Action Research Proposal

1) What is the problem?
Kindergarten students have difficulties with rhyming words and word families

2) What is the rational for the project?
Research shows that implementing a range of rhyming games can help students improve their recognition of rhyme and word families in text

3) What strategy will be used to the address the problem?
Rhyming games will be used throughout the project to help students improve and recognize rhyme and word families in text.

4) What is the question?
How can I use a variety of rhyming games to help my students recognize rhyme and word families in text?
Will the rhyming strategies change student attitudes about reading instruction?

5) What evidence is presented that the strategy will work?
"Wylie and Durrell reported that their studies of early literacy development revealed that children learn words more easily by the the use of "rhyming phonographs" as opposed to learning complicated decoding rules that have many exceptions."

6) How will the data be collected?
*Pre-test (highlighting rhyming words in a a passage)
*Performance checklists
*Observations/teacher journal
* Work Samples

Teacher Action Research Project

1. What is the title of the project?
- Using Reader's Theatre to Show off Good Reading

2. What is the Question?
- How can I effectively utilize reader’s theater to improve the fluency and reading comprehension skills of my students?

4. What strategy is being used to address?
- The strategy being used is reader’s theater.

5. What evidence is presented that the strategy will work?
- "The National Reading Panel in 2000 identified fluency as a key ingredient to successful reading instruction because of its effect on students’ reading efficiency and comprehension. Identifying the impact of readers theater on my students’ fluency levels and comprehension is important because third grade is considered a benchmark grade in my district, and promotional criteria is based on reading at or above a designated reading percentile as measured by our annual standardized testing. Evaluating the impact of readers theater and noting the patterns I discover in my students’ performance will help me effectively implement an instructional program to meet students’ individual needs."

6. How will data be collected to determine if the strategy will work?
- Data will be collected by surveys, observations, taped reader’s theater performances, and student fluency assessments.

7. How was the data analyzed?
- To determine changes in fluency and comprehension

8. What were the results?
- It did not improve or hurt the high achieving students since they were already good readers. It did however improve reading rate, fluency, comprehension and reading with expression for the general education students. It did not help comprehension with the special needs students but this is probably because they lack vocabulary needed for comprehension.

9. How do the results inform teacher practice?
- The teacher could incorporate reader’s theater in her curriculum. This is a fun and engaging way for students to better their fluency, comprehension, and reading skills.

Struggling Student

In my classroom we have two newer student's who are a little bit behind due to the faster pace of my host teacher's class. I have been trying to help them get started on assignments and class work in a more timely fashion and using their time in class wisely, opposed to having to take it home to complete. One girl is having a problem remembering to complete work at home or putting the proper materials for homework in her book bag. We have been working on listening to both myself and Mrs. Wade my teacher, and taking the initiative herself to read through her planner for what is due the following day.

Journal Entry #11

The first example of exemplary in the Top Ten Project I feel was the Academic Rigor in which students developed new habits of mind. I believe they accomplished this through the learning of what fact and opinion is and how it was used in the books they were reading. They were questioned about what makes something a fact or opinion and then they were given several examples. Not only did students look at others work but they reflected on their own research and how they used facts and opinion to rank their animals.

The second example would be in the authenticity area. The problem or question has meaning to the students and There is an external audience for the student work. The students were very interested in the Top 10 books and videos they had already seen. Also, they were choosing the animals and researching them. This project became very meaningful to them. Also, they presented their project to the school board and community and created a commercial for people to see.

Active Exploration. This is the area that stood out the most to me as exemplary. The students researched a lot about the animals involved in the project, as well as, ways of how to measure the truth in research.

West Virginia Content Standards

Science

SC.O.4.1.4 -demonstrate curiosity, initiative and creativity by developing questions that lead to investigations; designing simple experiments; and trusting observations of discoveries when trying new tasks and skills.

SC.O.4.1.5 - recognize that developing solutions to problems requires persistence, flexibility, open-mindedness, and alertness for the unexpected.

SC.O.4.1.6 - support statements with facts found through research from various sources, including technology.

SC.O.4.1.7 - use scientific instruments, technology and everyday materials to investigate the natural world.

SC.O.4.2.1 - describe the different characteristics of plants and animals, which help them to survive in different niches and environments.

SC.O.4.2.2 - associate the behaviors of living organisms to external and internal influences (e.g., hunger, climate, or seasons).

SC.O.4.2.3 - identify and classify variations in structures of living things including their systems and explain their functions (e.g., skeletons, teeth, plant needles, or leaves).

SC.O.4.3.4 - given a set of objects, group or order the objects according to an established scheme.

SC.O.4.3.6 - identify and explain a simple problem or task to be completed; identify a specific solution; and list task requirements.

SC.O.4.3.9 - listen to and be tolerant of different viewpoints by engaging in collaborative activities and modifying ideas when new and valid information is presented from a variety of resources.

Reading and Language Arts

RLA.O.4.1.3 - use pre-reading strategies to comprehend text (e.g., activating prior knowledge, predictions, questioning).

RLA.O.4.1.8 - interpret and extend the ideas in literary and informational texts to summarize, determine story elements, skim and scan, determine cause and effect, compare and contrast, visualize, paraphrase, infer, sequence, determine fact and opinion, draw conclusions, analyze characterize and provide main idea and support details.

RLA.O.4.1.13 - judge the reliability or logic of informational texts.

