Wednesday, March 2, 2016
Second discussion/blog posting
The discussion for this module requires that you share the final version of your research question and some thoughts about how you might set your project up to conduct your research. You are invited to ask design questions and process questions of your peers and instructor, and share some of your ideas as everyone starts putting a project together.
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For my action research project, I plan to examine how targeted sight word and vocabulary practice improve passage fluency. My participants in this research will be my special education students that I pull out for sixth grade ELA. I am personally interested in ways to help them improve these skills and become successful readers because I have realized that a lack of literacy in my students negatively impacts every content area in their educational career. Improving student sight word and vocabulary recognition is important to improving passage fluency because being an independent reader is critical to future educational success. This project and its results will demonstrate whether or not the proposed methods can be used successfully to achieve the goal of improving sight word recognition and passage fluency.
ReplyDeleteI will conduct my research in my sixth grade special education classroom ELA classroom over a four week period using daily sight word and vocabulary practice for fifteen minutes at the beginning of class daily. I will use the Dolch Sight Word List for the practice drills. To obtain baseline scores for my students, I will assess their passage fluency and sight word recognition using EasyCBM, Reading Assistant and Fast ForWord. After obtaining those baseline scores, I will implement daily practice drills with sight words based on their reading level with goal of improving sight word recognition and passage fluency.
This is Sonjurae Cross's post. I can't get it to stick any other way.
ReplyDeleteResearch Question Final Version (after writing my introduction!!): In a nutshell, how can I both efficiently and most effectively provide and make use of consistent feedback on writing assignments in conjunction with error logs to help students apply knowledge of mechanics/grammar during the editing process?
ReplyDeleteResearch Sample:
Potential Setup: Right now, I am teaching a package course that allows students to take 1 level of developmental English in the first half of the semester and then take the next level in the 2nd half of the semester. Of course, students have to pass the first half in order to move into the second half, but they are the same group of students.
I plan on using my current version of the toolbar to grade papers for the first half of the semester and then using my new and improved auto toolbar and error log method in the 2nd half of the semester.
I will be using the following survey questions to collect information after returning each of 3 essays in the first half of the semester: last 15 min of class Feb. 7th, Feb. 16th, and Feb. 23rd
1. What issues have you had in the past with instructor feedback on your written work?
2. What issues have you had with my feedback on written assignments (outlines, drafts, sentences)?
3. What would make the feedback on your essays more meaningful or easier to understand?
4. What other types of feedback would you like to have on your written assignments?
Then- I will be documenting the time it takes to review comments with students and the types of questions I receive when I am returning papers in class for review( Feb. 9th, Feb. 21st, Feb. 28th).
I will also document how difficult it is to grade papers with both methods and how much time it takes (Feb. 7 and 8, Feb. 16 and 17, Feb. 23 and 24).
Then I plan on using this info to make revisions in my implementation during the 2nd half. I will still track all the same stuff and then I will compare at the end of the semester for results. I haven’t written my schedule for the 2nd half of the semester yet, but I will have it done before the 18th so I can add the dates to the Methods section of my assigment.
Any suggestions at all would be extremely welcome!!!
stick dagnabbit!
DeleteI see it!! :)
DeleteHallelujah!
DeleteI really like how you've structured your data collection. The schedule you've presented seems like it will work well to capture the information you need to evaluate. Do you think question 1 is necessary for all three essays? I'd think the answer would be the same. Perhaps collect the answer to that question after the first essay, and then on the second and third, just do questions 2, 3, and 4.
Delete(This is for your 7.5 week ENG 099 class? So then you'd be making changes to implement in your second 7.5 week ENG 100 class?)
You are correct- it makes sense to only ask the first question one time. I think I need to reword it to ask if they are completing writing assignments in other classes and if so, what types of feedback are they getting. I've already started them in my class, so I will make that change for next time. Yes- this is for my 099 class and the new toolbar will be implemented in the 100 class.
DeleteFor my action research project, I am wanting to get more of an insight on student’s thoughts, comments, or suggestions about the library. What books are students interested in? What suggestions do they have to make our school library better? What genre do they like best? Are books easy to find and check out in the library? These are the questions that students are going to answer on surveymonkey.com. I am going to use a sophomore homeroom to collect my data. On the first day of my project, I am going to meet with them to have them complete the survey so that I can see what they think and what suggestions they might have. Once I have collected all of the data from the survey and put the results in a table to better understand, I will meet with the students on a more one-on-one basis to hear directly from them. I want them to be able to feel that they are being heard and that I am taking their comments and suggestions into consideration. One thing that I am not certain of is my timeframe. I am not sure how long I need to be able to meet with all of the students given that they are in a 30-minute class.
ReplyDeleteHi Brianna,
DeleteYou have a neat action research project idea! Getting the students' input on things is always a good idea. When I was in high school, I didn't even know who my librarian was until junior year, and I didn't check out one book all four years. This is a great way to get students involved with the school library, and to let them know there are great resources to be had. You could do maybe a 5-7 minute interview with each student and take a few class sessions to do your interviews? How many students will be participating in your survey? Your results will be fun to look at because of the library experiences (or lack thereof...) I had from high school.
Hi Holly,
DeleteThank you for your feedback. I never used my high school library either and it drove me nuts that the librarian didn't care. We barely had any books to check out so no one used it. There are 25 students in the class that I will be working with. I am anxious to see what their responses are.
Brianna,
DeleteI love this project because the research is something that is directly affecting student thoughts and opinions! I feel that this will go over extremely well with your students and also help create a more nurturing library. I also like Holly's suggestion about a time framed interview; that might work well!
