Cycle # 1 - Jesse and Nathan's Reading Progress

Exhibit 11

Finally, I am seeing some improvement in independent reading and book club conversation in the past two days. The implementation of the readers checklist and strategy lessons is indeed a helpful tool to get them both on track and somewhat accountable. This is especially evident in Nathan's case. Each day, Nathan gets excited in reading because he wants to find out how he does in reading that day. He readily has his book out and the goal of the day. Although in exhibit 11 (look at top right corner) Nathan is having a hard time sustaining his independent reading in the first attempt (he reads for 4 minutes and needs a drink), he tries harder to focus in his second attempt. The next day, February 28th, he even succeeds in sustaining 15 minutes of uninterrupted reading in one seating (see exhibit 12 below).

Exhibit 12


On the other hand, Jesse shows some improvement in book club reading; his progress is not as blatant as Nathan. A positive note is that with positive reinforcement and encouragement, he is able to set a goal with my support and scaffolding. In one strategy lesson, I show him the importance of setting a goal before reading. On February 27th, Jesse reads in 3 separate intervals (see exhibit 13 below).
Exhibit 13


The next day, February 28th, Jesse shows more blatant improvement in increasing his reading stamina. He was able to read for 10 minutes; 4 more minutes than the day before.

Field Notes and Reflection for February 29, 2008

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Exhibit 10


Exhibit 10 is an observation field note that is taken during book buddy session. Even though this session does not illustrate Jesse and Nathan as independent readers, I am still very intrigued by their behavior when reading with younger peers. It is not surprising that Jesse shows limited motivation in reading. He has mentioned in his reading interview (refer to exhibit 5) that he does not enjoy books that are too easy for his level. In today's session, Jesse takes a few restroom breaks and drinking breaks. Getting him to be accountable in being a role model seems to be an uneasy task. However, this is still an interesting experiment to see how he performs during buddy reading.

Contrastingly, Nathan shows immense enthusiasm because his buddy happens to be his little sister. Obviously there is an urgency for Nathan to be responsible by being a role model in front of his sister. They share books together and take turns reading. In his reading interview (refer to exhibit 6), I remember that he mentions that his older brother is the one who reads to him daily. Now that I am aware of Nathan's ability and interest in reading to his younger sibling, I know that I should continue to encourage him to do that at home.

Field Notes and Reflection for February 28, 2008

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Exhibit 9
Today, Jesse expresses his detest in book club verbally to the class. This particular comment is no doubt indicative to his reading preference. At one point, Nathan behaves in the similar manner as Jesse. During reading workshop, they both fidget with things around them, or wander their eyes somewhere in the room. My question is, how is it possible to change the structure of reading workshop into an interactive one, as suggested by Taylor and Lorimer (2003) just to suit the learning habits of these two resistant readers? If learning in a whole-class context is a challenge for them both and the majority is adapting the structure proficiently, should I just allow the two boys to get disengaged and pull them back on track during small group strategy lessons? However, this entails ongoing disengagement in whole class discussion, partnership talk, and disconnection to their own reading. What should I do to solve this enigma?

Field Notes and Reflection for February 27, 2008 - Finding out their interests

From this observation in a read aloud session, I can analyze Jesse's behavior as a listener and reader in a more thorough and critical manner. I can advocate that Jesse, seems to be frequently inattentive and unmotivated in various reading activities is in fact, listening and engaging in the character and the plot of the story, Holes by Louis Sachar. When Ms. Jane calls the read aloud session to an end, Jesse shows great disappointment by calling out, "NO!!!!". Ms. Jane then continues to read aloud another book called, The Greedy Triangle , a picture book that connects to their current content study of shapes in math.
Exhibit 8
Jesse shows continuous excitement with the character, Greedy Triangle. Nathan is more or less engaged in the same way as Jesse. His eye contact to Ms. Jane and the pictures of the book is consistent. From this, I can make some assumptions that both of them are attracted by characters that have a 'fun' personality. Stanley, the main character in Holes, is a young boy who always happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time endures multiple mishaps. Perhaps, the two boys do find some similarities between Stanley and themselves. While Greedy Triangle is also a playful character who requests Shape Shaver to help him to get his body shaved and transform him into different shapes. I have a strong feeling that both boys are engaged with these characters because of their typical "boyish" personalities that they find connections to.

Observation and Strategy Lesson # 1

Guided Reading/ Book Club: 3rd grade, two boys - Jesse and Nathan, 02/26/2008 9:25AM

Context: Teacher finished teaching point and students went back to their seats for book club. I picked out a book called The Day I saw Dad Cry and approached to the two boys at the round table in the back of the classroom.

