Intervention Plan
ELED 365: Teaching Strategies II
STRENGTHS
The student reads very well words in isolation and in context. When the student comes to an unfamiliar word, she tries to sound it out, but fails to use structure and context clues. The student read words in isolation very well up until the 4th grade level, which was her frustration level. Her independent level was 3rd grade, and her instructional level was 2nd grade.
In reading oral passages, the student had no miscues that were omission or reversal miscues. The student also had very few miscues that were repetition or substitution. The students strongest area was answering main idea and cause-n-effect questions. She missed no main idea questions, and only one cause-n-effect question. The student reads very well in phrases, and attends to pronunciation correctly. None of her miscues appeared to be related to dialect.
WEAKNESSES
In reading oral passages, the most frequent miscues were mispronunciation and refusal to pronounce. The majority of the mispronunciations were contractions. For example, when the student came to the words wasnt or couldnt, the student would pronounce these words as was not and could not. The student also had problems with word endings in both reading in isolation and context. The student reads very well, but gets extremely anxious. She therefore tends to guess a word after looking at the beginning and the middle of the word. For example, she pronounces fife as fire, and spit as split.
On comprehension, the student had the most trouble on sequence and inference questions. She had a very difficult time telling me what a character did first or last. She even had difficulty putting events in order when the answers were given in the question. The student reads very well, and has the ability to understand material at levels above her independent reading level, but still does not use context or structure clues when coming to an unfamiliar word.
Targeted Weakness: Word Recognition: Contractions
The student will learn how to form and pronounce contractions because the majority of the mispronunciation miscues dealt with contractions.
Strategies
1) The student will learn how to form contractions by using index cards.
a. The teacher will prepare a list of words that are used to make contractions.
b. The teacher will put these words on index cards.
c. The teacher will read off a word, a contraction.
d. Using the index cards, the student must find the two words that make this contraction.
e. To reinforce this strategy, the student will do the angel worksheet. On the worksheet, the student must print the two words that mean the same as the given contraction. (Worksheet is attached)
Assessment
The student will be assessed by correctly identifying 9 out of the 10 contractions on the worksheet.
2) The student will learn what letters must be omitted to form a contraction by using elbow macaroni.
a. The teacher will prepare a list of words that are used to make contractions. Give the student a copy of the list. An example of the list is shown below.
Do not Would not Could not
She is They will I will
She will Did not I am
They are It is Are not
b. Give the student a small amount of elbow macaroni to be used as an apostrophe.
c. The student will cut apart the list of words, one set of words at a time.
d. The student will throw away the letters that are omitted in a contraction.
e. The student will then glue the remaining letters to a piece of construction paper.
f. The letters that were thrown away will be replaced by a piece of elbow macaroni acting as an apostrophe.
Assessment
The student must correctly form 10 out of the 12 contractions by using elbow macaroni.
3) The student will learn that an apostrophe can be used to form a contraction such as in the word dont, and to show ownership.
a. For each of the words or combinations of words, the student must write a word that means the same in the right hand column. The student needs to write an apostrophe in the new words. The worksheet should resemble the one below.
do not
the books belonging to Dad
did not
the plant belonging to Mom
should not
the dog belonging to the family
would not
the shirt belonging to John
will not
the cat belonging to Mary
Assessment
The student must correctly form 8 out of the 10 contractions by putting the apostrophe in the correct place.
4. The student will identify all the contractions in a piece of literature.
a. Using the book, Morris Goes to School by B. Wiseman, the student will find and write down all the contractions in the book. If a contraction appears more than once, the students may use tally marks. The list should resemble the list below.
dont-III
cant-III
didnt-III
Im-II
doesnt-I
couldnt-III
wasnt-I
thats-I
Ive-I
lets-II
Assessment
The number of tally marks administered correctly will assess the student. The student must have at least 80% correct.
All of the strategies mentioned above are appropriate for the first grade level. I used the 2nd strategy for my intervention plan. I approached this method by first reading a paragraph that contained many contractions. The purpose of reading this paragraph is to illustrate how contractions sound when they are read. I then gave the student the list of contractions and explained the activity. The student is to cut apart the list of words, one set of words at a time. The student will throw away the letters that are omitted in a contraction. The student will then glue the remaining letters to a piece of construction paper. The letters that were thrown away will be replaced by a piece of elbow macaroni acting as an apostrophe. The student was assessed by how many contractions she formed correctly. The student must correctly form 10 out of the 12 contractions to prove to me she understands how contractions are formed. The student formed all 12 contractions correctly. Lastly, the student practiced pronouncing the contractions aloud to me.
Reflection
This intervention was very effective as well as it offered a very fun, interactive activity for the student. The student successfully formed all 12 contractions correctly without any problems. After she had formed the 12 contractions, the student proceeded to pronounce each contraction correctly. I also had her to pronounce each word used to perform the contractions while she was cutting and pasting. I think this made it easier for her when she was asked to pronounce the formed contraction.
I also feel that this would be an excellent activity to use with a whole class. This activity is a good process to use when teaching students how to form contractions. The only modification I would make with this lesson when using it with a whole class would be to leave out having the student pronounce the formed contractions. Instead, I would have the whole class pronounce the formed contraction together. Even if a student were having a problem pronouncing the contractions, this would illustrate to them the correct pronunciation. My next step would be to proceed with finding contractions in a piece of literature such as Morris Goes to School by B. Wiseman. I would have the student find all the contractions in the text, and to keep track of them by using tally marks. This would help prove to me that the student can find contractions by reading in context.
Bibliography (Internet Sites)
http://atozteacherstuff.com/lessons/contractions.shtml
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/curricul/activity/day8/d8-g4-le.html
http://www.wvawordschool.org/html/lesson/1plans/langarts/pholmes/contract.htm
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