Learning Differences

The teacher uses understanding of individual differences and diverse cultures and communities to ensure inclusive
learning environments that enable each learner to meet high standards.

Schools and teachers understand that one learning style and intelligence do not fit all students.
They do not value one learning style and intelligence more than the others rather; they use
combination of various learning styles and intelligences to attend to the students learning
needs. Effective teachers try to understand how individual children take in and process
information. They realize that not all children learn the same way. Learning styles describe the
ways in which individual children acquire information, evaluate it, and then examine their
findings. Learning styles in general are applicable to all content areas and settings. It is
important for teachers to present materials in ways that will interest children and help them to
absorb the information. Understanding a childs learning style helps to accomplish this. So, I
need to use different learning styles and intelligences to meet the learning needs of my
students. It gives students more options in the future when they utilize other ways to process
information. By combining variety of learning styles and multiple intelligences, I will understand
the different ways in which individual process information as well as look at how this occurs in
different content areas and settings. It help me to broaden my array of teaching strategies so
that students are learning at least part of the time in ways they find comfortable, and at other
times in ways that stretch them into new ways of thinking and learning.

Evidence
During my course (EN 440 Literacy III), I tutored two students; Ava Dawe and Miya Slagle at
West Oak-view Elementary. I noticed that my tutees were struggling readers with different
strengths and weaknesses. I used different teaching strategies in attending to their learning
needs during the tutoring sessions. I used what I discovered to write each student summary,
identifying their strengths, weaknesses and the progress they made.

Elementary Reading Clinic

Spring 2015
Student Summary
Name: Ava Dawe
Age: 7
Grade: Second Grade
School: West Oak-view Public School

Tutor: Sr. Kate Okolocha

Attendance: 11/12 sessions plus Introductory Meeting and Conference
TUTORING RESULTS
Interest and Reading Attitudes
On our first meeting, I gave Ava both a Reading Interests and Reading Attitude Survey. I learned
that Ava had a great interest in reading books. She loved reading different kinds of books in
school, during summer vacation, and felt excited when a teacher asked her questions about
what she read. She would like to get a book for a present. She did not like taking reading tests
and would not like to substitute her play time with reading. She mostly felt happy in school and
enjoyed recess period because she played with her friends. She got excited about her birthday
and felt motivated when her teacher affirmed her effort. She loved working with a partner in
class and learned best by doing. Learning will be more interesting for Ava when her teacher
reads every morning for her. In the classroom, she preferred to sit in the front seat and laugh
when others laughed. She has a dog, a cat, and a fish. Ava liked reading books about little
critters, and would like to learn more about caterpillars this year. She is worried about moving
to another place and changing schools.

Literacy Assessments
The data I received showed that Ava was reading at a DRA level 12 (as of 9-30-15). As a second
grader, your child should be reading at a level 16 in September. The most recent data I received
(as of 11-12-15) showed that she passed the level 16 reading assessment, and will be reading at
a level 18. The assessment showed her strengths were identifying and connecting some
important events without prompting (previewing), retelling without question or prompts,
including the sequence of events, and making a literal connection that reflects a basic
understanding of a story. Some areas to improve include phonics, fluency and comprehension.
In phonics, your child is working on second grade skills which are (r controlled, and vowel
teams). They are words like mart, Bert, shark, perk, etc.
The quick phonic screener assessment data given to me at the start of the tutoring showed the
following scores: 80% in Consonant Diagraphs, 80% in silent E words, No score in R controlled
vowels, and 90% in sight words. She was reading at level 12 when we started. She now passed
level 12, 14 and 16. I reassessed Ava on a quick phonics screener and sight words towards the
end of the tutoring program. The data showed that she scored 100% in Consonant diagraph
words like (phat, whack, whip, Beth, etc.); 95%in Silent E words like (mite, gate, mile, etc.).
100% in R Controlled words like (mart, Bert, shark, perk, etc.). She also got 100% in the sight
words assessment like (much, any, even, etc.). I also reassessed Ava on independent reading
level 16. The data showed that she scored 96% in the reading assessment.

