Module One Discussion Posting
This is a two part discussion. Part one of the first discussion asks you to introduce yourself to the class. Your posting should include information that will provide the class with your professional profile - such as your major/specialization, where you live, where you work, some of the ideas you have about possible topics for your research project, and some of the questions you have about your teaching, your school, your students, etc. Remember, you should respond to at least one of your colleagues; of course, you are encouraged to participate beyond this minimum requirement.
In the second part of discussion one you are asked to share the highlights of the readings for this first module. Respond in detail to at least two of the following questions as you read the text and explore the resource websites:
1.What new insights do you have regarding action research that you think would be valuable to other professionals?
2.How you might use action research to improve some aspect of your work or practice?
3.What problem or student learning need will your project address - why is this an important focus for your project?
EDUC 6395 Module 1 Discussion
ReplyDeleteBethany O’Neil
January 19, 2017
Part 1
Hello Everyone! My name is Bethany O'Neil and I am in a long term substitute position at Barrackville Middle in Special Education for the second year. I currently teach 6th grade ELA and Math, 5th grade ELA, 8th grade ELA, 6th grade RTI and coteach 6th grade Science. My days are full and busy! I am in my last semester here at Fairmont State and will graduate in May with my Masters in Multi-Categorical Special Education with Autism, only 9 more hours!!.
I am a single mom of two boys who are twelve and nine who love basketball and baseball. They keep me busy!
Best of luck to all in the class! I look forward to reading your introductions and getting started!
Part 2
2.How you might use action research to improve some aspect of your work or practice?
Using research based methods in the classroom is the best practice for teachers. I can also use different strategies during my instruction and choose which one yields the best result and is most effective for my students.
3.What problem or student learning need will your project address - why is this an important focus for your project?
My research proposal is improving passage fluency through sight word and vocabulary practice. My I chose this topic because when I started teaching special education last year, my fifth graders could not read on grade level. Actually, they were barely reading on a beginning third grade level on the EasyCBM assessments. I began doing sight word drills, sentence building and vocabulary drills every day with them during RTI. I did see improvement in their scores by the end of the school year. However, it was not remarkable. I continue to do sight word drills with them in order to further strengthen and improve their skills.
4.What is your idea for your guiding research question or questions?
The idea that drove my research question came from my incredible frustration watching my students struggle with grade level reading passages. I decided to find a strategy or drill to help my students improve their fluency. I would like to do start doing targeted sight words and vocabulary drills in an effort to improve their passage fluency.
Hi Bethany! It seems we are dealing with some of the same issues. I struggle with ways to improve comprehension. My middle daughter had problems all through school with reading comprehension. I would have to read the chapters to her then she would finally understand what the reading was about. I think if the students could be read the passages on test they would perform so much better.
DeleteParty 1
ReplyDeleteMy name is Jessica Riddle and I am a Title I Teacher at Nutter Fort Intermediate, in Harrison County. I work with grades 3-5, with reading and math intervention. I have been working at NFI for 3 years and I'm finishing my Master's in Reading this May.I have a three year old little boy that keeps me busy. We are on the go from morning to night. He loves to learn and remembers everything and picks up on things very quickly. We are always busy reading books, putting puzzles together, or playing with cars and trucks. A little background about the school where I work. NFI is part of Nutter Fort Elementary. We are two separate "campuses" housed in one building. We have our own staff, administration, office staff and much more. The other things we share is the cafeteria and the library. Possible topics for my action research that I am thinking about is text retell or comprehension strategies to increase understanding of texts. NFI has a very high poverty rate and lots of attendance and discipline problems. Many students qualify for special education services and many are below grade level understanding. I know there are types of children and populations wherever you teach but a question that I really have is how students would benefit from working on certain skills for an amount of time and their understanding and reading assessments improve. Also how to get students to really remember and use the strategies that they are taught. So many students that I work with seem they do not have a strong foundation from their primary years to continue making growth in reading. Their fluency is low, their word knowledge, their reading comprehension, and their level of reading in general.
Part 2
2.How you might use action research to improve some aspect of your work or practice?
I might use action research to improve the understanding of the retell of the text or ways to understand the text in an easier way to be able to improve reading comprehension. Giving students one skill to practice and use and really be able to grasp what they need to understand a text at their grade level.
4. What is your idea for your guiding research question or questions?
The idea about retell or comprehension strategies began when as a Title I teacher we have to drive our instruction using data. When looking at our students data and working with a classroom teacher and administering benchmark and progress monitoring tests, I saw such a lack and decline in those areas with students. They either can not read the text to be able to comprehend/retell a story well enough or they can read a story and then they can not tell what it is about or answer simple questions about what they read.
Jessica,
DeleteIt looks like we have very similar challenges with our students. I also struggle a great deal finding ways to improve the reading comprehension of my students. I agree with giving students only one skill to practice at a time. Often my students are overwhelmed with skills in class and get confusion, frustrated and just shut down. Good Luck with your research!
Hi Jessica. I text retell is a great way to help students with comprehension. It is a way for them to show what they understand about the reading. It allows the teacher to give feedback to help the student gain a better understanding if needed.
DeleteI feel it is important for students to work on a certain skill and master it before moving on. However, we all know time is very limited with our students and they often fall even more behind when they are working just one skill to master. But sometimes that is all a lower-level students can handle. I think if we help them work on one foundational skill at a time, our students will improve test scores.
Hey Jessica,
DeleteRetell is a great way to gage whether or not a student has comprehended the selection they just read. Quite often, a student will zip through a passage or story and though their fluency rates are high, their comprehension is low. Comprehension is so important in the grade levels you are working with. I cant wait to see what your results yield. Good luck with your research and good luck with this semester! We are almost there!
PART 1:
ReplyDeleteHello, my name is Angela Losh. I live near Salem in Harrison County, WV. I currently have a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education (K-6) and completing my final semester for my Reading Master’s. I have worked at Salem Elementary as a Title I teacher since January 2015. I teach kindergarten through fifth grade reading and math interventions daily.
The topic I am interested in using for my action research project is sight words. Many of my students struggle with sight words. I have tried teaching them in many different ways. I would like to complete my action research project to determine the most effective method to teach sight words.
What could I do differently with my students to improve their sight word recognition? What type of sight word activities do you use? Do your students struggle with sight word recognition?
PART 2:
1. After reading the Johnson text, I have now considered using action research for teacher inservices and professional growth. I agree with Johnson that many of the inservices are ineffective. I think it would be great to complete action research with each class or grade level and present it to colleagues. Many of the teachers do not utilize the resources or teach the new strategies presented during Professional Development sessions. I feel professional development opportunities around conducting action research and presenting to other would be more beneficial than sitting through a lecture (Johnson, 2012 p. 22).
3. During our PLC meetings, many teachers have voiced their concern for students’ lack of sight word recognition. According to our assessments, students are lacking the expected word recognition for their grade level. They often can use their phonics skills to sound out words like “it” and “that” but cannot recognize them quickly. According to Running Records, sight word recognition is affecting students’ fluency and comprehension. The results from my action research could be shared with staff and affect sight word instruction school-wide.
4. As a Title I teacher, I teach students who are struggling with reading skills. I teach sight words daily for each group. The results of this action research project could alter my daily instruction. The guiding action research question I am considering is, “What is the best strategy to improve sight word recognition skills?” I am also considering observations on the number of students engaged during different types of sight word instruction. My only concern is the limit of qualitative results presented as stated on by Johnson (2012, p.19)
Reference
Johnson, A. P. (2012). A short guide to action research (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Angela,
DeleteGreat to see you in this course! I agree with you about PD sessions being ineffective that occur throughout the year. I see it at my school frequently. Teachers sit and zone out during CE sessions because what they are learning doesn't apply directly to them. I definitely think having a PD session on action research would be more beneficial because it could give teachers a way to personally affect learning. I also like your idea for an action research project. Sight words are very important for elementary students, and many methods have been suggested for learning them. I am curious to see your possible research results!
Hi Angela!
DeleteNice to see you are in this course! I hope all is well since student teaching!
I feel that action research you are proposing will help you tremendously in your Title 1instruction. I feel that Title 1 is crucial, especially in elementary school. I do however understand your contemplation/worry about the qualitative results. I'm interested in staying tuned in as you put your project into action and decide on further details. Best of luck with it!
Holly, this is so true it can be very difficult to focus at PD when it does not pertain to your area very much. So maybe if the focus at PD sessions was more on action research and ways we can all improve instead of just one aspect of learning, it would benefit everyone much more.
DeletePart One: Background Information
ReplyDeleteHi everyone! My name is Holly Stutler, and I am a Title 1 teacher at North View Elementary in Clarksburg, WV (Harrison County). I work solely with fourth and fifth grades on reading and math skills. I am currently working with an out-of-field permit, but I hope to complete the requirements for my job in May. I love teaching Title 1, and I hope to stay here for a while. Before I got into the Title 1 field, I taught music in four Harrison County elementary schools (mainly fifth grade band). I still teach choir in two elementary schools in the county. Outside of school, I enjoy reading and music. I play a few instruments, and I love listening to music, especially classic rock.
