Case Study Assignment



Reading Tutor 120 - Case Study Assignment (10%)

Now that you have been exposed to some theoretical foundations and some broad strategies to use with struggling students, you will be presented with the profile of a hypothetical student for whom you will prepare long-term goals and five day’s worth of forty minute, one-to-one lessons. With the lessons, please submit all supplementary materials (handouts, manipulative [you must include one], etc.) that are indicated in the lessons. Feel free to look at previously submitted lesson plans and manipulatives to guide your thought process.

Your case study assignment should include:

- Title page (MLA format)

- Five completed lesson plans (using the ELF template shared in class)

- All handouts and manipulatives that accompany each lesson plan (clearly labelled so I know which manipulative will be used in each lesson)

- A written justification of your planning (roughly 250 words in length)

Paragraph 1: Introduce your student and explain the common struggles they experience with their learning disability or disorder.

Paragraph 2: Explain which strategies you used to help your student. What about the student profile has led you to make these educational choices given their learning disability, personality, and/or disorder?

Paragraph 3: In what way will these five lessons help to achieve the long-term reading goals you have identified?

- Include an MLA works cited page.

This activity assumes that you have already done some icebreaking with your hypothetical student; however, feel free to include some ‘getting to know you’ sorts of activities each day. Remember that the focus should be on improving reading skills. As you work, be sure to ask lots of questions, and remember that your goal is to make learning an enjoyable experience—for you and the student! Good luck!

Case Study Assignment Rubric

| |Below Expectations |Average |Extra Effort |Outstanding |

| |60 - 69% |70-79% |80-89 % |90 – 100% |

|Preparation |Lessons are far too broad OR too much is |Lessons always present but not always|Lessons are present and satisfactory, |Lesson plans are always complete, available, |

| |planned for each lesson. In any case, |satisfactory in terms of planning or |but need small improvements. |and have stated long- and short-term goals. |

| |expectations for the lesson are |completeness. | | |

| |misguided. | | | |

| | | |Necessary materials present; student | |

| |The lessons have not considered necessary|Occasionally missing necessary |occasionally forgets some additional |Student always has all materials at hand. |

| |materials. |materials. |items. | |

|Creativity & Innovation |Tutor shows little ability to be creative|Tutor attempts to vary lessons, but |Sufficient variety is present in the |Frequent variety, creativity, and innovation |

| |with lesson planning; often falls back on|could do more in this area. |tutor’s lessons; occasional creativity |are demonstrated. The tutor consistently |

| |repetitive and stale teaching strategies.| |and response to student’s needs is |finds new and interesting ways to teach |

| | | |demonstrated. |his/her student. |

|Accompanying Written |- Supporting evidence for choices is |- Supporting evidence is fairly |- Good explanations used as supporting |- A lot of well-chosen supporting evidence is |

|Document (Justification) |incorrect or unclear at times, but |accurate and partially reinforces the|evidence; the justification made is |present; the point of view of the tutor is |

| |generally presents a clear purpose |opinions of the tutor |feasible and understood |easily justified |

| | | | | |

| |- communicates ideas with limited |- communicates ideas with some |- communicates ideas with considerable | |

| |clarity; ideas are not presented in a |clarity; proceeds logically at times,|clarity; the writing is easy to read and|- communicates ideas with exceptional clarity;|

| |logical format, but the response shows a |but the flow of ideas is not |understand |writing is logical, well-organized, and |

| |few clear ideas |consistent | |engaging; a pleasure to read |

| | | | | |

| |- several mistakes that would be |- a few ‘basic’ mistakes in the | | |

| |considered ‘basic’: spelling, no verb, |written work |- only one or two ‘basic’ mistakes in |- no ‘basic’ mistakes in writing |

| |etc. | |the writing | |

|Manipulative |- Not clear how the teaching tool can be |- Tool can be adapted to two or three|- Tool is sufficiently adaptable to |- Tool easily adapts to multiple students’ |

| |adapted to meet multiple students’ needs |different uses |several needs |needs |

| | | | | |

| |- tool is not crafted with care; sloppy |- manipulative has one or two issues |- manipulative is presentable and |- teaching tool is sturdy and attractive |

| |or shoddy construction |with its looks or quality of |well-constructed | |

| | |construction | | |

| |- does not present a clear teaching | | |- manipulative is a brilliant teaching tool |

| |strategy/ technique |- some connection to a teaching |- clearly demonstrates a teaching | |

| | |strategy/ technique is discernible |strategy/ technique | |

Class Example

Sofia is an eager-to-learn nine-year-old. Despite her struggles in third grade she was promoted at her parents' request, and now her reading skills lag far behind her fourth-grade classmates; she is assessed at the grade two level in reading and grade one in writing. She loves insects and other nature-related topics, her teacher, Ms. Beehaven, informs you.