I like that your project's focus is to better the library to meet students' needs. Not only will it help to add sources that the students need and are interested in, but it will also help to show the students that their opinions matter. Often times I hear students mention that they do not feel as though school is important or helpful. This is definitely a great way to get them involved and show them that they are valued.
DeleteBrianna, I really like you idea about getting student input. My elementary school did something similar to this a few years back when we got a grant to remodel our library. All students were requested to write down their favorite books and what they liked to read about. Then the teachers in charge or the remodel put the information together and order new books based on what they learned from the students. Great idea for you project.
DeleteMy action research project is based on comprehension. This seems to be the biggest problem area for my students. My action research question is: Does the RAP strategy have an effect on increasing reading comprehension?
ReplyDeleteSo far, my plan is as follows: I will start students off with a pre-test from EasyCBM to check their reading comprehension. I will start them off with a passage from their reading level. If they pass at their reading level, I will increase by a level until they no longer pass. If they don’t pass at their reading level, they will stop there for now.
Once all students are at a point of not passing, I will then begin teaching them the RAP (Read, Ask, Paraphrase) Strategy. I will describe the strategy to them, model how it works, and then have them practice independently on practice paragraphs. They will use RAP strategy worksheets to help in summarizing paragraphs as they read. Once I feel that students have grasped how the strategy works, they will then take another test, but this time be able to use their RAP strategy worksheets as they read and to answer the questions. Once students have mastered the second test, I will then have them read passages without using the RAP strategy worksheets. They will then take a final assessment at the next level above their last passing level. This time they will not be permitted to use the RAP strategy worksheet with their assessment.
I will record students' test scores after each assessment. I will determine whether or not their scores increased with using the RAP strategy to decide if the RAP Strategy is an effective method for increasing reading comprehension.
Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
I also am using the RAP strategy for my action research project. I used the easyCBM website as well. I use this website often to help determine where my students are academically and which areas they struggle.
DeleteWhat is your plan for the students that struggle? I am sure that you probably have already thought about this and just didn't mention it in this discussion. I feel it is important to have a plan in place to monitor the students that struggle.
Good luck on your project.
My action research question is, “What is the best strategy to improve sight word recognition skills for kindergarten students?” I plan to complete a pretest using the first 75 sight words on the Dolch sight word list. For the first four days, I will only teach sight words using sight word flash cards. I will complete informal observations to make changes as needed. On the fifth day of implementation, I will reassess students on all 75 sight words to check students’ retention of the previous words and recognition of new words.
ReplyDeleteFor the next four days, the students will practice sight words using games and hands on activities. There will be ten stations the students will rotate through for the week. Some of the activities at each station will be writing sight words in salt, spelling the sight words with magnetic letters, Ice Breaker Sight Words, Jenga Sight Words, and Connect Four Sight Words. After the fifth day of implementation, I will reassess the students’ sight word recognition using the same 75 Dolch sight word list.
In addition to collecting data from the pre and posttests, I will be noting the number of students on task every 10 minutes. I will use this data to compare student engagement between both teaching strategies.
I will use qualitative data from the pre and posttests to determine the most effective strategy. I will also consider which strategy had the best retention rate and highest student engagement. This study will help me determine which strategy, flash card instruction or hands-on games and activities, is the best strategy to use to teach sight words for kindergarten students.
I am also focusing on sight words. I plan on focusing directly on using games and songs to teach. Good luck with your plan.
DeleteI am conducting my action research project on sight word recognition and retention. I want to know if using music and movement to learn sight words will allow students recognize and retain them. I plan on using Volumes 1, 3, and 4 of Heidi Songs Sing & Spell DVDs throughout this action research project. These DVDs set sight words to music and movement throughout this project. I am only collecting data on my struggling reading group (7 students) for this research, but will show the DVD to the entire class. I plan on assessing their knowledge of the sight words on each DVD before viewing and moving to the music, showing the DVD every day for a week or so, and then assessing those students again. Some of the DVDs are longer than the others because they have more words on them; I will show these DVDs longer in order for the students to hopefully retain the information better. I plan on conducting formal assessments in the form of the pre DVD and post DVD sight word recognition assessments and informal assessments in the form of observation/teacher notes. I will be observing and taking notes daily to see which students are actively participating in the DVD movements and which students are not actively participating.
ReplyDeleteHi Kristi! You have a great idea for your AR project! Having a music background, I think you will see positive results. Using music can help students to remember things like state names and the alphabet, so I'm sure it will be great for sight word vocabulary retention! You have a good plan laid out, and I look forward to seeing your results!
DeleteI am also examining the recognition and retention of sight words. I think you have a great idea using music! I know many of my student struggle with sight word recognition. Children love music and many learn better with music. I can't wait to see the results from your project!
DeleteI am really excited to hear about your final results. Using music and movement is a great way to learn. I think students will really respond to this. When my son was about two years old, I wanted to see if he could learn his letters by singing the alphabet song that is on the Leap Frog DVD. Not only did he learn his letters, he also learned the sounds. I was absolutely amazed.
DeleteKristi, I am also using the Heidi songs for my action research. I plan to incorporate games as well. Like you I am only focusing on my lowest reading group but plan to show the videos to all of my students. It sounds like are plans are very similar. Good luck with you research.