Part Two:
1. What new insights do you have regarding action research that you think would be valuable to other professionals?
After reading the Johnson text, something mentioned in chapter three stuck out at me. The entire chapter is focused on problem-solving, and as teachers, we are constantly searching for solutions to daily problems. We try many methods looking for the one that is the most effective. We never seem to find an end-all, be-all solution for questions like, "What is the best approach for learning sight words?" and "Does the phonics approach or the whole language approach yield better results for young readers?" This is where action research can come in. Action research allows teachers to take control of their own practices. They can use an action research project to see what works best for their own students instead of simply relying on information they are fed in PD sessions and meetings. Many times the information given from someone outside the school doesn't relate to a teacher's particular situation. Teachers can identify problems specific to their environment and use action research to reach potential solutions.
3. What problem or student learning need will your project address - why is this an important focus for your project?
The problem my action research project will address is reading comprehension. This is a major literacy skill for fourth and fifth graders and appears frequently in the grade level standards. It is also a skill in which my students could use improvement. Both retell and text-specific comprehension questions are areas that I want to improve. This is an important focus for my project because many of my fourth and fifth grade students are lacking in comprehension skills. Our county does a benchmark three times a year to track progress, and the benchmarking measures we use are very comprehension heavy (Running Records and STAR reading). Also, our EOY Smarter Balanced assessment is heavily-weighted in comprehension. By improving comprehension, students' individual scores would improve, as well as the scores our school receives.
4.What is your idea for your guiding research question or questions?
My idea for my guiding research question is, "Does the use of graphic organizers that accompany text improve students' reading comprehension?" My school is pushing graphic organizer use heavily this year, and I want to see if they truly improve a fourth or fifth grader's comprehension skills.
Reference
Johnson, A. P. (2012). A short guide to action research (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Hello Holly,
DeleteWe are toward the end of our journey with this Master's program. I really like your guiding research question about graphic organizers. Last year at NFI we were trained and worked with Thinking Maps-I really liked them and the research that we saw and some of them I used it really did make a difference for the students to understand. I really look forward to hearing and reading about your progress with your research. Good luck this semester!
Hi Holly. It is nice to have another class with you. I look forward to working with you this semester. I loved using graphic organizers in my math classes. My students liked them and I always found different ways to incorporate them into the various units that we completed. I am anxious to see more about your project. I hope you have a greats semester.
DeleteWe are almost done Again! I completely agree that our students need work in the retell. We have many in our fourth grade group that are struggling, so know it's not just your school. Working with third grade we work on small bits of retell but try more for comprehension of the story parts like main idea and supporting details but sometimes they don't always understand what is being asked of them. I hope your project goes well and wish you luck in your final semester. Who would have thought we'd graduate together again! Congratulations
DeletePart One - introduction
ReplyDeleteHi all,
My name is Rebecca Kendrick. I currently teach mathematics at Hagerstown Community College (western Maryland) but I live in Martinsburg, West Virginia (eastern panhandle). I have a BS in Mathematics from Shepherd University and a MAT in Mathematics from the University of Idaho. Currently, I'm working towards the M.Ed. in Professional Studies at Fairmont to further my education and to earn credits towards a promotion to associate professor.
I've been teaching full-time for almost 5.5 years but I ran the Math Learning Center at HCC for 5 years so I've been at the college for 10.5 years.
I primarily teach developmental mathematics, so my ideas for the AR project revolve around increasing success in the these classes. Right now, I'm leaning towards researching how a lessson in note-taking can help students become independent learners and help them study for exams. I have an idea to buy the students a checking pencil that is blue on one end and red on the other. I think taking notes where different steps in the process are shown in different colors will greatly help them use their notes when studying. (Typically, students write all steps in one color and then when they review their notes, they don't know what step is what because it all runs together.)
I wanted to get part one of the discussion posted, and the way I understand the syllabus and course schedule, I can post my answer to part two separately. I haven't had a chance to read the chapters yet!
Hello Rebecca,
DeleteI am interested in seeing how your use of color affects the note-taking process as far as efficiency and effectiveness. I lean heavily on color-coding when I am teaching sentence parts and find it is a nice way to incorporate visual interest and catch the students' attention.
I suppose that your office being next door to mine may make it easier for me to access your results.
Thanks,
Sonjurae
Hi Rebecca. I think note-taking skills help students become more independent in their learning as well as test taking. The more they do on their own, the more they will understand about the content. I am terrible when it comes to taking tests. I have high anxiety when I even think about it. That is because I was not taught how to study. I know that may sound crazy, but there are students who are the same way. They think if they read what was covered in class, they will do fine on the test. This may be the case for some, but many student need to be taught how to take notes to give them something extra as a study guide for a test.
DeleteRebecca I enjoyed your post. Note taking is a great strategy to incorporate with student. As Kelly pointed out it helps them to become more independent in their course work. Note taking takes practice to become efficient. Students must learn to recognize what is important in the text and what they need to take away from it. Your strategy sounds like it will be a great tool to incorporate in your class.
DeleteHi Rebecca! I commend you for all of your mathematical abilities! That is the one subject that I have struggled with the most in my schooling. This semester, I am doing my student teaching in a math class!! Oh dear! It will be a learning process for me for sure! I am excited to get started though.
DeleteOne thing that I have noticed in the last two years of working with high school students is that they are not always aware on how to take good notes. This is not a process that can just happened, but rather needs to be taught. I think you have a great idea!
It is nice to meet you Rebecca. I taught high school math for two years before moving into the library media specialist role. I have worked with other teachers that have used the color method and say that it really works. I have personally never used it but am anxious to see how your project goes and learn more about it. I hope you have a great semester.
DeleteMath is not my area at all but I am interested in the concept of the color coded note taking strategy you want to implement. As an art teacher I feel that having students associate certain colors with certain parts of the note taking process or studying will be beneficial.Good luck with this project.
DeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Connie Bowers and I am a Title I Interventionist at Nutter Fort Primary in Nutter Fort, WV. I am one of 6 interventionists in the Pre-K – 2 portion of the building. I work with first graders providing small group instruction in both reading and math. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education from Fairmont State and a Master’s in Early Childhood Education from Marshall University. In 2011, I became a National Board Certified Teacher certifying as an Early Childhood Generalist. I’m currently working on a Master’s in Education with a certification in Reading from Fairmont State University.
I live in Bridgeport, WV with my husband Ron and a Scottish Terrier named Briony McTavish. I have three grandchildren; Autumn and Clay are attending Bridgeport High School and the newest addition and apple of everyone’s eye, Jackson. He is 20 weeks old and a real charmer / character!
I reflect a lot about my struggling readers. I have a concern that they are not making the progress needed to reach grade level. I realize some of these children will be identified with learning disabilities. I know some children develop more slowly than others. But, I want every child to become the very best reader they are capable of becoming. I have been thinking about some possible interventions that I can offer to accelerate their learning. I am certainly open to something new. After all, I cannot expect to get a different result by doing the same things.
Good luck with our new semester!
Hello Connie,
DeleteBecause I work primarily in developmental English courses, I often have students with disabilities in my classes. It can be very difficult to find a balance so that all students are showing improvement and also reaching a minimum standard of performance as defined by course outcomes and objectives. I hope that you are successful in finding interventions that work within the active classroom setting. We encourage a lot of time on task and tutoring assistance in a learning support center we have on campus to get our struggling students additional help.
Also - congratulations on your newest grandchild! My daughter is 22 and working on a Masters degree, so I have yet to become the big G myself.
Thanks,
Sonjurae
Hi Connie!
DeleteI also work as a Title 1 teacher, and I definitely could learn from your proposed action research idea! I work with many students who are progressing in their reading, but not at the rate I'd like to see. We have a plethora of students who are reading significantly below grade level, and I want to do all I can to help them progress. One of my favorite quotes is, "If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got." (I'm not sure who to credit for the quote, but I know it's a phrase in an Aerosmith song. Haha.) That phrase rings true, though, and I look forward to seeing some of the action research projects this semester to get ideas for my own students. Congratulations on your new grandchild, and I love the name of your Scottish Terrier! Very creative (and Scottish)!
-Holly
Hello Holly,
DeleteI know you are a Title 1 teacher an if you read my post along with the rest of the class, you will notice I am not a teacher in the K-12 grade setting, nor have I ever held a teaching certification. As I have read the blogs many of you especially Title 1 teachers, have so many students with issues of sight reading and comprehension issues. I am curious to the root of those issues. My interpreting students have issues with comprehension, and through my experience it all relates to the syntax issue along with identifying contextual clues that creates the barrier to extract meaning. I am curious if you come across the same issue?
Hi Connie,
DeleteCongratulations on your new addition! I am also a Title I teacher. I am also struggling with my students not progressing as quickly as I would like. Many of the students I have at the beginning of the year progress quickly and move out of my group. Unfortunately at this time in the year, I have a few students who stay in my group with very little growth. I would also like to find a way to help these students grow as close as possible to grade level expectancy. I am considering a focus on sight words, but I see a lack in phonics, comprehension, and much more. I can't wait to see what strategy/topic you choose and the outcome!
