Strand B: Student Learning

Mini Dossier for Student Teaching

Student X

I. Introduction

Age: 8

Grade Level: 2nd

Subject or Discipline Area: Handwriting

Number of Students in His/Her Class: 23

Names of concepts, understandings, or skills illustrated:

Language

Strand: Writing and Speaking for Expression

Standard: Apply grammatical and language conventions to communicate.

ll-B. 2.7 Use letter formation, lines and spaces to create readable documents.

How the student’s level of work compares to others in his/her class:

Student X is a very strong reader. His STAR test scores have him reading at a 5.3

grade level, which is 5th grade and 3 months. His reading level is higher than any

other student in the class. The one area he struggles with is handwriting. He averages

an “I” in handwriting for the year. This makes him ineligible for the honor roll, even

though he makes straight A’s.

II. Explanation of Student X’s Learning

A. Explain why you selected this students to represent how you work with

diversity in your class

Student X is very bright and works very hard on subjects such as math and

reading. He loves to read, and reads any chance he gets. He has three older

siblings and has expressed to me that he would like to become an author when he

grows up. He is rather introverted and is not very sociable in the classroom. He

does not have many friends and usually spends his extra time reading. He gets

into trouble in class for not staying on task and reading while he should be

listening to a new lesson or while he should be completing an assignment.

Sometimes, student X shows a lack of interest when it comes to improving his

handwriting. He feels that it is not important because he is very smart. I chose this

student because I know he will go far in his education career and that he will

excel in many areas of school; however I know handwriting sometimes gets

pushed to the side, so I decided he could use that extra help and support from me.

B. Explain how these pieces of student work were produced.

After spring break, the entire class had an assignment to write a page about what

they did over their week long break. I used this opportunity to take my first

sample of handwriting from student X. I noticed he wrote some of his letters

backwards and that he had a difficult time staying within the two lines on his

handwriting paper. The next sample I have is a graphic organizer that the student

completed during reading block. For this assignment he was asked to write the

definition/synonym for a vocabulary word, and antonym, use the word in a

sentence, and to draw a picture. I noticed on this assignment that his spacing was

also an issue. He did not leave space between words which made it hard to know

what words he meant to write. Sample number 3 is when student X wrote 5

sentences using his spelling words. For this assignment I noticed that student X

had a difficult time writing his 5s backwards. For this assignment, I corrected the

student’s paper and had him rewrite it using legible handwriting. Which gives me

sample 4, this is when I began to see some improvement. We also have been

working on cursive during this time, and that is also gradually improving. Sample

5 shows some of the student’s cursive, which has been improving week by week.

C. Explain how these pieces of student work show you about his/her learning

during the time frame you have chosen.

Sample 1 showed me how much the student struggles with handwriting. The

words are written very sloppy and his spacing is inconsistent. He also has a hard

time controlling his strokes as he stretches past the lines on the handwriting paper.

However, his paper is written well and almost all of the words are spelled

correctly. Sample 2 showed me something a little different. When the student was

asked to draw a picture to represent a vocabulary word, the student’s picture was

also sloppy and he struggled with staying the in the designated area. Sample 3

was written by the student and it seemed that he rushed though this assignment.

He wrote numbers backwards, his spacing was too close between words, and he

did not stay in the lines of the handwriting paper. For sample 4, the student was

asked take his sentences home and work on completing a clean paper that would

be easy for me to read. I was very impressed with how much hard work he put

into his redo assignment and it shows in his results. He corrected many of the

mistakes he had made in sample 3. Sample 5 shows his improvement in cursive.

Student X was averaging I’s in handwriting at the beginning of this process, but

he is now averaging S- and an occasional S in cursive.

D. Explain how you helped the student understand his/her own learning.

I tried a number of strategies with student X to improve his handwriting. What I

found that worked best is repetition and correction. I made student X rewrite

numbers when he wrote them backwards and to rewrite assignments that I

couldn’t read. This helped the student understand that if he worked hard the first

time, he would not have to do it all over again. Another strategy that worked well

for student X was having him press down on his pencil harder to the paper.

Before, he wrote very lightly and without holding his paper with the opposite

hand. But now, he holds the paper down on the desk with his left hand and he

presses down his pencil harder to the paper. This seemed to work well, especially

with cursive handwriting. Another thing I did with student X was help him with

his fine motor skills. We worked a lot on tracing letters and we even did some

coloring practice.

E. Explain how you communicated with and involved the student’s parents.

Student X’s parents were aware of the handwriting problem based on his grade in

handwriting on his 3rd nine week report card. Parents were given a username and

password so that they can access Student X’s grades on the internet at anytime.

