Here's what I'm planning to do on my inquiry between now and the December meeting, give one more test (which I gave today) to assess students' progress/understanding of these idioms. We've taken 3 tests on the idioms of the day and I think it's time to push it further and now deal with idioms in other ways. I have a book with mini plays in it. Those plays use particular idioms and I'm wondering if that would be another way to get kids to use even more idioms than the once a day strategy I'm currently doing. Although I do group assignments, I'm finding that certain students are still dominating the project while other students go under the radar. I'm trying to think about a way to incorporate explaining an idiom to another student, such as their penpals. That way they have to be clear about how to explain it in writing.
One thing I'm wondering about is how I can take more time besides what I already do in class, to help those students who still don't seem to understand idioms. Are they not developmentally ready? Is there something I can do to help them understand these sayings and use them in writing or in speaking? After giving today's test I realized that it's not strictly an English problem. Some students who are struggling have lots of English already and use it daily but they still can't grasp idioms. This is leading me to wonder, are they fooling around during the idiom of the day presentation? Are they at a different developmental level than those that do understand idioms?
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Nov 8, 2011
7:20 p.m.
Something I think I could collect are audio/video samples of students actually using their idioms either in groups, in front of the class or by themselves. I also could collect writing from them in which they write sentences using idioms.
What I hope that would help me know about my students learning is who is still grappling with the concept of idioms and who truly understands them. It might get me to regear who I give remediation to and who I put my efforts towards.
What I'm thinking now about my inquiry is how to involve parents and carry this project home and see if students see the connections outside of school and hear idioms said either on tv or somewhere else.
5:00 p.m.
1. The data I've collected since last time: As data I collected individual and group work. I collected individual idiom tests and group posters giving examples of two idioms.
2. My first impressions from what I'm taking away from this data is that many of my students understand idioms and many of them do not. I chose focal students that seem to understand idioms but that are very different. I chose 3 boys and 3 girls. 3 of the students use English more frequently whereas the other 3 mostlly use Spanish. From looking at the data I can tell that stome students are cognitevly more ready to break apart idioms and understand the idea. I'm trying to assess their learning in multiple ways.
Something I think I could collect are audio/video samples of students actually using their idioms either in groups, in front of the class or by themselves. I also could collect writing from them in which they write sentences using idioms.
What I hope that would help me know about my students learning is who is still grappling with the concept of idioms and who truly understands them. It might get me to regear who I give remediation to and who I put my efforts towards.
What I'm thinking now about my inquiry is how to involve parents and carry this project home and see if students see the connections outside of school and hear idioms said either on tv or somewhere else.
5:00 p.m.
1. The data I've collected since last time: As data I collected individual and group work. I collected individual idiom tests and group posters giving examples of two idioms.
2. My first impressions from what I'm taking away from this data is that many of my students understand idioms and many of them do not. I chose focal students that seem to understand idioms but that are very different. I chose 3 boys and 3 girls. 3 of the students use English more frequently whereas the other 3 mostlly use Spanish. From looking at the data I can tell that stome students are cognitevly more ready to break apart idioms and understand the idea. I'm trying to assess their learning in multiple ways.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
October 15, 2011: What I'm thinking now...(Part Two)
What I'm thinking now is the same. It has been validated and I think I have a clear vision on where I want to go with my inquiry this year. After making appointments I feel that I was able to clearly articulate what my study is and why it's important to study idioms. Idioms are a play on language that fall between basic conversational English and academic English.
Year 3: Saturday, October 15, 2011 (Part One)
What I really want to know is how I can get students to get to a point where they either recognize or use idioms. I want students to use idioms when interacting and know how to correctly use them.
This is important because my students aren't practicing their English. They don't have English at home and when they come to school they constantly revert to Spanish when speaking with their classmates. They get basic conversational how to's in ELD (English Language Development). I feel that the use of idioms are a step above that and are an important thing to teach them since they are not explicitly taught. I used idioms when speaking and I'm not sure if they always know what I'm saying. They will hear idioms as they get older and in order for them to truly get a grasp of conversational English, they need to know how to use these idioms properly.
Therefore my question at this point is, How can the study of idioms help improve my students' understanding and recognition of idiomatic phrases in conversational English?
Saturday, April 23, 2011
The area I decided to focus my inquiry on is Math, more specifically word problems.