Word Work (Phonemic Skills, Phonics, Vocabulary)

The quick phonic screener assessment data showed that Ava is working on R Controlled and
Vowel teams. These are words like harm, fork, surf, mirth curl, etc. The sight words data
showed she is working on words such as much, go, even, well, and take. To work on this, we
worked on how readers use different strategies to figure out tricky words when they get stuck
such as; move your eyes from text to picture, study the picture very closely, think about what is
going on in the story, say the beginning letter sound, word sound, say the end letter sound or
the end sound of the word, reread the sentence thinking about what will make sense, etc. We
used a sight word bingo game and Walk the Plank games that were designed to teach readers
to recognize and read basic r controlled vowel words and sight words quickly and accurately.
We played a sight word Snake and Ladder game that teach predictable and unpredictable
vowels and vocabulary. We also played a game called I can speed read words with er, ir, and
ur. We practiced reading sight words in the assessment sheet.

Fluency
The DRA assessment showed a need for work on fluency, especially in the areas of reading rate,
phrasing, and expression. For example: Phrasing is the ability to group words together so that
reading sounds natural like talking. Reading rate is the number of words a child can read in a
minute. Expression is the ability to use a storytellers voice while reading to make the story
sound interesting. To work on this, I spent a significant portion of the tutoring time engaging
kids in reading a variety of appropriate level texts that allowed them to practice the reading
strategies we learned. The kids read the text first, and I listened in when they read the text the
second time. We learned the strategies readers use to read in a smooth voice that sounds like a
regular talking voice such as; think about the meaning of the sentence or story in your mind, go
back and reread the sentence from the beginning thinking about what will make sense, read
the words together, etc. We worked on how readers use punctuation as a clue to help them
read the words smoothly such as; a period tells us to take a quick break and then keep going,
readers voice change when they see a question mark, readers voice sound excited when they
see an exclamation point, etc. I observed from our reading practice that frequent familiar
reading practice helped in building Avas fluency, improved her reading rate and expression.

Comprehension
The DRA assessment showed a need for work on comprehension, in particular, retelling stories
using important vocabulary from the text to show good understanding of key words and
authors message. It also showed a need to include important events from the beginning,
middle, and end when retelling a story. To work on this, we practiced saying the title out loud
when readers are about to read a book for the first time. We practiced how readers get their
minds ready to read by looking closely at the cover illustration, and thinking about what the

book might be about, and what they expected to see inside the book. We worked on the
strategies readers use to retell a book when they are done with reading it such as; use
characters name when retelling a story, identify where the action is taking place in the story,
follow the event of the story from the beginning, by using words like; first, next, then, final, etc.
We worked on the strategies readers use when they get stuck while retelling a book such as;
check the book to help you remember part of the story you could not remember very clearly,
use text evidence to clarify and confirm the retelling, listening partner pay close attention when
your partner is retelling a story, so as to ask questions when confused with the retelling such as
can you show me that part in the book? We also worked on how readers could react and talk
back to the text they are reading such as; I can now understand why Charlie does not wear a
cloak in winter, I feel sorry for him because. They pay attention to their reading and hold on
to their thoughts and jot them on a sticky note. This helps them understand the story better.
After reading a text twice, I asked them to retell the story using vocabulary from the text to
show understanding of the authors message.

Writing
After modeling and demonstrating to the kids how to read and retell a story, I engaged them in
practicing retelling the same story to a partner while I listened in. I assigned a book to each
child to read, applying the strategies we learned. I gave them writing materials and asked them
when they were done with reading the book, to write a sentence explaining what happened at
the beginning of the story, and a sentence explaining what happened at the end of the story. I
later increased the sentences to three; each sentence explained what happened at the
beginning, middle and the end of a story. I looked at their work and we talked about it and how
to improve their writing. Ava is still struggling with writing the summary of her retelling.

