Saturday, September 18, 2010

Running Records With Second Language Learners

Adrianna's Running Record:    
     Adrianna is a 2nd grader at Steck Elementary.  She is an ELL, and her first language is Spanish.  According to her ESL teacher, Ms. Brewster, her parents speak "just enough English to get by." She is new to the country and has been at Steck since the beginning of the school year.  Adrianna is presently reading at an instructional DRA level 3 and receives pull-out reading support with Ms. Brewster each day.  Adrianna's teacher feels that, although she is at a DRA level 3, she has made tremendous progress since August.
     After talking with Adrianna's ESL teacher, Ms. Brewster, and looking at Adrianna's running record, I recommend that Adrianna receive individualized instruction  around what good readers do when they come to an unknown word, specifically: "Good readers look at the picture, and say the beginning sound."  She needs more practice with sound/symbol correspondence and the understanding that she can't say "bread" if the word starts with a "t" and /t/ sound.  She could benefit from simple, pattern books that have a strong picture/word correspondence.
Mikayla's Running Record:
     Mikayla is a 2nd grader at Slavens.  She was one of my students last year, and she is bilingual.  Her first language is Chinese which she speaks fluently and is now learning to write.  She takes trips to China with her parents each summer.  Mikayla is extremely bright, and she does well in school.  She does not receive ESL support.
     Reading with Mikayla is a joyful experience! She is expressive and completely fluent in her reading. She is presently above grade level in reading, and it is one of her favorite things to do.  Mikayla devours books, at it is unusual to see her without a book in her hands.  Mikayla has excellent comprehension as far as retelling the story back to me.  She uses important language in the text, starts at the beginning, and retells the story in sequential order.  Mikayla can answer any question about what happened in the story, except: "What do you think the author is trying to tell us?" This requires Mikayla to infer which is difficult because she is quite literal.  She responds: "He didn't tell us that." or "I am unsure what you mean." Mikayla needs practice inferring with books that have an "Author's Message." With focus on this particular skill, I have no doubt that Mikayla will continue to soar in her reading abilities!

 

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