Child Study Project

For my TE 301 course (literacy learning in an elementary context), we are working one-on-one with a student (age 512) to complete our child study project. We are assigned to work for an hour a week with the same student, and work on reading, writing, speaking, and listening through various activities and assessments. I started working with my student yesterday, and it went very well! He is 8 years old and is a very bright student, especially in math and letter recognition. He has Down Syndrome, so it is very difficult for me to understand him at times. Although this first time working with him was very informal and more about establishing a relationship and getting them comfortable, I was already able to informally assess him on certain aspects of literacy... For example, before I read a book to him, I asked him to show me where the front of the book is. He held the book correctly (with the spine on the left and the cover facing him), which indicated that he understands concepts of print. I am looking forward to continuing this project and teaching and learning from him as the semester goes on!