Case Study Research Report
Christine Y. Harris
Grand Canyon University RDG 581
October 12, 2011

Action Research Plan: Effective Interventions for Vocabulary Acquisition in Children of Disadvantaged Backgrounds
The Purpose
Research suggests that students can be taught phonics skills that are needed to become proficient readers. The use of strategies such as guessing from context, predicting and re-reading may aid, to some extent, with reading comprehension. However, according to Becker (1977), a primary difficulty in developing comprehension in the early years in reading is an inadequate vocabulary. An insufficient vocabulary will have an adverse impact on reading comprehension. E.D.Hirsch states “It is now well accepted that the chief cause of the achievement gaps between socioeconomic groups is a language gap.” The purpose of this research is to determine how explicit instruction using interventions can help close the vocabulary deficits with children from disadvantaged backgrounds
The Problem

Children of lower socioeconomic backgrounds enter kindergarten with a less extensive vocabulary than those of higher socioeconomic environment. One study showed that three year old children from affluent families had larger vocabularies than children from impoverished families (Hart and Risley, et al 1995). Unfortunately, once the deficit in vocabulary is established, differences in vocabulary knowledge are hard to eliminate. This leads to continued gaps as students progresses through school. Another study revealed that children from affluent homes hear 382 words per hour and children from impoverished families hear about 167 words an hour. Throughout their lifetimes, children of poverty will have heard 32 million fewer words than children from more affluent families. Children from lower SES develop vocabulary four times slower than children from higher SES environments. As a result, the vocabulary of children of poverty will have been adversely impacted in their ability to read and comprehend literature

Research Question
How can vocabulary acquisition for children of poverty be increased through educational interventions using explicit instruction?
Literature Review According to Beck and McKeown (1991), reading is the single, largest source of vocabulary acquisition for students in grades three and up. Additionally, 5 to 6 year olds have working vocabularies ranging from 2,500 to 5,000 words. The child’s position in this range, top or bottom, depends on their reading skill entering the first grade. By first grade, the vocabularies of children from lower SES environments are half of those from higher SES environments. This gap widens over time. During these years students are exposed to more than 88,000 root words and affixes and more than 100,000 meanings during reading in their classroom. This indicates the importance of the role of providing explicit vocabulary instructions in the classroom. Additionally, children in grades K – 3 are reading at a much slower place, therefore are exposed to fewer words. The conclusion from this research that will impact the educational intervention plan for emerging struggling students like Cameron, is that they must develop fluency by learning new words. The more words a student is exposed to – the better the vocabulary. The ability to read on grade level requires an ability to identify written words and know what those words mean. Children entering the first grade must develop an understanding of skills that are involved in understanding word meaning. Learning to read written text is not the same as learning to understand written texts (Juel and Deffes, 2004). To clarify, many children in first grade successfully learn to read but two years later are unable to understand these same books. A problem has been created in that children who are successful readers in first or second grade are unable to understand books they need to read in the later grades (Biemiller, 2007). This can be attributed mainly to the lack of an adequate vocabulary. Although a great deal of vocabulary is learned indirectly, some vocabulary should be taught directly (National Institute of Literacy, 2002)). Direct instruction is the teaching of specific words, such as pre-teaching vocabulary prior to reading a selection. A student can determine word meanings by using word parts. Struggling students should be taught how to analyze roots and affixes using. When a struggling student encounter an unknown word they can use knowledge of root words, suffixes, and pre-fixes to help determine the meaning. . Effective strategies must be taught to increase vocabularies for struggling readers (National Reading Council, 2002, National Institute for Learning, 2001). These strategies include the ability to learn new words. This can be done by the repetition and multiple exposures to vocabulary that is important to the student. The student will retain vocabulary that is meaningful and they will appear in various contexts. ( National Reading Panel, 2000, p.4-4). They should be taught how to use the dictionary and to learn how to determine multiple meanings of new words. It is estimated that students can be explicitly taught 400 words per school year (Beck, Mckewon, & Kull, et.al, 2003). Pre-teaching key vocabulary prior to a reading selection is one evidenced based intervention (Sedita, 2005). A focus should be on the words that are important to the text and useful to know in many situations. Helpful words are ones that are uncommon in everyday language but are recurrent in texts. The question remains – Can vocabulary acquisition be increases through educational interventions.

