Jaylen is a typical 6 th grade girl; focused on friends, boys,
and technology, but not necessarily on school. She is bright, but
her grades are very low because she lacks motivation, and unless
pushed, doesnt put effort into improving her skills. As a 6 th
grader, Jaylen must read to learn, so if her comprehension skills
are low, she will struggle in every subject in school. My task is
to help motivate her to improve her reading comprehension.
Slide 4
Urban Literacy Research According to my research on urban
literacy, a hallmark of high- achieving urban schools is teachers
who are willing to take the time to work with families communicate
high expectations for students success (Risko &
Walker-Dalhouse, 2008). I reached out to Jaylens mom several times
in person and through email. She gave me great insight into Jaylens
background and connected me to Jaylens teachers; this connection
was very valuable. Actions From Insights
Slide 5
Using a scale of 5 to 1what overall rating would you give
yourself as a reader? I give myself a 5 because I read out loud in
class and I have a good understanding of words unlike a lot of my
classmates. I dont stumble over my words a lot and I read right
through hard words. Describe yourself as a reader. Im a reader who
reads easy books not hard books. I skip over hard parts. I like
reading but then again I dont and I hate getting reading logs
without a prize reward. I also hate reading boring books for long
periods of time (30 minutes). I cant read long. I need to get stuck
in the story; I fall asleep if they are long and boring. These two
statements stuck out to me in Jaylens Burke Interview. She views
reading as a precise process of saying words without messing them
up. Though she rates herself as a terrific reader she would also
say she is unwilling to read anything that is hard or might make
her stumble over words. For Jaylen, reading had little to do
with
Slide 6
Meaning Making and Comprehension go hand-in-hand Experts say
that even though research supports the idea that strategies can be
taught to improve comprehension, less than 2% of language arts
instructional time is spent on comprehension strategies (Flynt
& Cooter, 2005).
Slide 7
The Strategy Lessons Armed with information from research and
conversations with Jaylen and her mom, I planned the lessons. I
chose texts that Jaylen wanted to read. We did lessons with old
school techniques and technology, independent lessons and group
lessons, and lessons that integrated art, music and writing.
Slide 8
Discussing Cabin Fever Jaylen discusses what she likes about
the Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and what she remembers about this story:
Cabin Fever.
Slide 9
Creating her own comic After reading Cabin Fever, Jaylen
created her own comic on www.pixton.com. We discussed a significant
moment in her life as a reader, and she created a 4 slide comic
based on that story. Her story was: A positive memory Full of
detail Gave insight into how she views herself as a reader
Slide 10
Jaylens Comic My Comic Example Jaylen did a great job with her
comic. She was able to summarize the story into 4 main parts and
use pictures to tell the rest.
Slide 11
Jaylens Beastly Diary This activity connected the Diary of a
Wimpy Kid to Jaylens new book, Beastly. She has seen the Beastly
movie, so she is writing a diary entry answering questions about
the movie and about how the storyline connects to her life. We
called it her Prologue.
Slide 12
Jaylens Beastly Diary Prologue
Slide 13
Slide 14
A discussion about the main character, Kyle
Slide 15
The Main Character and I Making meaning has a lot to do with
being able to connect to the characters in a story. Jaylen is
identifying and comparing her characteristics with those of the
main character, Kyle.
Slide 16
The Main Character and I Jaylen initially did not see any
characteristics she shared with Kyle, but after a little
discussion, she agreed that they are both: Social Love to talk
Slide 17
In this reading session, Jaylen ran across several words she
did not know. We decided that our next session would focus on
identifying and understanding these words. Listen to her encounter
with the word corsage
Slide 18
Jaylen is working through a list of words that she was
unfamiliar with in Beastly. She tends to skip these words without
taking the time to find their meaning. Corsage Mandatory Blunder
Instincts Skulking Anonymous
Slide 19
On to Beastly Part 2
Slide 20
Reading Beastly
Slide 21
Group Read Aloud with Jaylens Friends Towards the middle of
this project, Jaylen began to resist coming to our sessions. She
wanted to hang out with her friends. We decided to do some group
read-alouds and invite her friends into her reading process.
Slide 22
Questions, Predictions and Inferences I wonder O Where the
witch came from? O Why Kyle is so popular if hes such a jerk? O How
he will become human again?
Slide 23
The Inciting Incident Visual Prompt 1 Visual Prompt 2 We used
these prompts in a discussion about how inciting incidents lead to
character change.
Slide 24
The Inciting Incident Before the Inciting Incident After the
Inciting Incident
Slide 25
Dr. Suess Birthday Party Every year our leadership clubs throw
a birthday party for Dr. Suess for the younger students to enjoy.
We read Dr. Suess books, make crafts and eat Green Eggs and
pancakes. Jaylen assisted at the craft table at the party.
Slide 26
Jaylen excels in predicting fluency comprehension Making
connections
Slide 27
Jaylen needs to grow in Meaning Making Skills Motivation
Questioning Skills Focus and Perseverance Challenging Herself
Slide 28
Final Thoughts Jaylen has all of the potential in the world to
be an excellent student and an avid reader. Her biggest obstacle is
not her skills; its her mindset. The next step is to help her see
her potential and tap into what motivates her. If someone can
unlock that, there is no limit to what Jaylen can do.