Lori,
DeleteI absolutely see issues with comprehension with my students. Working with fourth and fifth grades all day, comprehension is a large portion of their curriculum and expectations for "good readers" at their grade level. Sometimes the issue relates back to not being good at decoding the text to begin with, as they are missing a few components of early reading, but occasionally I see students who decode well and are very fluent that simply cannot recall text information. Doing oral discussions as we go through a text seems to aid in comprehension, and I am hoping to implement more graphic organizers to get them thinking more actively.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletePart One: Background Information
ReplyDeleteHi,
My name is Ann Post. I am a 5th grade teacher at Creed Collins Elementary school in Pennsboro, WV (Ritchie County). I currently teach Math, Science and Social Studies. We are a small school with two Title I teachers. I have a Bachelor’s degree in Education K-6, Math Specialist K-4, Masters in Education and am currently working on a Masters in Reading. I am a late in life student. I worked many years as a supervisor then in 2005 I decided it was time to follow my dream and become a teacher. Besides teaching, I am a grandmother of three beautiful granddaughters and the mother of three wonderful children. I love watching Mountaineer football and spending time spoiling my grand babies.
Teaching fifth grade I deal with students who still are struggling with reading, decoding, fluency, and comprehension. Our school is a Title I school and is at 80% free and reduced lunches. My main concern for my struggling readers is that once they leave the elementary setting will there be continued help. I have been thinking about different strategies that could help students’ comprehension and fluency. Standardized testing puts so much pressure on students, I would like to look at different ways for them to analyze passages, understand what they are reading, and determining the best answer to questions presented to them.
Ann your post had many valid points. The school where I work has just received Title 1 and has made great strides in the areas of math and reading. We have so much more to offer our students. You make a great point about standardized tests and the pressure which is put on the student but the educators as well.
DeleteAnn,
DeleteI feel like our projects are somewhat similar. I agree completely about the standardized tests putting so much pressure on the students, especially for those that struggle with reading and comprehension. At one of our recent CE days, we were required to go through the test and attempt to answer the questions just so that we would have a better understanding of what our students will be dealing with. I love to read! But those test passages and questions were overwhelming! I'm hoping that teaching my students strategies to help with comprehension will help them feel a little less overwhelmed on tests and more confident in their reading abilities.
Ann,
DeleteI really understand where you are coming from when you talk about struggling readers when they leave elementary that there won't be much help. I do know at the school I teach at there are two middle schools my students feed into and both have 1 Title I teacher there who I know are wonderful. I just feel I don't want them leaving and seeming we didn't work with them to see a great difference. I really want them to have those strategies and be able to analyze what they read. Instead of teaching those things to a test but teaching them to be successful and have a toolbox of ideas and strategies to succeed in whatever they come across.
Hello. My name is Kelly Maze. I live in Stonewood, West Virginia. It is located between Clarksburg and Bridgeport. I am working towards a Master's Degree in Reading Education. My Bachelor's Degree is in Elementary Education. I hold a permit to teach Title I reading to middle school students at Washington Irving Middle School in Clarksburg. This school is a great place to work. The staff is always working together, both professionally and personally. We are a team. I am fortunate. The teaching profession is where I am suppose to be. I enjoy teaching and interacting with the students. Their input to their education is important to me.
ReplyDeleteAs action research, I would like to see how sight word recognition can increase fluency. On a daily basis, I see students reading a passage and do not have a bit of understanding of what they have read. They do not know what some of the words mean and they are reading to get through, not to understand. This is difficult for me to watch. I try to explain the meaning of various words through pictures, acting out, and simple definitions. This seems to help most. I teach at a middle school and children this age can be difficult to teach because they are "too cool." Are there any other ways to help them become a more fluent reader? I want my students to not only know how to pronounce the words, I also want them to understand the words.
Hi Kelly! It is nice to have another class with you :) I think your idea for your action research is wonderful! It is sad to think that your middle school students have made it that far without appropriate sight word recognition. Recognizing sight words immediately without having to think or decode, I believe, will help your students with their fluency tremendously. Not only in the aspect more accurate reading, but also with comprehending the text. The less they have to decode, the more likely they are to understand the passage I think. I am anxious to follow your research throughout the semester!
DeleteHello Kelly- I apologize for posting my answers in response to your post. I tried posting it twice yesterday in the correct manner, but everytime I check this page to see if it is there, I can't find my actual answers! I am notifying the instructor.
DeleteKelly! I'm glad to see you are in this course my friend! Your action research plan is definitely relevant as I see this in our students when having them fill out forms and read passages for project "CHAT". You couldn't have been more on point about the team efforts and moral at our workplace! We are definitely fortunate! Good Luck with your project; I'll be keeping up with your research!
DeletePart 1
ReplyDeleteHello my name is Nathan Heis. I live in Jackson County WV and teach at Spencer Middle in Roane County. I teach in a self-contained classroom and have seven students in my class. I teach math, ELA, science, behavior, life/social skills, and incorporate history within the other subjects. This is my last semester in the program. Before this I worked at a local mechanics garage and earned a degree at WVUP. I was a substitute teacher for two years prior to entering the program. When not working on course work I spend the rest of my time farming. This leaves little free time but I find it quite enjoyable. I love sports and love watching college football, basketball, and my local sports teams.
Part 2
All of my students are struggling readers and way below grade level in math. After reading the text and also looking at results from various strategies used would help to determine how to approach each student’s instruction and which works best for each one individually. Educators are always looking to find the right approach to use and action research can help us to find the right one for each of our students. For my students I would like to increase sight word recognition and also increase reading comprehension. Students are struggling with on grade sight words which cause difficulty in comprehending the text which they are reading. Having been with these students for two years they have made small gains in their scores but will need continued practice and instruction in these areas. I would like to see if an increase in sight word recognition impacts the students comprehension abilities.
Hi Nathan!
DeleteSo you are a WVUP Grad. I taught in Wood County for 10 years before returning to Harrison County when my husband retired. WVUP has a lot of great instructors and I have had the pleasure of working with several teachers from Jackson County. It's a great area for farming, too!
I find your idea of studying the affects of increased sight word recognition on comprehension skills very intriguing! It would seem to make sense that one would follow the other, but who knows. I wish you well in this course and in all your challenges ahead!
Nathan,
DeleteGood to see you in another class together! I can relate to the students being struggling readers as well as below grade level in math. I often find myself concentrating on fluency in reading class but my students struggle equally in math. I have started to focus on math vocabulary as well as sight words and passage fluency. Very interesting post. Good Luck!
My name is Rachel Butcher. I'm from Braxton County. I teach Special Ed at Braxton County Middle School (7th and 8th grade). I have worked as a long-term sub in Special Ed for the last two years, but I just recently got hired on permit (it will be official on Feburary 1). Last year, I taught special ed at the elementary level, so this was definitely a big change, but so far I am loving the new job.
ReplyDeleteThis is my last semester in the multi-cat (5-adult).Yay! Almost finished! I'm taking three classes this semester so that I can go ahead and get my autism certification as well. Might as well get it all over with at once, right? However, I'm already stressing and feeling a bit overwhelmed with taking three classes!
I'm a single mom of a pretty awesome daughter. She's in sixth grade and involved in a lot of sports so that keeps me pretty busy as well. When I have free time, I enjoy helping out with my daughter's softball team and getting outdoors as much as possible (mainly in the summer time). Kayaking is definitely my new obsession!
Good luck to everyone this semester!
3.What problem or student learning need will your project address - why is this an important focus for your project?
The student learning need I want to address is reading comprehension. Comprehension affects students in all academic areas. The majority of my students have not yet mastered basic reading skills and continue to struggle in the classroom with comprehension and summarization.
4. What is your idea for your guiding research question or questions?
The idea for my project is to look at strategies focused on reading comprehension. I'm still deciding between three different strategies: Read Around the Text, Story Pyramids, and QAR's. As of right now, I'm leaning more towards QAR's and how much of an impact this strategy has on improving comprehension.
Congrats on being so close to graduating. I hope to be done by the end of this summer! I bet you are so excited. Reading comprehension is so valuable no matter what subject you are teaching. I hope your project goes well and you are able to make an impact in the world of education! Best of luck.
DeleteThree classes can be very overwhelming. I have already completed both autism courses needed for the autism certification. If I can help in any way, please do not hesitate to ask. Good Luck this semester.
DeleteHi Rachel!
DeleteI have only taught in elementary grades. I couldn't imagine jumping from elementary to 7th and 8th grade! I agree comprehension is a big issue for students. It is very important in all subjects, not just reading class. I also see a struggle with reading comprehension with my students. I like that you have already considered some strategies for your project! It sounds like you have a great head start. I am eager to see your results!
Hi Rachel! I have never taught the middle school grades, so I look forward to seeing your action research results. It will be very interesting to me, since you're planning to focus on reading comprehension. This is a big issue in the elementary school reading curriculum, so I am curious to see how middle school comprehension results will differ from those of us in elementary!