Methodology
Student Profile Cameron is a seven year old second grade student enrolled in an urban elementary school. He is reluctant to read aloud , avoiding any work related to reading and writing. He possesses limited background knowledge, failing to use that which she has. During reading he is often off task and has to be redirected. While in school Cameron is very popular and one of the first picked for teams. . Cameron is the third born and only boy of four siblings. of three siblings.. He is being raised by his mother who, both dropped out of high school in the 10th grade.. His sisters are all involved in after school activities while Cameron spends a great deal of time alone in the evening, watching TV. There is little verbal communication in the home. This student was chosen because his family dynamics which includes a.home environment that is devoid of rich vocabulary, therefore vocabulary development or acquisition while at school is easily measured.

Pre-Testing Process
Testing was completed one-on-one with teacher and student. The testing environment was conducted in a classroom without windows and void of distractions. In consideration of the number of assessments that are to be completed, they were conducted over a period of two days, preventing fatigue. The assessments conducted were Words Their Way Spelling Inventory, the Word List from the Qualitative Reading Inventory -5. During the third assessment Cameron read from a passage. This assessment will help the instructor to determine his areas of strengths and weaknesses as well as her reading levels. The data provided from these assessments will be used to develop an action plan for Cameron.. Words Their Way Primary Spelling Inventory was the first assessment administered. This Primary Spelling Inventory (PSI) is used in Kindergarten to third grade. The PSI requires the child to write 26 words that are in increasing levels of difficulty. It is administered the same as a spelling test. The words were used in a sentence, and repeated at the end of the sentence. The words included spelling patterns i.e., consonants short vowels, short vowels, long vowel patterns, and diphthongs,
The next assessment administered was the Word List from the Qualitative Reading Inventory 5. Cameron was given a list of words that are considered easy and asked to read each word out loud. He was told that the teacher will be writing the words down as she reads them. Cameron was encouraged to read as many words as he could and was allowed to read from the list until he reached the frustration level. In order to gain a point, Cameron was required to read the word in one second, thus determining the words he could pronounce automatically. This score is placed in the “automatically identified” column. If he used more than one second to pronounce a word, this was an indication decoding strategies were being used. These words were placed in the “identified” column. The third and final assessment required Cameron to read a passage. This assessment allowed the teacher to gauge his fluency, the use of reading strategies, comprehension and reading level. Prior to reading, the teacher asked background questions to assess the student’s background knowledge. There was a total of 9 points with three points being awarded for each correct answer.
During the analysis of miscues, the teacher focused on how they have impacted comprehension. Did they interfere with the meaning of the story? Did it make sense?. The fluency, or correct words per minute was calculated by subtracting the miscues from the number of words and dividing them by the amount of time it took the student to read the passage.
Post Testing Process
In order to provide consistency three areas were duplicated. First, the same three assessments were used in both the pre-tests and post tests. These assessments were Words Lists and Reading Passages from the Qualitative Reading Inventory 5, Words Their Way Primary Spelling Inventory. The same reading passages, word lists and spelling list and were used. Secondly, the testing environment was the same during the pre-tests, and the post-tests, the student was in a room isolated from the other students in order to eliminate distractions

Results

Pre-Test Result The scores on the Spelling Inventory Assessment initial and final consonants were at an appropriate level for this part of the school year. Short vowels blends and digraphs were also at an appropriate level. Cameron struggled with long vowels and inflected endings, scoring below grade level.
Levels administered from the student word list were the pre-primer – the second grade. These lists consisted of seventeen and twenty high frequency words respectively. Cameron’s independent level was first grade and his frustration level was the second grade. . The test results of the QRI -5 and Words Their Way revealed the same areas of weakness. They reflected each other in that he was weak in the same area on each instrument – long vowels and inflected endings.
Cameron’s comprehension was assessed after completion of the reading passage. He begins to retell the passage from the beginning to the end, re-telling everything he remembers. The items he mentioned were compared to the ideas listed. To help gauge comprehension, and according to the directives of the instrument, the teacher asked explicit and implicit questions that were provided.
Cameron did not answer any QRI-5 concept questions correctly, resulting in a score of 0%. He responded “I don’t know on two of the concept questions. A score of 0% predicts potential vocabulary and concept problems. Additionally, he presents an inability to discuss predictions. He could make predictions but was not able to elaborate on them. In making the prediction he repeated the title of the story. The test for his oral reading was from the story “Mouse in a House.” Both the oral reading and the retelling part of the story were at the independent level.

