Working on Your Literacy Profile: Module 6
If I were you, by the time this module is due I would have completed all or almost all of the sessions with my student. I would be ready to begin writing the profile.
The following recommendations are drawn from the feedback I have given people in past semesters after they have turned in their literacy profiles. I believe the process described below would be very helpful in ensuring that you synthesize across all of your data when preparing your report.
To begin writing the profile, I find it helpful to make a large concept map on a sheet of paper with each of the required components listed on the map. For instance, you might have something that diagrams the areas below:
| Jane’s Views of Herself as a Reader (i.e. attitudes and beliefs about reading) |
Jane’s Process of Reading (strategies she uses to figure out unknown words or to make sense of text; remarks about reading fluency would go in this section) |
|
Jane Doe |
||
| Jane’s Ability to Construct Meaning (i.e., her ability to comprehend and respond to texts, how this might differ on expository vs. fiction texts, reading orally vs. silently, listening comprehension, use of study strategies) |
Instructional Recommendations (these may include things I have done with her and also things I have read about in course readings, on websites, and in journal articles) |
|
Then, using a diagram with these components, you might begin brainstorming what you know about your student in each of these areas.
By each item that I “knew” about, I would put a note on which session or sessions I learned information that made me “know” this information. That way when I wrote my profile I could go back to that session and quote directly from the lesson to give specific examples to support my contentions.
Similarly, on instructional recommendations, I would include an author/year beside my notes to remind me to cite the references to support recommendations I am making.
Finally, I would take out the guidelines for assessing the literacy profile (found under the Assignments section). Using these guidelines I would look at my concept map and see if I had information that addressed each of the components asked about on the guideline.
After doing this activity, I would be in good shape to begin writing the profile.
In writing the profile — I would write in a way that the audience is not the professor for a course but the teachers, parents, and/or student. The profile should be a document that you could actually place in the student’s file for future reference.
I would also use subheadings like the ones above to organize my paper — this would help the reader understanding the components of the profile.
From “‘I Know Them Better Than Students in My On-campus Courses’: Exploring a Personalized Approach to Online Instruction ” by Joyce Many et al.
Reading Online, www.readingonline.org
Posted September 2004