DeleteMy name is Michelle Wilfong and I currently reside in Pocahontas County, WV. I grew up in Moorefield and moved to Pocahontas County in April 2014 when I married my wonderful husband. We live on a 5,000 acre farm where we have 750 brood cows and 800 sheep. This keeps us very busy! I graduated from WVU in December 2014 with my degree in agriculture and extension education. I am currently employed at Pocahontas County High School where I am the librarian/media specialist. I truly enjoy my job but hope to become and ag teacher once our current one retires. I am currently working on my Master's Degree in professional studies and hope to be complete by this summer!
ReplyDeletePart 2
1.What new insights do you have regarding action research that you think would be valuable to other professionals?
I have learned a lot about action research and did not realize how important it is. I strongly feel that this would be an excellent professional development opportunity. This is only my 2nd year teacher and some of the items that we cover during professional development has not been really important. I feel that action research could benefit all teachers in all content areas.
3.What problem or student learning need will your project address - why is this an important focus for your project?
My project with address memorization and technological use. This is important to me because I am the media specialist as well as a future ag teacher. The information I retain can be passed on to other ag teachers throughout the state to help them in their classroom.
Hello Michelle,
DeleteWow, what a large farm. My husband's family farms strictly cows and that is hard work in itself. I believe your own personal experience would make you a wonderful agriculture teacher. I think focusing on the use of technology for your action research project is a great idea. I, myself, have difficulty adjusting to the constant change in technology. In my three years as a teacher we have switched grading and absent record keeping services twice. Once I have finally spent the time becoming familiar with a service it changes. Maybe being flexible and adaptive to the use of technology could be a facet of your project.
Hi Michelle! You have a lot of work on your hands with your farm! Farming has always intrigued me, and I have family members who keep cattle and sheep. Being an ag teacher has the opportunity to affect so many rural students in a positive way. My brother was big in the FFA in high school, and to this day, his favorite teacher was his ag teacher. He actually ended up getting a degree in Forestry because of the influence his high school forestry classes had on him. Good luck with your goal of becoming an ag teacher! I also agree that action research could be a great PD opportunity for teachers. It is great that you are already seeking to help others in your field through your research. I look forward to working with you this semester!
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ReplyDeleteHi guys! My name is Holly. I am currently in a long-term sub position as a Technology Integration Specialist at Morgantown High. I have been at MHS for the last three years as I finish my Masters in Special Ed. My first year, I was a long term Special Educator of multiple subjects and last year I was an Exceptionally Gifted teacher. These are the kiddos that have very high IQ’s, but also have an exceptionality such as ADHD, behavioral disorders and even Asperger’s. This year I have the best of all worlds because I can still do what I am passionate about which is teaching and also I get to work with the teachers to teach them how to use technology to benefit their students. Teaching the students how to use technology in helpful ways in their schooling is actually very satisfying!
For my project, I am thinking about my math students in my Special Education math class. I have known most of these kids for a few years now. I know that they struggle to remember/recall simple math facts. They struggle with simple things such as adding and subtracting two digit numbers, multiplication and division. They can accomplish these problems with a calculator and as per most of their IEP’s they are able to use them in class. I would like for them to be able to learn, memorize and be able to recall these things without having to always rely on a calculator since they are skills they will be using for the rest of their lives. These types of simple math problems are used in working with money, cooking, shopping and etc.
Part 2:
1. Just like in schools, achievement gaps are also prominent in other work situations. For teachers, we identify the problem that we may be seeing, gather data and synthesize the data and then develop a plan to remediate the problem. The same thing is done in managerial positions. Action research can be used when a gap of performance with your employees. Just like in classrooms, success is felt as a whole. For a team (or classroom) to be successful, it is very helpful to be able to work thought any gaps so that others (or students) are not left struggling.
3. My project will address the lack of the student’s knowledge or ability to do many simple mathematical problems. I will think through the various supports such as charts, memorizing techniques and etc. to aid in finding the best possible solution to the problem presented. This focus is important because at this point in their mathematical progression because they know the processes of the problems, but make small mistakes that leads to the wrong answer. As I stated earlier, doing these simple math problems will make their adult lives easier.
I am very interested in reading more about your research project. I teach sixth and seventh grade students identified as ID and they also struggle to add, subtract, multiply, and divide without using a calculator. Good luck this semester with your project. I hope that it will be very insightful for you.
DeleteMy name is Stephanie Guzik. I live in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia with my husband and our three children. I am pursuing a Master’s Degree in Multi-Categorical Special Education. This is my second year teaching Special Education in Berkeley County. I am feeling the pressure of juggling work, school, and my family life. I am hoping for the best as I finish up my degree this semester. It helps to know that I am not alone and that many others are successfully accomplishing the same tasks.
ReplyDeleteI teach sixth and seventh grade students who have been identified as ID; however, two have also been identified as BD. I deal with challenging behaviors on a daily basis. These behaviors interfere with the academic achievement of all of my students. They also interfere with the students’ social relationships. Dealing with these challenging behaviors is a major issue that I face. My question for the Action Research Proposal would focus on the lines of improving, managing, and dealing with these challenging behaviors in order to help my students to be successful.
Hi Stephanie! A fellow Eastern Panhandler! Congrats on being in your last semester. I hope it goes well for you as you juggle your family and job with your education.
DeleteWow, it sounds like you sure do have your work cut out for you in the classroom. Do you have any strategies that you're hoping to try out to improve/deal with the challenging behaviors?
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ReplyDeletePart One
ReplyDeleteHello, my name is Brianna Jones. I graduated from Fairmont State University in May 2013 with my Bachelors in Education with Mathematics 5-9 and Library Science k-12. I have been at Robert C. Byrd High School since I graduated from FSU. I spent two years teaching Math 1 and the last two years I have been the Library Media Specialist. In October 23, 2016 my husband and I welcomed our first child, Luke. He will be 3 months on January 23 and is already learning so much. Being a high school Library Media Specialist I am not given any classes. I have classes come to the library to check out books and use the computers a lot of the time, but I do not have a set class. If I am able to do an action research project, I would really like to do one possibly on of the effects of blogging in classes. I have used blogs in a lot of my online courses and have worked with students and some classes in the past on blogging. I am just not sure if I will be able to complete a project since I do not have a class. A lot of the students that I have worked with have a hard time writing and I think blogging can help them. By having students create a blog and post their assignments, would this spark an interest in writing again? Would students like to create blogs as a way to show their interests? Another idea that I have thought about would be problem solving for different ways to get more students to check out books. Would talking to students spark their interest in reading or asking about their favorite topics?
Part Two
1. Action research doesn’t only help those that are recording the process but those that are participating in it. Teachers are gaining new insights on what is happening and what can happen when certain things are performed. This can help other professionals by sharing their ideas and explaining what happened and what might need to be done to help. In chapter 2 in our textbook the author says that by completing action research projects the gap can also be shortened. This can help your students and your school.
2. Being a Library Media Specialist, I am always looking for new and creative ways to get students more involved with reading. I order books that they are interested in and take all of their requests to keep them coming back. I would use action research to problem solve a way to get more students to check out books. I want to create a section of the library that students can recommend books and get others wanting to check them out. By making students that read and have read a lot of the books they can share with their fellow classmates their opinions and get more of them interested in reading their favorite books as well. I don’t have a set class so hopefully I will have students coming in during their homeroom time to do this.
Hello Brianna! It’s nice to have another research class with you. I hope you have been well. Your proposed research topic sounds interesting. The media teacher at our school has students review or critic books. I always thought it would be interesting to have students share these with one another with some type of interactive board. Good luck this semester, and I look forward to hearing more about your study.
DeleteHello my name is Vanessa Ice and I’m from Barrackville, West Virginia. Currently I am a 2nd grade teacher at Watson Elementary School in Marion County. Watson Elementary School has grade levels Pre-K-4th. This is my second year as a 2nd grade teacher and my 4th year at Watson. Previously, I taught two years in 3rd grade and two years in special education. By the end of this semester, I hope to be a certified reading specialist and gain employment as a title one teacher preferably at Watson Elementary School or a school in Marion County.
ReplyDeleteSince I am going to be a reading specialist, my topic for my research will be in reading. Students at my school are having trouble with reading fluency. Im not quite positive which direction I will take my project, but it will be something I can implement in my classroom to assist struggling readers.
My classroom is very diverse. Approximately ¼ is being tested for the gifted program and approximately 1/3 of my classroom is being referred for special education for possible learning disabilities. Now throw in some serious behavior disorders and there you have my classroom. The students in the middle are making progress and are where they need to be at this time. This makes teaching very difficult. I don’t want to hold back the top tier, and I don’t want to make work too challenging for those struggling students. What more can I do to help all the students in my classroom become challenged and successful? Why is my school ranked as one of the lowest in achievement on standardized assessments?
2.How you might use action research to improve some aspect of your work or practice?
I hope that through action research, I can implement a plan that will help my students become more fluent readers and hopefully bridge the gap from where they are and where they need to be, or at least make significant strides, before they become 3rd graders.