Post-Test Results
Asiana answered twelve of fourteen correct on the pre-test Spelling Inventory Assessment. She completed the post-test at 100% answering fourteen of fourteen. There was improvement in the short vowels, digraphs, and blends scoring twenty of twenty-one. The pre-test score was seventeen of twenty-one. These scores were all met grade level expectations, therefore the individualized action plan did not focus on them. The areas of concern as reflected in the pre-tests were long vowels, other vowels, and inflected endings. On the pretest the score was four of twenty-one correct. This was well below grade level. The post test results reflected significant progress with a score of fifteen of twenty-one correct. The pre-tests process was duplicated during the post test process. Asiana was administered the pre primer one – second grade word lists. The pre-test results data indicated an independent level at the first grade and a frustration level at the second grade. The post test data indicated and independent level at the first grade and an instructional level in the second grade.

The pre-test data from the QRI-5concept questions for Asiana provided a score of 0%. She presented problems with elaborating on predictions. Her oral reading from the narrative was at an independent level. Asiana’a was at an instructional level at the re-telling portion of the tool. The concept questions were at 100% placing her at an independent level.
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Literacy Intervention Action Plan | | Asiana’s pre-rest scores indicates deficits in long vowels, short vowels, and inflected endings. These areas will be addressed in order to raise her scores. Each tutoring session will be approximately 40 minutes in length. The interventions used will provide systematic and explicit instruction that is research based. The research was provided by the Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR) to provide research based tutoring sessions. | | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Week #1 | Phonics The student will combine vowels with consonant combinations to make words. Activity The teacher will provide a set of vowel star cards. The student will select the first card and write a vowel in the blank. Then say the sounds of each letter, blend them, and read the word orally. Fluency The student will quickly read words on a practice sheet in a timed activity. Activity The teacher will provide a target word practice sheet, sand timer, and a word correct per minute graph. Beginning on Monday the student will try to increase words correct per minute. V ocabulary : The student will match words to corresponding meanings while playing a memory game. Activity The teacher will provide memory match cards (number words). The student will select two, read or name them orally, and determine if cards match. . If there is a match, pick up the cards, place to the side, and take another turn. If cards do not match return them to their original places. Comprehension The student will match sentences which describe pictures. Activity The student selects a sentence strip and read it. Then determine which picture on the pocket chart corresponds to the sentence and place the sentence strip next to that picture. Starfall The student will log Onto this website Activity The student will complete exercises in the skills sections that addresses long vowels | Phonics The student will make words using consonant and vowel cubes. Activity The teacher will provide a student sheet and three cubes. The student will roll the cubes. Place each cube on the matching number on the student sheet. Then say the sounds of each letter, blend them, and read the word orally. The student will record the new word in the corresponding column on the student sheet. Fluency The student will quickly read words on a practice sheet in a timed activity. Activity The teacher will provide a target word practice sheet, sand timer, and a word correct per minute graph. Beginning on Monday the student will try to increase word correct per minute. .Vocabulary The student will identify the meaning of prefixes Activity The teacher will provide meaning word cards. The student will match words with prefixes to their meanings while playing a Bingo-type game.(e.g. cards will have preheat, reopen, unwrap, etc,) Comprehension The student will match nursery rhyme sentences to related titles. Activity The students select a nursery rhyme event sentence strip and read it aloud. Then determine which title corresponds to the sentence Place the title card next to that sentence strip. | Phonics The student use consonant and vowel cards to make words. Activity The teacher will provide a student sheet, a set of consonant cards, and a set of vowel cards. The student will select two cards from the consonant group and one card from the vowel group. Place the vowel card between the two consonant cards. Then say the sounds of each letter, blend them, and read the word orally. The student will record the new word in the corresponding column on the student sheet. Fluency The student will quickly read words on a practice sheet in a timed activity Activity. The teacher will provide a target word practice sheet, sand timer, and a word correct per minute graph. Beginning on Monday the student will try to increase words correct per minute. Vocabulary The student will the meaning of verbs.. Activity The teacher will provide picture cards, book rings, crayons, and a student sheet. The student selects a picture card (e.g., snake) and