DeleteThe final version of my action research question is this: Can the use of graphic organizers during Guided Reading improve student reading level/get them closer to grade level proficiency? After some data collection, I confirmed a previous thought that a large number of our fifth grade students are reading at or below grade level, according to our MOY Benchmarking using Running Records. 53 percent of my school's fifth grade students are reading at or below grade level, and 100 percent of those in my Guided Reading groups are at or below grade level reading proficiency. I would like to use this AR project to improve our fifth grade reading proficiency.
ReplyDeleteTo set up my project, I plan on using the data already collected for students' current reading levels. I will focus instruction on my small Guided Reading groups. I have four fifth grade groups. Two groups I will use graphic organizers to accompany text, while two groups will receive instruction without the use of graphic organizers. After working with my students for a set number of weeks, I will reassess my students using the same Running Record format. I will record the growth for each group to determine the effectiveness of graphic organizers on improved reading level. I also hope to gain reading levels for my students in the process!
This is exciting and could make a real difference for those kids! It smacks heavily of the "action" part of the project. I would think this would make a huge difference in writing skills as well once students start to see how text can be organized and developed. Just a idea: you could have them write a parallel text by using the graphic organizer results of their favorite story and having them do one in the same manner with the same types of ideas but their own characters and events! that might be fun. I think you are really on to something.
DeleteHolly,
DeleteI think that your project sounds great. It is nice that you already have data to go off of. I always loved using graphic organizers when I taught Math. It is something that all students like to use and can be very beneficial. It is also good that you have small groups that you can focus on. They will be able to get help and really take advantage of their graphic organizers. Are you going to have the students create their own or will you already have them made for them to use?
Brianna - I had planned on already making them for the group to fill out, simply because of the group time restraint. We usually only have 20-minute Guided Reading groups. Using them for math would be beneficial too - that is a good idea for my math guided groups. :)
DeleteFor my action research, I want to figure out if quiet study hall hours help improve the GPA of my college cheerleaders. Every two weeks I will have them turn in a report card signed by their teachers with their grades on it. I will then wait til mid-terms to receive their mid-term GPA and test to see if it has improved. Study hall hours will depend on their credit hours and current GPA. Study hall hours will be with me during the week, and a sign-in sheet is provided to keep the girls accountable for their hours. I want to know if blocked off time each week for them to do nothing but study and complete schoolwork will improve their grades, keep them the same, or maybe even drop. For example: one girl is a nursing student who has a GPA of 1.89. She is currently on probation through Fairmont State Athletics and in her program. It is required through Fairmont State that she has three hours of quiet study hall per week. It will be my job to keep a rolling log of her grades weekly, as with others it will be biweekly. At mid-terms we will know if the study hall hours are working, if they need increased, decreased, or to stay the same.
ReplyDeleteIf anyone has any input please let me know!
hello,
DeleteThis sounds really interesting, but I wonder- is the study time going to be structured? If it is not and students get to choose what they do- would you really be able to define a causal relationship between the study time and the grades? For example, if she works on her math during study hours and her English grade goes up- would that be valid? I ask because i think i may have the same problem. i am trying to figure out how i will be able to tell whether better comments or the error log is responsible for improved performance if there is any. i think that because i included ALL of it in my long behind question, it should be okay. I also see that you say "GPA" versus individual grades, so that should cover it as well. Let me know what you think because it's not too late for me to change mine as well!
Thanks
Sonjurae
I was kind of thinking along the same lines as Sonjurae. Will they be in study hall working on the subject that they are currently struggling in, or are you seeing if study hall, in general, is beneficial for these student-athletes? I think this sounds like a great idea and will hopefully be beneficial to your girls.
DeleteFor my action research project, I want to determine if utilizing technology (such as kindles, iPads, etc.) will increase student reading. This is my second year as the librarian/media specialist. Within the past year, the number of library book check outs have decreased. However, the media center is always completely full during breakfast/lunch. Most are using the computers during this time.
ReplyDeleteI will gather data from the software to determine how many books were checked out for the previous month. I will then allow the students to begin checking out the digital tools. After a month, I will evaluate the amount of books read on the kindles or ipad. I then plan to evaluate the date and determine if student reading increased.
My first proposal for this class in module one was to see if technology enhanced student academic growth in math, but then I changed my mind! I think this is a great action research project. Do the kindles and iPads record which students were on them and what materials they were reading? Or is it more of just a general assessment of more or less reading (not individualized by students)? Interested to see if you see an increase! My guess would have to be yes!
DeleteI think this is a wonderful topic. I always wondered if reading fluency, decoding and comprehension skills would improve through the use of Kindles and audio books. I believe it would have a major impact on reading.
DeleteHi Michelle,
DeleteI am a Library Media Specialist as well. This is my second year too. I am anxious to see how your project goes and what your results show. I have a lot of students in my library during homeroom and lunch. Like yours, a lot of them use the computers but a good bit check out books as well. What software does your library use? We use Destiny/Follett and I know that it can give me the statistics of check outs and over dues.
Thank you for your encouragement! I am excited about this topic as well. The iPads/Kindles are simply to see if more reading takes place. Brianna, we use Destiny/Follett. The results may be something you can use in your library as well!
