Observation Update

Monday -  4/11 - I administered the second QRI assessment to Jane. This time I limited the choice of reading selection to just two. Jane chose the selection entitled: "Cats: Lions and Tigers in Your House". I asked her why she chose this selection and she told me she likes cats. Jane continues to struggle with plurality, reading the "s" on certain words but not others. Jane is a shy, soft-spoken, but consistent reader with good self correcting skills.

After the QRI was finished, I worked with Jane on her writing sample to complete the requirements of the field experience. The ESL teacher had been working with Jane on writing a paragraph using a main idea, supporting details and a conclusion. To help offer a choice of topics, the ESL teacher suggested I use a commercially available box of writing prompts called "Ready to Write" from a company called Lakeshore.

These prompting cards were indexed by the type of writing style such as: descriptive, narrative, persuasive, informative and imaginative. Some examples of writing prompts include:

• Be a Restaurant Critic
• The Perfect Birthday Party
• My Magic Sneakers
• I Accidentally Shrunk My Best Friend
• Music Makes Me Happy
• May I Go Skating
• How To...
• My Two Favorite Sports

Each one of the prompt cards came with a set of directions and suggested graphic organizers to help the student organize her thoughts and ideas.

Jane finally chose a card which prompted her to design and write about a new type of Car of the Future. As she thought of ideas for the car, she verbalized them to me even before writing anything down on the graphic organizer. I think she was looking for approval or a prompt before moving on with the next step of her task. As Jane described some unbelievable features of her car, my reactions were very animated which kept her smiling and engaged. The ESL teacher later complimented me on what a great lesson it was as she heard Jane laughing and participating, whereas Jane is normally an extremely shy student.