1. _______________________ (Auditory Processing Disorder)

Writing has always been a challenge for Noah, a fourth grader who has attended four different schools in the past three years. Although he is an expressive reader, he is currently struggling in Language Arts class because of difficulty comprehending what he reads. His teacher describes Noah as a poorly motivated student who is careless when doing his homework, often off-task, forgetful, and unresponsive to efforts to help him. He is concerned that Noah will do poorly on the Provincial Reading Assessment in the spring.

Instructional Reading Level: H/I

Reading Challenges: Retelling, Figurative Devices; Confuses similar-sounding words (bat/batch, three/free, belt/built)

Writing Challenges: Responses are often vague and lack detail.

Interests: Baseball, video games, dogs.

2. _________________________(Dysgraphia)

When Alex was evaluated as a four-year-old, numerous articulation errors were identified, and he received 30 minutes of speech therapy per week for eighteen months. Now he is in grade four, and his current teacher, Miss Logan, has become concerned about his behavior. She reports that he is more active than classmates, is frequently aggressive with peers and adults, and refuses to participate in class activities when upset. Though he reads below a grade-appropriate level, Alex is meeting instructional objectives in speaking assignments.

Instructional Reading Level: J/K

Reading Challenges: Fluency, especially with blends, determining important details in a text.

Writing Challenges: Omits letters, struggles to write and listen at the same time, poor visual planning, poor spelling

Interests: Travel, photography, video games.

3. _________________________(Dyslexia)

Your student is Jessica; she is a happy, quiet grade four student who is developmentally delayed and whose work is at a very low level—pre-Kindergarten. She is hardworking and eager to please, and will not object even to work that appears baby-ish. You should not expect leaps and bounds of progress—move slowly. Also, she is very social and will betray a lot of personal information.

Instructional Reading Level: L/M

Reading Challenges: Fluency, especially with digraphs

Writing Challenges: Sight word problems, decoding orders of letters, spelling, recalling words, reads slowly and painfully

Interests: Horseback riding, cooking, and her Ipad.

4.____________________________ (Language Processing Disorder)

Your student is a grade four student named Francis. His reading and writing skills are at a grade three level. He is really enthusiastic and eager to improve; unfortunately, he does not grasp concepts easily at first and gets visibly frustrated and upset with himself when he makes mistakes. He plays hockey and loves helping out with his grandfather’s landscaping/ property management business.

Instructional Reading Level: J/K

Reading Challenges: Struggles to gain meaning from spoken language, poor reading comprehension, fluency is choppy.

Writing Challenges: Poor written output (words are on the tip of my tongue)

Interests: Fishing, playing outdoors, soccer.

5. ________________________ (Visual / Perceptual / Motor Deficit)

Your student is Kody. He is in grade four and appears in every way a bright, successful student. However, Kody’s writing is almost illegible and the sentences make almost no sense. He also reads at a low level—even sight words are a struggle. He is likely dyslexic. He will be very hesitant to attempt reading—out loud or otherwise—but is not shy about sharing his attempts at writing. Kody loves tearing his toys apart to see how they work and building projects with his dad.

Instructional Reading Level: M/N

Reading Challenges: Reversals (b,d; p,q; n;u), loses place, turns sheet sideways to read.

Writing Challenges: Struggles to write a complete sentence (he mostly writes in sentence fragments).

Interests: Baseball, his pets (a dog and two cats).

6. _________________________ (ADHD)

Jeremy is a fourth grader who has been diagnosed with ADHD. Jeremy is easily distracted and has particular difficulty focusing on the teacher during instruction. He seems to be focused on everything but the lesson/ activity. During instruction, Jeremy blurts out at inappropriate times, often responding incorrectly to teacher prompts. When this happens, Jeremy becomes embarrassed and angry. This behavior generally follows with a verbal outburst (e.g., “This is stupid!” or “Why do we have to do this, anyway?” or “You can’t make me do this work.”). Despite these issues, Jeremy’s reading and writing skills are at a grade 3 level.