DeleteLogan Bowers-For the final version of my research question, I have decided to focus on the effects of socioeconomic status and how it relates to the summer reading slide. As a Title I teacher in my school, I am required to do all of the benchmark testing for second grade students. This was something that we started at the beginning of the school year last year so that the testing was uniform and administered in the same fashion for every student. After completing the beginning of the year running record benchmark, I couldn’t believe how many students, those particularly from low-income households, dropped in reading levels over the summer months. With that being said, it really grabbed my interest to know if their socioeconomic status plays a role in the digressions. This dramatic “slide” was seen across the border by all the Title I teachers, and so we ended up discussing options on how we could help play a role in trying to fix (you know it will never be eliminated) the problem. At the start of the 2016-2017 school year, our Title I staff decided to budget some money for summer reading materials in hopes of being able to distribute some resources to those needy students in hopes that they will actually use them over the summer and maybe not digress as much as they normal do. My action research will involve picking 20 students at random with 10 from low SES households, and 10 from middle + households. I will then record their end of year running record levels from the 2015-2016 school year, and also record their beginning of the year running record level from the 2016-2017 school year. After I record their levels, I will analyze the results by seeing how many levels each student dropped/gained/remained the same. Then I will see if the ten students from low SES households had a greater slide than the students from households of middle class or above. The teaching strategy that I would potentially implement with these students is providing them with books and materials to practice their reading at their own independent reading levels over the summer that would not require them to need an adult to help partake in the activities. I will obviously not be able to record the results as to whether the summer reading materials made a difference or not before this class is over, but it is something that I will definitely analyze for myself at the start of the 2017-2018 school year.
ReplyDeleteThis is an excellent topic. I would be anxious to see the results. I was blessed with wonderful parents; they read with me during the summer and kept my brain engaged. However, I can imagine some parents simply let their children slide by during the summer. If students would simply read for 15-20 minutes a day, I feel this would greatly help. Good luck!
DeleteFor my action research project, I am going to look at strategies to improve reading comprehension skills. My focus question will be, “Does reading the questions prior to reading the passages improve comprehension skills and test scores?” I think that students struggle with long passages on standardized test. The students become bored with the passages half way through and forget what they have read. I have watched students for years with that “bored out of my mind look” on their faces. I believe that if they are taught the skill of reading the questions first and know exactly what they are looking for will save them time. This allows them to read through the passage quickly and look for the answer. The passage now has a purpose. I am going to use interim assessments for my research because the time frame allowed for this project is not long enough for GSA results.
ReplyDeleteAnn I like your research question. I have many times told students to glance at the questions before hand as this will give them an idea of what to look for in a text. If they have guided questions beforehand this will help them to decide what information is important and needs to be remembered/written out. This is a great strategy to focus on and think it will provide great results for your research question.
DeleteAnn,
DeleteAny effort in promoting reading comprehension skills is a valid one. I have been assigning Active readings: two paragraphs, five questions, and all questions can be answered directly from the provided paragraphs. I do these exercises with my freshmen and junior science classes to promote reading comprehension in their grade-level text books. It is mind-boggling how many points are left on the table due to their inconsistent application of the text. I am pushing reading comprehension but written expression to answer their questions. I had them highlight the paragraphs and number sections to help guide them to the conclusion that everything they needed was in the text. Good luck and as I said before any progress made in your students' reading comprehension abilities should be counted as a success.
For my project I have finally decided to work on graphic organizers to aid comprehension. I have realized very recently when listening to my students read and then attempt to complete a summary that they are not comprehending what they are reading.
ReplyDeleteMy research question is: can the use of graphic organizers create a concrete connection for students between reading and better comprehension?
To conduct my research I am going to have to work fast and give my students simple organizers to work with. My reading class is the shortest class period of the day; lasting only 30 minutes. In addition to the short class period there is also the issue of the seven students with behavior issues. I am hoping to gain some insightful data from them on simple motivation. Do they really not comprehend it or is it just the fact that they do not want to participate? To start my project I am going to issue a pre test of sorts consisting of a reading passage and questions. Students will do this twice once without using an organizer and once using. Than we will conduct multiple activities using these organizers on a daily basis. Finally I will give a post activity using an organizer to see if student have improved. I will conduct multiple observations through out the course of the project to see how students are progressing.
I love that graphic organizers are a tool that can be used in all subjects even math, which I primarily teach this year.
My maiden name appears above. I am Amber Dunn now.
DeleteHi Amber, whenever I completed an action research project as an undergrad, I also worked with graphic organizers. Although that was seven years ago and I am having trouble remembering the specifics, I did find that graphic organizers were a great way for students to organize their thoughts and set them on the right track especially with writing assignments. Good luck and I cant wait to hear more about your work!
DeleteGraphic organizers are very beneficial and help tremendously. A teacher I work with uses these with her class on a weekly basis with her WV History units. These help to organize information in a way to which students will better understand the content and will be able to recall the information more easily. Hope this works out good luck.
DeleteI love graphic organizers! They are good in every content area! They really help struggling readers go back and refresh their memories of longer stories.
DeleteFor my action research project, I have decided to base my research on increasing fluency for 2nd grade struggling readers by repeated exposure to dolch site words.
ReplyDeleteI will select students in my classroom based on their current passage fluency progress monitorings and how much they have progressed since the beginning of the year. I will also administer a dolch site word assessment.
The possible setup for my research will be to work with these students over a 4 week period for approximately 20 minutes per day.
Hello. I am also researching increasing fluency by using sight word recognition in addition to repeated reading. I think fluency is the greatest foundation of reading. Students feel lost and frustrated when they struggle to get through even the simplest of passages.
DeleteI agree Kelly!! I have read that increased reading is very beneficial with fluency and comprehension. I have students who I know comprehend the material, but are unable to read assessment questions. Its so hard not to help them.
