Artifact 2

Artifact Two: Practicum: These artifacts focus on assessment and implementation of individual instruction.

Context: The following artifacts were developed during RE 5725, Clinical Teaching of Reading, the Practicum. During the practicum, I was given two students in which I was to assess and develop lesson plans to help foster there reading difficulties. One of the children that I worked with was a first grader who was going to repeat the first grade in the fall. Levi was a very bright young boy who was eager to learn and a very hard worker. I wanted to get to know Levi, therefore I conducted an Interest Inventory with him to find out what he was interested in. After the interest inventory, I developed lesson plans that focused on his areas of weakness. I used the Early Step Lesson Plan model to help Levi develop strategies that would help him improve his reading skills. Levi was having difficulties with short vowels and vowel patterns in words. He was also struggling to recognize simple sight words in isolation. We continued over the course of four weeks reading and rereading books on his instructional level. He was great at memorizing the text and even became better with recognizing the words in isolation. The word sorts that we did each day really helped Levi improve his knowledge of short vowels and vowel patterns within words. Each day after we read and worked with our words sorts, Levi would complete a Spell Check with the words he was studying. At first Levi was having trouble with spelling, until I introduced the sound box to him. He quickly began to use the sound box strategy and began to spell each of the words in our spell check correctly. Levi was always eager to write at the end of our lessons. He was never at a loss for a writing topic. As you can see in his Writing Sample he enjoyed writing about his sister. His sister and his family were his main topics for writing. The summer reading clinic concluded with a letter to the parents indicating Levi's progress. This letter would be given to his upcoming teacher for her understanding of his strengths and needs.

Alignment:
Standard A: Instructional Expertise This shows my understanding of how to meet the needs of individual students.

Standard B: Knowledge of Learners This standard reflects my understanding of instruction and how it can be modified to meet the needs of diverse students.

Standard C: Research This standard indicates my understanding and application of the latest research to enable appropriate instruction to meet the child's individual needs.

Standard D: Content Knowledge This shows my understanding of current knowledge and the latest trends in education.

Standard E: Professional Development and Leadership This shows how communication with parents can help bridge the gap between the home and school partnership.