Content

I conducted this reading assessment in the Fall of 2007 under the advisement of Dr. Pacifici and my cooperating teacher, Mrs. Gilreath. I assessed a fourth grade student at Spindale Elementary School. This assessment gave me the student's instructional level and independent level in reading as well as a percentage in accuracy and comprehension.

Impact

As a future teacher, a reading assessment will benefit my students and myself a great deal. The student will be benefited by knowing his or her level when choosing books for pleasure reading. It will allow them to choose books that are on an appropriate level and will not frustrate them when choosing their books for reading pleasure. As for myself, an assessment will allow me to provide instructional strategies that will be beneficial for my students and their learning.  This assignment had provided me with another way to best meet the needs of the students in my class.

Alignment

Standard 1: Elementary teachers have a broad knowledge and understanding of the major concepts in English Language Arts and Literacy.

Indicator 1: Teachers know the developmental stages of language acquisition.

Indicator 8: Teachers know and understand written and oral composition processes. They understand:

• The written language as a symbolic system.
• The phonemic, morphemic, semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic systems of language and their relation to the reading and writing process.
• The importance of teaching grammar and usage in context.

This standard and the indicators were met by conducting and scoring a reading assessment to find out the instructional reading level and independent reading level as well as a percentage of accuracy and comprehension for a particular student.

Standard 8: Teachers design instructional programs and strategies that build on students’ experiences and existing language skills to help students become competent, effective users of language.

Indicator 1: Teachers teach children to read with a balanced instructional program that includes an emphasis on the use of letter/sound relationships (phonics), context (semantic and syntactic), and text that has meaning for students.

Indicator 2: Teachers help students use a variety of strategies to monitor their own reading comprehension.

This standard and the indicators were met by listening closely for correct pronunciation of the words in the passages read and checking their comprehension of the passages by asking certain questions about the passage they read. I also listened to see if the student would self-correct a missed word in the passage.