places it on a book ring. Next reads all the word cards, selects two or more that describe the picture (e.g., sleeps, croaks, jumps), and places each word on the book ring. Then student selects one picture card and corresponding action cards and records words on student sheet. . Comprehension The student will arrange groups of words to make a sentence. Activity The teacher will provide sentence strips in three separate stacks and a student sheet. The student will choose one sentence strip from each stack, place the strips in numerical order, read the sentence, and place it aside. Starfall The student will long onto this website Activity The student will continue to work on the skills section on long vowels | Phonics The student will make new words by manipulating one letter at a time. Activity The teacher will provide a target word student sheet and letters. The student will select the corresponding letters to make the word on the bottom step. Then say the sounds of each letter, blend them, and read the word orally. The student will record the new word on the next step . Fluency The student will quickly read words on a practice sheet in a timed activity. Activity The teacher will provide a target word practice sheet, sand timer, and a word correct per minute graph. Beginning on Monday the student will try to increase words correct per minute. Vocabulary The student will match words to corresponding meanings while playing a memory game. Activity The teacher will provide memory match cards (shapes). The student will select two, read or name them orally, and determine if cards match. If there is a match, pick up the cards, place to the side, and take another turn. If cards do not match return them to their original places. Comprehension The student will identify details in text. Activity The teacher will provide verb, noun, adjective, and function word cards. The teacher will also provide punctuation cards and paper. The student will select a card from each stack and place them in sentence order. Next the student will identify and insert function words and punctuation cards needed to make a meaningful sentence. Then read the sentence and record on paper | Phonics The student will segment names of pictures into phonemes and use the corresponding magnetic letters to make the word. Activity The teacher will provide picture cards, a magnetic board, and paper. The student will select the top card from the s tack, name it, and segments it into individual phonemes. The student selects the magnetic letters that correspond to the phonemes and places them in the correct order on the magnetic board. Then say the sounds of each letter, blend them, and read the word orally. The student will record the new word on paper. Fluency The student twill quickly read words on a practice sheet in a timed activity. Activity The teacher will provide a target word practice sheet, sand timer, and a word correct per minute graph. Beginning on Monday the student will try to increase words correct per minute. Vocabulary The student will match words to corresponding meanings while playing a memory game. Activity The teacher will provide with memory match cards (contractions).The student will select two, read or name them orally, and determine if cards match. If there is a match, pick up the cards, place to the side, and take another turn. If cards do not match, return them to their original places. Comprehension Activity (continued from day 4) The student will make sentences using selected words. Activity The teacher will provide verb, noun, adjective, and function word cards. The teacher will also provide punctuation cards and paper. The student will select a card from each stack and place them in sentence order. Next the student will identify and insert function words and punctuation cards needed to make a meaningful sentence. Then read the sentence and record on paper. | Week #2 | Phonics The student will read words with and without “the silent e” pattern. Activity The teacher will provide a set of silent e word strips and a student sheet. The student will select one of the strips and read the word orally (e.g., “plan”). Next turn the “e” to the front of the strip and read the new word orally (i.e., “plane”). Then write both words in the corresponding columns on the student sheet. Fluency The student will read phrases in a timed activity. Activity The teacher will provide phrase cards, timer, and student sheet. The student will practice saying phases in one minute. Then record the score on the student sheet. Vocabulary The student will complete a sentence using descriptive words. Activity The teacher will provide the About Me sentence word board and adjective word cards. The student reads all the word cards, selects three that describe himself, and places them on the sentence strip covering the blank spaces. Then reads the sentences orally. Comprehension The student will compare stories using a Venn Diagram. Activity The teacher will provide texts and student sheet. The student reviews with text as the teacher read-aloud. Next writes the title and author of each text on the student sheet. Then Writes story elements (e.g., character, character attributes, setting, plot, problem, resolution) that are shared by both texts in the overlapping area of the circles on the Venn Diagram. Then the student writes story elements that are unique to just one of the texts in the corresponding circle. Starfall The student will long onto this website Activity The student will work in the skills section that addresses long