3.What problem or student learning need will your project address - why is this an important focus for your project?
The problem I intend on addressing is reading fluency and helping my students become more fluent readers. The reason this is so important is because if a student is struggling to read and is behind, this affects multiple other subjects and cause the student to fall behind in those subjects as well. Being a good reader, in my point of view, is the most important asset in a student’s academic career.
Have a great semester everyone!!!! I look forward to working with you and getting to know you!
Hello Vanessa,
DeleteYour classroom sounds interesting, never a dull day! I can only imagine how hard you must work with such a diverse group of students. I will say one major difference between elementary school and high school is the change of students every class period which also allows for more differentiation in class groupings. I think your action research topic is a worthy one and is the same area I am planning to approach in my project. Many of my high school students are still showing extreme deficits in English language skills. I hope teaching a reading comprehension strategy will not only help them in their daily school assignments, but also in their summative assessments.
Hi Vanessa!
DeleteI also work at a school in Marion County, Blackshere Elementary. Your classroom sounds a lot like mine (minus the 1/4 gifted). There is never a dull moment in my room and we just take it day by day :) My day is very mentally exhausting as I'm sure yours is too! I am interested to see how your action research helps your students and may try some of your approaches in my own classroom as my students also struggle with reading fluency. Good Luck to you!
My name is Jessica Snyder and I currently reside in French Creek, WV. I was hired full-time on permit to teach special education at Buckhannon-Upshur High School. I teach two Math I-9 freshmen in a collaborative setting, and two freshmen Earth and Space Science classes in a collaborative setting. I also teach two small classes in a separate setting, one freshmen science class and one junior science class. I have 9 students on my caseload and am just about to finish my IEP season, the writing of the IEP’s and the meetings with parents, teachers, and administrators.
ReplyDeleteMy science department has curriculum goals that address reading comprehension and the overall continued development of English Language Skills within our lessons. My action research project will incorporate a reading strategy that will help my students better understand, interpret, and utilize grade-level assigned science texts.
2. The development of an action research project into the current curriculum will provide the teacher focused methods of measurement to systematically understand what teaching strategies are working or not working for their students. To truly measure the effectiveness of a teaching strategy a teacher must construct valid forms of assessment that can be applied to the teaching strategy. Outline exactly what my assessments will check will help me construct the most useful teaching strategy for reading comprehension.
3. My project will address reading comprehension strategies to be used with grade level science texts. Many of my students have English Reading skills that place them below grade average which makes the use of our grade-level texts a challenge for our students. I feel no matter the current level of reading comprehension a student tests on, any instruction in the ability to make inferences, draw conclusions and identify supporting evidence from a text is worthy of instructional time. All students will benefit from these skills whether they are moments of continued practice or the introduction of new strategies the students will use no matter the reading material.
Hi Jessica, I just want to say I love that your science department is also focusing on reading achievement. I am very out of tune with the goings on in high school instruction and look forward to learning more about your endeavors! Good luck!
DeleteHi my name is Enjoli Bell and I am from Kingwood,WV. I currently live in Fredericksburg, VA. I graduated from Fairmont State University in 2005 with a Bachelor of arts in education, my specialization is Art PreK- Adult. I started my career at Valley Elementary on a maternity leave, the next year I took a job teaching Art I to 9th-12th graders at Preston High School. I taught there for 4 years before moving to Virginia Beach, VA to get married. There I worked as a substitute teacher, .2 art teacher, and a distance learning teacher's assistant for foreign language classes in Larkspur Middle School. My husband received orders to Saratoga Springs, NY so we moved there and I worked as a substitute at an elementary school. In August his time with the Navy ended and we relocated to Fredericksburg, VA where he accepted a job at a nuclear power plant. I am in the process of renewing my VA teaching license but I do not plan on subbing at this time. The pay in this area is very low and does not vary based on your education. A little over a month ago I accepted a position at Quantico Marine base working in their childcare development center as a program assistant. I am currently working with pre-toddlers age 13 months-2 years of age. I am also keeping a watch on job postings for art openings. Ideally I would love to have my own art classroom again one day.
ReplyDeleteFrom my experiences in these various schools and classrooms I have become very interested in Positive Behavior Supports (PBS). In my next classroom I am hoping to be able to use action research to test out my class without PBS and also with a classroom PBS model in place. I am interested to see if I have less discipline infractions after the implementation of the classroom PBS. Some of my research questions are Is there a way to have my students behave better than they currently are? What effect(s) does a reward system have on my student’s behavior? And also did discipline infractions/time spent on discipline decline after the implementation of the classroom PBS? I feel like as an art teacher or a special teacher that many times our time with the students is limited and that improving behavior is the first step to keeping as many instructional minutes in our day as possible.
I am also open to other ideas and suggestions as I am not currently teaching in a public school. This is my last class in the Professional Studies program for my masters.
Hi Enjoli,
DeleteYou have lots of experience in lots of places. This will give you the opportunity to find your tribe! I served as a pre-k teacher for 8 years. I hope you enjoy your time with these little learners. I'm glad you are interested in PBS. Actually, there is a connected program called ECPBS, Early Childhood Positive Behavior Support. It is specifically tailored for pre-k - k. Interestingly, I loaned Tucker Turtle materials to a first grade teacher today. She has a child with behavior disorders and exhibits some challenging behaviors towards peers.Wood County, WV provided ECPBS training to all their pre-k teachers. Their referrals to the county BOE dropped drastically.
Best of luck in your search for an awesome job!
Connie Bowers
Hi Connie, yes it has been an interesting journey working in many different schools and in various roles, I am looking forward to eventually finding my own classroom again and feeling at home teaching art once again but in the meantime I am trying to learn as much as I can from these experiences to better myself for my next group of students. I had heard about PBS but had not really experienced it in place until I was substituting regularly in a school in NY. This is where I became interested in learning more about the PBS model and how classrooms and whole schools are adopting this method.
DeleteI am very open to other action research topics and look forward to talking with Dr. Jones about the alternative options as I am not currently involved in a school. Thanks for your response, best of luck this semester.
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ReplyDeletePosting for Sonjurae because her posts won't stay published...
DeletePart I
My name is Sonjurae Cross (pronounced exactly like lingerie but with an S instead of an L). I am an Assistant Professor of English/ESL at Hagerstown Community College in Hagerstown, MD, and I live about 30 miles away from there in Clear Spring, MD. I have an AA from my workplace, a BA from Hood, and an MA from Morgan- all in English, and for this program, my major is Professional Studies. I am enrolled in this program to become a more effective/professional teacher and to earn credits towards a promotion at work.
Part II
Question #3: In any English class, it is important that students are able to build on their writing strengths as they work to eliminate weaknesses. One of the most powerful tools an English teacher has is the feedback we provide on graded papers. The problem with this tool is that too many students gloss over it in favor of just getting to the percentage score, or they do not understand the comments and how to use them. A prime opportunity for learning when I return essays is to have students try to correct the errors in their papers.
Question #4: After reviewing the Welcome PowerPoint, I have modeled my question after the example used on slide 16:
• Fifth graders struggle with USING MULTIPLICATION AND DIVISION OF FRACTIONS TO SOLVE ALGORITHMS. How can I use GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS to help fifth graders MODEL MULTIPLICATION AND DIVISION OF FRACTIONS TO SUCCESSFULLY SOLVE ALGORITHMS?
My situation mirrors this one almost exactly, but with English:
• My students have trouble APPLYING THE RULES OF MECHANICS AND GRAMMAR taught in the class TO EDIT THEIR PAPERS. As such, how can I best MAKE USE OF FEEDBACK ON WRITING ASSIGNMENTS to help students APPLY KNOWLEDGE OF MECHANICS/GRAMMAR TO THEIR PAPERS DURING THE EDITING PROCESS?
In researching this question, I hope to develop a strong awareness of best practices for providing feedback to students without overwhelming them, such as minimal marking.
test-replying to see if it sticks
ReplyDeleteIt didn't stick - I can't see your post :(
Deletehi
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ReplyDeleteHello everyone! My name is Kristi Manley and I am a first grade teacher at Blackshere Elementary School in Marion County. My husband and I live in a small town about a mile from Blackshere; which makes the commute nice! Blackshere Elementary serves about 400 students from Kindergarten through Fourth grade. We have a pre-K in the building as well. We are a Title I school and have 4 Title teachers that work with students both in the classroom and in small pull-out groups. I am currently working towards my Master’s in Reading and would like to eventually be a Tile I teacher. I have had a couple ideas about the Action Research for this course (sight words, phonics, morning meetings), but I ultimately will be conducting this research using my students, so I want to do something that they need work on and that would be sight word recognition. I would like to do something involving movement and/or possibly music to help with sight word recognition in my classroom, but haven’t decided for sure if I’m taking this approach. I have not had a chance to read the text, so I will post Part 2 to this discussion after reading.
ReplyDeleteHello Kristi, It is nice to hear that I am not the only first grade teacher in the class. I am also thinking about using sight words for my action research because they are such an important component for young students. Good luck this semester.
