1. What percent of students are achieving Mastery or above in any content area? After viewing test data from my PDS school, I noticed that the majority of students are at mastery or above in math, but over 50% of students are novice and below mastery in reading.
2. Provide a brief explanation of the learning need. According to the test data, it seems that students need more instruction regarding effective reading strategies and comprehension.
3. Find an Instructional Intervention that you might use to address the learning need. Collaboration between the School Library Media Specialist (SLMS) and classroom teacher can have a positive effect on student reading by developing a love of reading and books. Determining student reading interests through an interest inventory and cultivating these interests in the library can positively impact students' engagement with reading both in the library and in the classroom.
4. Provide three pieces of evidence that the strategy works. Research findings show that utilizing a thematic approach to instruction is an effective way for students to understand new concepts through nonlinear patterns that emphasize coherence. Thematic instruction also gives students the opportunity to become an active participant in their own learning, since making choices requires critical thinking, decision-making, and reflection on their part as learners. Since students learn in a variety of ways (different learning styles, multiple intelligences, etc.), thematic instruction can allow for learning engagements that promote and value all types of learners and, in doing so, increase opportunities for students to access and retain new knowledge.
5. What is your Question? How do student interests in reading affect their engagement and time-on-task in the reading classroom?
6. What kind of assessment will you use to help you collect data? Monitoring and anecdotal records of number of books read by students in student-selected genres, as well as assessment of struggling students' time-on-task in the classroom will provide me with data to determine if student interests in reading affect their engagement and time-on-task in the reading classroom.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Action Research Review
1. What is the title of the project? The title of the project is, "What Happens to Third Graders' Writing When They Participate in a Reading and Letter Writing Program?"
2. What is the problem? The problem identifed by this third grade teacher is the struggle almost all third graders seem to have with language development, including letter formation, spacing of words, and the use of punctuation and capitalization. In her class, specifically, she noticed that her student struggled with all aspects of letter-writing: dialogue, organization, sentence structure, flow, text-connections, vocabulary, mechanics, support from the reading, and making references about themselves.
3. Describe the instructional intervention. This teacher implemented book discussions in the classroom which gave students the opportunity to practice their writing in the form of a pen pal letter writing program. She assessed the letter-writing with a rubric.
4. What kind of strategy is the instructional intervention? The instructional intervention falls into the category of "simulation and games," since students were role-playing a real-life scenario of writing letters to pen pals in another school.
5. What evidence is presented that the strategy will work? Simulations and games also include role-playing scenarios in which students can participate in role-playing as a learning experience in a relatively low-risk environment. This pen pal letter-writing program simulates a real-world experience for students, since letter-writing is an authentic skill. A key research finding states that "Simulations can provide students engaging experiences towards learning crisis-management, communication and problem-solving, data management, and collaboration" (Gredler, 1994).
6. How will data be collected to determine if the strategy will work? The teacher collected and assessed student samples of written letters over a four-month period to determine if the strategy was effective in her classroom.
7. How was the data analyzed? The data was analyzed and assessed using a scoring rubric and rubric guide that the teacher created specifically for this research.
8. What were the results? The results of this action research project were that all students who were randomly selected showed growth in the letter writing process, a decrease in occurrence of errors, and an increase in their level of writing. Students continued, however, to struggle with vocabulary and mechanics.
2. What is the problem? The problem identifed by this third grade teacher is the struggle almost all third graders seem to have with language development, including letter formation, spacing of words, and the use of punctuation and capitalization. In her class, specifically, she noticed that her student struggled with all aspects of letter-writing: dialogue, organization, sentence structure, flow, text-connections, vocabulary, mechanics, support from the reading, and making references about themselves.
3. Describe the instructional intervention. This teacher implemented book discussions in the classroom which gave students the opportunity to practice their writing in the form of a pen pal letter writing program. She assessed the letter-writing with a rubric.
4. What kind of strategy is the instructional intervention? The instructional intervention falls into the category of "simulation and games," since students were role-playing a real-life scenario of writing letters to pen pals in another school.
5. What evidence is presented that the strategy will work? Simulations and games also include role-playing scenarios in which students can participate in role-playing as a learning experience in a relatively low-risk environment. This pen pal letter-writing program simulates a real-world experience for students, since letter-writing is an authentic skill. A key research finding states that "Simulations can provide students engaging experiences towards learning crisis-management, communication and problem-solving, data management, and collaboration" (Gredler, 1994).
6. How will data be collected to determine if the strategy will work? The teacher collected and assessed student samples of written letters over a four-month period to determine if the strategy was effective in her classroom.
7. How was the data analyzed? The data was analyzed and assessed using a scoring rubric and rubric guide that the teacher created specifically for this research.
