Tutoring Summary

Tutoring Summary

           The purpose of the tutoring this semester was to mark the progress of the student I was with.  I will gave helpful tips and techniques to help my struggling reader.  Throughout the semester I gave the student assessments.  These assessments included two running records, one closed reading, a spelling inventory, two word sorts, and an attitude survey.  Through these assessments I concluded that the student I worked with is a very fluent reader.  She makes very few mistakes when reading and does a great job pronouncing words, even if she is unfamiliar.  She also uses great expression and pauses at commas.  In the two running record combined she only had six errors.  I think that this shows that she needs to read harder texts than she is currently reading.  She is at a high level and needs to be pushed.  The spelling inventory showed me that she was in the harder suffixes spelling stage.  I worked with her on these suffixes by giving her two word sorts that focused on suffixes.  She did very good sorting the words and pronouncing the words. 

I think this student needs to be pushed more than the average fifth grader.  She shows that she is far beyond the reading level of a fifth grader and comprehends what she is reading as well.  I would suggest to the classroom teacher that they suggest harder books for the student to read.  Maybe she can read a 7^th grade book for free reading and meet with the teacher and talk about it to show her comprehension.  Reading fifth grade books shouldn’t be as easy for her as they are, so she needs to be pushed.  Also, the teacher could give her some extra words for the spelling list for the week.  These words could focus on suffixes so she gets extra practice working with them.  Having said that, I think someone at home could work with her as well.  Someone should help her with her spelling list and practice spelling them with her.  Her parents could also give her extra word sorts for her to work on.  If the family has any books at home, the parents could read one with her and discuss it.  This would give her a great chance to practice her comprehension and retelling to somebody. 

I learned throughout this case study that I really enjoy working one on one with a student.  Teachers don’t often get to do this, which is unfortunate, but it was a lot of fun to get to know this student and really work with her on the things she could improve.  I thought I did an overall good job with instruction, but I could use more experience with close reading.  Since I had the chance to do a couple of the assessments more than one time, it got easier each time.  It would have been nice to have one more meeting to practice close reading again, but I will have more chances later on.  Analyzing the struggles of a student isn’t always easy, but it’s a challenge and that is great practice for everyone in the class.  Overall, this was a great experience and it brought a lot of the things we talk about in class into reality and was great practice for all of us.