The two boys I worked with today, Jesse and Nathan are the students whom I worked with two weeks ago in the J/K Henry and Mudge book club. Ms. Jane and I have decided that it would be more beneficial for the boys to split up and work with partners during guided reading/ book club. I am sitting between Nathan and Jesse at the round table, and as I was about to begin the book introduction, both of them started to resist reading this particular book, The Day I Saw Dad Cry by Bill Cosby. Jesse expressed to me that he was not a big fan of the Little Bill series, while Nathan was upset because he did not get to work with his friend in the original group. After settling the matters, both of them did not seem happy, but they picked up the book and started reading to themselves. Sadly, I had to stop them because I had planned to give them a strategy lesson. They did not like interruptions. Jesse said in a frustration voice, "but I know how to read this!" And Nathan ignored the comment and continued reading on his own. As a result, I had to take their books away from them and explained to them what a strategy lesson was. They started listening again to my teaching point, which was, "Good readers prepare themselves in guided reading or book club reading by having a good sitting posture and sitting comfortably in their own space." After I have given my "talk", both of them began to read again. Please note the timeline below to see how they did.

9:30
- Jesse reads for a minute and gets distracted by the people around him. He turns around often and does not focus on his reading
9:31
- Jesse is aroused by the pictures in the book and decides to share with Nathan who is sitting across from him
- Nathan responds, “hahaha… he looks funny!”
- Jesse giggles back
9:32
- Jesse and Nathan are reading
- both of them displays engagement and concentration at this time
9:32
- Jesse begins reading aloud to himself
9:34
- Nathan complains Jesse’s read aloud that he is distracting him
- Jesse does not respond, he continues reading aloud
9:35
- both boys are still reading
Nathan is finished with chapter 1 and puts the book down
9:36
- Jesse shows pictures to Nathan and is once again distracted
- Jesses finishes chapter 1 and puts his book down

Putting Strategy Lessons and Good Readers Checklist in ACTION!

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In this part of the cycle, I am going to implement the use of strategy lessons and a readers' checklist. I am hoping that these two actions could enhance the boys' motivation and accountability in reading. I am going to put 3 strategy lessons in action, as well as introducing them a 'good readers' checklist'. The checklist is a clearer and more structured tool for the two boys. Based on their daily behavior and reading interview, I realize that both of them more or less dislike too much verbal instruction. Each day, I will be giving them the checklist, and they have to write down their new goal for the day. With the 'good reader's checklist', they will be able to refer to qualities of good reading on their desk. The checklist, which also happens to be a list of teaching points for my strategy lessons can hopefully enhance the boys' accountability in reading by allowing them to see their daily progress and set new goals, thus, increase their motivation level.

Finalizing my Focal Students, and Reflecting on their Reading Interviews

After one and a half weeks of thorough observation of this group of boys' reading behavior, habits and ability during morning work, read aloud, or reader's workshop, I have decided to finalize my two focal students: Jesse and Nathan.

The reasons behind this decision is that (1) Jon is an ELL student; his presence is not relevant to my research question, and (2) I believe that in order to get the boys to be concentrated in reading, there has to be less distractions for them. Having seen them in a big group last week suggests me that these boys need to be divided up and work in partnership so that each of them can focus better during book club or guided reading.

After interviewing Jesse and Nathan, I have learned a lot more about them; my knowledge of these boys are not only limited to their identity as readers, but more holistically as individual learners. Jesse expresses to me that he indeed likes to read, but he is very selective in his readings (see exhibit 6). From this interview, I have come up with some implications: (1) once he is engaged in a book, he likes to reread it as many times. This is why he can be resistant to reading new, unfamiliar books; (2) he likes to read aloud to his mother only. She is perhaps his role model in reading, and he feels comfortable reading to her; and (3) he gets annoyed when he is interrupted during reading, which is probably why he is not enjoying guided reading/ book club or conferring. I think what I need to do next with Jesse is to find some ways to introduce other genres during read aloud, and continue to encourage him to read to his teachers, as well as his siblings at home.
As for Nathan (see exhibit 7), he reacts quite differently in comparison. He also enjoys reading, but he has this negative belief that he thinks he is not a good reader. Although Nathan's behavior does not seem to be failure-avoidant, it is still worthwhile to keep this information on the account just in case this behavior does appear more frequently or more seriously in the future. Another issue that bothers Nathan as a reader is that he is simply turned-off by thick books that have a lot of text. He also expresses his dislikes with Cam Jensen (a mystery series), particularly because of the portrayal of the main character Cam, who seems to know every clue and solution of a mystery. In light of this, I wonder if Nathan's resistance in reading this particular series is due to a female main character who is portrayed as a young girl who is powerful in solving every mystery that she encounters. Bomer and Bomer (2001), describe the different lenses for reading. I am interested in knowing if Nathan is indeed using the "gender lens" to evaluate and critique texts that he reads. I am thinking of introducing different genres with characters whose behavior and action reflect the social norm, and those whose don't. This investigation can help me to find out what genre or type(s)of character can arouse his interest in reading.
For independent and guided reading, I am not sure what I can do at this moment to get him interested in conferring and discussing books with others. Getting him to sit still during reading is indeed a challenge. My next step is definitely to promote the importance of building stamina in reading through various strategy lessons that encourage and positively reinforce the expectations during reading workshop.