Sara Egbert
February 17, 2010
EELB 640
Professor Niehus
Assignment #2
Tutorial Plan for EL: 5 Tutoring Sessions
Session 1: 2/8/2010
Plan
The Plan for my first tutoring session with Eric was to begin with front-loading vocabulary from a chapter from the book, Freak the Mighty. I am familiar with Eric’s present levels, and used what I know about him to plan. I know that Eric struggles with reading comprehension and that vocabulary plays a large part in this.
Description of Teaching
I chose 5 vocabulary words to explain and connect to prior knowledge from chapter 3 of Freak the Mighty. Eric’s knowledge of the words was limited. I taught Eric how to complete Frayer Model Cards. This is an index card, broken into quadrants by drawing lines. In the top left quadrant, Eric wrote the word. In the top right quadrant, Eric wrote the definition. In the bottom left, he drew a picture to represent the vocabulary word. In the bottom right, he used the word in a sentence. Eric completed a card for each vocabulary word. I gave Eric a practice-spelling test, in which he misspelled 4 words.
Evaluation and Recommendations
Upon completing the first session, I knew I would use the cards he had created to study the words. I also knew that I would like to teach Eric strategies for reading the words that he could use for any new word he needed to decode.
Session 2: 2/9/2010
Plan
The plan for my second tutoring session was to pick up where we left off with the frayer-model vocabulary cards. My goal was to assess his comprehension of the word this time; as I had assessed only spelling in the first session.
Description of Teaching
Eric reviewed the cards. I modeled how to use them by covering up two sections and calling upon Eric to recall what was covered up. This strategy is one that Eric was not familiar with, so it did take several practices together for Eric to be comfortable using this strategy for independent studying. Next, I modeled using a brace map to break each word into parts. In a brace map, the word goes on one side of a brace and the root word and prefix and/or suffix go on the opposite side. Eric used the brace map for each word, identifying prefixes, suffixes, and root words to practice decoding and spelling. I used a cloze passage assessment to determine comprehension of vocabulary. Eric completed a correct cloze passage for 2 of the 5 words. I also administered a second practice-spelling test, in which he spelled 3 of the 5 words correctly.
Evaluation and Recommendation
Upon completing the second session, I was pleased to see improvement in spelling. I noticed that I would need to employ further strategies to focus on comprehension of the vocabulary words. I began brainstorming of kinesthetic ways to practice definitions.
Session 3: 2/10/2010
Plan
The plan for my third tutoring session was to use kinesthetic strategies to practice vocabulary. I reflected on what I know about Eric in my planning. I know that Eric is active and likes to play soccer. I knew that movement would be important for attention and mastery.
Description of Teaching
I reviewed each vocabulary word, calling upon Eric this time to read each word. We reviewed the frayer model cards and the brace maps. I modeled for Eric what pantomiming looks like and what it would look like for a vocabulary word. Eric pantomimed each word, designating a movement with the definition. The assessment I used in this session was matching with cards that had words and definitions printed on them. Eric matched two cards correctly with the written definitions. In the repeated practice-spelling test, 3 of 5 words were spelled correctly.
Evaluation and Recommendation
In evaluating the activity, I was pleased with how successful Eric was able to put a movement/pantomime with a word when the word was discussed beforehand. I knew that the words that Eric had repeatedly spelled correctly and mastered meaning of needed to be switched out for new ones.
Session 4: 2/11/2010
Plan
My plan for the fourth session was to keep the two words that Eric had missed on prior spelling tests and add three new words. I planned on challenging Eric to get the remaining two words correct on both assessments. I also planned on completing the frayer model cards and brace map for the three new words.
Description of Teaching
I explained to Eric that we were going to work on three new words and two of the words from the previous days. I reviewed the two words that he had been studying and introduced the three new words, calling upon prior knowledge and connecting the words to the chapter they had come from. Eric completed the frayer model cards and brace maps for the three new words. Once again, I gave Eric a spelling and cloze passage tests. Eric spelled 3 of the 5 words correctly and completed 3 of the 5 cloze passages correctly.
Evaluation and Recommendation
Eric demonstrated in this assessment that he had mastered the original 5 words and one additional. He was confident and showed pride in his demeanor when he realized that he met my challenge to get the original two words correct. I knew that I wanted to review the missed words for the test in a kinesthetic and competitive way.
Session 5: 2/16/2010
Plan
I planned to teach Eric how to play a game called, Slap it, Say it, Spell it, Use it; a technique for practicing vocabulary words. This game is played by writing the vocabulary words on cards, and placing them on the walls in the classroom. The teacher says the word, and the student has to run to the word, slap it, then turn around and say it, spell it and use it in a sentence. I also planned to give a final assessment on the total of 8 words he had studied in our tutoring sessions.
Description of Teaching
I modeled for Eric how to play, slap it, say it, spell it, use it. He laughed and initially was shy about participating. He participated willingly. I assisted him with spelling and using the word in a sentence for all three of the words introduced in session 4. I asked Eric to use each word in a sentence. Eric used 5 of the 8 words correctly in a complete sentence.
Evaluation and Recommendation
Eric mastered the original five vocabulary words in spelling and use of the words. In working with him again, I would use introduce new decoding strategies that he could use when reading. I will continue to use the frayer model cards and the brace map for spelling, decoding, and comprehension.
