Significant “Chunks”

What My “Chunks” Tell Me

Data Source “A” – Student Observations (during Repeated Reading Cycle Method):

Observation notes on 2/26/07 (day 1. text #1). I chose a 1^st grade level text for this cycle. During the first day using the repeated reading cycle with Alan I wrote:

Chunk 1A: “…we went over the words and I modeled the text for him. We read it together once. Then he read again and I noticed his rate improved.

Chunk 2A: “After just a few readings I could hear his rate improving.”

Observation notes on 2/27/07 (day 2, text #2), the second day Alan and I worked together by reading text #1  I wrote:

Chunk 3A: “We read 3 times together today then Alan read the text alone. He miscued only 2 times.  He is still reading somewhat slowly, but his accuracy is improving.

Observation notes on 3/6/07 (day 2, text #2). On the second day working with Alan on the second text I wrote:

Chunk 4A: “Alan is getting more and more accurate with his words in this section. Just yesterday I worried it was too hard, but today he miscued still for stand and self-corrected it’s and she. Those were his only miscues.

Observation notes on 2/28/07 (day 3, text #1), the third day Alan. and I worked together by reading the text at the same time I wrote:

Chunk 5A: “We read through the story twice together today then I took a running record to see how he’s doing. I timed him at 114 words per minute so I need to adjust the goal. Or should I switch stories more often?”

Observation notes on 2/27/07 (day 2 , text #1), the second day Alan. and I worked together by reading the text at the same time I wrote:

Chunk 6A: “Alan had 3 self-corrects today! He usually doesn’t self-correct when he’s reading.”

Observation notes on 3/ 12/07. While listening to Alan read a text not related to the project I wrote:

Chunk 7A: “Alan SC (self-corrected) 8 times!! This is a break through. He used to barrel through without stopping to make sense. He would look at the first letter and take a wild guess. I’m so excited!

Observation notes on 3/9/07 while Alan read a text not related to the project.

Chunk 8A: “Alan is monitoring himself for meaning. He rarely did this before. Wow!”

Observation notes on 3/05/07 (day 1, text #2). This was the beginning of the second repeated reading cycle. I choose a 2^nd grade level text for this cycle.

Chunk 9A: “The 2^nd grade level story is pretty hard for him. Maybe it’s too hard for fluency practice. He got off to a bad start and struggled through the first reading of the text.

Observation notes on 3/13/07 (day 1, text #3), the first day Alan and I worked together on the third text using the repeated reading cycle. This text was 1^st grade level.

Chunk 10A: “This was rough first reading again for Alan. It got better as we practiced, but he continued to mix up where and when.

Observation notes on 3/14/07 (day 2, text #3), the second  day Alan and I worked together on the third text using the repeated reading cycle. This text was 1^st grade level. I wrote:

Chunk 11A: “Alan is having a hard time with where and were now. Yesterday is was where and when. What is it about the “w” words that trip him up?

Observation notes on 3/01/07 (day 4, text #1), the fourth day Alan. and I worked together on text #1, I wrote:

Chunk 12A: “Alan read 119 words per minute and 98% accuracy. His confidence soared! It was the first time I really heard him read fluently on his own. It was wonderful to hear.

Observation notes on 3/9/07 while Alan read a text not related to the project.

Chunk 13A: “Alan can hear himself when he is fluent and when his is not fluent. He tries hard to increase his fluency and is very proud of himself when he is fluent.”

Observation notes on 3/14/07 while Alan read a text not related to the project.

Chunk 14A: “Alan wants to do well. He always asks to see the graph of his progress and he doesn’t get too frustrated if it goes down. He asks about his rate and accuracy.

CHUNKS 1A – 5A:

From the beginning of this project, I wanted to know if repeated reading really increased a student’s ability to more fluently. I chose a student in class to work with for whom reading is a difficult process. Despite being bright and wanting to improve, Alan struggles with reading quickly and recognizing grade level words quickly. I thought he was the perfect candidate for this procedure because he’s the student I worry about the most in terms of reading and I think he has the most to gain by increasing his fluency.

I found as I worked with Alan that repeated reading increased his rate. His rate improved dramatically for the text we read together. He often went from less than 50 words per minute (on his first read) to over 100 words per minute on his second read after we read the text together 2-3 times. While I was impressed that his rate improved so much in one day, I was concerned that there wouldn’t be any carryover to the next day. As it turned out, Alan was able to maintain his rate over the course of several days on the same text.

In addition, I wanted to know if repeated reading would increase Alan’s accuracy.  Based on working with Alan I have mixed results about that part of the question. Alan’s miscues certainly decreased as we read together, but we went over the difficult words for him before beginning our reading session each day. The flashcards helped him focus on those words before reading them in connected text and he rarely miscued with those words.

These observations tell me that repeated reading does work to increase rate and accuracy on one text practiced several times. Based on my observations, I think it may be better to change the text more often, perhaps using the repeated reading cycle with one text per day or perhaps one text per day.