DeleteMy action research project is on reading comprehension with focus on the main idea of a text. The question I have is, does time of day play a role in well students grasp the concept. After observing some of the students many show signs of being tired in the morning while others are attentive and ready to learn. For this project I have decided to use Moby max and easycbm to help me with my research. I will start off by testing students on one of the sites. After having students’ complete assessments I will begin to give instructional strategies to help with reading comprehension. I will incorporate a variety of strategies which will focus attention on this area. I will continue to monitor their progress with moby max and writing samples. Once I have done this and split the class apart with testing times I will be able to see if there has been more growth in terms of scores in the evening or morning time periods. I think this could benefit my students if I am able to see when their highest attention rate is, less behavior issues, etc., all of these can determine how the educational time is spent and will in turn effect their abilities to master the skill in which I am focusing my action research on.
ReplyDeleteThis is an excellent idea for gathering data on how to structure time in a classroom. I wonder how will you initially determine which students lean towards which times of day, and how would that affect your study? Perhaps a survey of the students or their parents depending on age? Then, if you play to the strengths of the students and trust your results, you could probably reschedule based on those results alone. Would this information be applicable to other student groups or would you have to plan for an abbreviated form of the study each semester to implement anew? Just some thoughts.
DeleteI am interested in seeing the results of your project! I have noticed that my high school students are not fully awake and ready to work until around 9. Students arrive at our school as early as 7:00, I have a hard time being functional that early too sometimes.
DeleteI am conducting research on sight word recognition and repeated reading. Will using sight word recognition and repeated reading increase fluency rates? Many students struggle with fluency, which has them feeling frustrated with everything else that reading entails, including comprehension. I have a question for you all. Do you think it will be better to spend one week on sight word recognition and then the next week on repeated reading? Another way is to alternate days for which students work on sight word recognition and repeated reading. I thought alternating days with the activities might be best because it would break up the repeated reading a little. They might get a little exhausted if they are doing it continuously for a week.
ReplyDeleteKelly,
DeleteI would alternate days of instruction between sight word recognition and repeated readings. This would provide your students with the opportunity to immediately practice with their newly acquired recognition words. This would reinforce the learning and the recognition and provide a stronger foundation for the repeated readings. The use of alternating lessons will also benefit your advanced students to keep them interested and allow for earlier intervention or additional support for the struggling students. Kelly, I think your topic selection for your action research project is a worthy one and will benefit your students no matter the subject matter.
I agree with Jessica on alternating the strategies, I think that that students will benefit more with the practice if the sight words right off the bat.
DeleteHi Kelly. Our chosen research topics are similar. I too would like to focus on reading fluency, and I am also using rereading as part of my strategy, as well as modeling and student self-evaluation. Like you, I have seen many students that struggle with fluency. Although most of the students in my class this year are on-level and have good oral fluency, I do have a couple that are still struggling with fluid reading. I believe that this can be a source of frustration and possibly even embarrassment for some students. I am hoping that combining these instructional methods and delivering them through one-on-one instruction will help them to progress and feel more confident about their reading abilities.
DeleteI think that you are making a good choice by alternating the two strategies you chose. Like you said, repeated reading everyday may become monotonous for them. I am looking forward to hearing about your findings. Good luck with your study.
This is just to test to make sure I can post!
ReplyDeleteI would like to teach my students the SCROL strategy for data interpretation and graphing. My students need strategies to read graphs, interpret them, construct them, and they need to be able to draw conclusions from them. Many of the summative assessments and college readiness tests that students take, require a skill set many of my students do not have. I spent last semester teaching my freshmen science students a reading strategy to help build reading comprehension with grade-level texts. There was improvement in their comprehension skills on the post test data. This got me thinking that the SCROL (Scan material, Connect Ideas, Read the information, Outline ideas, and Lookback at the information and any questions) strategy could be applied to the interpretation of graphic information. This could be data charts, pie charts, informational texts, tables, graphs, etc. to help students systematically focus on what significance the data has. Many of my students have below-grade level reading skills and would benefit from specific graph reading instruction. My students think graphing belongs in math, and they fail to realize how pervasive informational texts are in math, English, history, and science. More and more testing, unfortunately, utilizes questions with graphing and my students needs additional instruction to provide confidence in attempting and increasing success when faced with this situation.
ReplyDeleteMy project will focus on determining whether or not student participation in Physical Education class activities will increase with the implementation of an incentive system.
ReplyDeleteI plan to inform students on the first day of class that they if the class as a whole has a weekly Physical Education participation percentage of 97% or higher, they will receive a “station day” on Friday of that week. A station day will serve as the incentive for my study. A station day consists of multiple activities being set-up throughout the gymnasium and students being able to choose which activity to participate in that day.
Prior to the implementation I will print off all students grades from the previous semester to compare to the “study” semester grades at the completion of the study.
I will record student participation in the online grade book to keep track of percentages for the week at hand. At the end of the day, on Thursday, I will calculate each class participation percentage to determine whether or not they have earned the incentive.
Hi, I find your project very interesting. I am amazed that students would not be willing to participate in PE. What grades do you teach? Do you have fewer students participating the older they get? Or is the problem with their peers? Are you going to have a rubric or guidelines that demonstrate or explain "what" or "how much" qualifies as participation? Are you going to have a visual or post or tell the classes how a class is doing? I will watch with anticipation if offering stations on Friday will increase class participation. Good Luck! Connie
DeleteI to am interested to see what your results will be, if i had to guess I would imagine that they will love the idea of free choice stations and work hard to earn that opportunity and they will most likely encourage each other to work towards achieving the participation percentage as well. I also would love to know what rubric or self evaluation method or checklist you will provide them with.
