Action Plan
What is being implemented and with whom?
Throughout my study, I implemented explicit phonics instruction with Elkonin Boxes and spelling-focused word work with one third grade student. The student participated in SRA corrective reading that teaches decoding strategies. I used Elkonin boxes that assisted in the student segmenting words into individual sounds. The words that the student segmented with Elkonin boxes were specific words from the SRA lesson. Spelling focused word work was implemented using worksheets and hands on manipulatives. A student survey was also implemented to measure personal feelings about reading.
When will it be implemented?
A student from my caseload received 30 minutes of the explicit phonics instruction lesson. The student met Monday-Friday each day for 30 minutes of one-on-one instruction.
How will it be implemented?
Elkonin Boxes
Elkonin boxes were implemented prior to completing the SRA corrective reading lesson of the day. The words that were chosen for the Elkonin boxes were a part of the daily SRA lesson. Each day, I would look at the “word reading” exercise of the day, and the student would practice decoding each of the words listed in the exercise. The student received laminated Elkonin boxes that varied in number based on how many sounds the word had. For example, if the student had the word “win”, he would use the Elkonin box with three boxes. The student used counters for manipulatives to drag each sound he heard into the Elkonin box. For example, if the student had the word “win”, he would drag three counters, one for each sound. He would drag one counter for the “w” sound, another for the “i” sound, and the last counter for the “n” sound.
SRA Corrective Reading (Explicit phonics instruction)
SRA Corrective Reading consists of daily scripted lesson plans that focus on explicit teaching. Throughout each lesson, there are different exercises that the student goes through. Different exercises focused on word attack skills and included isolated sound/word practice, group reading activities to develop accuracy and oral reading fluency, and workbook exercises. Each day, the lesson started off with me reading through the SRA lesson script and the student responded as prompted. Throughout one of the exercises, the student got out his workbook and practiced word reading on the day’s lesson. The workbook exercise focused on reading specific words, then sentences, and eventually the student moved into reading paragraphs and then stories. As the lessons progressed, so did the amount of reading the student did. At the end of every lesson, the student completed a worksheet that focused on the daily lesson.
Spelling-Focused Word Work
The spelling-focused word work that the student completed was implemented after the SRA daily lesson as well as in class during guided reading stations. After each SRA lesson, the student would complete the spelling-focused word work worksheet that was aligned with the SRA daily lesson. The student would have various word work activities that he could complete after this worksheet was completed such as writing his words in ABC order, breaking words into syllables, writing the words with red as the vowels and blue as consonants, writing words with 5 different writing utensils...etc. The spelling-focused word work focused on words from “word reading” section of the SRA daily lesson. I also implemented the student’s second grade and third grade priority words into the spelling-focused word work activities so the student could practice writing all of the words he had not yet mastered.
Why have these strategies been implemented?
Explicit phonics instruction is a research-based teaching strategy. Explicit phonics instruction is a strategy in which letter sounds are taught initially by the teacher and in the context of words. In explicit phonics, teachers build up phonics skills from their smallest unit of graphemes. Next, the explicit phonics teaches blending and segmenting. Research has found that students who received systematic and explicit phonics instruction were better readers at the end of instruction than students who received non-systematic or no phonics instruction.
Elkonin boxes help build phonological awareness skills by segmenting words into individual sounds, or phonemes. In order for students to decode words independently, they need to understand that individual letters in words represent specific sounds. Connected word boxes provide a visual supportive structure to help students make one to one correspondences with letters and sounds. Research studies have examined the effectiveness of Elkonin boxes and found that the word box structure helps students become aware of all of the sound segments in a given word and it is important to incorporate sound segmentation into letter-sound correspondence lessons as this skill is highly related to acquiring word identification.
Spelling-focused word work teaches students how to use this word knowledge strategically to support their spelling attempts during writing activities and to help them decode unfamiliar words while reading. Examining each layer of the orthography helps students to see the regularities, patterns, and derivations in words and how words work in our writing system. Spelling-focused word work increases understanding of how meaning, sound, and spelling work together in English. Word work also helps increase the deeper knowledge of English needed to independently decode and spell words.
What data collection methods will be used and why?
1. A reading interest survey was selected because the student’s attitude at the beginning of this research project was very negative towards reading. He is quoted saying, “I can’t read,” “Can you read this, I don’t know how,” “I don’t like reading time because it is hard.” I wanted to monitor and see the progression of the student’s confidence as this research was conducted and implemented.
2. Running records were implemented so that I could monitor and check the student’s word decoding accuracy as the decoding strategies were implemented. A running record can provide a way to assess an individual student's reading, determine appropriate levels of text for reading, and to inform teaching. When doing running records, I took the daily passages from the SRA curriculum and for one minute, the student read without stopping as I made oral reading fluency markings such as not pronouncing the word correctly or inserting words when not necessary. At the end of the one minute, I would calculate how many words the student read and then subtract the number of errors to get the percentage of correct words read per minute.
3. Guided Reading Level was selected as a method because as the student increased his word decoding accuracy, I needed to ensure appropriate level of reading materials were used to help him advance as a reader without causing too much frustration.
4. Anecdotal Notes were chosen so that I could monitor what factors affected the student throughout my study.
When is it being implemented?
