12/3 Scholars Meeting

My inquiry question at this moment is: How do students’ ability to show their thinking help them to successfully understand and solve word problems?

 

The learning goal for my students is: That students will be able to read word problems and know what information is necessary in solving the problem. Students are often given word problems that have lots of unnecessary information. I would like them to be able to identify key vocabulary that will help them understand what the word problem is asking them to do.

 

My indicators for success: Students would correctly identify problems correctly and their ability to solve/show their understanding of a problem would get easier and their drawings would be more descriptive

 

Focal students: I still haven’t figured out which specific children, but I think I want to look at 3 boys/3 girls and transient vs. non transient

 

11/15 Scholar's Meeting

At the moment my question is: How can I help students analyze Math word problems  in order to figure out what specific operation they are being asked to solve? 

Being as specific as I can be, what I want my students to be able to learn and do is analyze word problems and first figure out what operation they are being asked to solve. Next they should be able to choose an appropriate strategy to help them figure this out. 

I would know that my students were accomplishing these goals if I saw them finding success on tests/hw in word problems or if I heard them explain their reasoning behind why they chose to answer the word problem in a certain way. 

I could collect information by looking at written work (mostly in class because then I know it's their thinking and not their parents'). I also could use audio recordings or video recordings if I were to work with small groups. I figured out a type of worksheet I want to use to track students' progress to see if they know what I'm asking. 

--------------------------After small group meeting-----------------------------------------------------

What I'm thinking now is that the new worksheet that I came up with is a great way (if I don't say so myself) to get students to start doing what I want (which is to think about how to go about solving a problem). I'm thinking of incorporating it in one of three ways.

Option 1) Have students solve their problem on a half piece of paper and then get a clean sheet to do the solution on (after I collected their other sheet)

Option 2) Have students solve their problem on the top half of a paper and then write the solution in a colored pen on the bottom of the page.

Option 3) Have students solve their problem and then make corrections in pen on the same piece of paper. 

Also having students explain their thinking/rationale with a partner and recording those thoughts would be powerful. Using my Elmo and having different students share the way they solved the problem and projecting it for everyone to see could also be powerful.

Finally I think I really need to be explicit about having students show their work. Drawing out their answer is important because it helps them make sense of the problem and could show someone how they went about solving their work

11/1 HW: where am I now with my thinking?

The student work I have collected for my inquiry since the last meeting is student quizzes (corrected) with scores. I have some pre-tests as well which I plan to correct and use.

One thing I am hoping to understand from this student work is what areas are students still struggling in. I've done a bit of looking into this and the big thing that students are having trouble with is the language in word problems.

My current question has changed and has veered away from pre-tests and deals more with the wording of questions. So my question would now be "what are the types of math word problems that my students are struggling with and how can I help them learn to understand what is being asked?"

My thoughts at this point about my inquiry are that I know my interest is still Math related but I'm not sure what it is that I specifically want to know. I know that my data collection can be student work but I want to understand more of their thinking. We just began a new math program that students use 3 times per week (on the computer) and the kids love it. In it they need to take notes that they will later use on tests and I'm wondering if that's an area I may want to focus on (how notes can help students when preparing for a test)? These are just some ideas.

Scholars Meeting

1. What did you learn from the data exploration today? 

After looking at today's data I'm realizing that I want to focus more on  what students can gain from the use of pretests, not what I can learn. I feel as if I already know what students can gain from the use of pretests. It would be beneficial for students to see their growth and be more active in their learning process. The use of pretests reviews what they should have already known in 2nd grade and then shows them what to expect in 3rd grade. 

2. How does this connect to your area of interest for your study this year?

My area of interest this year is Math. There is a big jump from 2nd to 3rd grade. Students are now expected to copy out of the textbook instead of write in it. There are significantly more problems to be completed along with many more directions that students should read independently. Students should be able to read the directions and answer the problems on their own, and because that is the expectation for the end of the year STAR test, I'm already expecting my students to read on their own and rely on themselves rather than always turn to me for help. 

3. What is the current draft of your question?

The current draft of my question is How can the use of math pretests help inform my math instruction?

4. Your thoughts now? (Other points to record/remember)

Anna's advice was helpful. Linking my question to student learning and what they will gain from it, will in turn help me figure out what is or isn't working for students and whether or not I need to continue with certain strategies or adopt new ones. I want to make sure that this inquiry helps them and not just myself during this next year. I want them to see the importance of their growth.

After the mixer: After speaking about my topic I feel a little bit more focused on what it is that I want students to learn. I want students to see the connection of what they're doing in class to real life.  What can students learn from math pretests that will....(this is where I'm stuck). I don't want my question to necessarily go back to me but rather. I want to do a math talk, give a pre-test and then begin teaching. After I'm finished I want to do a final math talk to sum up what we learned and tie it to real life. 

My question at this point in my research is: What instructional strategies can I use during the week to help my 2nd graders practice their spelling words? (This would be the broad question more for the class)... a more refined questions in response to my 4 focal students would be: What instructional strategies are beneficial to my 2nd grade English Language Learners that are struggling with spelling in English?