DeleteFor my action research project, my guiding question is: What are the best electronic resources that I can find that helps promote understanding and allows for application of basic math skills that the students can work on at home and at school with their chromebooks? Do these resources help them understand the processes of basic math?
ReplyDeleteTo conduct my research, I am going to find some aps or website/programs that will allow the students to practice the basic math skills in different ways and that will also allow me to track their progress. I will not allow the students to use calculators or their phones while they are doing these activities. Depending on the programs, I will either be able to track them from a teacher view of the program, or I will check their scores myself when they get done with an activity.
I think this is a great idea. I don't know what grade you are working with but I know that there are many sites that my fellow teachers use to help this one being moby math. The teacher can see what the students have achieved so far and where they are. It lets the students progress at different levels and the students can earn game time. I wish you the best of luck.
DeleteI am interested in seeing what results you get with this project. I recently subbed in an elementary school in NY where certain classrooms had implemented iPads and were using them for math and a variety of other projects. There were many times I saw the benefits firsthand and that the students seemed to be very engaged. There were also many times that they looked on task and truly were not and were not any more focused on learning the task at hand even with the use of technology.
DeleteMy research question is "Can the use of Reader's Theater, in small group build a better fluency for students who struggle with fluency as readers?" I chose this question because last year I would have loved to use readers theater with a student was struggling with fluency and was well below reading level but it was just that student and myself. He had a hard time focusing if we added other students to the group so it was just him and me. We did a lot of repeated readings and sight-word flash cards, but it was boring and we had to try to make it as fun as possible. This year I have a student who isn't as low as the last student but needs help with attention to fluency to make him a better reader. He is able to work with other students without much of a problem of focusing so I wanted to try and see if working on readers theater would help him have better fluency.
ReplyDeleteTo start off my research I will do a evaluation of his fluency up to this point in the school year. Also taking into effect his Star Reading and Guided Reading scores that have already been tested. Then I will record the student doing a cold read of the reader's theater to test it against the final reading through. Knowing that the student should show small improvement from the first to the last, but wanting to know just how much it helped to use repeated readings. I will start a new reader theater at the beginning of each week to see if it is just the theater itself that is engaging the student or if it is the repeated reading. I will do this for three weeks and then do a post test on the student to see if there was an over all gain in fluency.
Hi Sandra, I LOVE Readers Theater! I'm glad you are trying this strategy with your struggling readers. You are right, repeated readings will support fluency. Oh, but readers theater adds a whole new level of student engagement. Student engagement is the name of the game for improving learning outcomes! Good luck and have fun, because learning can be lots of FUN! Connie
DeleteA problem that most students have is reading comprehension. Students struggle to read on level because they cannot understand what they are reading. One area that could help them understand their reading is retell. Retell can be exactly what the students read or what they read in their own words. Focusing on a student that began school below grade level reading and has trouble retelling what the text is about or what it says. Many students are not reading at a current grade level accuracy and have some types of reading comprehension struggles. My focus for my research is if working on retell helps with improving reading comprehension.
ReplyDeleteQuestions that can guide this research could be: How will focusing on retell using a variety of graphic organizers help with comprehension? How can students use retell to write a summary of what they read and understood? How does focusing on retell help students reading comprehension scores? My plan is to evaluate retell and then use a variety of graphic organizers to help aid retell. Then students will retell by paragraphs and then pages of texts. Students will work on writing summaries to help with understanding of the texts they read. Also, using Running Record data, STAR Reading data, and informal assessments to identify the increase or decrease of retell on reading comprehension scores.
ReplyDeleteMy question is: “How will implementing explicit targeted phonics instruction affect my first graders’ reading scores?”
I plan to use two data sources. The first is the Jan Richardson Assessment Kit. I will use it to determine the reading levels of my students. This will provide the pre-test and post-test scores for my project. It includes a running record which will offer additional information to understand and determine phonetic skill levels. The second assessment is the 95% Solution Group Phonics Screener. This assessment will provide detailed information concerning phonics skills. It will guide me in determining specific skills that need to be targeted. For example, I need to determine which vowels are causing an issue for some students. Which students are successful with CVC words? Which students struggle with which blends? I believe, by implementing this assessment, analyzing the data gleaned from it, and applying what I find out, I can specifically offer targeted explicit phonics instruction.
Last week, at Nutter Fort Primary, all teachers conducted progress monitoring for reading. I also completed the 95% Solution Group’s Phonics Screener with my small intervention group.
Success, for my project, will be measured by the overall reading level not success at achieving specific phonics skills. I want to see if students learning these skills in isolation will be able to apply them to actual reading opportunities. After all, it will only matter if this intervention has an impact on reading levels, not with isolated skills.
I was wondering if anyone has implemented the 95% Solution strategies and if they made an impact on student learning?
For this action research project, I want to investigate the impact of a lesson on note-taking, specifically for a mathematics classroom, on students’ problem-solving skills. Does a lesson on note-taking (how to take effective notes in class, as well as how to use those notes outside of class) promote resourceful and independent learners?