Instructional Reading Level: M/N

Reading Challenges: Reads mechanically, without expression. Does not understand subtle jokes or sarcasm in stories. Struggles to recall longer texts.

Writing Challenges: Lack of paragraphing and punctuation; little to no organization of ideas in writing.

Interests: Minecraft, sports.

7. ________________________________ (Dyslexia)

Amy has a diagnosis of dyslexia. She enjoys creative writing, fashion, and art. She is extremely bright and has a strong memory. She benefits from rule-based instruction. If you tell her a rule once, she will be able to recite it to you the next time you see her. She delights in being able to be the teacher and teach the rules herself or correct others’ errors. Her reading and writing skills are at about a grade 2 level.

Instructional Reading Level: J/K

Reading Challenges: Reads painfully slow, spelling is a challenge, reverses letters.

Writing Challenges: Student writes slowly, with many spelling errors.

Interests: Creative writing, fashion, and art.

8. ______________________(ADHD)

Your student is a grade four boy with Down’s syndrome named Kevin. He is the team manager for the FHS boys basketball team, handing out towels and water bottles at the bench throughout the season. He is a sweet, funny young man who will try anything he is asked. He communicates well verbally, but his reading and writing are at beginner levels and may not ever greatly improve. Your job is to build life skills for the future; what basic skills can you help to develop in your time together?

Instructional Reading Level:

Reading Challenges:

Writing Challenges:

Interests: Lego, drums, Ipad.

Erin

Erica is a grade four student who seems worried most of the time. She lives with her single mother, who has refused to acknowledge her learning disabilities and insists that she remain in regular classes at all times with no special interventions; it was a huge accomplishment just getting her to agree to let Erica into this tutoring program. She struggles to get Level 2 in most classes (except art, where she excels), and her reading and writing levels are at a grade two level.

Instructional Reading Level:

Reading Challenges:

Writing Challenges:

Interests:

Matt

You have a grade four student named Alex; he is a repeating student who has huge gaps in his reading and writing skills (Kindergarten level). He is not shy around teenagers, and he tries to derail your tutoring sessions at times by asking personal questions or getting otherwise sidetracked. You will have to describe a plan for behaviour management to accompany the lessons you will prepare—include strategies that you will use to consistently make learning the focus of lessons.

Instructional Reading Level:

Reading Challenges:

Writing Challenges:

Interests:

6. Jeremy is a fourth grader who has been diagnosed with ADHD. Jeremy is easily distracted and has particular difficulty focusing on the teacher during instruction. He seems to be focused on everything but the lesson/ activity. During instruction, Jeremy blurts out at inappropriate times, often responding incorrectly to teacher prompts. When this happens, Jeremy becomes embarrassed and angry. This behavior generally follows with a verbal outburst (e.g., “This is stupid!” or “Why do we have to do this, anyway?” or “You can’t make me do this work.”). Despite these issues, Jeremy’s reading and writing skills are at a grade 3 level.

Instructional Reading Level:

Reading Challenges:

Writing Challenges:

Interests: Minecraft, sports.

Karya

Brad is in the fourth grade. He has received Methods & Resource support for a learning disability for much of his school career. He has a history of school failure and is extremely unmotivated in the classroom. Brad earns low grades and needs high levels of teacher direction, encouragement, and assistance to complete assignments. He has low skills and needs high amounts of repetition for learning. He is often unwilling to try new things and has low self-esteem, lacking academic and social confidence. Brad especially dislikes writing tasks and finds paper-and-pencil activities that involve writing and responding nearly impossible. He doesn’t participate in class discussions and is passive during instruction. His reading and writing are at the grade one level.

Instructional Reading Level:

Reading Challenges:

Writing Challenges:

Interests:

Cassie

Angelina is a fourth grader in every way except that she struggles in school with learning. School personnel have identified her as “at risk” for a learning disability, and they are trying to address her academic difficulties through interventions aimed at strengthening her reading and language skills, which are at a grade 3 level. Teachers describe Angelina as a pleasant and conscientious student. She is highly motivated and wants to do well in school. She generally earns low grades on assignments, however, and does poorly on assessments. She is on a girls’ hockey team and attends bible school at her family’s church.

Instructional Reading Level:

Reading Challenges:

Writing Challenges:

Interests:

Jade

Grace has a diagnosis of dyslexia. She has trouble with visual scanning, processing, and working memory. She also has difficulties with spelling and sequencing for problem solving. She has strong verbal skills and artistic abilities. She learns well with color and when her hands are occupied. She reads at the grade 1 level but writes (with many spelling errors) at the grade 4 level.

