The story behind the data

Here is a break-down or analysis of each of my target students results

FM - Here is my previous blog post about his results

AV - Just over 1 year shift in reading age. This student is a second language learner of English and joined our school in 2017. She has moved a whopping 8 levels from Level 9 - Level 17. Her reading accuracy was 98% but she has struggled with comprehension. She normally takes a lot longer to get through a test than others in the group. At times she is able to verbalise what she is finding difficult. After her mid year testing at level 12, her level 13 test in August came out at 100% decoding and 100% comprehension. I felt it was far too easy for her so we skipped level 14 and instead tested her at level 15 (orange).

LL - 1 year shift in reading age. This student has full time hours and also gets additional learning support from Dev Charles for 1.5 hours a week. This has been reduced from 5 hours a week as LL was becoming difficult during the sessions with Dev and not much learning was going on. The 1.5 hours has been more beneficial and rewarding for LL in terms of willingness, attitude, and task completion. Dev is quite happy with this set up as well. Reading accuracy 97% and 100% comprehension. She didn't get to test again due to time restraints and a busy timetable.

SK - 1 and a half years shift in reading age. This student is very talkative and at times can interfere with others in the group by being overly helpful, so others don't get a chance to try out words for themselves. She is quite onto it, in terms of picking up reading strategies being taught. What I have come to realise through group observations is, a lot of her learning or retention is all dependent on how she is feeling. The more praise you give her, the more she thrives and strives to do more. This has been in my opinion one of the key elements to her making shifts this year. This has been confirmed by her comments the next day when she says, "Thank you for teaching me yesterday Miss, I feel better because I know new words and can read a bit faster now." Her test at level 19 came out at 99% decoding and 100% comprehension. Again, time restraints and our hectic timetable in our Y7&8 have meant we didn't get around to testing her up.

PT - 1 year shift in reading age. I've been talking to my in-class support worker (teacher aide) about student PT and we agreed that he is a very capable reader and is able to pronounce 3 syllable words quite confidently. He has a slight Tongan accent that sometimes sounds like he is mispronouncing the words. But having read with him for almost a year, we have picked up on the fact that he decodes perfectly and with a translator, is also able to answer comprehension question correctly. His use of expressions in his voice are another indicator for good understanding when reading a text. He has yet to fail a test but due to his reluctance to being tested 2 tests in a row, it is a slow progress testing him up twice a term to reach his full potential/true instructional reading level. Decoding came out at 98% and 100% for comprehension.

AT - 1 year shift in reading age. This student still has frequent absences throughout each term. However, when he is in class, he has shown interest in the topic books he has been reading about different animals. This has kept him engaged long enough to complete set tasks each day. His reading tests still start off with what has now become his standard comments of, "I'm dumb Miss. I'm not gonna pass this test". But once I show him the level in which he is reading at, and where he used to be before, we tend to set a goal (aim for purple) and this gives him a little bit of motivation to even give the test a go. He definitely looks to give a 'worst case scenario' before giving things a go just incase he does not pass. He has yet to fail a reading test. I have been careful in how far/hard I push him as I am fearful that when he does get to a point that he fails a level, it would confirm his statements as true and might effect his fragile motivation to learn. His last test was 97% for decoding and 100% in comprehension.

GW - 6 months shift in reading age.This student I still haven't quite seen or been able to pin point a pattern of behaviour or a pattern of learning for him. Each test has been different in terms of attitude, effort, behaviours, and also willingness to talk at times. However, it is great to see him make shift. He was very excited (in a shy way) about making any shift so we hope to keep working with him throughout this last term. It is nearing the end of week 1 of term 4 and student GW has yet to return to school so will wait and see. His last test at the end of Term 3 was 96% for decoding and 5 out of 6 question correct so that's 80% for comprehension.

RF - 1 and a half years shift in reading age. This student has gained confidence from moving groups and working in a group with more able readers. She has a positive attitude during testing and is always willing to give things a go. She has taken ownership of her own learning by asking for some short tasks she can do at home and this has added to excitement about reading. I cannot attribute much of my deliberate acts of teaching for this students achievements as her learning has taken off through self motivation and determination. RF got 98% decoding in her test and 70% for comprehension.