Entry #7 - Running Record/miscue Analysis

    At Roosevelt we have an unlimited amount of Spanish ELL students to choose from but we currently only have three ELL from a different language background.  I selected a boy from Jordan.  He arrived in  the United States last year as a Level 2 ELL but the ELL teacher states that he is currently a  Level 4. My running record confirmed that he is a very fluent reader as far as pronunciation of the words were concerned.  For a second grader is accuracy rate was 102 words per minute with only 2 errors both visual.  One visual error was the lack of enunciating the final letter (s) in the word which is a common error with any ELL learner and the other was mispronouncing an unfamiliar word.  The biggest issue he had was in his retell.  He basically retold the main idea and then stopped.  He did not retell any of the details and did not get the subtle nuances of the text.
    To get the closet comparison, I chose a level 4 Hispanic ELL student to administer the 2nd running record to.  She is a third grader who has been at Roosevelt since 1st grade but has missed a tremendous amount of school due to a previous heart condition.  As with the 2nd grader she began the year very low but has made great gains this year.  She did not read as many words per minute, she read 95 words per minute and also had 2 errors.  One was the same word as the 2nd grader, mispronouncing an unfamiliar word and the next was adding a word to the sentence that was not there.  She did self-correct she read man old then corrected it to old man. All her errors were in the first paragraph.  I believe this was due to her rushing.  Once she slowed down, she didn't make any more errors. Though her words per minutes were lower than the 2nd grader, her retell was more through. 
    It was obvious that the biggest difference between the two students was vocabulary knowledge.  The 2nd grader read better but he did not have the background knowledge needed to help him comprehend the text.  The 3rd grader needs to slow down when reading until she becomes a more fluent reader.  Both students definitely need more instruction in reading with prosody. They can both benefit from specific vocabulary training.  They both need  be introduced to vocabulary with pictures and charades.  The 2nd grader needs opportunities to use his newly acquired vocabulary on a daily basis adding oral language to his visual language.  I would place him in a group with very fluent speakers and readers.  I would encourage discussion within the group probably using the book club format.  During small group discussion I would bring in as many actual examples as I could i.e. pomegranates, egg rolls, egg beater or any other item that may be hard to describe or picture.  Both students could improve their words per minutes by reading out load every day at school and for at least 20 minutes at home.