Action Research 2

1. What is the problem?

2. What is the rational for the project?

3. What strategy will be use to address the problem?

4. What is the question?

5. What evidence is presented that the strategy will work?

6. How will data be collected?

1. The problem in this action research is Rhyme and Word Recognition.

2.  "Learning to recognize rhyme and word families is a critical literacy skill that can help beginning readers develop recognition of phonems and decode new and difficult words."

3.  Simulations and Games

4.  "How can I use a variety of rhyming games to help my students recognize rhyme and word families in text?"

5. The researcher uses the article Integrated Strategies Approach: Making Word Identification Instruction Work for Beginning Readers as a supporting idea of implementing this method. 

6.  The student-teacher will assess the students before implementing the rhyming games.  Then, the assessment will be administered after the project.  This will be over a period of 4-weeks.  Students will participate in small group reading centers on a daily basis.  A checklist will also be used to evaluate student's ability to identify rhyme in pictures, sound, or text. 

Action Research 1

1. What is the title of the project?

2. What is the Question?

4. What strategy is being used to address?

5. What evidence is presented that the strategy will work?

6. How will data be collected to determine if the strategy will work?

7. How was the data analyzed?

8. What were the results?

9. How do the results inform teacher practice?

 

1. Getting Smarter at School

2. The question is how to create classrooms that allow students to be thinkers and problem solvers.

3. The strategy used was cooperative grouping.

4. The chart showed the results from the grouping.  It showed that by March students held less independent conversations and had discussion with the class.  Also students raised their hands more and asked questions.  It was easy to tell that the student seem to be more engaged as the teacher went on. 

5. Evidence present is the fact that the teacher who implemented this was somewhat successful after a few discussions later. 

6. The data was analyzed by making a graph. 

7. The results showed that more kids asked questions and less were involved with side converstions.  Also the number of students who talked out of turn went down a little. 

8.  I as a teacher, could ask my students the ways they feel they could learn the material and concepts.  I also would know that each situation is trial and error so all I need to do is decide whether my practice is successful or not. 

Anchor Video

Here is a video i found on Youtube I am using for my WebQuest on Shapes.

Struggling Student

 Focus on struggling student.According to the learning style of interest survey how are the learning activities in the classroom meeting their needs?

The struggling student in my class is hardly ever in school.  When he is in class, he gives the math teacher a hard time about doing his work.  I asked if she has had this student before and she said no.  She told me that he transfered from a school in Morgantown.  He seems to have home troubles.  I didn't have him fill out the survey, but the only way that school meets his needs is to have one-on-one study with him in another classroom.  It seems to help and he seems to bond really well with teh special needs teacher. 

Interest Survey Wordle

I created a Wordle with the Interests of my students.

 
Here is a link to the Wordle Website

Double Entry Journal #15

1. Give an example of an authentic form of assessment the students engaged in a PBL performed well on?

One form of assessment mentioned is standarized testing.  The article mentions the fact that students who participated in a PBL scored higher on standarized testing.  Another form of assessment is the project students design when completing a PBL.  The article mentions of one PBL whose outcomes were judged and 84% of those outcomes were accurate enough to build.

2. How does project based learning promote intrinsic motivation?

Students have more choices available when it comes to the fact of a PBL.  These choices allow students to "develop their own interests and pursue deeper understanding."

3. What do students who experience PBL do better than student who receive traditional direct instruction?

Students do better in solving real-world problems.  They develop skills and knowledge based upon real-world experienced learned through PBLs. 

4. How does PBL align with John Dewey's philosophy of education?

Project based learning allows students to retain more information from learning by doing.  This is waht John Dewey proposed. 

5. Why do our assessment practices need to change if we are going to prepare students for the 21st century?

Assessment needs to change because the activities change.  Fill in the bubble tests may be great for reciting knowledge, but they do not test the students ability to perform the tasks.  Assessment needs to be designed to challenge the students skills as well as the knowledge they have. 

Double Entry Journal #14

What are some challenges to inquiry approaches to learning?

One challenge is the skills needed by the teacher in order to implement a different approach to learning.  He or she needs to be well informed of the benefits, outcomes,  or problems associated with the new type of learning.  Not knowing the material could lead to poor structure and chaos in the classroom.

What are the benefits of group work? Give two concrete examples from the reading.

Students are benefited in social skills, improvement in self-concept, time on task, positive feelins toward peers, and social interaction.

Name one strategy to support group work and find an example of that strategy on the Internet and link me to it.

One strategy to support group work is using group work to help prepare student for a project.  This can include building social skills and help students foster the ability to work with others.  Here is a link to a site I found that supports group work and gives examples of group work and strategies.