Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Tutee Inventory
ENG 308
Questions:
This is the order in which I asked the interview questions. I mixed the Burke
questions and my own so that the reading focused questions were not too
concentrated and the students did not feel overwhelmed.
1.
2.
Will you tell me about some of your friends? What are they like?
3.
What book are you reading now? What is it about? Do you like it?
4.
5.
6.
do?
When you are reading and come to something you dont know, what do you
7.
8.
9.
Can you tell me about something you would like to learn more about?
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
When or if they do come to something they dont know, what do you think
they do?
15.
16.
Do you have a favorite TV show or movie? Can you tell me about it?
17.
If you know someone was having trouble reading, how would you help that
person?
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
Anna Kingsbury
Tutee Inventory
ENG 308
25.
Anna Kingsbury
Tutee Inventory
ENG 308
Questions with Answers:
Both students answers are listed under each question. Both girls are in 5 th grade.
1. What is your favorite thing to do in your spare time? Why?
Kierstyn: I like to draw because I like making things.
Aternity: I like drawing, singing, doing my beats, reading, and I like writing.
2. Will you tell me about some of your friends? What are they like?
Kierstyn: My friend Alyssa and I like to eat takis, theyre like a taco but different.
And we like to go play in the woods with Gracie.
Aternity: My friend Cassondra is sometimes mean, sometimes nice. She helps me if
Im hurt, but we sometimes argue. Angel is really nice, and shes not mean at all.
Alyssa is nice, mean, funny. Shes my cousin.
3. What book are you reading now? What is it about? Do you like it?
Kierstyn: I dont remember what its called but there is this guy and he is imagining
a cat from when he was younger. His name it Jackson the guy, not the cat.
Aternity: Junie B Jones, Monkey Business. She has a little brother, and she says hes
a real monkey. I like it, I also like Junie B Jones, Monster Under the Bed.
Anna Kingsbury
Tutee Inventory
ENG 308
6. When you are reading and come to something you dont know, what
do you do?
Kierstyn: I get mad. (here she laughed, not sure if she was kidding or not). I cover
half the word and I sound it out. Ill put my fingers over the word and read pieces of
it. (code 2: examine word parts)
Aternity: My mom says to take out the vowels and see if that helps. I look it up in a
dictionary, ask the teacher, or sound it out. (code 3: consult outside sources, 2:
examine word parts)
9. Can you tell me about something you would like to learn more
about?
Kierstyn: Math. Im not good at math. I love science way better.
Aternity: Writing and art. Like projects and art for older grades. I want to add more
details to my writing.
10.
Kierstyn: Math. And I think social studies is boring. I just dont think all those people
and dates are interesting.
Aternity: Social studies. Its hard to keep up, its much easier to catch up in science.
Social studies is too fast and Im a slow writer. But Im working on typing faster.
11.
Anna Kingsbury
Tutee Inventory
ENG 308
Kierstyn: Probably Emme.
Aternity: My aunt.
12.
13.
14.
When or if they do come to something they dont know, what
do you think they do?
Kierstyn: Probably sound things out. (code 2: examine word parts)
Aternity: Ask my mom or grandma, or read through it a few times or look it up if its
in a movie. (code 3: consult outside resources, 1: use context to determine word)
15.
Kierstyn: I like Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Dork Diaries. Thats where theres this girl
who writes about her life. I also like Goosebumps and Coralline- the one that was a
movie. I like to read when Im bored or when my friends cant come over.
Aternity: Well I like Harry Potter because there is a lot more details in the books than
in the movies. Junie B Jones is my favorite. I also like animal books, like ones about
cats, frogs, and dogs.
16.
Do you have a favorite TV show or movie? Can you tell me
about it?
Kierstyn: Have you seen Home? I love that movie, my mom got it for Christmas. I
also like How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and I love SpongeBob. Its hilarious.
Aternity: SpongeBob because I think its funny. Harry Potter, and that one show
thats called Family House or something like that. And I like Disney Channel, iCarly is
my favorite.
Anna Kingsbury
Tutee Inventory
ENG 308
17.
If you know someone was having trouble reading, how would
you help that person?
Kierstyn: I cant help because Im bad at reading. If I didnt know I wouldnt know
what to do. Probably sound it out? (code 11: unclassifiable, 2: examine word parts)
Aternity: I would help read it over or sound it out. And try to understand whats
around it, like whats going on. (code 2: examine word parts, 1: use context to
determine word)
18.
Kierstyn: Help sound out the word because Mrs. Bush knows like every word so she
would probably know it. (code 2: examine word parts)
Aternity: Probably just tell them what it says and give an example of it or explain it.
(code 5: word meaning)
19.
Kierstyn: Science, I love science. I also liked sliding down the stairs at my old school
but this school doesnt have stairs. Its only one level.
Aternity: Writing, reading, specials, everything but social studies because Im
behind.
20.
Kierstyn: My dad would read to me a lot when I was 3, my mom did too. My mom
still reads to me and my brothers even now. (code 8: read text)
Aternity: My mom helps me, and tells me to sound words out or look at the pictures.
(code 2: examine word parts)
21.