DeleteKristie, Ive always heard great thigns about Blackshere Elementary School! My roommate completed her student teaching there last December! I love the idea of implementing movement and/or music. Especially for the little ones, I think it is important to have that included in your day! Good Luck! I can't wait to see how it turns out!!
DeletePart two:
ReplyDelete1.What new insights do you have regarding action research that you think would be valuable to other professionals?
A new insight I have is breaking down the five steps of action research into 10 steps. I believe this will help the teacher see the results in a more concise way. Following 10 steps instead of five allows for change within the research. The goal is to understand, evaluate, problem-solve, or even to find new ideas and see how they work (Johnson, 2012, p. 47). Using more precise steps will guide the teacher through the process.
Another insight is that someone sees that most research is written in a way that does not coincide with teacher schedules. I think when research is performed for education, it must be done by an educator who knows what teaching entails. Often, the steps to get the results are not realistic.
3. What problem or student learning need will you project address – why is this an important focus for your project?
I will focus on sight word recognition to increase fluency. This is an important focus because many students struggle with reading simple words. How are they supposed to read fluently if they cannot read the words? This causes them to shut down and avoid reading for practice. In turn, they do not understand what they are reading. Standardized test scores, such as the Smarter Balanced Assessment, suffer in English Language Arts because students cannot get through the passage. The ability to read fluently will prevent students from simply clicking an answer just to get through the test. Stumbling through words in the text will only slow them down and build frustration.
4. What is your idea for your guiding research question or questions?
The idea of improving fluency through sight word recognition is something I want to research because I see students on a daily basis struggle to read a simple passage. There are very few volunteer readers within my 80 students. I know the feeling of being a struggling reader. I was one. It was not fun. I know the anxiety of being called upon to read. Some students do not volunteer because they are embarrassed. I want them to feel confident when they are called upon to read. Most of my students have difficulty pronouncing words. This makes it tough to get through the reading and on to the questions.
References
Johnson, A. P. (2012). A short guide to action research (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Hello everyone!
ReplyDeletePart 1
My name is Kristina Peters and I am one of five first grade teachers at Anna Jarvis Elementary in Taylor County. This is the same school that my children attend/attended and the same school that I attended as a child. It is about five minutes from my house which makes the commute very easy. The school in made up of grades preK through 4 and has over 600 students. Currently there are five full time title teachers and a retired teacher program that works with students. This year I have 20 students in my class, which is so much better than last year when I was maxed out at 25. I know it is only five less kids but believe me it makes a huge difference. I am already dreading next year because the numbers coming up show that all five classes will be maxed out again, but I love first grade so I will deal with it. I am working on my masters in reading and am happy to say that this is my last semester (for reading). I am also working on a certification in SPED which means I will have a few more classes after this semester.
Part 2
2. How you might use action research to improve some aspect of your work or practice?
I am hoping that by doing this action research I will find a more suitable and memorable way to teach my students their sight words. I have several students that struggle to remember the words and continue to try and sound them out. While I am pleased that they know how to sound out words they have to be able to recognize sight words quickly and they are struggling with it. Therefore I am hoping that the action research will improve how I teach or implement sight word recognition.
3. What problem or student learning need will your project address- why is this an important focus for your project? As of right now I am not one hundred percent sure what I am going to focus on. I am thinking about focusing on either fluency or sight word recognition. I teach first grade so I need to focus on something that will be suitable for them and I feel that either one of the mentioned topics would be great. Since I am still pushing K words with some of my students I think that I will focus on sight words.
Hi Kristina! I also teach first grade and, like you, I am working on sight word recognition because that's where the need is in my classroom.
DeleteHey Kristina. I’m glad to see that we have these classes together. Wow! Five first grades, that’s a huge elementary school. I can relate to your comment about class size. I went from 23 last year to 18 this year. I feel like I’m able to give them more individual attention which is great. It is wonderful that you will have your Masters with two certifications. This will give you so many career options. I admire you for your dedication. If you do decide to focus your study on sight word recognition I’m sure that you will be able to find plenty of resources and literature to guide you.
DeleteI’m rather excited about doing some action research. As a pre-k teacher, I conducted some in my classroom concerning the acceleration of literacy instruction for a small group of pre-k students. These students knew all their letters and sounds, could clap syllables, recognize rhyming words and had started writing phonetically. I began formal reading instruction with them. It was a very special group of learners. It worked very well for my students and for me; it was great to try something new.
ReplyDelete1. As to insights to share, I believe this assignment will allow us to choose something that is purposeful and could potentially make a positive impact on learning. I like the fact that action research can be various lengths and that it is not formal. It really is to benefit us the teachers and in turn our students. It can strengthen our pedagogy and help us become more reflective teacher learners. We can all benefit from that.
3. The issue that looms large for me now is the fact that too many of my students are not making the reading progress I would like and they need. Although, 100% of my students have made progress from the BOY benchmarks to the MOY benchmarks; it’s not nearly enough.
Overcoming the inertia of the summer slide was difficult. But, the pace has not picked up sufficiently.
We do Jan Richardson Guided Reading at our school. It is a fabulous curriculum and it works. But, my struggling readers need something more. When I had my own classroom, I conducted all the guided reading small group lessons. My interventionist worked with my two lowest groups on Word Work. This took the form of targeted phonics instruction and practice for these students. It worked well. As an interventionist in the school I am presently working, all the interventionists conduct the guided reading lessons for our struggling readers.
I need to conduct the small group instruction, but, I plan to layer more direct explicit instruction in phonics. This is important because the 3-4 minutes I spend on phonics each day does not appear sufficient to move students forward.
My name is Hannah Brown. I graduated from Fairmont State University in the spring of 2015 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education. My concentration for my master’s degree is in Digital Media, New Literacies and Learning. I was born and raised in Wharton, West Virginia, a small town one hour south of Charleston. I cheered for Fairmont State University for four years, which lead to take on the coaching position two years ago. I am currently a GA in the destination education office at Fairmont State. A few things I am passionate about are my family, cheerleading, and traveling. I also enjoy working out, concerts, Duke Basketball, and being outdoors!
ReplyDelete1. What new insights do you have regarding action research that you think would be valuable to other professionals?
Just thinking back to when I completed action research in my undergrad, I just remember picking a topic I wasn’t interested in because it seemed easy. Find something you enjoy and really want to find the answer too. Adapt things in your profession to go along with your research. It will help you stay on top of it and be more engaged in your project!
2. How you might use action research to improve some aspect of your work or practice? 3. What problem or student learning need will your project address - why is this an important focus for your project?
I was thinking about using action research with my cheerleaders. One things some of them struggle with is time management, and that includes time studying. This semester I added a study hall program where they have to attend so many hours weekly depending on their grades and GPA. I want to do more research on student athletes, their time studying, how many hours they spend a week on cheerleading (or another sport) and calculate to see if study hall helps improve their grades. I believe this is an important factor to focus on due to the simple statement – “You are first a STUDENT then you are an ATHLETE. Therefore studying and
It's nice to have another course with you, Hannah. That's great that you gave your cheerleaders some time to focus on school work. College can be hard and not managing time well does not help. I hope you have a great semester.
ReplyDeleteHey! It's nice to have another with you as well! I'm excited to get the ball rolling!
DeleteHello all! My name is Devon Bucher (pronounced Boo-er). My google account still has my maiden name Schoolcraft. I am glad to see so many familiar names and faces in this class. For the last 10 years I have lived in Fairmont, WV. This is my second year as a fourth grade teacher at Monongah Elementary School which is located about ten minutes outside of Fairmont in Marion County. Prior to teaching fourth grade, I subbed for two years and taught second grade for one.
ReplyDeleteI graduated from Fairmont State back in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education degree. This is my last semester of graduate school. I plan to graduate this May with a Master’s degree in Education with a specialization in reading. Since I am working toward my reading specialization I would like my action research project to relate to reading or writing instruction. I’m not yet sure of what specific topic I would like to focus on. I’m considering reading motivation, improving writing skills, or vocabulary acquisition. Some questions that I find myself asking about my reading instruction and student’s reading include: “How can I better motivate them to read?”, “What strategies will help my students to become independent readers/writers.” “What instructional strategy is best suited for this particular student’s needs?”, and “How can I help my students to expand their vocabulary?”
Well, well, well! It great to see you are in my class this year. I haven't seen you in a couple years. It looks like we will be graduating together once again. As for the questions you have for motivating your students and expanding their vocabulary, I would suggest using Scholastic News magazines, if you don't already use them. Our school purchase them for the entire school. They come weekly and contain information in the news and are appropriate for every grade. They contain multiple articles, online resources, graphs, and comprehension.
DeleteTesting to see if it works.
ReplyDeleteHi! My name is Sandy Wilcox. I am a Title 1 Teacher at Big Elm Elementary primarily for 3rd grade working on reading and math skills. I am currently working towards a Masters in Reading through Fairmont State. I live in Shinnston, WV with my husband, 2 dogs Flika and Fawn, and cat Fin. This April we will be adding our first baby, a boy, and we are very excited for all the new adventures he will bring.