What I have learned about the learning of my class: I have noticed that students have been great teachers. When partnered up with each other, they have really enjoyed quizzing each other on how to spell particular words. These interactions have been meaningful to them and have engaged them more than if I were to give a random lesson about spelling. I also have realized that keeping them informed of their progress as well as goals I have for them helps keep them on track with their work. Students are working harder to do better and I can see the excitement on their faces as they see their spelling scores. Although I don't do it as much because I'm afraid of the invalidity of the work is to have students correct their own tests. When students have corrected their tests (I did this with pre-tests) they were more aware of the mistakes they made and how to self-correct. 

Knowing this about how my students learn has impacted my practice because it has made me much more aware of the fact that students need to be involved. Although I'm the teacher, I don't want to return graded work without discussing it and having students view their work and review it. I want students to take part in the process and internalize their learning and through metacognition have them become more insightful and critical thinking students. 

As I near the end of my inquiry I have seen the progression (as well as lack of progression) that many of my students have made. I now hear them say "Man! I forgot to put an r at the end". They are internalizing their work and seeing where they went wrong and how they could have fixed it. Students are also more excited about weekly tests and the in class spelling games associated with it.

After discussing my inquiry with my small group, I wish I would have blogged more frequently throughout my inquiry. Had I kept a weekly blog about how the weekly spelling test went, I think that I could have retained more information, such as what words were difficult for students, certain factors that affected students' performance. My inquiry is coming to a close. I have about 4 more weeks of spelling tests and then we'll be finished. I already have my findings, but it would be nice to have the final numbers to show how my students did. 

This year my research focus is on Spelling and how I can best support my English Language Learners when spelling in English.

I want to know more about this because my school has a high EL population and I particularly teach the bilingual transitional class where students are exiting Spanish and entering English-Only 3rd grade.

To explore my questions I looked at these data: Students' spelling notebooks, weekly spelling tests, The Core phonics book

To analyze these data, I color coded students' tests to look for patterns. While doing this I narrowed my focus down from the whole class to a focal group of 4 students who still continued to struggle. 

Two things I've learned from my data analysis thus far is that: Spelling is visual and that when student's have practice spelling the words, they have a higher rate of success. Spelling mistakes are often due to overconfidence/ lack of confidence.

The implication of these new understandings for my practice include/are that spelling instruction is important, even if it's only for a few minutes a day. Helping build phonemic awareness will help students in their reading as well as in their writing. Having students correct their own work will help them internalize their own learning and this metacognition will help them develop strategies for learning words.

I could talk about student outcomes by drawing on my students' weekly spelling tests and saying that once students gained confidence I saw an increase in their scores.

I need help from my small group in thinking about whether or not there is anything else I could be doing to help these students achieve success. I feel as if the only thing left that I can do is continue working with my 4 focal students and monitoring their progress.

1/9/10 Meeting: Taking stock

Morning Session

After reading the article I feel as if there are some things that I can still do. I would like to involve my students more than what they might already be. My students know that I'm studying their spelling but I'm not sure to what degree. I would like them to know what data I'm studying, collecting and how I will present it.

The focus of my research is: My students' spelling and what strategies I can teach them to make them more successful in spelling. Being that I teach in a school with a high EL population, and since my class is mostly comprised of EL's, particularly EL's in transition (many came from bilingual 1st), I want to help my students learn strategies that will help them with their spelling which in turn will help them with their reading and writing. I want students to code switch and access understanding of language and spelling patterns. The four students who continue to struggle are all EL's and I want to gain a deeper understanding into what troubles they are having.

At this point my question is: How can I better help my students who struggle with spelling?

What strategies are effective in helping my students become better spellers?

Methodology: The 1st set of data I have is a chart with students' spelling scores from each week. I already conducted a 4 week study in which I added variables in order to see if I noticed patterns.

Analysis: Their spelling scores are color coded into green, yellow and red. These three colors represent benchmark, strategic, and intensive or proficient/advanced, basic, and below/far below basic.

The 2nd set of data I plan to use is interviews, specifically with students who struggle and with students who do extremely well. If I have time I would like to interview everyone.

Analysis: I would transcribe their interviews and look for patterns in the conversations.

Preliminary Findings: Being bilingual does not necessarily play into how successful my students are, but rather their proficiency and understanding of English and spelling patterns does. Many of my bilingual students have achieved success in spelling because they are able to differentiate and pull from strategies they already have.

Student Learning: I have found that the use of spelling notebooks, writing words repeatedly, and adding other strategies such as word sorts, singing songs, playing spelling games, all help students with their spelling.

Implications: One implication of what I learned for my practice is that student involvement into their own learning helps motivate them. Another implication of my practice is that being explicit about the English language and all the rules/exceptions to the rules helps students with their spelling.

Afternoon Session

In my presentation I want to be sure to emphasize what I have learned and what I would like to share to everyone about my students' learning. What worked for me? What factors affected student progress? Where will I go from here and how will this benefit me in my future practice? This is important to my school especially because we have such a high EL population and since many of our students struggle with writing/spelling.

In discussing my methodology I want to be sure to include the sociograms/interviews along with the weekly spelling tests (percentage breakdowns) to see the progression over time. I would also like to include a perfect spelling test (if I can get to that point) from one of my focal students. I think this would be a powerful documentation to show the progression (more importantly the spelling tests).

At this point my implications for student learning are that practicing spelling at home and understanding relationships in spelling patterns will make students more successful in their spelling.

Individual work time

I created a spelling survey that I'm excited about. It asks students to answer questions about what they know/don't know, how they see themselves as well as the rest of the class, and what is easy/hard for them.