Alyssandra Jaquith

April 24, 2016

Individual Student Study TemplatePart 5: Home and Cultural Influences

DUE BY END OF WEEK 6

Goals for Student Growth

1. Based on your learning in Week 6, identify one or two academic and/or behavioral goals for the
student related to home and cultural influences.

Based upon the learning this week, I will move on to a more academic specific goal for VE. I have been
focusing very closely on behavioral goals (specifically motivation, mindset, and taking responsibility) and
want to start pushing her in her reading. Therefore, my goals for VE are the following:
- VE will have a positive reading experience at home for 20 minutes/night

Plan of Action
1. Describe your plan for your home visit. Include steps for implementing this plan.

Based upon the recommendations of the PIRC for New York State, I will plan to schedule this visit for the
week of Spring Break. I will do this to be most flexible with the familys schedule. I will let VEs family know I
would like to visit two weeks before spring break by calling the family on the phone and I will ask what time is
most convenient for them for me to visit (any of the days during spring break). Once this date is scheduled, I
will follow up with the family during pick up at the end of the school day, reminding them about the visit and
confirming that this is when we will meet. Additionally, during these pre-visit conversations I will explain the
reasons for this home visit. I will explain that the reason for the home visit is to strengthen my relationship
with VE and her family, and show VE how I am invested in her success. I will explain that I want her to
understand how important she is to me, and that part of her success is her work that she continues at home.

Once I get to VEs house, I will be casual and make sure to make small talk so that the family feels
comfortable. I will bring a small thank you note to say thank you for letting me into their home. Once we are
settled I will begin the conversation with VEs parents and VE. It is important to me that the four of us speak
together. I will start with some of the positive changes VE has made and explain how I am excited to see her
continued progress. I will then explain that the reason I am there is to continue to push VE in this positive
direction in her practice with reading. I will explain to the parents how important it is that VE have positive
interactions with reading every single day. The students are exposed to reading and text all day at school,
and should have a similar experience at home. I want VEs growth at school to be supported by her work at
home. Therefore, I will provide the following explanations/resources:
- a quick modeling and/or example of the ways that the parents can read with VE at home
o read a higher leveled text to her **for this I will model how the parents can ask comprehension
questions about the text that they are reading to make sure VE is staying engaged and is still
working on important reading skills
o read an on-level text with her **for this I will model how to let VE struggle with unknown words
to sound them out the parents should not always provide the answers true learning occurs
during the academic struggle of reading I will show them the value of patience and stamina

Johns Hopkins University School of Education

Individual Student Study TemplatePart 5: Home and Cultural Influences 1
2012 Laureate Education Inc. All rights reserved.
 o read a below level text completely independently **VE can practice reading already mastered
texts to build confidence and independence in reading
- a special homework log: I will introduce to VE a special reading log that allows her to tell me exactly
which type of the above ways of reading VE decided to participate in there will be a space for her
parent to leave me a note about what they worked on and what went well or what did not go well
- I will provide printed out copies of 6 leveled texts from Reading A-Z (though I have purchased the
Raz-Kids program for my students to use at home, VEs family does not have access to Internet)
- I will also model for the parents the way they can encourage VE to use a strong reader voice while
attempting her different word-attack skills

I will conclude the meeting by providing a list of great comprehension questions the parents can use while
working with VE, I will quickly review the 4 things that I introduced to them, and encourage them to reach out
to me after school, or via the parent-communication application Remind. I will thank the family for their
hospitality and talk about the upcoming Literacy night we will be having in May. I will express interest in
coming for another home visit.

2. Describe the impact you expect this plan to have on the students academic and/or social
competence.

I expect this trip to make VE feel really proud. I think she will feel special in my classroom after the visit
because she will feel that she and I had a special experience that none of the other students were able to
have. I also think that this will help VE because her mother has often expressed to me that accomplishing
work at home is very challenging. VE often fights with her mother about completing the homework. In the
past VEs mom has also expressed frustration with being the only parent invested in VEs reading success. I
hope that by meeting with both of VEs parents, I will help show both of them the importance of reading
practice at home and the importance of parental investment in reading. Making VE feel special with her very
own reading log and showing the parents how reading can be fun if they try paired reading in different ways,
will help to motivate VE at home. It will also give the parents some tools for how to respond to some of VEs
resistance. Additionally, providing the family with some books will help them to better understand VEs
reading level, and VE will benefit because she will get to work at and above her reading level. I expect VE to
improve in her word attack skills. I expect VE to less frequently give up in the middle of a challenging word. I
expect VE will take more pride in her reading success and feel like a more confident reader.

Reflection on Implementation
Write a reflection on what worked well during your home visit and the results you achieved in terms of impact
on the students academic and/or social competence. Also, describe what you could do differently in your
planning and/or implementation to have an even greater impact.

I realized that home visits are extremely beneficial. Though it was awkward at first, and frankly, challenging
to schedule, the visit was a huge success. I learned more about the parenting dynamics at home. I learned,
through observing their interactions and speaking with the family, that VEs mom acts as the disciplinarian
while her father is more relaxed and lets the children do as they please. The parents have older children
together (already adult and married) and now they also have a 1st grader and a kindergartener. They are
older parents. The Mom has expressed frustrations on this front, and I havent fully understood until I visited
them at their home. Discussing ways you can help your child at home is an interesting task because I need
to phrase it correctly so that it does not appear that I am telling the parents how to raise their children. Ive
reached out to some veteran colleagues of mine to approach how to talk about parenting coming from a
younger teacher. I need to make sure I do not sound condescending and that I am respectful and purposeful
in this conversation. I need to make the conversation about what is best for VE.

Johns Hopkins University School of Education

Individual Student Study TemplatePart 5: Home and Cultural Influences 2
2012 Laureate Education Inc. All rights reserved.
I also realized that I attempted to do too much in this home visit. Though all my objectives for the visit were
to tackle one reading goal, I did not have time to get to each idea. I also realized midway through the
meeting that I did not want to overwhelm the parents with too much information. I needed to split up all of my
ideas into multiple visits. This would help in two ways. First it would help me to continue to develop my
relationship with the family through multiple visits at their home. It would also help the parents to walk away
from each visit with a tangible goal for them to work on, rather than 5-6 goals.

I have definitely seen growth since this visit. Interestingly, prior to this visit VE was getting to school late 3/5
days of the week. After the visit she has been on time to school every day. This was an unintended positive
result of the visit! I have also noticed that this visit strengthened my relationship with VEI feel as though
she trusts me and trusts the process of the work we are doing in the classroom. I have also noticed that in
small group VE is more willing to participate and now raises her hand to answer questions about the text.
She wants to participate in the reading races we do during small group, and has even given positive and
encouraging words of support to her group members in their struggle with reading. I am so excited by this
continued progress!

Johns Hopkins University School of Education

Individual Student Study TemplatePart 5: Home and Cultural Influences 3
2012 Laureate Education Inc. All rights reserved.