Introduction
Jimmy has been identified with a learning challenge in reading and sentence construction. Jimmy is more interested in reading descriptions of pictures, especially those containing cars, children, and animals. He likes to associate the words he reads with the images representing the discussed concepts. Jimmy can easily read one and two terms in succession but has difficulty reading a complete sentence fluently. He dislikes reading long paragraphs, especially when no pictures are involved.
His sentence construction skills are two grades below his current grade. Jimmy is a modeling enthusiast as he takes every opportunity to model objects from the images he sees in books and in his favorite cartoons. He likes art and music and is an active participant in the art club at school. He concentrates in class during arts and music lessons and appears disinterested during literature lessons.
Progress Monitoring
Jimmy will be assessed on reading and sentence construction skills and modeling. The reading and sentence construction skills will be evaluated throughout the learning activities through close observance and guided reading. Every day, the instructor will observe how many words Jimmy can read in succession within a sentence. Jimmy will then be asked to write down what he read without looking at the text. Since Jimmy has shown great interest in modeling, he will be assessed on his ability to construct assigned objects in full while correctly placing each part. According to Aljohani et al. (2019), student progress monitoring (SPM) is crucial for the development of personalized plans to meet varying student needs.
In Jimmy’s case, a graph will be designed with marks for the different milestones he is expected to reach. Each day a mark will be placed on the corresponding level reached in the two skills under evaluation.
During the two lessons each day, the instructor will be checking how Jimmy is progressing and offer support whenever it is needed. Being two grades behind in his reading and writing skills, Jimmy is usually left behind when reading passages, which has significantly contributed to his disinterest in reading. Since the goal is to motivate him to read more and improve his skills, the instructor will be standing next to Jimmy during reading lessons to note where he has much difficulty. If Jimmy correctly reads a two-word clause and is able to write it well, a mark will be placed on the assessment chart corresponding to the day of the week and the number of words. Every day, the best performance will be recorded by taking the average of words read and those written. The assessment on modeling will be based on how many parts Jimmy is able to join together in a day, recording the highest number for each day.
One-Week Data Collection
Instruction Adjustment
The primary goal of a student progress assessment is to facilitate the development of programs for improvement. In Jimmy’s case, he is improving on his modeling skills while showing no changes in his reading and writing skills. To help Jimmy with his reading, the instructions need to be adjusted to accommodate his slow speed while ensuring not to neglect the rest of the class. For this purpose, the students would be instructed to read each passage twice. At first, students will read the comprehension passage continuously and relatively fast. However, the second reading would require slow reading, noting down any key points presented in the passage. Although Jimmy may be left behind in the first reading, he would comprehend the work in the second reading. Repeating the passage would facilitate memory and improve mind-hand coordination when writing down the points.
It has been noted that Jimmy can better read and write when dealing with pictures. The instructions would then be adjusted to accommodate this factor. For instance, the instructor may provide several images for training. They would look at the pictures and describe them in a few words. This step would promote critical thinking among the students and aid in the development of writing skills. Students would again be asked to read their answers aloud. This would serve as a motivating factor for improved reading and public address courage. In essence, this step would lead to increased self-awareness and initiative for change.
Lastly, a reward scheme may be incorporated into the writing assessment. In this regard, a badge to the most-improved student of the year. To be considered the most improved, learners must make two steps’ improvement from the previous performance. Although a one-step improvement could still positively influence the performance, the mark is set at two steps so that Jimmy and his classmates would desire to be above average.
The modeling instruction is relatively straightforward because the students are only tasked with using wax to form objects that resemble those found in real life. The data indicated above shows that Jimmy has significantly improved his modeling skills and is motivated to get better. Different pictures would be provided to the students for practice. For each image, which could be living or non-living physical elements, the students would be expected to model it in its entirety.
For Jimmy’s sake, the instructions can be adjusted to allow students to choose the object they would like to model (Aljohani et al., 2019). One of the crucial elements in this area is the ability to remodel any image that fails to meet the standards in the original image. Students will be allowed to decide on the image they want to model and remodel as many times as possible. According to Aljohani et al. (2019), freedom of choice is akin to better performance. Essentially this plan will help to provoke critical thinking and problem-solving skills. These attributes are crucial for progress monitoring because whenever a student is inclined to solve a problem, they can try many different paths and make an excellent model.
Feedback
In every situation, feedback is an essential part of effective communication. In the case of Jimmy’s skills assessment, it would be crucial for the instructor to give constructive feedback that can help Jimmy feel motivated and clanged to work harder. Feedback should be provided on every performance evaluation, whether it shows positive or negative deviation. In the case of positive deviation, the words “well done,” “that was amazing,” and “I knew you could do this” are vital feedback messages. These messages should be accompanied by a statement such as “but you need to ensure you have written what you read from the comprehension passage. In case of negative deviation, the word “blow expectation” would be used as opposed to the word “fail.” Jimmy should be encouraged that each day is an improvement day.
Reference
Aljohani, N., Daud, A., Abbasi, R., Alowibdi, J., Basheri, M., & Aslam, M. (2019). An integrated framework for course adapted student learning analytics dashboard. Computers In Human Behavior, 92, 679-690. Web.