ReplyDeleteFor the research project I am thinking of focusing on using reader’s theatre to enhance my students reading fluency and comprehension skills. The question I have about this is how to gage my students gaps of learning with fluency and using the reader’s theatre correctly.
3. What problem or student learning need will your project address – why is this an important focus for your project?
The problem my project addresses is fluency and comprehension for the reader(s). Many students that I work with have trouble reading fluently and then their comprehension is lower because they don’t understand what they are reading. Fluent reading is important for my project because having the students use reader’s theatre and reading the script multiple times will help them become more fluent with the reading and then their comprehension of the reading should also improve.
4. What is your idea for you guiding research question or questions?
My question for the guided research is: Can using reader’s theatre improve a student’s fluency and comprehension?
Hi Sandy. I would love to be able to do something with readers theatre but in middle school they are more than reluctant. I love the idea of having them write the script to become familiar with the fluency associated with the acting.
DeleteHello, I am Amber Dunn. I am currently a Title I teacher at Mountaineer Middle School in Harrison county, West Virginia. I live in Clarksburg with my husband of almost three years (together for 11 years total) and our son Grayson, who is 6 months old. I am currently in the Reading Specialist Master’s program and hope to complete the program after this summer.
ReplyDeleteI currently teach 4 math classes and 1 reading class at my school. My reading class is a skills class so all of the participants have been identified with having some type of reading difficulty. With this class also comes many behavior difficulties as well. MMS is a low SES school in the county.
I would love to have behavior, literacy and technology to be a part of my project but am not yet sure how I should link them together to yield a successful project. Any suggestions would be helpful. I would like a nice telling project that is not too overwhelming for my group or myself (my plate is running over right now as it is.) In addition to this course I am also in 6301 Research in Education so I am hoping one will make the other clearer in terms of how to do the research most effectively. Our school is making a huge push to make technology accessible to all students in the classroom. I believe a project that includes technology and behavior monitoring would be hugely beneficial to my school.
ReplyDeleteTo my understanding so far (since my textbook is still in the mail,) action research is a learning process conducted in real settings with real students to give educators insight into practices and techniques that can progress his or her teaching and understanding of students. The overview of module one stated that “action research is not a quantitative study [although you may collect numeric data.]” To me personally I believe that the best data is not in numbers but what you see. A student can do 100 math problems and get every answer wrong but they may be grasping the process correctly. We can work to catch the basics up to new process they have obtained. Students can also be different from day to day. In my school just this past and current year we have had parents/grandparents pass away, a student diagnosed with cancer, parents arrested for drug, students homes burn down. This data tells me so much more about student performance than a number ever could.
In my small amount of experience (about 3 years) I have heard multiple times that the activities from the previous year are just not working this year because the students are just different. I wrote the following explanation for the educational research class and I believe it fits into this discussion as well. Education is an ever changing field of study. Teachers are not only educators or givers of knowledge but lifelong learners. Each year teachers are faced with a new group of students from all different background and creeds. What worked last year is showing no signs of success this year. The biggest insight I gained was how the world of education would just stop if it weren’t for this research. Advancement would cease to exist and we would be left in limbo of what we already know, and what we already know is simply not enough. Educators must adapt and change to the changes of our population. We must develop a rigor that is not only appropriate but challenging for our students. Right now we are living in a culture where drug use is very prevalent. I can see much research coming out in the near future on teaching students who have been exposed to prolonged drug use from the womb. Personally, I as a teacher know about all of the education research being published in our vast world but finding the time to decipher and sift through it all is a daunting task. Yet, is a task that deserves more attention.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post. It is so true that educators have to continually be learning and changing to meet the needs of our students. Thanks for posting. I hope you have a great semester.
DeletePart Two:
ReplyDeleteWhat new insights do you have regarding action research that you think would be valuable to other professionals?
There is a great amount of valuable information and insights included in the assigned readings and other resources in module one. For other professionals, looking to conduct action research, I believe that the AR Planning Form and the Step by Step Guide are both fantastic resources. They clearly outline the planning process with the most valuable information and guiding questions. I found the information in chapters two through four of A Short Guide to Action Research to be beneficial to my working knowledge of action research. Obviously, the ten steps described on page 36-38 are also essential to plan a study. And for colleagues that are having difficulty identifying a topic of interest or a problem to solve may find the many examples of projects and suggested questions for research in the later portions of chapter three and four to be helpful.
How you might use action research to improve some aspect of your work or practice?
Before reading, I knew that teachers can use action research to both learn from the experiences of other professionals and to examine their own practices. From chapter two of our reading, I learned that action research provides a means for teachers to take charge of their own professional development. They may guide it in the direction that suits their class’ or schools’ specific needs, in addition to promoting reflective teaching, studying the effectiveness of pedagogical strategies, and encouraging educator collaboration.
What problem or student learning need will your project address - why is this an important focus for your project?
Currently I am still in the brainstorming portion of the process. I am currently investigating areas of interest for me including some different strategies to improve reading comprehension and vocabulary. I am also extremely interested in improving students’ motivation to read and write. I am using the organizer and problem prompts provided in the text to identify difficulties or areas of possible improvement in my class. After doing some additional research this weekend, I hope to come to a conclusion.
Johnson, A. P. (2012). A short guide to action research (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Vocabulary seems to be a struggle for young readers, along with reading comprehension.
DeleteYour initial ideas sound interesting, especially the one about improving students' motivation to read and write. Reading is so important, across all subjects, so finding success in your classroom can impact many other instructors! Good luck! I'm curious to hear more about your project.
DeletePart Two
ReplyDelete1. Action research can be very valuable to other professionals. It can provide insight into ways to help educators better do their jobs. After reading over the chapters, I have gained new insight into action research. There is no need to have every detail or to have overly thick descriptions. It is important for researchers to weed out the information that is not pertinent to the report. All of this extra information could make the report difficult to read and could lead the reader to miss the point of the research. Another insight was that while there needs to be regular observations, they do not all need to be long. Some can be as simple as a quick note to show dates and times.
2. I do use action research to improve my work. My students often struggle with certain concepts and ideas. Using action research can help me to gain insight into ways to best meet my student’s needs in order to help them be successful.
3. My students struggle in multiple areas of the curriculum. I want to be able to help them to better comprehend what they read. After looking over the course lessons more thoroughly, I want to address their ability to identify main idea. I will teach my students how to use the RAP strategy in order to help with this skill. Their overall comprehension is a weakness in reading passages across the curriculum. I am hoping that this skill will help them to be able to think through the process independently to be able to comprehend what they read.
4. My guiding research question will be whether the RAP strategy can help my students improve with identifying main idea.
Part Two:
ReplyDelete2. How you might use action research to improve some aspect of your work or practice?
Typically, when I think that there is an area of my teaching or students’ learning that needs to improve, I come up with what I think is a logical solution, implement it, and then determine if it worked or not based on anecdotal evidence or my feelings. Being able to follow Johnson’s (2012) systematic process for action research (pp. 36-38), specifically steps 3, 4, 6, and 7 which all relate to collecting, analyzing, and reporting data, will provide a solid foundation of support (either for or against) the classroom changes. Additionally, I will now have evidence and conclusions to share with other instructors!
3. What problem or student learning need will your project address - why is this an important focus for your project?
As I discussed in my original posting, I plan on addressing the student learning need of note-taking in a math class. This is important because students are often unable to use their classroom notes as they complete homework assignments outside of class. They also seek assistance of tutors in the Learning Support Center too quickly – that is, they often do not even try to solve a difficult problem on their own and instead reach out for help right away. While on one hand, reaching out for help is a good thing, the other side of the coin is that they are not becoming independent learners.
4. What is your idea for your guiding research question or questions?
My idea for the research question is this: “Can teaching students best practices for taking note in a math class result in them becoming more independent learners?”
I love this idea. I teach mainly math and it is hard for young students to become independent learners in Math. Most students are afraid of math and struggling with the basic concepts.
DeletePart Two
ReplyDeleteHow you might use action research to improve some aspect of your work or practice?
I am hoping that I can find a way for my students to not only know their sight words, but also remember them. All too often, the weeks sight words are memorized for the test and then forgotten, I want to make sure my students are retaining the information long-term.
What problem or student learning need will your project address – why is this an important focus for your project?
I want to focus my action research on increasing sight word recognition (long-term). I have noticed with my class this year, that sight words are an issue. I have several students who have not mastered their Kinder sight words, so they were already behind when they entered first grade, and now they are struggling to read on level text.
Your idea for your research project is great. I am interested in learning more about the insights that you gain from this research. My students also have difficulty retaining words long term, so I am looking forward to hearing more about your project.
Delete1. What new insights do you have regarding action research that you think would be valuable to other professionals? In chapter 2 the author talked about “Teacher Empowerment.” The section talked about bringing your own talents, methodologies, philosophies, and talents to the action research project. It allows you to collect the data and problem solve the exact issues your students are having. The final outcome is the use of best practices, professional growth, and development (Johnson, 2012).