Kierstyn: I read choppy when I read out loud, but fast in my head. So I should work
on that and not reading so choppy. (code 9: attend to reading speed)
Anna Kingsbury
Tutee Inventory
ENG 308
Aternity: Probably read faster, and knowing things about the story like the theme.
(code 9: attend to reading speed, 10: take interest in reading)
22.
Kierstyn: No, I read too choppy with lots of pauses. (code 12: reading behavior)
Aternity: Kind of in between. It depends on the book. Chapter books are slower and
animal books are faster. (code 15: general behavior)
23.
Kierstyn: Science because I passed all 3 tests because I like it so much. I failed the
tests in social studies.
Aternity: Reading and writing, I sometimes talk during reading, but its always on
topic.
24.
25.
Kierstyn: I like to play outside and climb trees and sometimes I just run around for
no reason outside.
Aternity: I play on my phone, watch TV, do my hair, play video games, and I like to
sleep too.
Additionally:
Id like to note that a lot of these questions led to some fun conversations with each
Kierstyn and Aternity that were not necessarily related to any of the above
questions. For instance, I learned that Kierstyn has a lot of brothers, the youngest is
just a baby and she does not get along with the brother that is closest to her in age.
She also switched schools in 3rd grade, and is afraid of her attic, her basement, and
Anna Kingsbury
Tutee Inventory
ENG 308
spiders. I learned from Aternity that her parents are divorced, and that her dad is
getting remarried, that she always gets her hair dyed for her birthday, and that she
loves doing projects. She also told me that she has moved a lot in the past, and that
her whole family (including herself) is trying to save up money to buy a big house to
live in. Im definitely excited to get to know these girls more!
Anna Kingsbury
Tutee Inventory
ENG 308
Reflection:
Kierstyn:
Based on the interview questions, and from reading a few books with Kierstyn, she
does not seem to see herself as a reader. She claims she isnt a very good reader,
and that she would not know what to do to help someone else who was struggling. I
think that a lot of this thought comes from the fact that she only seems to have one
strategy for figuring out a word she does not know: sounding it out. Kierstyn relies
solely on phonics to decipher a word that she does not know how to read, which I
believe limits her abilities to grow as a reader. Sounding out a word may help her
pronounce a lot of the words that she comes to, however, what if she comes to a
word that does not follow the rules of phonics? That is a word she will not be able to
read. Also, being able to take a word and translate it from text to pronunciation does
not necessarily mean that she can even read it. Kierstyn probably often comes to
words she does not know, is able to sound them out successfully, yet still does not
know what it means. In this way, she is not reading the word because she is not
understanding it. I feel as if this would contribute to her inability to see herself as a
good reader. I plan to show Kierstyn other ways to figure out what a word is other
than just looking at its parts. Perhaps if I can introduce her to more strategies to
figuring out words, she might come to see herself as a better reader since there will
be more tricks up her sleeves when she gets into a pinch. Kierstyn also talked a lot
while reading but it was never entirely off topic. After reading a page or two she
would often stop and talk about something in her own life that related to what was
going on in the story. I see this as a potential way to keep her more engaged in the
readings. If we relate the story that we are studying to her own life, I believe this
will help her not only to stay focused, but to see herself as a better reader. I also
plan on incorporating subjects and books that she likes in order to boost her
confidence and get her more engaged in reading. Because she had a little problems
focusing completely, I looked up strageies for helping Kierstyn to manage her
attention. On readingrockets.org I found an article titled 15 Strategies for Managing
Attention and some of the ones that I thought could be helpful to Kierstyn are:
allow for movement and breaks, vary instructional strategies, and leverage interest.
Therefore, I also plan to implement these into our sessions. I also found a book titled
Book Love by Melissa Taylor, which give advice for helping a child learn to love
reading. I thought this might be a helpful book for me to read and could give me
some practical advice for helping Kierstyn to not only see herself as a reading, but
to help her learn to love reading as much as she loves science.
Aternity: (I did a write up of my reflection on Aternity as well, because I felt that it
helped me to get to know her better, and it helped me to think through my plan for
assisting her with reading.)
Aternity seems to think of herself as a reader, and from the questions and reading
with her it appears that she is. She has ready a multitude of strategies at her
disposal for when she gets stuck on a word. Aternity knows that she can sound a
word out using phonics, but she also seems to frequently use the context of the
Anna Kingsbury
Tutee Inventory
ENG 308
story to figure out the word and its meaning. She also mentioned that she could go
to a dictionary, her mother, or the teacher if she does not know a word. I believe the
fact that she knows so many different strategies helps Aternity to be more confident
in reading. One thing Im concerned about is her lack of attention, as when I was
observing her from afar and when we were reading together she did not seem
overly interested. However, it amazed me that after I finished reading aloud a
passage from her book to her and asked her if she could tell me what was going on
in the story, she summarized almost every detail of the plot even though she did
not seem to be paying much attention. This makes me think that although she may
fidget, look around, and get off topic she can still be attentive toward the story. I
plan on finding books about topics that she is very interested in, and doing writing
and drawing activities (since she mentioned that she loves to write and draw) in
order to keep her honed in on the materials that we are covering.