Tiffany-Progress+Report

Tiffany Scullion Case Study - Progress Report

I have been reading with Jake, an 18 year old male who graduated from BRIDGE at the end of this school year. When I first learned about this assignment, I mentioned it in one of my classes and he volunteered. During our first meeting together, I asked many questions about his reading habits and history of reading. I was curious about when he started to read, if anyone read to him as a child, what kinds of books he has at home currently, does anyone in his house read for pleasure, etc. We also talked about his school history, as there is always some underlying reason as to why students attend BRIDGE. I wanted him to think about all of the text he reads in a day, as most people (including myself) forget that things like facebook, texting, and online sports articles really are reading.

We started off with him reading a novel that he picked out from a bag full of books I brought with me. This was a novel that he had read before and enjoyed, but is what I would consider to be below his reading level. He was able to read it with ease. He even laughed at the little jokes made throughout the story. He read the novel with a fair amount of ease and made himself comfortable when reading.

I then wanted to see what would happen if we increased the complexity of the text. He has read parts of the book required for MTU's incoming freshman. Once again he made himself comfortable when reading and read without too much trouble. This book has names of people, groups, and places that are unfamiliar to both Jake and myself. This unfamiliarity definitely caused more stumbling on words than the previous novel.

At some point when we are reading, I always try to ask him a few questions. At our last meeting we were talking about if and when he creates a picture in his mind of the text he is reading. We discussed when he does not create a visual in his mind. He talked to me about when the picture he sees is represented by a scene from the movie he watched that corresponds to the story he is reading.

Overall I think it is going well. I am being pretty vague, as I don't want to give away all of the details yet! I am enjoying myself and I believe he is, too. He asks nearly everyday when he is reading again. It has also caused me to look more closely at the act of reading and not just at the comprehension component.