vowels | Phonics The student will blend sounds to make words. Activity The teacher will provide vowel slides and a student sheet. The student will select a vowel slide and reads the medial vowel pattern. Next the student slides vertical strips until letters can be seen through the windows. Then blend the sounds, read the word, and record on student sheet. Fluency The student will read phrases in a timed activity. Activity The teacher will provide phase cards, timer, and student sheet. The student will practice saying phases in one minute. Then record the score on the student sheet. Vocabulary The student will match words to corresponding meanings while playing a memory game. Activity The teacher will provide with memory match cards (color words). The student will select two, read or name them orally, and determine if cards match. . If there is a match, pick up the cards, place to the side, and take another turn. If cards do not match return them to their original places Vocabulary The student will use descriptive word clues to identify objects. Activity The teacher will provide the bags of objects and a student sheet. Student one selects one of the objects, and uses descriptive words to describe (e.g., “It is a rectangle and is black and soft”). Then the student writes the name of the object and the adjectives describing it on student sheet. Comprehension The student will compare stories using a Venn Diagram. Activity The teacher will provide texts and student sheet. The student reviews the text as the teacher reads aloud. Next writes the title and author of each text on the student sheet that are shared by both texts in the overlapping area of the circles on the Venn Diagram. Write story elements that are unique to just one of the texts in the corresponding circle. (Repeated Lesson) Starfall The student will log onto this website. Activity The student will complete the assignments associated with Jake’s Book ( long vowels) | Acvi | Phonics The student will blend sounds to make words. ActivityContinue activity from the previous day using short vowels Objective: The student will practice reading words with r-controlled vowels while playing a tic-tac-toe type game. Activity The teacher will provide the spinner and game board and different game pieces. The student will spin the spinner and say the sound of the r-controlled vowel on which it lands .Next select and orally read a word that contains the corresponding vowel sound. If correct, place a game piece on the game board. If incorrect, no game piece is placed. Fluency the students will read with proper phrasing, intonation, and expression. Activity The teacher will provide sentence cards. The student will read each cars one by one unil completing the entire sentence. The student will concentrate on phrasing and intonation. Vocabulary The student will make compound words by pairing word cards that name pictures. Activity The teacher will provide compound word cards. The student identifies the two separate words, places the cards together to make the compound word, and reads the word. Comprehension The student will repeat a story using a question retell wheel. (using different texts) Activity The teacher will provide texts and retell wheel. The student reviews with text as the teacher read-aloud. Next writes the title and author of each text on the retell wheel. Then the teacher asks the student questions from the wheel. Starfall The student will log onto this website Activity The student will complete the exercises associated with Pete’s Sheep | Phonics The student will practice reading words with r-controlled vowels while playing a tic-tac-toe type game. Activity The teacher will provide the spinner and game board and different game pieces. The student will spin the spinner and say the sound of the r-controlled vowel on which it lands .Next select and orally read a word that contains the corresponding Fluency The student will practice rereading decodable text Activity The teacher will provide decodable text, timer, and student sheet. The student will practice saying phases in one minute. Then record the score on the student sheet. The activity is to be repeated to reduce time. Vocabulary The student will make compound words and match them to corresponding pictures in a flip book. Activity The teacher will provide flip book and a student sheet. The student “flips” the pages in the flip book, selects a picture card on the left hand side, and names the picture . Next Flips” through the middle and right-hand pages to find two words that make the corresponding compound word (i.e., sun, flower). Then reads the word (i.e., “sunflower”) and records on student sheet. Comprehension The student will locate information in expository text and record on a fact strip. Activity The teacher will provide texts, crayons, and construction paper strip. The student reviews with text as the teacher read-aloud. Next writes the topic in the first square, identifies the important facts in text in each section. | Week #3 | Phonics The student will read high frequency words.Activity The student practices reading high frequency words made from tactile letters, and then find them in print. Fluency The student will gain speed and accuracy in reading connected text. Activity The student practices reading fluently by reading text with a partner. Comprehension The student will identify the meaning of a sentence. Activity The student matches nursery rhyme sentences to related titles. | Phonics The student will read high frequency words. Activity The student practices