ReplyDeleteI will collect data from two Introductory Algebra classes at Hagerstown Community College during the spring 2017 semester.students will complete a survey about their current study habits, including the quality of their notes, how they use of notes, how often they seek assistance, from whom they seek assistance, and how long they persist at problems before seeking assistance. Then, I will conduct a lesson (February 21) on effective note-taking and appropriate use of notes for studying and completing assignments. Then, all students will be provided with a journal template that asks them to record the first resource they utilize when completing each assignment outside of class, to rate the level of assistance they felt their notes provided, and how many attempts they make at a problem before seeking assistance. This journal will be collected every two weeks for a total of three journal submissions per student (March 2, March 23, and April 6). Finally, I will conduct an “exit” survey to see if students feel their note-taking ability has changed (and how) and if their study habits have changed (and how).
I will review the data (initial survey, journal entries, and exit survey), to see how students’ answers have changed. Specifically, I will be looking to see if responses change over time, indicating more resourcefulness (range of resources utilized) and independence (trying problems on their own, better/more helpful notes).
Hello, I am very interested in your chosen topic. As a fourth-grader teacher I teach some basic note-taking skills to prepare students for middle school. At the beginning of the year this is quite tedious because most come to me with no prior experience. I am curious, will your lessons be geared toward note-taking from readings or from lectures? From your description of both assessment, the survey and the journals, you seem have two great methods for collecting data. Good luck with your research, Rebecca.
DeleteThe skill that I am choosing to focus on for my project deals with identifying the main idea of a reading passage. I will be teaching my students how to use the RAP strategy to identify and summarize the main idea of a passage. My driving question will be whether the RAP strategy can help my students improve with identifying the main idea. My overall goal is that my students can use this strategy to help improve their overall comprehension.
ReplyDeleteThe strategy that I chose to use to help my students is called the RAP strategy. This is a three-step strategy: read a paragraph, ask “What is the main idea?” and put it into own words. I will teach one introduction lesson, using participation for evaluation. Then, I will reteach the lesson and have students complete work in which they will use a graphic organizer to help guide them through each step working with a partner. Lastly, the students will be expected to perform the steps individually. I will monitor the students to determine who seems to be struggling. These students I will work with individually, as well as, pair them with a stronger reader. For remediation, I will pull students who need re-teaching during SPL.
My pre-assessment was done using the easyCBM website. This helped me to determine the grade level at which the students were comprehending what they read. I will continue to use this assessment; however, I will work with each student to determine if they can follow the steps of the RAP strategy during the assessment. Also, as we work through each lesson, I will be able to monitor each student’s progress to determine which student is struggling and needs remediation.
I am interested to see if this strategy helps students with comprehending the main ideas of what they have read or not. Many times as a substitute I have felt that the students did not understand the materials that we had just read in class.
DeleteMy focus is reading fluency. I plan to explore the question, “Does modeling, self-evaluation, and re-reading improve oral reading fluency?” Reading fluency, including oral reading skills is one of the five components of reading. It is common misconception that reading fluency is merely how many words-correct-per-minute (WCPM) one can read aloud. Fluency contains more components than just speed and accuracy. The National Reading Panel’s definition of fluency includes the ability to read text with “good expression”.
ReplyDeleteI plan to work primarily one-on-one with one of my fourth-grade students who struggles with oral reading fluency. I am current working on creating a profile of my reader using information from two different reading surveys and the Burke Reading Interview, as well as teacher observations.
Next week, I will administer some assessments such as a miscue analysis, measure the WCPM, the Gray Diagnostic Reading Test (GDRT), and an assessment to measure the quality of a student’s reading prosody. Intonation, timing, stress, and focus are all essential components of prosody. To measure these component of fluency I am considering using either the National Assessment of Educational Progress Fluency Scale which was developed for the 1992 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in reading or a checklist developed by Hudson, Lane and Pullen (2005) which provides a more detailed assessment of a student’s prosody. I have never formally assessed prosody, so I would love to hear from anyone has had experience working with these or any other methods.
Then I will begin my one-on-one sessions with my reader. During the first session, I plan to inform the student of what our focus will be and help them to set a reading fluency goal for themselves. During this session and all sessions that follow, the student will be recorded reading an unfamiliar grade-level passage aloud. I will measure the number of WCPM and complete the prosody assessment. Then I will model how to fluently read the passage aloud. We will then listen to the student’s recording together. The student will use to recording to reflect on their reading and complete a brief self-evaluation. They will then practice reading the passage aloud two more times before being recorded and timed once more. WCPM and the prosody quality will be measured again, and the student will once again complete a reflection and self-assessment after listening to the recording.
I plan to have a total of ten one-on-one sessions implementing the fluency strategy described above, this does not include the sessions used to gather information for the reader’s profile. Each session will last approximately 20 to 30 minutes and take place twice a week for five weeks.
I am working with a friend of mine who is an elementary art teacher as I do not currently have a classroom of my own. Together we are going to implement a multicultural art unit with her fourth grade students. We will give a pretest and a post test at the conclusion of the unit to see if their learning improved. The goal is to have all students at 80% or higher at the end of the unit. We will also be creating a self-evaluation form that the students will use to rate themselves and also give them the opportunity to make changes before final submission to improve their grade.
ReplyDeleteThis is a need as her principal has tasked her with including more multicultural lessons at the states request. This is also one of the first times that the state of WV is requiring her to submit data to show their learning.
We will collect data from the pretest, potentially thumbnail sketches, their art projects, the self-evaluation form, and their post test results. We can use mean, median and mode to see how their scores compare to other 4th graders also participating in the unit from other classes.
I will be able to travel and be hands on in the classroom every other Monday and we will have to work more on the timeline for this project at our first meeting on the 27th. The school is approximately 4 hours away from where I currently live. The rest of the time Mrs. Adams will be in touch with me to share data and other necessary information. I am open to suggestions if anyone has some other good ideas for this undertaking.
