Running Records

Entry #7

Native Spanish Speaker: JG

JG is a freshman at Overland High School. His family moved here from Guatemala before he was born; both of his parents speak enough English to have conversations with me regarding JG’s performance in science. In Earth/Physical Science, JG occasionally volunteers to participate in whole class discussions, and always answers appropriately when called upon. JG seems to prefer to do his own work to get it done, and his work shows a clear understanding of the science concepts being discussed.

Errors

Inserted “me” – Meaning

Deleted “and” – Meaning, Structure

Inserted “said” – Meaning, Structure

Inserted “Oh” – Meaning, Structure

Deleted “and” – Meaning, Structure

JG read the story quickly with only a little expression. He laughed because the story is a picture book and elementary level. JG used meaning and structure cues consistently and deleted words he did not feel were important. He inserted words twice where they did not make sense, but the last insertion was an exclamation and was actually two lines below the text he was reading. None of JG’s errors are reflections of his first language, Spanish.

JG’s focus should be to use picture cues when reading. I had JG go back to a couple of pages in the book and tell me what was happening at that point in the story based on the pictures.  He was able to do this as well as retell the story. Using pictures to find information and predict is especially important when reading high school textbooks. While JG doesn’t need to learn any comprehension strategies for this level book, he should learn comprehension strategies to employ before, during, and after reading high school level texts. JG should also slow down and try to read with expression to aid in comprehension.

Native Amharic Speaker: DY

DY is a sophomore at Overland High School and has only lived in the United States for about seven weeks. DY moved here from Ethiopia with his mother and older brother. They live with his Aunt who has been in the country for thirteen years. While DY’s brother will hold conversations with his peers and with me, DY is reserved and does not like to speak English. He looks to his brother to translate schoolwork and conversations. I do not know if DY’s mother speaks English fluently; his aunt does, and Amharic is spoken in the home.

Errors

Deleted “the” – Meaning, Structure

Read “asked” instead of “said” – Meaning, Structure

Deleted “and” – Meaning, Structure

DY read the story slowly, quietly, and word by word. DY would start to say a predicted word based on the context, and would then self-correct when he realized the beginning of the word in the text did not match what he was saying.  When studying the pictures, DY asked if a magpie is the same as a blackbird. He also told me about hares and small rodents he’s encountered back home in Axsum. DY consistently used both meaning and structure cues as well as picture cues to read the story and try to make meaning. DY read the text much better than I had expected. His insecurities in reading aloud in English were evident.

DY’s comprehension of the story was satisfactory. When asked to re-tell the story, he restated many lines of text and did not summarize or paraphrase. DY needs activities in science that expose him to specific vocabulary words and phrases. DY also needs to be explicitly taught pre-reading, during reading, and post-reading strategies to help comprehend text that is not decodable. While DY understands that pictures help tell the story, he must practice using pictures to find information and predict in high school textbooks. When reading aloud, DY should pay attention to punctuation to read more fluently.

Sources:

Hill, J. D. & Flynn, K. M. (2006). Classroom instruction that works with English language learners. Alexandria, VA: Association fro Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Morrow, L.M., (2009).  Literacy development in the early years (6th ed).  Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.