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Decoding Strategies
TO INCREASE READING FLUENCY
Data Collection
REPEATED READS
On the first day of each week, students completed a one-minute read with a new passage. This is referred to as a cold read. Students read this passage while I kept track of any errors made. Students then graphed how many words they read correctly. Students would repeat this procedure once a day for a total of four familiar reads throughout the week, and each time, they graphed how many words they read. On the graphs below, I chose two students from an advanced level group, an average group, and an approaching level group. Having an equal representation from each group allowed me to see if these strategies were effective for all levels of students. Students increased the number of words read correctly each week.
REPEATED READ COLD READS
words read per week on
cold reads
from week 1 -to- week 8
student
errors on cold reads
from week 1 -to- week 8
REPEATED READ ERRORS
ANECDOTAL NOTES
Over the course of this study, I collected anecdotal notes during guided reading groups. During the first week, students were only using two of the nine decoding strategies on a consistent basis. Students were unable to name the strategies they were using. By week eight, students could name all of the strategies and choose the best one for an unknown word. Students were able to name the strategy they wanted to use as a result of decoding instruction and prompting when they came to a word they did not know how to read. Students were using Chunky Monkey and Stretchy Snake the most at the end of the eight weeks.
Students showed a
72%
increase in the use of decoding strategies.
Students showed a
87%
increase in the naming of decoding strategies.
AIMSweb PLUS BENCHMARKING
Three times a year, students were given an AIMSweb Plus reading fluency passage which is a district common assessment. They were assessed on how many words they were able to read correctly in one minute. The end of the year goal for first grade is 70 words per minute. This is a district wide benchmark for all first graders.
On the pie charts below, green shows the number of students who read above 70 words per minute on the assessment. The teal color shows the number of students who read below 70 words per minute on the assessment.
In the Fall, 14 out of 17 students did not meet the end of the year goal of 70 words per minute.
In the Winter, 9 out of 17 students did not meet the end of the year goal of 70 words per minute.
At the end of my research, 4 out of 17 students did not meet the end of the year goal of 70 words per minute.
The students who did not meet the end of the year goal of 70 were students on IEPs with specific reading goals.
Prior to implementation of research-based strategies, students gained an average of 1.93 words per week.
After 8 weeks of research based strategies, student gained an average of 3.05 words per week.
Data Analysis
At the end of the eight weeks, 13 out of my 17 students met the Spring AIMSweb Plus benchmark score of 70 words per minute on the oral reading fluency passage. Prior to the implementation of the Capstone project, only 3 out of 17 students had met the benchmark score of 70 words per minute. As students graphed their repeated reading scores each week, we saw a significant increase from their cold read every Monday to their "hot" read every Friday. The repeated reads allowed students to build automaticity with sight words so that when they were assessed on their oral reading fluency, they were able to recall more words quickly. I also noted that over time, the students' initial cold read scores on Mondays improved from Week 1 to Week 8. During week 2, students words had spiked as they wanted to beat their last score. This resulted in more errors as they were not being as careful. The most significant increase in scores was from Student A. This student had the most improvement of the course of the study because he was competitive by nature and always wanted to beat his last score. He also worked hard to learn the phonics patterns each week. On the other hand, Student E only improved by 13. Although I was encouraged to see some growth, it is possible that the inability to stay focused contributed to less improvement for this student. Students with learning disabilities need additional repetition and practice and 8 weeks was not long enough to see a large amount of improvement. The weekly repeated reads also matched the phonics skill of the week. Students were able to see the skill multiple times in the passage to connect to their learning. I was able to see this carry over of skills into their whole-group reading as well. Scores on the weekly unit tests also showed improvement. This showed that the success of weekly repeated reading carried over into the other areas. Specifically, 13 out of 17 students scored a 70 or higher on the AIMSweb Plus Oral Reading Fluency Assessment. This can be attributed to students having acquired a larger sight word base as a result of the exposure of text during repeated readings. Students were able to recall words at a faster rate and therefore were able to read more fluently.
While administering the repeated reads I also collected data on the errors students made while reading. This data helped me to make instructional decisions on what phonics skills needed to be explicitly taught. I individualized the weekly instruction by teaching the skills students struggled with and used the Elkonin boxes as a tool for students to see the parts of the word.
In addition, I took anecdotal notes throughout the course of my study. These helped me observe any error patterns students were continuously making. I would them provide extra practice using the Elkonin boxes and explicit instruction. I noticed throughout my anecdotal notes students were more readily using a variety of decoding strategies to decode unknown words. This is a result of the direct teaching and prompts provided during small group reading instruction.
Questions
What amount of growth would there be if students used these strategies throughout the school year?
Would students make the same amount of growth without one of the three strategies being implemented?
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