Case Study

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Background Student: Antonio Age: 9 .5 Grade: 4th Focus: Vocabulary Development

Scenario Antonio likes school and especially enjoys reading . However, he has a difficult time comprehending stories because of a limited vocabulary . Antonio’s teacher, Ms . Falk, has observed that he is able to read sight words and decode many unfamiliar words . Despite Ms . Falk’s “previewing” new vocabulary before each story, Antonio appears to need more instruction in the meaning of words . As she ponders possible strategies to assist Antonio, she realizes all of her students could benefit from the strategies . Consequently, she decides to implement a class-wide plan that will assist all students and specifically help Antonio reach the following instructional goal: • Given vocabulary words, Antonio will provide definitions .

Possible Strategies • Direct Instruction • Semantic Feature Analysis • Graphic Organizers

!! Assignment Assignment 1 . Read the STAR sheets for each of the three possible strategies . 2 . Describe each of the three strategies . 3 . Describe one activity for each of the three strategies and explain how it could be

used to assist Antonio in achieving his goal .

CASE STUDY Comprehension & Vocabulary: Grades 3-5

Level A • Case 1