RLA.O.4.1.14 - select and use a variety of sources to gather information (e.g., dictionaries, encyclopedias, newspapers, informational texts, electronic resources).

RLA.O.4.1.15 - use graphic organizers and visualization techniques to interpret information (e.g., charts, graphs, diagrams, non-verbal symbols).


RLA.O.4.1.17 - increase the amount of independent reading to build background knowledge, expand vocabulary and comprehend literary and informational text.

RLA.O.4.2.6 - write to persuade using order of importance, classifying differences and similarities, classifying advantages and disadvantages.

RLA.O.4.2.7 - develop a composition that demonstrates an awareness of the intended audience using appropriate language, content and form.

RLA.O.4.2.8 - create an effective response to a task in form, content and language (e.g., letters, poems, brief reports or descriptions, instructions, journals).

RLA.O.4.2.9 - use editing strategies to correct errors in sentence structure (fragments and run-on sentences), capitalization, punctuation and grammar.

RLA.O.4.2.12 - use strategies to gather and record information for research topics:

note taking
summarizing
paraphrasing
describing in narrative form
gathering information from direct quotes, maps, charts, graphs and tables

RLA.O.4.2.13 - select and use a variety of sources to gather information (e.g., dictionaries, encyclopedias, newspapers, informational texts, electronic resources).

RLA.O.4.2.14 - use strategies to compile information into written reports or summaries (e.g., incorporate notes into a finished product, include simple facts-details-explanations-examples, draw conclusions from relationships and patterns that emerge from data of different sources, use appropriate visual aids and media).

RLA.O.4.2.15 - critically evaluate own and others’ written compositions.

RLA.O.4.3.3 - recognize communication skills (e.g., speaking rate, audience, etiquette, active listening).

RLA.O.4.3.4- create an age appropriate media literacy product that reflects understanding of format, characteristics and purpose.

Technology Survey at White Hall Elementary

How many computers are in the classroom?
- 6 (5 for the students, 1 is the teacher)
Do they have internet access?
- yes
Can you access Google tools?
- yes
Do you have access to a laptop cart? Can they get on the Internet?
- no
Is there a computer lab? Do the computers have Internet access? Can you access Google tools?
- yes and they all have Internet
How do you reserve it?
- my class has it reserved for a certain time each day if they chose to use it
How many of your students have computers with Internet access at home?
- 17 have computers with Internet and 3 do not have computers
Are there locations in the community where students can access the computers and the Internet?
- public library, Fairmont State Library

Journal Entry #10

Kidwatching is simply closely watching or paying attention to children's learning processes in the different settings. We are taught in so many of our classes that knowing our student's is very important to teaching, if we know our students than many other things will come much easier. An example of this that happen in my clinical today was that my teacher said that she will monitor the student progress because she knows when they will be finished because she knows the student better than I do. By kidwatching this will help you plan your curriculum and how your day will be ran. Kidwatching is informed by the cultural difference theory because it allows the teacher to see how students learn in the various ways. Background knowledge and also learning abilities play a role in how a student learns, but the students' culture can also play a large influence in how the child may learn.

Culturally Responsive Teaching Reflection

When doing the Where I Am From photo story and poem it allowed me to look at my life, what I want people to know about me, and what I find important. I think this activity also made me appreciate the life that I have and just how truly blessed I am. (When I got to comment on other people’s stories even those who I thought I knew fairly well I learned even more.) I think if I had a group of older students this activity would also be very good to do not just for myself but also for the other students to get to know each other on another level.

This activity hit upon many of the different culturally responsive teaching characteristics such as designing instruction appropriate to students’ stages of development, learning styles, strengths, and needs. “The more people write, the easier it gets and the more they are motivated to do it. Writers who write a lot learn more about the process because they have had more experience inside it.” (NCTE Beliefs about the Teaching of Writing) Writing a poem which children will find enjoyable is a good way to help with their writing skills and make them not hate to do it. Making a photo story did not put anyone on a developmental level because it allowed everyone to be creative and do whatever they felt was good for them. By asking the parents to assist their child with an assignment like this it allows them to bond over the child’s interests and maybe the child will learn more about their family and surroundings. “Parents are the child’s first teacher and are critically important partners in the education process, teachers should engage in dialogue with parents as early as possible about parents’ hopes and aspirations for their child, their sense of what the child needs, and suggestions about ways teachers can help. Teachers explain their own limitations and invite parents to participate in their child’s education in specific ways.” (Principles for Culturally Responsive Teaching) This learning style I think is very good for some since it gets away from the paper, pencil, and lecture classroom and allows for creativity, honestly who doesn’t like talking about themselves? I know that I do, I like to somewhat show off and tell about myself that most people do not see when you’re stuck inside a classroom all day long. Many times children feel a cultural deficit in school because it is negative about their home life being different than others but doing this activity allows them to have a cultural capital about their life. A majority of the time a cultural deficit is developed from peoples judgements on others, these are before getting to know someone. Telling about yourself in a poem and/or photo story it gives you a sense of power and something to be proud of. “In attempting to explain the widespread underachieve-ment among students of color and students from lower socioeconomic strata in schools, many teachers, administrators, school agents and others locate the problem within the students, their families and communities.” (Cultural Deficit Model) I know that I live my life everyday but not always do I take a step back and appreciate what I have. When talking about your family it shows the different funds of knowledge that you bring with you each day to school, everyone has different home lives, one is no better than the other just different. All of these things are examples that go along with culturally responsive teaching strategies.