CONCLUSION
Ava has greatly improved in her reading. She loves reading story books and participates actively
in tutoring activities. She reads stories with good expression and a smooth talking voice. She
identifies and connects key events in her reading without prompting (Previewing). She includes
some important events when retelling, and uses vocabulary from the text to demonstrate basic
understanding of some key words/concepts. She retells with no questions or prompts from the
teacher, and also gives relevant reason for response that reflects higher level thinking
(synthesis/inference).
Reading more story books and retelling the stories to someone using the strategies we learned
will help her become a more successful reader. She needs to practice more on how to put the
summary of her retelling in writing. As parents, you can engage her in reading lots of level 16
story books and playing interesting word games that will enable her practice reading more sight
words and still have fun playing those games.
I sincerely appreciate your commitment to the tutoring program and the effort you made at the
end of each tutoring session to come and pick your daughter from the school. I am also very

appreciative of Avas active participation with a joyful spirit throughout the tutoring session. I
enjoyed tutoring Ava because she is always willing to explore, practice, and learn new reading
strategies with a wonderful open mind.

Elementary Reading Clinic

Spring 2015
Student Summary
Name: Miya Slagle
Age: 8
Grade: Second Grade
School: West Oak-view Public School
Tutor: Sr. Kate Okolocha
Attendance: 11/12 sessions plus Introductory Meeting and Conference
TUTORING RESULTS
Interest and Reading Attitudes
On our first meeting, I gave Miya both a Reading Interests and Reading Attitude Survey. I
learned that Miya had a great interest in reading books. Miya loved reading for fun at home and
getting a book for a present. She feels excited starting a new book, going to a bookstore,
reading different kinds of books when it is time for reading in class, and when reading school
books. She did not like reading a book in school during free time, reading instead of playing,
and using a dictionary while reading a book. Miya did not like it when her teacher asks her
questions about what she read and also disliked taking a reading test. She felt happy most of
the time in school, and loved recess period because she did not have to worry about class work.
She loved spending time with her family after school. She got excited about her birthday. She
preferred working by herself in class, and learned best by doing. She liked reading books about
Michigan Chillers. In the classroom, she preferred to sit in the front seat, and felt that she
needed reading help in school. She felt that she might move to a different school, and she is
worried about it.
Literacy Assessments
The data I received showed that Miya is currently reading at a DRA level 12 (as of 9-30-15). As a
second grader, in September, your child should be reading at a level 16. The assessment
showed her strengths were retelling a book without questions or teachers support, using some
vocabulary from the text when retelling a book, and reading with some expression. Some areas

to improve include oral reading fluency such as reading rate and phrasing. The data showed
that her reading rate was 30 words per minute. She used short phrases and inappropriate
pauses.
The quick phonic screener assessment data given to me at the start of the tutoring showed the
following scores: 70% in Consonant Diagraphs, 50% in silent E words, 70% in R controlled
vowels, and 88% in sight words. She was reading at DRA level 12 when we started. The quick
phonic screener data showed that Miya is working on consonant diagraph words. These are
words like whack, thumb, thanked, phat, Phil, etc. She is also working on silent E words. These
are words like mite, rule, gate, pipe, mile, etc. The sight words data showed that she is working
on words such as were, know, my, who, by, etc.
I reassessed Miya on quick phonic screener and sight words towards the end of the tutoring
program. The data showed that she scored 85% in Consonant diagraph words like (phat, whack,
thanked, wham etc.) 90% in Silent E words like (mule, gate, mile, etc.); 85% in R Controlled
words like (mart, Bert, flirt, perk, etc.). She got 98% in the sight words assessment like (were,
any, even, etc.). I also reassessed her on independent reading level 14. The data showed that
she scored 98% in the reading assessment.