reading high frequency words made from tactile letters, and then find them in print. Fluency The student will gain speed and accuracy in reading connected text. Activity Students practice reading fluently by reading text with a partner. Comprehension The student will identify the meaning of a sentence. Activity The student matches nursery rhyme sentences to related titles. Riverdeep/Destination Success The student will long onto this website Activity The student will complete the assignments on inflected endings | Phonics The student will identify high frequency words in text. Activity The student will read a book rich in the chosen high frequency words to practice them in context. Fluency The student will gain speed and accuracy in reading connected text. Activity Students practice reading fluently by reading text with a partner. Comprehension The student will identify the meaning of a sentence. Activity The student will read a sentence and pantomime it (act it out). | Phonics The student will write the high frequency words. Activity The student will spell and write the high frequency words in sentences. Fluency The student will gain speed and accuracy in reading connected text. Activity Students practice reading fluently by reading text with a partner. words with vowel patterns learned that day. Comprehension The student will identify the meaning of a sentence. Activity The student will arrange groups of words to make sentences. | Phonics The student will write a story utilizing known high frequency words. Activity The student will write a story based on a prompt. He will be instructed to spell the words he knows without using invented spelling. Fluency The student will gain speed and accuracy in reading connected text. Activity Students practice reading fluently by reading text with a partner. Comprehension Objective: The student will identify the meaning of a sentence. Activity The student will arrange groups of words to make sentences. Riverdeep/Destination Success The student will long onto this website Activity The student will complete the assignments on inflected endings | Week #4 | Phonics Objective: The student will read high frequency words. Activity The student practices reading high frequency words while playing a fishing game. Fluency Objective: The student will gain speed and accuracy in reading connected text. Activity The student will time repeated readings and graph words correct per minute. Comprehension The students will identify the similarities and differences between stories. Activity The teacher will provide narrative text and student sheet. The students read the text and writer the title of the author oe each text on the student sheet.. the student will write the story element until there is at least three story elements in each section of the diagram. Starfall The student will long onto this website Activity The student will work in the play section to address sight words. | Phonics Objective: The student will read high frequency words. Activity The student practices reading high frequency words while playing a fishing game. Fluency Objective: The student will gain speed and accuracy in reading connected text. Activity The student will time repeated readings and graph words correct per minute. Comprehension the student will identify the similarities and differences in stories. Activity Continue activity from Day 1.. Starfall The student will long onto this website Activity The student will work in the play section to address sight words | Phonics Objective: The student will read high frequency words in context. Activity The student practices reading high frequency words in text. Fluency Objective: The student will gain speed and accuracy in reading connected text. Activity The student will time repeated readings and graph words correct per minute. Comprehension The student will identify the similarities and differences between characters. Activity The teacher will choose narrative text (from the instructional reading level) and provide a student sheet. The student will write the name of two characters from the story writing similarities in the middle column and unique characteristics in the outer columns. . Starfall The student will long onto this website Activity The student will work in the play section to address sight words | Phonics Objective: The student will read high frequency words in context. Activity The student practices reading high frequency words in text. The student will write down the high frequency words and explain how they are used in the story. Fluency The student will gain speed and accuracy in reading connected text. Activity The student will time repeated readings and graph words correct per minute. Comprehension Continue Day 3 activities. . Starfall The student will long onto this website Activity The student will work in the play section to address sight words | Phonics Objective: The student read high frequency words in context. Activity . The student practices reading high frequency words in text. The student will write down the high frequency words and explain how they are used in the story Fluency Objective gain speed and accuracy in reading connected text. The student will time repeated readings and graph words correct per minute. Comprehension The student will write meaningful sentences. Activity The student will cut pictures out of magazines and write sentences to describe them Starfall The student will long onto this website Activity The student will work in the play section to address sight words escribe them. |