Hi, Enjoli. I think that you have chosen a unique and interesting research topic. I was just thinking that maybe you could possibly use technology to meet with the class if you needed to, for example through Skype. Good luck with your research and drive safe.
ReplyDeleteOh that may be a good way for me to check in with the students and the teacher when I can't be there. Thank you for the suggestion.
DeleteI have decided to change my research topic for this course, therefore my second discussion will not fully align with my previous vision for the project. With that being stated, my target population would be my college sign language interpreting students, whose ages range from 20 to 42. The topic I will now focus on for my research, would be to determine how to assist my students in improving his or her ability to extract meaning in the syntactic complexities of both English and American Sign Language structures.
ReplyDeleteAt this time in my research, I have determined I would utilize the cluster sampling procedure that would best support my topic. Since cluster sampling is considered a more “natural” approach to use with smaller groups, it would allow me to focus on the strengths and weaknesses of the overall group instead of individually. Due to the fact I have already observed common struggles from my students in their inability to fully understand the syntactic structures in both English and American Sign Language, cluster sampling seemed relevant to my goal. The strengths to utilizing cluster sampling in my project would be that it seems to be a more “natural” approach to research, it is less expensive compared to other research modalities, it is a simplistic procedure to use and more economical, and allows me to obtain information easier in a group setting, and reduces and minimizes less time and energy in collecting data.
The negatives that may contribute to utilizing cluster sampling for my project may be that it may not recognize individual differences since it is “group” focused. Another possible weakness may be that it can become biased and less objective, as well as not creating enough data to answer questions needed for research.
ReplyDeleteI have continued to support and assist my students to break down difficult and complex texts (syntax) into manageable segments by way of providing them with handouts of the texts, and having them to mark out what is not needed for meaning and leave those parts that are crucial in discovering meaning. I have the students each day we meet to read aloud the text(s) with instructional support and frame questions to determine if the answers are applicable and appropriate to the text being read. I also would like to add to this statement, in the fact that I provide the students initially with text(s) that I feel they have pre-exising knowledge or some form of schema to make connections to what is being conveyed. This connection will also provide a pathway for students to accelerate language transfer and understanding to improve their understanding of syntax which leads to accuracy in the role of interpreting.
Although I utilize a rubric to visually help my students to see not only their strengths, but areas of improvement, I do however, provide concrete feedback and examples of the errors that are occurring. I continue to provide assessments, although informal, to assist the students to identify during their assignment(s) where the error or miscue occurred and around what text/discourse level: lexical, sentential, phrasal, and/or textual. Once the error(s) have been identified, we then proceed to breakdown that miscue/error, determine the type(s) of error(s), analyze how to fix the issues, and then redo the activity. This will assist both myself and the students, to identify if students made application, as well as how closely they monitored their “performance” and if self-correction had to take place, and if so, how was it implemented.
Due to the fact that many of our students struggle with syntactic use in both English and American Sign Language, this lack of comprehension creates the gap between receptive and expressive language that is needed when interpreting from one language into another. This underdeveloped skill makes it difficult to process and remember what is written and/or spoken in spite of being able to hear and having visual acuity. As a result, struggles in the classroom, as well as in the home and work can pose challenges.
ReplyDeleteIn conclusion, I have started to reach out to those who work with languages, as well as those who are an expert with assessment tools. I have also been observing and taking notes of my students performances, to determine where most errors are occurring relating to syntax and meaning. I would like to develop and or have an assessment already available for instructional use (Fair Use to Copyright) that can assist in further strategies to utilize with students for the goal of passing their State and National interpreting performance tests.
For my action research I plan to explore the use of songs and games to enhance sight word recognition. My action research question is: Will the use of songs and games to teach sight words increase word recognition? What I plan to do is step away from the use of flashcards and other strategies to review and introduce sight words and focus primarily on the use if songs and games. I plan to play the Heidi songs during morning routines while students are unpacking and preparing for the day. Once students have gotten unpacked they can go to the rug and join in with the songs. During small group once a day students will engage in sight word games. These games will vary but will include sight word bingo, sight word memory, and spend sight word. There will be other games as well. I will begin my research by giving a pre-assessment. I will on assess those students that are in my lowest reading group. This includes four students. Even though these these four students are in the same group their reading levels vary greatly. I will reassess the students every Friday to determine if there is an increase in word recognition.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great idea. I use a lot of songs to help my students memorize math facts and processes that require steps because they have a low working memory. I love when they are working independently and I can hear them humming the song while they are working. My only question is if the students are memorizing the words in the songs, how will that help them recognize them in the text?
DeleteMy final research question is “Does incorporating specific skills in the educational process of language have a positive impact on a student’s ability to learn how to read, write and spell by exposing students to blending drills and explicit, systematic and multisensory phonic exposure to correct reading and spelling sound and symbol concepts of the English language?” During my action research, students that have been diagnosed with a learning disability in the reading content area will be exposed to a systematic processes that uses multisensory activities to expose children to letters and sounds to increase their reading and spelling ability. This method is based on the research of Samuel Torrey Orton and Anna Gillingham, known as the Orton-Gillingham Approach. This approach has been used to help individuals with dyslexia learn to read. Typically, one lesson is introduced each day, but I only have 30 minutes each day to work with the students that will be participated in this research project so the lessons will span over a two day period if needed. Each lesson introduces a new sound or letter correspondence. The lessons include visual, auditory, and kinesthetic exposure to the sound/letter.
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