Instructional Reading Level:

Reading Challenges:

Writing Challenges:

Interests:

Steven is a gifted grade four student. He reads at a sixth grade level and his teacher, Ms. Jameson, feels like she is never able to find enough enriched activities to challenge him properly. He loves math, science, chess, and acting. He is a bit overconfident, however, and doesn’t like to admit when he makes a mistake.

Instructional Reading Level:

Reading Challenges:

Writing Challenges:

Interests:

Trynity

Amy has a diagnosis of dyslexia. She enjoys creative writing, fashion, and art. She is extremely bright and has a strong memory. She benefits from rule-based instruction. If you tell her a rule once, she will be able to recite it to you the next time you see her. She delights in being able to be the teacher and teach the rules herself or correct others’ errors. Her reading and writing skills are at about a grade 2 level.

Instructional Reading Level:

Reading Challenges:

Writing Challenges:

Interests:

Nadine is a grade four student who was identified as gifted in Grade 2. She reads a couple of grades ahead and often does math in the grade 5 room because she has met the outcomes for grade 4 already. Nadine is a behaviour problem, though, often disrupting the class during quiet moments or other inappropriate times. Her teacher, Mr. Forsythe, thinks the attention-seeking behaviour is due to boredom with class material, but he has not found a topic that interests her or the correct challenge level for her.

Instructional Reading Level:

Reading Challenges:

Writing Challenges:

Interests:

Meagan

Jason is a fourth-grade student who works at a grade 3 level. A psychologist who tested him diagnosed a written expression disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Jason’s experiences difficulty in these areas: writing neatly and fluently, expressing his thoughts on paper, organizing his homework and school materials, managing time, sustaining attention, and completing assignments. School is very stressful for Jason. He wants to do well, but does not know how. He often comes home from school each day upset. Getting him to do his homework usually results in a battle.

Instructional Reading Level:

Reading Challenges:

Writing Challenges:

Interests:

Your grade four student, Freddie, was taken out of school for two years to accompany his parents while his dad’s rock band toured the world. As a result, he has some gaps in reading—many of which have yet to be discovered, though he generally seems to be at the grade 3 level in both reading and writing. He is comfortable around adults and you, but is very shy around his classmates; his teacher, Ms. Aden, is hoping you can address both his academic and social needs.

Instructional Reading Level:

Reading Challenges:

Writing Challenges:

Interests:

Savannah

Your student is Jamie, a sweet, fairly average grade four student. Jamie gets typical grades; her best subject is music, and her lowest mark is in Phys. Ed. Jamie is what you might call a teacher’s pet—she is always running errands for the teacher and staying after class to help clean up. She struggles a little in decoding words when reading, but is still considered a grade-appropriate reader and writer.

Amanda

Grace has a diagnosis of dyslexia. She has trouble with visual scanning, processing, and working memory. She also has difficulties with spelling and sequencing for problem solving. She has strong verbal skills and artistic abilities. She learns well with color and when her hands are occupied. She reads at the grade 1 level but writes (with many spelling errors) at the grade 4 level.

Brooke

Amy has a diagnosis of dyslexia. She enjoys creative writing, fashion, and art. She is extremely bright and has a strong memory. She benefits from rule-based instruction. If you tell her a rule once, she will be able to recite it to you the next time you see her. She delights in being able to be the teacher and teach the rules herself or correct others’ errors. Her reading and writing skills are at about a grade 2 level.

Kathleen

Ryan has a diagnosis of PDD-NOS (a form of autism) that affects his language, social, and literacy skills. He also struggles with anxiety. He reads and writes at a grade 1 level. He has a number of interests, including pirates and treasure, cooking, watching his favorite TV shows, and drama. Ryan has a strong memory and conveys a great deal of social knowledge when he is acting or drawing.

Grace Y

Jason is a fourth-grade student who works at a grade 3 level. A psychologist who tested him diagnosed a written expression disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Jason’s experiences difficulty in these areas: writing neatly and fluently, expressing his thoughts on paper, organizing his homework and school materials, managing time, sustaining attention, and completing assignments. School is very stressful for Jason. He wants to do well, but does not know how. He often comes home from school each day upset. Getting him to do his homework usually results in a battle.

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