Activities were adapted from Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR)

Report of Intervention Activities Results This Individualized Literacy Intervention Action Plan was developed after analyzing the data information obtained from pre-tests. This data indicated that Asiana has a deficit in vocabulary acquisition, therefore the pre-tests focused on that area. The activities, which were research based, focused on strategies that will enhance vocabulary strategies. The pre-tests indicated that specific areas needing to be addressed were long vowel patterns, inflected endings, and other vowel patterns. Considering the connection of vocabulary to fluency and comprehension, the intervention activities also addressed the later areas. Prior to the development of these activities Asiana was often off task and lacked focus in reading. Asiana preferred to work on timed activities as she considered them as a way to challenge herself. Reflections of Week One a) How did the week of tutoring go? The first two days were a challenge for Asiana. She was obviously anxious when she saw the tutoring equipment on the table. Asiana does not like to read aloud and is hesitant about volunteering to read or participate in any activity requiring her to read. I used this time to establish a rapport with her, making her feel more comfortable. She was told this was her special time with the teacher. After explaining this to her she began to relax and appeared to feel more comfortable.

b) What did you learn about your student(s) that you didn't know before? Asiana was more of a self starter than initially thought. Once she and I established a rapport she was eager to begin her sessions. c) Discuss at least one thing you will change for next week’s lessons: I think I would try to come during the earlier part of the day. Towards the end of the session Asiana began to exhibit challenging behavior, she was off task. The session was held almost at the end of the day when she was tired and easily distracted
d)Any modification made to the action plan should include the reasoning behind the change: I would not make any changes to the activities. The changes I would make would be more procedural. There were two specific issues. First , there was quite a bit of supplies used during the activities. Asiana was disorganized, leaving them in disarray for others to clean up. Secondly, during this session there seemed to be a lot of uncertainty on Asiana’s part. One thing that I would change would be to explain the rituals and routines more thoroughly. A critical component that decreases the likelihood of challenging behavior is providing ritual and routines. Rituals are especially helpful when involved in quiet activities (Alter, n.d.). Additionally, I think I should have repeated the purpose of the tutoring session in a manner that was more relaxing. Knowing what to expect may have helped to reduce the anxiety that Asiana experienced. The intervention activities also addressed the later areas. Prior to the

development of these activities Asiana was often off task and lacked focus in reading. Asiana preferred to work on timed activities as she considered them as a way to challenge herself.
Reflections of Week Two
a) How did the week of tutoring go? This week was successful. Asian has become comfortable working with the intervention kits. Moving to an earlier time of day also proved to be effective. Asiana was not as easily distracted. She appears to have worked through her anxieties
b) What did you learn about your student(s) that you didn't know before? I learned that Asiana is a hard worker. She likes the competition in the timed exercises.
c) Discuss at least one thing you will change for next week's lessons. One thing I would change for next weeks lesson is to back off and allow Asiana to take more control. She want to do things with little guidance. d) Any modification made to the action plan should include the reasoning behind the change. Due to Asiana’s reaction and progress there does not appear to be a need to anything in the action plan at this point. This will be reviewed again next week..

Reflections of Week Three a) How did the week of tutoring go? This week of tutoring was completed without any problems. When Asianna entered the room she began to prepare according to the rituals and routines established last week. Upon entering the room she sat at her table where the activity materials were set up. Each day she was allowed to explore them materials to become familiar with them. I think that allowing her to explore the materials helped her to remain interested and focused. She remained on task for the majority of her sessions. This week’s tutoring progressed well
b) What did you learn about your student(s) that you didn't know before? Although Asiana continues to struggle she is growing more independent and assertive in her reading. Although she was reluctant to read aloud during the first two weeks she now takes on that challenge of reading to me. She appears to like those activities in which she is competing against herself, those activities that are timed. None of those were provided were provided this week.
c) Discuss at least one thing you will change for next week's lessons: Those times in which she was off task was towards the end of the sessions. This indicates with the sessions are too long or that an adjustment should be made towards the end to prevent Asiana from loosing focus. Very few of the activities used thus far have involved computer activities. Computer activities tend to hold students’ interests. Perhaps the last minutes of the session can be dedicated to the use of technology. Therefore, one thing I would change is to use technology more.
d) Any modification made to the action plan should include the reasoning behind the change: The action plan for the week continues to address phonics, fluency, comprehension and vocabulary. Asiana appears to be progressing well. This progress may be the reason she tends to loose focus toward the end of the session (perhaps she is getting bored.) One modification I would make is the use of computers. Perhaps the introduction of computers into the activities will help her to remain focus. This may also offer more challenge. The use of computers in education places students in an active role in their learning. The use of computers can help Asiana to continue with

