Prompt #5
I made several observations as I examined the reports of Sienna’s notes regarding May’s redirections. First of all, “listen up” was rather ineffective, because it had to be said repeatedly in a short span of time. There were others that seemed to be ineffective as well, such as “guys” and “shh.” I noticed that generally, these redirections were often given one after another, and sometimes intermixed, but because they needed to be said over and over, it was clear that they did not refocus the class as May would have liked.
During the first observation, Sienna forgot to write down the times of the last three redirections, which makes that data less valuable than when both the redirection and time were recorded. In addition, during the third observation, Darby, the RtI coach, was not there to help Sienna with her data collection. On that day, Sienna did not record times of teacher redirections nor did she write any thoughts or observations about the redirections.
There was not a clear pattern amongst all four days in regards to timing. Some days, there was more redirection needed at the beginning of the period than the end, and on other days, it was the opposite.
Judging by the number of redirections that took place during the observations and the fact that they seemed to occur in clusters, I feel that May’s class might have difficulty with transitions. I noticed that a few redirections took place in a short period of time, and then there was often a break. Perhaps during those breaks, the students easily became off-task and were difficult to bring back. After transitions, it is easy for students to lose focus. I feel that the students may have initially ignored May’s attempts at redirecting them after moving from one activity to the next.
I also noticed that the first day of observation had the highest number of redirections, even though Sienna commented that there probably would have been more redirection if “L” and “D” had been in class that day. Unfortunately, in the later observations, it was not made clear whether these students were there or not. I did notice that the first day had the largest number of observations, despite the fact that the two students mentioned by Sienna were not there. If they were there for the other observations, then it seems that they were not the biggest factor in getting the rest of the class off-task.
Prompt #6
May’s class graph showed the number of students who were able to successfully complete the “Five Minute Challenge” over a nine day span of time. The initial number of students able to complete this was 11. On day two, the number rose to 15, followed by a drop to 13 the next day. Beginning with day four, the number of students able to complete this task steadily rose and on day eight, the last day on the graph, the number reached 20.
Students likely became used to the routine after it was initially announced, and therefore, the longer it was done, the more successful the class as a whole was at completing the task. It is also likely that as students saw their peers successfully meeting the challenge, they were more encouraged to do so as well.
Because the class was very successful in the “Five Minute Challenge” after nine days, May should look to decrease the amount of time allowed for beginning of class activities from five minutes to four minutes. The students met the challenge and could likely do the same activities in a shorter amount of time, which would provide more instructional time for May.
Prompt #7
Anthony’s and Leah’s both made very positive progress. Their data showed that they both began the process taking over three minutes at the beginning of the class. By the end of the data collection period, both Anthony and Leah had drastically decreased the amount of time spent at the beginning of the period copying homework down and doing bell work.
I think it would be beneficial to discuss the data with each of the students individually and convey how impressive their progress was. I also think it would be helpful to interview them to gain feedback on what they feel might help them stay on task for the duration of the class period. May might be able to develop a self-monitoring chart for them to keep on their desk so they can keep track of their own progress throughout a class period. A visual reminder is often very helpful for students who tend to be off-task.
Prompt #8
If I was May and my principal asked me to present my research findings to my colleagues at a faculty meeting, I would first try to compile a very brief summary of each step of the process to hand out. I think it is important for people to understand each step of the action research process, particularly if they are unfamiliar with it. An ideal way to do this would be to create a brochure. The format of a brochure is appealing and would be less likely to intimidate or overwhelm other teachers (Dana & Yendol-Hoppey, 2009). Brochures are clearly set up and easy to read.
In addition to creating a brochure to hand out at the faculty meeting, I would likely create a PowerPoint or Prezi (http:// prezi.com) slideshow to provide further explanation of my research. This would be ideal for displaying charts and graphs that were not included in the brochure. I could also include more information and detail in my presentation. The four areas I would focus on would be background information, inquiry design, findings and supporting data, and concluding thoughts (Dana & Yendol-Hoppey, 2009). My colleagues could reference my brochure while viewing my slideshow and listening to my explanations. At the conclusion of my presentation, I would give my colleagues the opportunity to ask questions. I would also try to schedule a time during which I could explain my research further to anyone interested in learning more about my findings.
References
Dana, N., & Yendol-Hoppey, D. (2009). The reflective educator’s guide to classroom research (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
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