CHUNKS 6A-8A:

Before working on this project, when Alan came to a word he didn’t know, he would take a look at the first letter and make a wild guess about the word based only the first letter. He didn’t pay attention to context or meaning. Perhaps the most exciting benefit of working on this project with Alan was watching him change from a reader who didn’t pay attention to meaning to a reader who used meaning to self-correct miscues. While he still isn’t as consistent and strong using this skill as I would like him to be, it is a major benefit of the project I didn’t anticipate. I think this change in his reading habits came about because of the repeated reading cycle.

Repeated reading gave him the opportunity to practice reading for meaning because he read it so many times he knew the story well and he was able to monitor and self-correct when the story didn’t make sense. Then when he read for me out of self-selected books, he self-corrected when his miscues didn’t make sense because he realized text should make sense and you should stop and fix it if it doesn’t make sense. This is a crucial reading skill that he’s developing, and frankly I didn’t expect it, but I am so pleased to see it develop in Alan.

CHUNKS 9A-11A:

Based on these observations, finding just right text to use in a procedure like repeated is important. I noticed when I tried to use a 2^nd grade level text, Alan, (a third grader who had more success with 1^st grade texts) got frustrated and struggled through the first few readings. While his rate and accuracy improved just as much with the 2^nd grade level text, it was hard for him the first few times he read through it and he got discouraged. I found Alan’s work with the text was much better when the text was close to his independent level. I would need to do the project with several other students to see if this is always the case, but I suspect using a text that is at or just slightly above the child’s reading level is best.

CHUNK 12A – 14A:

Being the most struggling reader in the class is frustrating and Alan has been enduring that label since he started school.  Working on this project allowed Alan to experience success as his accuracy and rate improved on the texts we worked on together.  His motivation and excitement improved which led to more success. My inquiry question did not address student motivation, but it’s clear based on my observation data that motivation and student attitude is important for student growth.

I also think being honest with students about the procedure, what the procedure is for, and what you are measuring is a benefit to the student. Alan was invested in the process and wanted to improve.

Data Source “B” – DIBELS Data ( accuracy and rate scores for the DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency “ORF” assessment):

Noted from Alan’s ORF (Oral Reading Fluency)  scores from 2/26/07 to 4/07/07. All of the texts for ORF are at 3^rd grade level. The WPM goal for 3^rd grade is 110 by the end of the year.

Chunk 1B: Throughout the project, Alan’s WPM didn’t increase on first readings of grade level texts.

Chunk 2B: When Alan’s WPM scores are “up” his accuracy rate is “up” also. 

Chunk 3B:  Alan’s most current accuracy scores are 95% and 93%. His scores are usually in the 70’s and 80’s.

Data gleaned from probing Alan’s ORF assessments from 3/07/07 to 4/09/07. The probe identifies Alan’s miscues.

Chunk 4B: ORF Probe #1 (2/26/07).  This assessment was taken the day our program began before the repeated reading cycle method was used with Alan. His miscues were: that, look, from, when, float, though, droplets, and crystals.

Chunk 5B: ORF Probe #2 (3/07/07). Alan’s miscues were: even, when, to, also, clean, hoses, busy, firefighters, and inspect.

Chunk 6B: ORF Probe #3 (3/14/07). Alan’s miscues for this assessment were: her, own, from, wanted, and stepmother. He read “our,” which was a word he missed on this week’s repeated reading cycle text.

Chunk 7B: ORF Probe #4 (3/20/07). Alan’s miscues on this assessment were: our, didn’t, whole, held, every, travel and anywhere.

Chunk 8B: ORF Probe # 5 (4/02/07). This week Alan only missed two words: “surprise,” and he skipped the word “and.”

Chunk 9B: ORF Probe #6 (4/09/07). Alan’s miscues were: had, assist, and that (2 times).

CHUNKS 1B-3B:

Alan’s numerical data on his ORF scores suggest a couple of things:

1. Initially, the repeated reading method increased the students’ rate and accuracy on the practiced text, but there wasn’t necessarily carryover to new texts.  The transfer I was hoping for wasn’t there.  His scores went up and down over the course of the project. 

2. After the project continued for several weeks, Alan’s rate still didn’t improve much, but his accuracy made a marked improvement.  This tells me that paying attention to the context of the story he read increased his accuracy because he went back and self-corrected for meaning. This is really a break through for him, and it is an important benefit of the project. Because Alan is reading more for meaning, his background knowledge plays an important role in how well he reads.

CHUNKS 4B-9B:

When I studied Alan’s Oral Reading Fluency probes, I looked at his miscues to help determine if the words we focused on in our work together and the words he miscued had common patterns. 

What I found was Alan’s miscue patterns are typical of struggling readers. He still errs on common sight words, he errs on words that don’t follow typical phonics patterns, and some multi-syllabic words are difficult for him.

There was only time when he correctly read a word we worked on together during our repeated reading sessions. What the data tells me overall is that the repeated reading cycle may not always be an effective way for students to learn common sight words, even though I hoped it would be. What I found most effective about the process, based on this student’s data is the way the process made this student aware of reading for meaning and using context to make self-corrections.