Initial Thoughts About Slides for Presentation

Area of Focus: Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension, most students are behind because they are reading in English as a second language. Accelerating student learning in this area is a major priority for me and my school to give my students their best chance at success in the future. Making inferences is a challenging step forward in reading and many students struggle with it. 

Focal Students
I chose these two students because they were on the lower end of reading performance in my class and I wanted to look at the fundamentals of learning how to infer. These two students did not seem to be able to do so on their own, so they seemed like good candidates to study in order to help me understand what is really involved in the process.

Routine Data Source
This was as much a part of my inquiry as the understanding of the skill of inference. I started with post-its during independent reading, evolved to using them during guided reading, became cumbersome to try and collect/review, tried small lined paper slips during read aloud, then settled into stop and jots during read aloud and independent reading. 

Tracking Focal Student Progress

Mills Teacher Scholars

Tracking Focal Student Progress

April 2013

My area of Inquiry/Inquiry Question is: Students reporting their thinking in writing about reading.

My routine data source is: Student “stop and jot” during read aloud of a shared text.

Demonstrating Success: Reflect on what evidence you see in the routine data source that tells you how your student is or is not progressing on the indicators.

Indicators	Student Name ____Nathalie_____	Student Name ____Jenny______
1. Student correctly identifies type of strategy used in “Stop-and Jot”	£Met ☐Not met ☐ Part Evidence/How can you tell? 5 inferences made, 4 about characters’ feelings, 1 of a character trait	£Met ☐Not met  ☐ Part Evidence/How can you tell? 5 questions, mostly basic comprehension (indicates low level of understanding); 1 inference about a character’s feelings
2. Inference was made based on the text	£Met ☐Not met ☐ Part Evidence/How can you tell? Quotes texts or relates to important plot points.	£Met ☐Not met  ☐ Part Evidence/How can you tell? “He is angry at the robbers because they took the coins.” (Next level would be quoting text)
3. Student was able to explain reasoning, give evidence	☐Met £Not met  ☐ Part Evidence/How can you tell? Does not explain beyond the quote. Inferences are reasonable, but she does not show so in her writing.	☐ Met £Not met  ☐ Part Evidence/How can you tell? Does not explain reasoning.
4.  Inference is connected to a deeper understanding of the text	☐Met ☐Not met  £Part Evidence/How can you tell? Mostly she is writing about characters’ feelings, but she does go a little deeper for one character trait, which will help with a deeper understanding of the story.	☐ Met £Not met  ☐ Part Evidence/How can you tell? Inference is circumstantial, and does not necessarily help with a deeper understanding of the text.

£

Looking at Data

Natalia:

Natalia's Stop-and-Jot Sample

Something I have noticed about Natalia's learning is that, she focuses mainly on how a character is feeling for her inferential thinking. I wonder if this is the only kind of inference she is aware of, or if she is just comfortable with this kind of thinking and does not challenge herself to do more. I am also noticing that she is quoting the text directly, which is an exciting development for her! I would like to see her become aware of her thinking habits during reading so that she can push her thinking further even as she reads. 

Jennifer: 

Jennifer's Stop-and-Jot Sample

Something I have noticed about Jennifer's learning is that she is capable of asking basic comprehension questions and that she is able to infer about a character's feelings. This is interesting, because in earlier formats, where she did not have to identify the kind of thinking she was doing, she mainly would summarize. I wonder if this has added to her metacognition or if she just needed clarification on the expectations for the assignment. I notice that she has erased much of what she has jotted (in boxes 1 and 4) and am wondering why she erased what she wrote in those spaces. I would like to see her using different kinds of strategies also (connections, predictions), as I do not usually see her using them while she is reading.