text can all be measured using the DIBELS system.  In most cases students are scored based on the number of words/sounds/phonemes they produce correctly.

Describe the similarities and differences of both assessments. 

Similarities. The two literacy assessments are similar in that they are used to measure student reading skills and abilities.  Both can be used to measure student progress toward a goal and identify student strengths and weaknesses.  Each assessment method scores students based on the words they read correctly and counts the number of errors the student makes when reading. 

Differences. DIBELS is primarily to determine early reading skills and determine early success where as QRI5 can be used throughout high school.  The DIBELS assessments seem to be mostly kept to one minute where QRI5 did not have such specific time constraints.  These assessments also seem to be more specific and there are different assessments for each big idea reading skill.

Describe how they can be used (in the classrooms or as a standardized tool) for instructional planning and decisions. 

Both assessments can be used to determine student reading level and the appropriate text to provide students with.  They can also be used to measure student progress toward goals and to create new reading goals for students.  The assessments should be repeated throughout the year to track student growth and determine new levels of student’s reading skills.  These can be used in small groups and with individual students (DIBELS is used individually).  The results of these assessments can and should be used to plan appropriate instruction for students and decide what level of text is appropriate for students.  They can also help to identify at risk students and areas of weakness.  The information provided by these assessments can be used to gauge and promote student reading fluency and comprehension.

Week 8 Assignment 3

Fluency Lesson Plan

Above is the link to my fluency lesson plan for this week!  Any feedback is appreciated.

Week 6

Mary could not recall many details from the text “Whales and Fish”; she recalled 16 ideas out of 49 in total.  Mary also had very little prior knowledge when she began reading the text.  The ability to recall details and activate prior knowledge can be considered weaknesses for Mary.  It is important that Mary learns how to sort between prior knowledge and unfamiliar details in a text in order to better comprehend what she is reading.  For Mary’s intervention I would focus on the ability to make connections between texts being read and prior knowledge and to self monitor comprehension.  I think it would be helpful for Mary to re-read the same text and look back to identify more details from the text.  The use of graphic organizers can be helpful to improve Mary’s ability to recall details from the text.  As Mary is reading I would have her pause to write down or discuss any new details she has read aloud.  I am unsure of how long the intervention would need to be.  I feel like the length of an intervention depends on the individual student and the gains they are making.  Interventions can be short term or long term depending on the student and their weaknesses.

The mini-lesson I would use to help Mary recall details and make connections between a text and her prior knowledge is one that use Knew/New charts.  I would discuss the difference between knew and new with Mary (preferably in a small group) and why it is important for readers to distinguish between the two.  Thinking about what you knew before reading a text can help you make sense of the new information in a text.

I would model how when I am given a text I immediately think about the title and try to relate it to something I have read before or heard about before.  I would choose a text read the title and begin to brainstorm a list of things I already knew about the topic.  I would stress how using this prior knowledge helps me to better understand the new information in the text.

I would read the text aloud and model how when I come across something I already knew about I jot it down on a “Knew” list.  As I read I pick out new information and think aloud about anything that might be unfamiliar to me.  I add these details to a “New” list.  It is important to let the student(s) know that the Knew list will be shorter than the New list most likely; this proves you are growing as a reader and gaining new information.  I would also stress how gaining new information is what reading is all about.

After modeling the strategy I would provide a different text for students to complete the same process.  Once the students have completed their own chart we would share aloud the connections we made and the new information we learned about as we were reading.

This practice help readers keep track of details from a text and monitor the new information in a given text.