Alison Ellis: All right, Jax, how are you doing today, buddy?

Jax: Good.

Alison Ellis: Good. Okay. We're going to go over some of these letters and you're going to tell me the name of the letter today. All right?

Narrator: Today reading interventionist Alison Ellis is giving a quick one-minute assessment to first grader Jax to monitor his progress in naming letters automatically and correctly.

Alison Ellis: Alright, I'm ready when you are.

Jax: Ready. 'A', 'f', 'g', 'y' ...

Narrator: This is a skill they've been working on in their intervention block because letter naming is associated with proficient reading. As Jax reads the letters, Ms. Ellis records how he's doing.

Jax: 'A', 'm', 'g', 't', 'u', 'e' ...

Narrator: When Jax is done, Ms. Ellis will give him immediate positive feedback and share his results.

Jax: 'C', 'n', 'j', 'v' ...

Alison Ellis: Alright, we're going to stop there. Good job. So you read 43 words today or letters, excuse me. Okay, so we are going to talk about if we've made progress since the last time we did that. And so the last time we did that, you in one minute, you read all the way up to 37. And then what did I just say you did today? You remember what I said?

Jax: No.

Alison Ellis: 43. So did you make progress? Yes, you did. You did better today than you did last time. So we're going to go past that 40 mark on this second bar and we're going to color that all the way up to that mark.

Narrator: They use a bar graph to record how many letters he named accurately. This helps both of them see his growth and keep track of his progress. In the final part of this assessment session, Ms. Ellis will talk through each error with Jax, giving him time to think about each letter he missed and make corrections. This time and conversation are key because Jax is included in developing his own reading skills.

Alison Ellis: Good job. You made progress, buddy. Oh, right. So this is a letter that you got confused on. And what is the trick that we learned about recognizing our 'b' from our 'd'? We make our bed (Jax holds up his 'b' finger and his 'd ' finger ). So, what is this letter right here?

Jax: 'B'.

Alison Ellis: It is a 'b'. Good job. Okay, and then you got this one right here, but you stalled. That means you had to think about it for just a second. And this is a capital 'c'. That's a capital 'c'. And then the lowercase 'c' looks just the same, only a little smaller. Okay, so those are both 'c's, right?

Narrator: Jax is learning that accuracy, which is naming the letter correctly, and the rate, which is naming the letter without stalling, are equally important to becoming a skilled reader. Ms. Ellis will use the data gathered during this assessment for future lessons with Jax.

Alison Ellis: You did a lot better than you did last time. Thanks, Jax. Have a good day.

Narrator: Enjoyed this video? Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel @RUTeaching. For more information, please visit ReadingUniverse.org. Special thanks to Prather-Brown Center, Frederick Public Schools, and the Oklahoma State Department of Education. Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim and Donna Barksdale, the American Federation of Teachers, the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, and three anonymous donors. Reading Universe is a service of WETA, Washington, DC, the Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book.

Alison Ellis: I am Alison Ellis, and this is Reading Universe.