Reflections of Week Four b) How did the week of tutoring go? As in previous weeks, Asiana entered the classroom and began to prepare according to the rituals and routines previously established. Adjustments from last week’s activities were to integrate more computer activities into the interventions. Asiana was allowed to complete more activities on the county’s Destination Success and education place e-services. Destination success provides activities from each area of reading that progress according to the student’s needs. The latter software provides leveled readers. Having the computer pre-set helped to save time.
b) What did you learn about your student(s) that you didn't know before? As with any student Asiana has a combination of learning styles. However, she has a dominant learning style which is kinesthetic and leaning towards visual and intrapersonal. She has become more confident and more eager to volunteer to read, she still prefers to work alone
c) Discuss at least one thing you will change for next week's lessons: Having reflected on previous weeks the one thing I would change in the interventions is to incorporate the use of more technology. My experiences suggests that technology has helps to provide variety and it helps students to maintain focus. Therefore, technology is being added at the end in order to help maintain focus. The end of the session is when Asiana tends to be off task and less focused..
d) Any modification made to the action plan should include the reasoning behind the change: The action plan for the week continues to address phonics, fluency, comprehension and vocabulary. Changes will be made to help Asiana to maintain focus at the end of each day’s session. Additionally, this will provide a link to classroom activities. Destination Success is software adopted by this District. It provides instruction and remediation when skills are programmed into it (Success,n,d,). This software provides a link to instruction and on-going assessment along with a correlation to lesson plans,

Asiana answered twelve of fourteen correct on the pre-test Spelling Inventory Assessment. She completed the post-test at 100% answering fourteen of fourteen. There was improvement in the short vowels, digraphs, and blends scoring twenty of twenty-one. The pre-test score was seventeen of twenty-one. These scores were all met grade level expectations, therefore the individualized action plan did not focus on them. The areas of concern as reflected in the pre-tests were long vowels, other vowels, and inflected endings. On the pretest the score was four of twenty-one correct. This was well below grade level. The psot test results reflected significant progress with a score of fifteen of twenty-one correct. The pre-tests process was duplicated during the post test process. Asiana was administered the pre primer one – second grade word lists. The pre-test results data indicated an independent level at the first grade and a frustration level at the second grade. The post test data indicated and independent level at the first grade and an instructional level in the second grade. The pre-test data from the QRI-5concept questions for Asiana provided a score of 0%. He presented problems with elaborating on predictions. Her oral reading from the narrative was at an independent level. Asiana’a was at an instructional level at the re-telling portion of the tool. The concept questions were at during post testing was100% placing her at an independent level.
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Discussion of the Results and Future Recommendations
Implication of Study The goal of this intervention was to improve vocabulary acquisition. Improvement of vocabulary acquisition would also impact other skills. Decoding skills, fluency, and comprehension would also be impacted. The intervention developed was individualized according to data from pre-tests and post tests. The intervention was conducted one-on-one over a course of four weeks. There was 40 minute tutoring sessions administered daily. The research question explored the impact of explicit instruction on vocabulary instruction. There was consideration given to the impact that one-on-one tutoring sessions using research based reading inventories would have on reading skills. That is, would these assessments and instruction help to improve vocabulary acquisition. The instruction focused on long vowel sounds and other vowel patterns, and inflected endings, increasing decoding skills. Fluency for Asiana would increase and as she begins to spend less time decoding, automaticity would increase. As fluency increases so does comprehension. The individualized Literacy Intervention Plan post tests results showed an improvement in the areas target during daily tutoring sessions.

Although the interventions used in this action plan are research based, perhaps this action plan should have involved more than one student. Wherein the length of the intervention, forty minutes, was adequate for the grade level, the four week period may not have been adequate.

Discussion of Future Recommendations This intervention plan has proven to be effective. For future use, it is recommended that it continued to be used for struggling students. This can be done on one-to-one or in small groups.

References Beck, I.L. and McKeown (1986) Instructional research in reading: A Retrospective in Reading Comprehension National Institute for Literacy (2110, September). Put reading first Helping your child learn to read. Jessup, MD Alter, P. (n.d.) Preventing challenging behavior in young children: Effective practices. Retrieved October 9, 2011 from www.challengingbehavior.org Biemiller, A.(2005).Teaching vocabulary, early, direct, and sequential. Retrieved October 9, 2011 from www.wordsmart.edu.org