ReplyDelete2. How might you use action research to improve some aspect of your work or practice? The action research project I am looking at is analyzing text to answer comprehension questions. I believe that this would improve the way I teach my students to approach text reading and analyzing the information. It will increase their abilities to take standardized test and how to enjoy reading all types of text.
3. What problem or student learning need will your project address-why is this important focus for your project? Comprehension is my focus for all students. Even good readers have problems reading informational text, finding the evidence needed, and answering comprehension questions. I believe that through reading strategies these techniques can be improved on.
4. What is your idea for your guiding research or questions? My idea is to teach students how to read their questions before reading their text. It allows them to have an idea of what they are to look for while reading the text. Most of the problems young students run into is, they read the passage and then the questions. Which results in re-reading the passage searching for the answer. I feel if they learn to read their questions first the outcome will be better. The problem with reading and standardize testing is the passages are long and boring to the students, most will not go back to the passage to find the answer. They will just guess. Especially the struggling reader. If they can learn a strategy to help reduce re-reading, their performance will be better.
Bibliography
DeleteJohnson, A. P. (2012). A short guide to action research . Upper Saddle River, NJ : Pearson.
Hello Anne. I agree with you that comprehension should always the main focus. Your chosen topic is very interesting. I also teach this test taking strategy to my fourth graders to prep them for standardized testing. I look forward to hearing more about your study.
DeleteDiscussion post part 2
ReplyDelete1.What new insights do you have regarding action research that you think would be valuable to other professionals?
I think there is a lot of misconception as to what action research actually is and involves so I think sharing how action research can help teachers in their own classrooms with real problems that they are facing on a day to day basis would be beneficial to many professionals and schools. Schools could look into ways to add action research as their professional development. Staff would be much more enthusiastic to participate if they can see how they can incorporate action research into their actual classrooms and make their own improvements.
2. How you might use action research to improve some aspect of your work or practice?
I can use action research to find the problems that I am experiencing in my classroom with my students or even to look into problems that the department or school as a whole might be experiencing. Once the problems are identified then I can try to understand the reasons why these problems are occurring and what can be done to improve or fix them. Next I can look for solutions by creating a list of ideas or a means-end analysis (MEA) in which I describe the desired outcome. I can then choose a solution that seems the best fit and implement it. Next I would review the results, evaluate what the outcomes were and then could adjust and refine the process from there.
3. What problem or student learning need will your project address - why is this an important focus for your project? I will still need to talk to Dr. Jones about alternatives and I am open to ideas as I have not taught consistently in a classroom for many years now but from my most recent time working as a substitute in NY, I am interested in how Positive Behavior Supports can be implemented into my classroom and used to reduce the amount of time dealing with discipline issues and increase the amount of time spent on task.
4. What is your idea for your guiding research question or questions?
My idea for my guiding research question or questions are as follows:
Is there a way to have my students behave better than they currently are?
What effect(s) does a reward system have on my student’s behavior?
And also did discipline infractions/time spent on discipline decline after the implementation of the classroom PBS?
Hi Enjoll! We have a reward system for behavior here at school and I would love to know if it is truly working or not. Students earn a stamp every day that they are on the color green or above and they do not earn a stamp for the day if they were on yellow or red, had to go to second chance classroom, or got kicked out of school. At the end of the 9 weeks, students who earned a certain number of stamps for that 9 weeks gets to participate in an award of some sort. We take them to a movie, have a school carnival, go to the park for a day, etc. I would to see if this, according to research, actually works or not!
DeleteI am not seeing my first discussion post. Is there a way to find out?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Lori Matheny and I reside in Fairmont WV. I currently work at Pierpont Community & Technical College as one of the instructors for the ASL/Interpreting Education Program. I am also a contracting interpreter with Fairmont State University. I have a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies emphasis in education, and an associate degree in sign language interpreting. I plan to graduate in May 2017 with a Professional Studies MA degree. I am also graduating with a Life Coaching degree in February 2017, and plan to build a business around the life coaching specialization. The name of my business is called W.E.I.R.D. Coaching. The acronym stands for Wonderful Evolving Individuals Reaching Destiny. My mission for this business is to encourage and inspire individuals who feel “broken” to find wholeness in finding purpose to reach destiny. I am also enrolled at Liberty University to take their online Masters program in Professional Counseling beginning in May 2017.
DeleteI have decided to answer questions 2 and 3 as one unit.
2.How you might use action research to improve some aspect of your work or practice?
3.What problem or student learning need will your project address-why is this an important focus for your project?
It is my understanding that action research in education is primarily utilized to influence teaching by creating a diverse classroom. Using research in education for classroom purposes assists and supports teachers/instructors to create a platform for a multidimensional and multistage approach while making good decisions about the educational activities, strategies, assessments, and experiences that best serves the students and the communities within the educational dynamics. Although my plan is not to teach in K-12 settings, I do however , teach post-secondary for the ASL/Interpreting Education Program. It will be my intention to use qualitative research through the use of observations and open-ended questions to remedy the concern and problem I have with my students not passing their state interpreting performance tests.
My concern is to provide a way to bridge the gap between their summer and fall terms. I have noticed that students rarely retain their first year foundation of basic sign language and concepts that is needed for their success in their second year. Many struggle in second year and become overwhelmed, resulting in one of the reasons they are not passing the performance portions of the state tests to become certified interpreters. The data and evidence that leads me to believe the gap between summer and fall terms are detrimental for my interpreting students, is the fact they had great difficulty fulfilling the course outcomes, as well as the skills needed to pass the performance portions of the state tests.
A possible teaching strategy to remedy the gap between the summer and fall terms is possibly implementing a 1 hour special topics course. In this course I will implement Google chat as a way to have a visual, auditory, and kinesthetic approach to review the students first year concepts and signs needed to transition smoothly into the second year. In turn, this will provide students the opportunities to increase self-confidence and better passing rates for their state tests. The action research data will assist and support me in finding the answer(s) necessary to formulate a plan of action with purposeful and meaningful steps to reach full goal capacity for student’s success.
Thank you so much for locating it!!
DeleteHi Lori,
DeleteI can see you have a similar issue with your early sign language learners as we have with our early readers. Specifically, with the dreaded Summer Slide. We have found that the students who were just beginning to read lost the most over the summer. That makes sense because those skills were not firmly established. They had not yet reached the point of automaticity. Last year we tried sending home books and sight words and met with parents to "train" them in supporting their students. You might try using some technology with your students over the summer. I'm sure there must be youtube videos and programs that might hold the information in their brains and fingers a little longer. Good LucK! Connie
Hello everyone! My name is Teya Henthorn. I am getting started a little later than the rest of you, but I look forward to reading all about each of you in your first discussion posts. I find it really hard to write about myself, but here are some of the basics. I live in Barrackville, which is a small town outside the city limits of Fairmont. I have two beautiful children. My son is 11 years old, and my daughter is 8 years old. I am not currently married, but have been with my fiance for 11 years. But I will be changing my name this summer!!! And it is about time! We have been waiting for me to graduate from college, and I am excited to announce that this is my last required course before I graduate in May with a Masters in Special Education. I currently teach special ed. at a small school in Fairview, Wv. I have my certification in Special Education with Autism and hope to have my Severe and Profound certification by next school year. I love working with students with a disability. I enjoy taking them under my wing and building their confidence. My goal everyday is to have my students leave my room with a smile on their face. I am anxious to start my action research with my struggling readers because I feel that it could really be beneficial to their success.
ReplyDelete1.What new insights do you have regarding action research that you think would be valuable to other professionals?
2.How you might use action research to improve some aspect of your work or practice?
3.What problem or student learning need will your project address - why is this an important focus for your project?
I am a little familiar with action research from taking some classes in college. but I am not expert by far. As a teacher, research is is very crucial to maintaining a successful classroom because of the constant discoveries being made to the curriculum and strategies used with students. What we know about our students is that they are like snowflakes, no two are alike, so research of course is important when identifying the most effective strategies to use with them but who's to say its going to work with "your" students. During action research, data will be tracked during the entire process so that at the end, you can go back and decide whether it worked or not. If it worked continue to use it. If it didn't, it was documented and maybe find how it could be changed to better fit your students. This can help improve my work place because the use of action research allows us to discover ways to help students and help teachers to have a better understanding of ways to reach students outside of using the teacher's manual.
I completed an action research project in my undergrad that helped improve students' scores solving word problems in math because it was a weak area on their Westest scores the year prior. It showed success, and my host teacher continued to use it even after I graduated. I am really hoping to see the same success with my students during this semester. My caseload consist of mostly students with specific learning disability in reading so I have decided to focus on improving their reading scores using the Orton-Gillingham method to improve their reading fluency.
I am sorry. I posted all my information under one post.
DeleteI posted mine in one post too Teya, and I think some others did as well. So glad you're in this class with me :)
DeleteHi Teya, Because you have already completed some action research, I'm sure it will help a lot as you work through this project. Once you have done some action research, it takes some of the fear factor out.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct; data is collected throughout the project. After all success is measured and proven with our data.
I've read some very good things about the Orton-Gillingham Program. I will be interested in your discoveries. It may be something I could use with my struggling readers. Good luck, Connie