This is important to me because there is a common dip in test scores from 2nd grade to 3rd grade due to the fact that students have to read the math portion of the CST on their own, whereas in 2nd grade it is read to them. It's important for me to try to help my students come up with successful strategies to not only do well on the CST but to also know how to read a word problem and understand what it's asking.
The question I am asking is, Does drawing a diagram help students map out their thinking and how useful can it be towards helping a student solve a word problem?
The context I teach in is a Title 1, program improvement school. Our three biggest subgroups are Latino, English Learners and Socioeconomically disadvantaged. I teach 3rd grade and give bilingual support to those students who still haven't fully transitioned to English. I have 27 students, 17 girls and 10 boys.
The data I collected to answer my question are video interview with students and transcription, student surveys and 20 word problem worksheets that students answered throughout the course of the year and students' explanations of their reasoning.
The changes I have made in my teaching practice as a result of my inquiry are that I have gone over word problems with students in class to see their thinking. I've had them come up to explain their reasoning/answers to the class. I also moved away from giving release test questions and instead making up my own multi step questions and discussing those in class.
I have explicitly taught students how to diagram drawings since so many times they don't realize the importance of it. I've also gone about having students eliminate incorrect answers and do deductive reasoning instead of guessing.
The changes I have seen in my focal students as a result of my inquiry are that certain students are drawing out their answers to prove that it makes sense. Certain students still try to solve the problems in their head and as a result answer the problems incorrectly. In looking at my students' work over the course of the year I have found that they look more closely at answers and have to think more critically based on the types of questions I created. I still have yet to give them a final survey to see if they feel they learned things during the course of the year based on my study.
This is important to me because there is a common dip in test scores from 2nd grade to 3rd grade due to the fact that students have to read the math portion of the CST on their own, whereas in 2nd grade it is read to them. It's important for me to try to help my students come up with successful strategies to not only do well on the CST but to also know how to read a word problem and understand what it's asking.
The question I am asking is, Does drawing a diagram help students map out their thinking and how useful can it be towards helping a student solve a word problem?
The context I teach in is a Title 1, program improvement school. Our three biggest subgroups are Latino, English Learners and Socioeconomically disadvantaged. I teach 3rd grade and give bilingual support to those students who still haven't fully transitioned to English. I have 27 students, 17 girls and 10 boys.
The data I collected to answer my question are video interview with students and transcription, student surveys and 20 word problem worksheets that students answered throughout the course of the year and students' explanations of their reasoning.
The changes I have made in my teaching practice as a result of my inquiry are that I have gone over word problems with students in class to see their thinking. I've had them come up to explain their reasoning/answers to the class. I also moved away from giving release test questions and instead making up my own multi step questions and discussing those in class.
I have explicitly taught students how to diagram drawings since so many times they don't realize the importance of it. I've also gone about having students eliminate incorrect answers and do deductive reasoning instead of guessing.
The changes I have seen in my focal students as a result of my inquiry are that certain students are drawing out their answers to prove that it makes sense. Certain students still try to solve the problems in their head and as a result answer the problems incorrectly. In looking at my students' work over the course of the year I have found that they look more closely at answers and have to think more critically based on the types of questions I created. I still have yet to give them a final survey to see if they feel they learned things during the course of the year based on my study.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
So since my last post I've made some changes to my data collection. I'm still doing the word problem of the day twice a week with my students but I changed the way I come up with questions. Instead of giving them the problem and asking them to choose the answer, I'm giving them the answer and asking them to choose the correct question that goes with the answer.
When I was talking with my small group at the last meeting I expressed concern about writing my own problems because I thought that it might confuse students since it would not be worded in the format that they would see on the STAR test. Tomas said something that really made me think. He said, "if they are able to answer your kind of question, which is more cognitive, aren't you then preparing them to answer any kind of question that they may encounter?".
Since then I changed the format and have tried to make the problems more difficult. Since changing the format, I've noticed that students haven't been as successful but they are using their thinking skills and strategies to solve these problems. I haven't said it, but I want them to prove it and demonstrate how it is that they found the answer. What I'm finding is that students are coming up with answers but they are having a difficult time defending their choice. They are also having a hard time drawing diagrams. Many of them can give me an answer but can't tell me why that answer is correct.