Word Work (Phonemic Skills, Phonics, Vocabulary)

The quick phonic screener data showed that Miya is working on consonant diagraphs, r
controlled words (star, bird, fur) and sight words. To work on this, we worked on how readers
use different strategies to figure out tricky words when they get stuck such as; move your eyes
from text to picture, study the picture very closely, think about what is going on in the story,
say the beginning letter sound, word sound, say the end letter sound or the end sound of the
word, reread the sentence thinking about what will make sense, etc. We used a sight word
bingo game and Walk the Plank games that were designed to teach readers to recognize and
read basic r controlled vowel words and sight words quickly and accurately. We played sight
words Snake and Ladder game that teach predictable and unpredictable vowels and vocabulary.
We also played a game called I can speed read words with er, ir, and ur. We practiced reading
sight words in the assessment sheet.
Fluency
The DRA assessment showed a need for work on fluency, especially in the areas of phrasing,
rate and expression. Phrasing is the ability to group words together so that reading sounds
natural like talking. Reading rate is the number of words a child can read in a minute.
Expression is the ability to use a storytellers voice while reading to make the story sound
interesting. To work on this, I spent a significant portion of the tutoring time engaging kids in
reading variety of appropriate level texts that allowed them to practice the reading strategies
we learned. The kids read the text first, and I listened in when they read the text the second
time. We learned the strategies readers use to read in a smooth voice that sounds like a regular
talking voice such as; think about the meaning of the sentence or story in your mind, go back

and reread the sentence from the beginning thinking about what will make sense, read the
words together, etc. We worked on how readers use punctuation as a clue to help them read
the words smoothly such as; a period tells us to take a quick break and then keep going,
readers voice change when they see a question mark, readers voice sound excited when they
see an exclamation point, etc. I observed from our reading practice that frequent familiar
reading practice helped in building Miyas fluency, improved her reading rate and expression.

Comprehension
The DRA assessment showed a need for work on comprehension, in particular, in reflection
such as in giving a response and reason that reflects higher level thinking, and in making
connections such as in making a thoughtful connection that reflects a deeper understanding of
the story. Your child need to work on retelling stories using important vocabulary from the text
to show good understanding of key words and authors message. It also showed a need to
include important events from the beginning, middle, and end when retelling a story.
To work on this, we practiced saying the title out loud when readers are about to read a book
for the first time. We practiced how readers get their minds ready to read by looking closely at
the cover illustration, and thinking about what the book might be about, and what they
expected to see inside the book. We worked on the strategies readers use to retell a book when
they are done with reading it such as; use characters name when retelling a story, identify
where the action is taking place in the story, follow the event of the story from the beginning,
by using words like; first, next, then, final, etc. We worked on the strategies readers use when
they get stuck while retelling a book such as; check the book to help you remember part of the
story you could not remember very clearly, use text evidence to clarify and confirm the
retelling, listening partner pay close attention when your partner is retelling a story, so as to ask
questions when confused with the retelling such as can you show me that part in the book?
We also worked on how readers could react and talk back to the text they are reading such as;
I can now understand why Charlie does not wear a cloak in winter, I feel sorry for him
because. They pay attention to their reading and hold on to their thoughts and jot them on a
sticky note. This helps them understand the story better. After reading a text twice, I asked
them to retell the story using vocabulary from the text to show understanding of the authors
message.
Writing
After modeling and demonstrating to the kids how to read and retell a story, I engaged them in
practicing retelling the same story to a partner while I listened in. I assigned a book to each
child to read, applying the strategies we learned. I gave them writing materials and asked them
when they were done with reading the book, to write a sentence explaining what happened at
the beginning of the story, and a sentence explaining what happened at the end of the story. I
later increased the sentences to three; each sentence explained what happened at the
beginning, middle and the end of a story. I looked at their work and we talked about it and how
to improve their writing. Miya is still struggling with writing the summary of her retelling.

CONCLUSION
Miya has improved in her reading. She can retell most stories without questions or prompts
from the teacher. She includes some important details, and refers to most characters by name
when retelling. She reads with some expression and a smooth talking voice. She identifies and
connects some key events without prompting from the beginning, middle, and end. She uses
vocabulary from the text, and gives a relevant reason for response (personal connection). She
also makes a literal connection that reflects a basic understanding of a story. She loves reading
story books and participates actively in tutoring activities.
Reading more story books and retelling the stories to someone using the strategies we learned
will help her become a more successful reader. She needs to practice more on how to put the
summary of her retelling in writing. As parents, you can engage her in reading lots of level 14
story books and playing interesting word games that will enable her practice reading more sight
words and still have fun playing those games.
I sincerely appreciate your commitment to the tutoring program and the effort you made at the
end of each tutoring session to come and pick your daughter from the school. I am also very
appreciative of Miyas active participation with a joyful spirit throughout the tutoring session. I
enjoyed tutoring Miya because she is always willing to explore, practice, and learn new reading
strategies with a wonderful open mind.

