Tehya Baxter EDS 351: TELL Professor Kathy Melanese Individual Student Profile Cover Sheet: Analysis and

Reflection I. Classroom Characteristics T. is a native English speaker; he receives instruction only in English (there are no ELLs in his class). He participates in a pull-out program (RIG: Reading Instructional Groups) for additional reading support. This program takes place every day for 90 minutes and includes phonics instruction (both oral and written), practice reading aloud, and writing support. In the main classroom, T. has taped to his desk a small sheet differentiating b and d (both upper and lower case), m and n (both upper and lower case), p and q (both upper and lower case), as well as a few words that use those letters (bed, queen, etc). This sheet is on his desk at all times, including all writing and reading tests. T. also receives additional time to take tests. II. Assessment Data There is no CELDT data because T. is not an ELL. He scored in Early Intermediate in the Express Placement Assessment because he missed two questions in that section. He said, There is 2 ice creams rather than There are three ice cream cones, and The boy is eating the ice cream rather than The boys is going to eat the ice cream. However, because he is a native English speaker, I continued to administer the test: he only missed 1 in the Intermediate section (he said, The girl is buying an ice cream cone instead of She bought an ice cream cone) though he missed two in Early Advanced (he did not use a

complete sentence when answering the first question, even when asked to rephrase it into one, and he said that you see yourself when you look in the mirror). On a December multiple-choice test on the short story Around the Pond, a story children had read daily for two weeks, T. scored 40% in the Reading Comprehension section and 20% in the Vocabulary section. III. Analysis and Next Steps I believe T. is in the Intermediate stage of language proficiency, even though he only scored in Early Intermediate during the Express Placement Assessment. I came to this conclusion by reviewing the ELD Matrix. In all areas except verbs, T.s capabilities lie in Intermediate. As detailed in the Matrix, T. is able to say and write detailed sentences, as well as comprehend general information and increasingly specific meaning. He uses because to explain as well as multiple adjectives and adverbs to describe. He is able to write compound sentences and compose writing using scaffolds. However, T. is still in the Early Intermediate proficiency in his use of verbs (he tends to say everything in the present tense). I think that T. would benefit from learning experiences that required orally telling stories that happened in the past or that will happen in the future. When responding to questions, T. almost always uses the present tense, regardless of what tense the question calls for. A teacher could read a story that took place in the past and could then tell their own story about a similar experience that they had (which would also be past tense). The teacher could present sentence frames

that required the use of the past tense and that were related to the story (for example, When Miss Baxter was little, she ________). After the teacher modeled the use of the sentence frames, she could have T. fill in the blanks. Finally, T. could then be asked to share his own similar experience orally. This I do-We doYou do model provides a structured language practice that would scaffold the language development of T.s verb tense agreement (Dutro, p. 59). By hearing the correct tense modeled three times immediately before having to produce his own language, T.s short term memory lapses would also be taken into consideration. Taking these cognitive factors into account is imperative to understanding and supporting his language acquisition process (TPE 7). T. would also benefit from learning experiences that bolster his enthusiasm for reading and writing; his responses in my interview with him revealed a lack of excitement for reading (he struggled with naming a favorite book) and the conversation with his mother confirmed that the challenges he faces academically have put a severe damper on his approach to school. His mom had the option to have him repeat first grade but she decided to move him up to second grade. She explained that he was already so unenthusiastic toward school because of how much of a struggle it was for him that having him repeat a year would completely remove any motivation he had to keep trying. During the Language Arts lesson that I taught in which I read Chickens Arent the Only Ones, T., who is usually hesitant to participate in whole-class situations for fear of not being correct was one of the most enthusiastic participators in predicting creatures that laid eggs before the lesson began. As confirmed in Dutros

Explicit Language Instruction, Students must be motivated to read text for a purpose, whether personal or academic (p. 49). Providing T. with more situations that provide this level of engagement with literature that really interests him would prove invaluable in helping him foster a more positive attitude toward reading, writing, and language arts. In order to plan further instruction, it would be useful to obtain assessment information regarding T.s speech production at home. His mother provided a really valuable insight into his academic history, developmental processing issues, and ways to best support his development at school. Knowing how his mother supports his reading and writing at home, and seeing if this support provides T. with more successful results than he is seeing at school, would allow instructors to implement methods that his mom is already using in order to maintain consistency that would also support his short term memory lapses. It would also be useful to see T.s assessment information from first grade, in order to compare his progress over a year, aiding the teacher in seeing his growth over time and maintaining strategies that have worked to support his reading, writing, and speaking development.