1. The problem that is being addressed in this action research project is the focusing of students learning rhyming words and word families in text.
2. The rational of this student explained by her is that knowing rhyming words and word families is an important skill to have to learn and make sense of a language. She feels that it would be in the students best interest to gain better skills in these areas so that future learning will come easier and that they may become more successful.
3. A heavy use of games will be used to help the students skills in rhyming and word families. Strategies I see include 'Thematic Instruction', by the use of the rhyming being the theme, and I also see 'Identifying Similarities and Differences', by grouping rhyming and word families together.
4. The question is 'Will the rhyming strategies change student attitudes about reading instruction?'
5. Evidence that she presents included; quoted statistics from researchers such as Wylie and Durrell, who stated that use of rhyming instead of decoding help children learn words more easily. And another quote also states that use of rhyming and word families enable students to decode new and difficult words in text. (Allen, 1998).
6. She plans on gathering data through pre and post test, visually observing student behavior, and through student example work. She also said that she would keep all of these notes and observations in her teacher journal.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Analysis of Action Research #1
1. The title of this Action Research project is, 'Evidence of Understanding in an 8th Grade Classroom'.
2. The main question of the research focuses on, 'How do we know students are learning?'
4. The learning strategy that is being implemented (I see more than one), is Setting Objectives. I see this in his lesson particularly when he speaks about challenging the students to show him and their classmates, their understanding of the assignment given in a variety of ways and giving feedback to the students. Also another implemented learning strategy, of 'Providing Feedback'.
5. The evidence presented was when the students were able to provide the products that allowed for classroom feedback and applied to the content at hand. In this case these products could have been poems, comic strips, written discussions that the group had together, reading response outlines, or annotation of the text.
6. The data was collected from the students work and then the student classroom discussions about each others work. Students were asked questions about their work and how well they can see if their fellow classmates understood the story and the objective. The example piece used was a poem and student comments were recorded answering whether or not the particular student met the standards set at the beginning of the assignment.
7. The data was analyzed by taking the results of the classroom discussion and using it as a reflective tool for how he implemented this lesson. He, as I said before, recorded all of the students feedback and matched it to the standards that were discussed before the students started their projects.
8. The results found were that he realized students should be active in their learning and understanding and not passive. And by being active they found more purpose and drive in completing their objectives. Students were also able to produce more quality work because of the variety of choice they had to express their understandings.
9. These results can inform teacher practice by showing that there is more than one way for students to understand content and that they all do not process the content the same way. This also shows us that when students are given responsibility of their own learning more quality work is produced and students can actually more efficiently learn from one another.
2. The main question of the research focuses on, 'How do we know students are learning?'
4. The learning strategy that is being implemented (I see more than one), is Setting Objectives. I see this in his lesson particularly when he speaks about challenging the students to show him and their classmates, their understanding of the assignment given in a variety of ways and giving feedback to the students. Also another implemented learning strategy, of 'Providing Feedback'.
5. The evidence presented was when the students were able to provide the products that allowed for classroom feedback and applied to the content at hand. In this case these products could have been poems, comic strips, written discussions that the group had together, reading response outlines, or annotation of the text.
6. The data was collected from the students work and then the student classroom discussions about each others work. Students were asked questions about their work and how well they can see if their fellow classmates understood the story and the objective. The example piece used was a poem and student comments were recorded answering whether or not the particular student met the standards set at the beginning of the assignment.
7. The data was analyzed by taking the results of the classroom discussion and using it as a reflective tool for how he implemented this lesson. He, as I said before, recorded all of the students feedback and matched it to the standards that were discussed before the students started their projects.
8. The results found were that he realized students should be active in their learning and understanding and not passive. And by being active they found more purpose and drive in completing their objectives. Students were also able to produce more quality work because of the variety of choice they had to express their understandings.
9. These results can inform teacher practice by showing that there is more than one way for students to understand content and that they all do not process the content the same way. This also shows us that when students are given responsibility of their own learning more quality work is produced and students can actually more efficiently learn from one another.
Verbatim Questions
My 75 hour clinical was done in the art room. Some of the questions asked by the teacher to the students included:
What is cubism?
Does anyone know who Picasso is?
What are geometric shapes?
Answers by the students included many 'I do not Know', 'Squares, rectangles, triangles.'
Questions from students included:
How do I do this?
Is this good or right?
And one that I found very curious was, What color do we color the water if water is clear?
I feel that the answer the teacher gave could have lead to a learning experience about the idea of the artists and the artists process, but instead it was simply answered and discarded.
What is cubism?
Does anyone know who Picasso is?
What are geometric shapes?
Answers by the students included many 'I do not Know', 'Squares, rectangles, triangles.'
Questions from students included:
How do I do this?
Is this good or right?
And one that I found very curious was, What color do we color the water if water is clear?
I feel that the answer the teacher gave could have lead to a learning experience about the idea of the artists and the artists process, but instead it was simply answered and discarded.
Struggling Student - Fall 2011
In my 75 hour clinical I designed and implemented a PBL that dealt with one of my struggling students issues (staying seated, and moving around during class). My PBL and lessons were all focused on the students use of movement and being out of their seats; there were a few lessons that required students to be seated for lectures but I made them interactive asking and engaging students in the learning process.
For the short time I was able to implement this PBL, students were able to gather some of the main content I was teaching. My struggling student still had some problems but was able to make also make proper connections with the lessons and the content. I feel with more time and a stronger foundation of the principles of my lesson that even stronger connections could have been made. From my observations I didn't see a decline in learning but there was evidence of engagement of the PBL.
Again, I feel with more time and implementation of learning styles the struggling student, I feel would have made more and maybe even different connections to real world experiences.
For the short time I was able to implement this PBL, students were able to gather some of the main content I was teaching. My struggling student still had some problems but was able to make also make proper connections with the lessons and the content. I feel with more time and a stronger foundation of the principles of my lesson that even stronger connections could have been made. From my observations I didn't see a decline in learning but there was evidence of engagement of the PBL.
Again, I feel with more time and implementation of learning styles the struggling student, I feel would have made more and maybe even different connections to real world experiences.
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