8. What were the results? The results of this action research project were that all students who were randomly selected showed growth in the letter writing process, a decrease in occurrence of errors, and an increase in their level of writing. Students continued, however, to struggle with vocabulary and mechanics.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Struggling Student Survey
Since I am in the school library and the schedule is more erratic, I have not been able to give my struggling students my student interest survey yet. I do have the survey, just waiting for the opportunity to sit with the students to give them the survey.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
WebQuest Information
I already have my WebQuest mostly finished, but misread the directions and didn't post my driving question and anchor video here on my blog. My WebQuest is based on the lesson I found on ReadWriteThink called "A Case for Reading," so my driving question is, "Is it fair to students for books to be banned or censored?" I found this anchor video from the American Library Association to explain the concept of censorship to students. Click here to see the video. Finally, click here to view my almost completed WebQuest.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Power Standard
The power standard and accompanying lesson I found do not relate to my struggling student or a current lesson I'm doing with my students. When I came across the following power standard, however, I automatically thought of some fourth grade students I've had in the library who I know would enjoy a project like this, and also thought it would be perfect in the library, since it deals with banned books.
The Power Standard I found for fourth grade is the following:
Students will research, create and present a persuasive composition including either differences and similarities or advantages and disadvantages, from various informational texts using order of importance, proper sentence structure and word choice, and visuals, and present their position before their peers.
I found this lesson, called "A Case for Reading - Examining Challenged and Banned Books," on ReadWriteThink. It involves students using a variety of tools and resources to compare and contrast books banned by the American Library Association and then writing a persuasive piece explaining what they think should happen with the book (if it should be banned or not). Students then share their work with their classmates, as well as with teachers or librarians in their school, to make it more authentic.
The Power Standard I found for fourth grade is the following:
Students will research, create and present a persuasive composition including either differences and similarities or advantages and disadvantages, from various informational texts using order of importance, proper sentence structure and word choice, and visuals, and present their position before their peers.
I found this lesson, called "A Case for Reading - Examining Challenged and Banned Books," on ReadWriteThink. It involves students using a variety of tools and resources to compare and contrast books banned by the American Library Association and then writing a persuasive piece explaining what they think should happen with the book (if it should be banned or not). Students then share their work with their classmates, as well as with teachers or librarians in their school, to make it more authentic.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Multiple Intelligences
After taking the Multiple Intelligences Survey, I learned that my three strongest intelligences are musical, logic/math, and self (intrapersonal).
When doing a little research about strategies that serve musical learners best, it became very obvious that strategies to teach students with musical intelligence did not involve just having students sing a song to remember or learn something. These students like rhythms, patterns, and the sound of language. Musical learners can be reached by strategies that can be incorporated in a variety of subjects, like clapping rhythms or patterns in math class, using choral reading to work on fluency in reading, read and study the lyrics of music from a particular time period in social studies, etc. Another musical strategy is the recommendation to listen to classical music while studying, since research has shown that it improves memory and retention of information, as well as the brain's ability to process information.
Researching strategies to engage multiple intelligences in the classroom made me very aware of how important (and fun!) it is to build instruction to reach all learners in the classroom. I feel like I'd learn just as much from using these strategies with my students as my students would!
When doing a little research about strategies that serve musical learners best, it became very obvious that strategies to teach students with musical intelligence did not involve just having students sing a song to remember or learn something. These students like rhythms, patterns, and the sound of language. Musical learners can be reached by strategies that can be incorporated in a variety of subjects, like clapping rhythms or patterns in math class, using choral reading to work on fluency in reading, read and study the lyrics of music from a particular time period in social studies, etc. Another musical strategy is the recommendation to listen to classical music while studying, since research has shown that it improves memory and retention of information, as well as the brain's ability to process information.
Researching strategies to engage multiple intelligences in the classroom made me very aware of how important (and fun!) it is to build instruction to reach all learners in the classroom. I feel like I'd learn just as much from using these strategies with my students as my students would!
Monday, March 7, 2011
Struggling Student
Since I am in the elementary school's library, it's difficult to really 'nail down' one struggling student because I don't see the same students on the days I am in the library (different classes come to the library on Friday afternoons than on Wednesday afternoons). However, through a variety of encounters, when I think of struggling students, I have two particular students who come to mind. One student is a kindergartener, and the other is in second grade. They both have trouble focusing and, because of this, seem to act out or misbehave instead of keeping to themselves.
When I've had the opportunity to work with them one-on-one on projects in the library, reading books, etc., I've recognized a tremendous response from each of them. They seem to be more receptive to one-on-one instruction, or just the attention of knowing that someone cares about them and isn't just yelling at them to behave. (Not that I'm saying anything against the teachers who must sometimes raise their voice at these particular students, because they have to control the whole class somehow.) When I'm not working with these students one-on-one or giving them individualized attention, I can note a distinct difference in their behavior or attitude. This somewhat stresses me out, because I know that I won't always have the opportunity to provide each of my future students with individualized attention and time from me. How will I be able to ensure that they all get the attention and time that they need? It's a little overwhelming.
When I've had the opportunity to work with them one-on-one on projects in the library, reading books, etc., I've recognized a tremendous response from each of them. They seem to be more receptive to one-on-one instruction, or just the attention of knowing that someone cares about them and isn't just yelling at them to behave. (Not that I'm saying anything against the teachers who must sometimes raise their voice at these particular students, because they have to control the whole class somehow.) When I'm not working with these students one-on-one or giving them individualized attention, I can note a distinct difference in their behavior or attitude. This somewhat stresses me out, because I know that I won't always have the opportunity to provide each of my future students with individualized attention and time from me. How will I be able to ensure that they all get the attention and time that they need? It's a little overwhelming.
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