III. Examples of Student X Work

Example 1: (Spring Break Recap Assignment)

Example 2: (Graphic Organizer)

Sample 3: (Spelling Word Sentences: Attempt 1)

Example 4: (Spelling Word Sentences: Attempt 2)

Example 5: (Improved Cursive Handwriting)

IV. Graph Data: (cursive letter grades)

V. Ending Results:

Student X ended up showing improvement over this six week process. He went from averaging

an “I” in handwriting to averaging an “S-. “ Even though his average was an “S-“he even began

to make “S’s” on many of his cursive assignment. One thing I saw was that he took more time to

finish handwriting assignments. He also didn’t get near as frustrated with himself when asked to

correct handwriting mistakes.

Student Y

IV. Introduction

Age: 7

Grade Level: 2nd

Subject or Discipline Area: Spelling

Number of Students in His/Her Class: 23

Names of concepts, understandings, or skills illustrated:

Language

Strand: Writing and Speaking for Expression

Standard: Apply grammatical and language conventions to communicate.

ll-B.2.2: Spell correctly, using previously studied words, spelling patterns and

analysis of sounds.

How the student’s level of work compares to others in his/her class:

Student Y is an ESL learner. She came from Mexico, and this is her second year in an

American school. She struggles in areas of reading and spelling. However, she shows

excels in areas of handwriting and math. Her scores have placed her in the lower

reading block group, and her Star testing has her reading on a 1.7 grade level. That

has improved from the beginning of the school year. She is a very hard worker and

she causes no disciplinary problems in class.

V. Explanation of Student X’s Learning

F. Explain why you selected this student to represent how you work with

diversity in your class.

Student Y is a very hard worker; she overcomes her language barrier with

dedication and a great attitude. She is very friendly and has many friends in class.

She does very well in both math and handwriting. However, she struggles in

spelling. She gets a modified weekly spelling test score of a 70. She averages a 40

on her spelling tests when they are not modified. My goal is to get Student Y to a

score of 70 or above before the end of this process. She does her spelling

homework and studies the spelling words on her own at home, however her

grades still seem to be well below passing. She writes out her spelling words like

she hears them, and does not always recognize specific vowel sounds.

G. Explain how these pieces of student work were produced.

Every week, we have a new list of spelling words. There are usually between 10

and 15 words. Each new spelling list focuses on a specific vowel sound. That

sound is identified each week when the words are introduced. We do a spelling

assignment each day that allows the students to practice their spelling words. The

students also have homework each week to complete using their spelling words.

The first sample I have for this student is creating sentences using her spelling

words. This is where the problem can first be seen. The words she has spelled

incorrectly are corrected on her paper so that she can see what she needs to fix.

Sample 2 is a spelling test that began to show improvement. Unmodified, Student

Y would have received the score of 62. And the final sample is her most recent

spelling test.

H. Explain how these pieces of student work show you about his/her learning

during the time frame you have chosen.

Sample 1 is where I see how the student spells words as she hears them. For

example, the word “so,” she spelled “sow.” And the word “when” is spelled

“wen.” I corrected this paper and returned to the student so that she could see

what words she misspelled and might need to work on. Sample number 2 is the

spelling list from late March. This week was a little different because we created

our own spelling list with words that could be associated with Easter. This test

shows improvement, and it shows Student Y only missing 4 regular words, and 3

challenge words. This would have gotten her a score of 62. I corrected the

misspelled words and gave them back to the student so that she understood what

she has missed.

I. Explain how you helped the student understand his/her own learning.

I believe that practice and repetition are the most important things when it comes

to spelling. So, centers each week, I worked with Student Y on her spelling.

Another thing I did was give spelling pre-tests to the class. I would correct any

misspelled words and return the paper. I would meet with Student Y to review

missed spelling words, and to have her practice write those words at least 5 times

each.

J. Explain how you communicated with and involved the student’s parents.

Student Y’s parents were aware of the spelling grade problem based on her grades

in spelling on her report cards. Parents were given a username and password so

that they can access Student X’s grades on the internet at anytime.

VI. Examples of Student Y Work

Example 1: Spelling Sentences

Example 2: Spelling Test (Improvement)

Sample 3: Most Recent Spelling Test.

V. Ending Results:

Student Y ended up showing improvement over this 6 week process. Her spelling grade

continues to rise week by week. She works very hard, and I have no doubt that Student Y will

continue to improve in the area of spelling and will be successful in 3rd grade next year.