#2 Evidence
During my student teaching experience at St. Thomas Catholic School, I created a math lesson
plan, and used combination of various strategies and intelligences to attend to the students
learning needs. I understand that not all children learn the same way and that individual
children take in and process information differently. By combining variety of learning styles and
multiple intelligences, teachers will understand the different ways in which individual process
information as well as look at how this occurs in different content areas and settings. It help me
to broaden my array of teaching strategies so that students are learning at least part of the
time in ways they find comfortable, and at other times in ways that stretch them into new ways
of thinking and learning. I used group and individual engaging activities, class discussion, and
real life issues to captivate and pull students interest to the lesson and helped them to absorb
the information. Understanding my students learning style helped me to accomplish this.

AQUINAS COLLEGE
SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
LESSON PLAN FORMAT
4th Grade Lesson

Sr. Kate Okolocha

Subject/Content Area: Math (Long division with and without remainders)
Time Duration: 45 Minutes
2/11/16
Common Core:
CCSS.Math.Content.4.OA.A.2
Divide to solve word problems involving three digit quotients with and without remainders, and
have students explain it in their own words.
Unit Outcome:

TWL will be able to illustrate and explain how they deal with leftovers in a long division
problem situation.
TWL will be able to solve word problems involving three digit quotients with and
without remainders.

Rational/Purpose of lesson:
For students to be exposed to how the remainder is explained depending on the problem
situation. They will be able to analyze and solve word problems focusing on division of digit
numbers with and without remainders.
Assessment:
I will engage students in groups and ask them to find three digit quotients with and without
remainders in division problem situations. I will walk around looking at their works and we will
discuss their work together. I will also be assigning homework in which I will score and pull kids
that need extra help.

Resources/Materials Required:
Math Book (pgs. 207 208)
Division Worksheets
Practice sheets/boards
Makers/Pencils

Flash cards
Smart board

Introduction/Grabber:
Review students prior knowledge by asking them some real life situation questions involving
division of two digit numbers without remainder. Introduce how to solve word problems
involving division of three digit numbers without and then with remainders. E.g.:
Display this problem for all students to see: 36 4 =
Your Mum gives you 36 candies to share among 4 of your friends. How many candies will each
person get? Here is a division problem. How do you read this? Which method will help you
solve it? Can you think of a problem situation that you could write as 36 4 =
Chart several student responses as they as given

Procedures:

Ask students to look at the problem: 248 2 = (without remainder) 359 3 = (with a
remainder)
Ask students how they will solve these problems
List students responses on the board
Use students situations to illustrate the problem
Discuss with the students how they would find the solutions and what will happen with
the extra
We can express this extra as a fraction, a decimal, a remainder, or a leftover amount,
but we will focus on a remainder in this lesson
Give students the following problems on a smart board to solve in small groups:

1. There are 148 people who are taking a trip in some small vans. Each van holds 2 people.
How many vans will they need?
2. Three people are going to share 397 crackers. How many crackers will each person get?
3. Two people are going to share 885 balloons. How many balloons will each person get?
4. 144 students are going to see a movie together. Each roll holds 3 people. How many
rolls will they fill up?
5. Share 535 apples among 3 students. How many apples will each person get?
Gather the students together to discuss their solutions to the division problems
Invite some students to share their solution strategies and how they expressed the
remainder.
Homework:

Ask students to solve the problems on page 2 and 3 of their division worksheet to help them
practice the division problems more
Closure:
Review; ask students what they learned today? How is the remainder expressed differently in
each of these problem situations?