Some findings that I've come up with are:
-Students are motivated and excited to do Math because I'm excited to teach it. I'm fascinated and challenged to try to teach various concepts in a way that students can understand and easily teach to others/use throughout their schooling.
-Certain students rely on deductive reasoning. I know the answer is not A, B, or D so it must be C. This is a great strategy because they eliminate answers they know are not correct. Other students rely on the opposite strategy. They find the answer that they know is correct and don't bother to look at the other options, which can sometimes trip them up if they're not careful.
-It's very difficult for students to explain their thinking through the use of a drawing. By asking them to draw their thinking, I'm almost asking them to come up with something extra that they hadn't thought of. It's like asking for an extra step. That extra step doesn't necessarily demonstrate how they came up with their answer but rather it's a way to explain their answer (which the two don't necessarily go hand in hand).
-Word problems prove to be difficult for my lower level EL students due to the academic vocabulary.
-When asked to explain how students solved their problems, students cannot always verbalize how they solved the problem but rather they just reread what they wrote on paper.
When I was talking with my small group at the last meeting I expressed concern about writing my own problems because I thought that it might confuse students since it would not be worded in the format that they would see on the STAR test. Tomas said something that really made me think. He said, "if they are able to answer your kind of question, which is more cognitive, aren't you then preparing them to answer any kind of question that they may encounter?".
Since then I changed the format and have tried to make the problems more difficult. Since changing the format, I've noticed that students haven't been as successful but they are using their thinking skills and strategies to solve these problems. I haven't said it, but I want them to prove it and demonstrate how it is that they found the answer. What I'm finding is that students are coming up with answers but they are having a difficult time defending their choice. They are also having a hard time drawing diagrams. Many of them can give me an answer but can't tell me why that answer is correct.
Some findings that I've come up with are:
-Students are motivated and excited to do Math because I'm excited to teach it. I'm fascinated and challenged to try to teach various concepts in a way that students can understand and easily teach to others/use throughout their schooling.
-Certain students rely on deductive reasoning. I know the answer is not A, B, or D so it must be C. This is a great strategy because they eliminate answers they know are not correct. Other students rely on the opposite strategy. They find the answer that they know is correct and don't bother to look at the other options, which can sometimes trip them up if they're not careful.
-It's very difficult for students to explain their thinking through the use of a drawing. By asking them to draw their thinking, I'm almost asking them to come up with something extra that they hadn't thought of. It's like asking for an extra step. That extra step doesn't necessarily demonstrate how they came up with their answer but rather it's a way to explain their answer (which the two don't necessarily go hand in hand).
-Word problems prove to be difficult for my lower level EL students due to the academic vocabulary.
-When asked to explain how students solved their problems, students cannot always verbalize how they solved the problem but rather they just reread what they wrote on paper.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
My question is currently (not sure about wording but), How can drawing diagrams when solving word problems, help my 3rd graders understand how to solve and understand a given problem?
Because my students are no longer read the Math test in 3rd grade, it's important for students to read word problems and know what it is that the question is asking. These word problems not only require math skills, but also comprehension skills. Students need to decipher what it is that the problem wants them to do and then go about solving it.
I have 6 focal student. 3 girls, 3 boys. 3 are students who were with me last year, 3 are students who weren't with me last year.
Data: Students are given word problems twice a week. I then interview my focal students after the interview to see if they can give me a more in depth answer than the writing/drawing they did on the diagram. I also have interviews of my focal students.
Thus far it's been interesting to see how students go about solving these problems. Some students rush through these problems (the common mistake that many of my students make) whereas others truly take their time and try to understand what it is that the problem is asking them.
to be continued
Because my students are no longer read the Math test in 3rd grade, it's important for students to read word problems and know what it is that the question is asking. These word problems not only require math skills, but also comprehension skills. Students need to decipher what it is that the problem wants them to do and then go about solving it.
I have 6 focal student. 3 girls, 3 boys. 3 are students who were with me last year, 3 are students who weren't with me last year.
Data: Students are given word problems twice a week. I then interview my focal students after the interview to see if they can give me a more in depth answer than the writing/drawing they did on the diagram. I also have interviews of my focal students.
Thus far it's been interesting to see how students go about solving these problems. Some students rush through these problems (the common mistake that many of my students make) whereas others truly take their time and try to understand what it is that the problem is asking them.
to be continued
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