Reading Comprehension

What is being implemented?

• For my Capstone, I implemented close reading strategies along with graphic organizers. The close reading strategies included rereading the text through different lenses, sign posts, and rereading/text tagging. The graphic organizers I used were based on the needs of my students. For example, cause and effect, summarizing, and vocabulaary.

With whom is it being implemented?

• This research was implemented with 24 of my 25 fifth grade students at Wheeler Elementary School in Millard Public Schools.

When will it be implemented?

• This research was implemented February 1st through April 10th, 2017

How will it be implemented?

• This action research was implemented through whole group and small group reading time. Close reading strategies were introduced whole group and refined in small group settings. Students took selection tests every Friday and saw their results right away. These results determined the skill groups the students were placed in the following week based on their strengths and opportunities for growth. The skill groups used Digital Readworks based on the skill they needed improvement on and were in groups of 3 to 4. Digital Readworks is an educational website that provides a variety of reading passages and text for students to read. These texts can be specific to a reading strategy and are equipped with vocabulary definitions and a short assessment. 

Why have the strategy/strategies been selected for implementation?

• The close reading and graphic organizer strategies were selected because after interviewing Jackie Polacek, a colleague of mine, and reading numerous professional development books these seemed to show great growth for the reading comprehension of students. Close reading strategies can be used not only in grade school, but in college and careers. Students need to be able to read a text, understand it, and go further with their thinking. Students benefit from giving learning a purpose and teaching them a skill that they can use forever will give them a sense of purpose. I wanted to make these new close reading strategies were engaging so Pixar Shorts were used to introduce each Sign Post that is mentioned in my literature review. Students really enjoyed these and it made it easier for them to remember each strategy as we moved forward. Text Dependent Analysis is another skill students will use for the rest of their lives, and again, I wanted to give it purpose in my classroom. I explained to students how as an adult I still have to be able to analyze a piece of text and use evidence from it to support the way I am thinking, which is what Text Dependent Analysis is all about. This really helped me drive home the college and career readiness side of my teaching. 

What data collection methods will be used and why?

• Selection Test

  • Weekly assessment to help determine skill groups and show comprehension mastery.

    • This was used as a consistent measure throughout my study. Each assessment has the same layout with seven vocabualry questions and ten comprehension questions. Using Selection Tests would give a weekly checkup on my students' reading comprehension as my action research continued. ​

• Text-Leveling

  • Text-Leveling was used as a way to see which students were above, on, or below grade level in comprehension. By collecting this data I could then analyze a correlation between how students were doing on selection tests compared to the Text Dependent Analysis and Selection Test. ​

• Text Dependent Analysis (TDA)

  • Text Dependent Analysis was used to bring all parts of reading comprehension together. This was a way to analyze if students can read a piece of text, comprehend it, and synthesize what they read to prove their own thinking.