Learning Log #1

Kayleigh Scannell
EDU572
Professor Warham
Readings from Diagnostic Teaching of Reading, by Barbra J. Walker
Learning Log # 1 Chapters 1 and 2

The active readers use strategies like revising predictions, self-questioning, and clarifying as they monitor their understanding.

When I was student teaching, I taught a seventh grade special education English class that had very weak readers. I remember I would have the students read aloud a short story by going around the room. After the story I would ask the student’s questions to assess their comprehension. After that I would show the students how I read stories by dissect the material. I would then read the story out loud to the students and stop to ask questions and summarize what I had read. This helped the students comprehend and understand what was occurring in the story. The students seemed to really like it because they would understand the full story and not bits and pieces of it.


Diagnostic teaching means that assessment occurs during the lesson. Thus, the assessment information derived is both practical and valid because it is gained through authentic literacy activities.

Every day in English class the students would be expected to pick up a worksheet when they entered the classroom and begin working on it. This “BellWork” or worksheet was focused on capitalization and the student’s were to correct the mistakes but changing them. As the students performed this task I circulated the room to assess them. I noticed many of the students struggled, so I told the students to flip their paper over and look up at the board. I then explained the rules to capitalization and provided many examples of the proper usage. I then had the students try again by flipping over their paper and fixing the mistakes. The students seemed to have a better understanding.


Students’ knowledge of the world and the words they use to describe their experiences influences comprehension and word identification.

I taught a student that spoke Spanish at home and both of his parents have dropped out of high school. He had also told me that he has never been out of Western NY. He was a wonderful boy who happened to struggle with reading, writing, and spelling. I assigned a writing assignment for homework and he nervously turned in a paper that was very difficult to read. I pulled him aside and asked him to read it to me as I wrote it down. I showed him the difference between the two and explained the corrections. Needless to say, I graded the content and met with him during lunch to help him.


The students’ engagement is based on the reasons and expectations that they have for participating in a reading event.

When I was tutoring during Learn and Serve at Gaskill Middle School I was faced with many struggling readers one in particular. He was not excited about reading at all so I began talking to him and allowed him to choose any book from the bookcase. He chose Stuart Little which was way below his reading level however, I asked him why his said that he liked the little mouse on the cover. I instantly acted excited and happy he chose that particular book, I made it seem special. This was my way of getting the student excited to read. I then told him that I would read some then he had to read some that way we were reading together.

Sometimes when conferencing, the diagnostic teacher conducts a mini assessment to identify problem areas.

When I was observing a second grade classroom, the teacher assigned a writing response based on a reading. The class was independently working on this while the teacher in the back had mini conferences with a few of the students. She was able to assess the students reading and writing levels in addition to make corrections of the students work. It was interesting because she asked the students what they thought of the difficulty level of the passage. The students were honest and told the teacher their trouble areas.