Thursday, September 2, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Debbie's Intro
Denise Dabisch (vol 4 2001) says teacher research is a welcoming way for us teachers to ask questions about our students, our practices, and our material. It provides a way for us to figure things for ourselves, rather than depending on outsiders to tell us what we should or shouldn’t do. I like knowing how to do things rather than what to do things and also getting to know my students and how they learn to help them learn.
For many young writers writing seems to be a nightmare. Even when students are asked to just draw a picture of a small moment they still seem to panic about writing. I want students to be encouraged to draw that small moment out as if trying to peep into their minds. The nuts and bolts of writing by Lucy Caulkins says, “think of something important to you and draw it. “ while conferencing with the student the teacher says, “what more can you tell me? Detail, an issue with young writers and also a process to help them see the big picture in what they are thinking. So we start with an art class to create a picture. Triangles are found on the roof of houses and squares are the body of a house with smaller squares for windows. George Deboer (2002) wrote that the current trends toward standards-based education have decreased the opportunities for child-centered teaching and reduced the autonomy of teachers. The NCLB have changed teacher’s curricula, pedagogy and schedules in ways that do not always support best practices. Deboer found that when content standards are more general and teachers more flexible then teachers can teach to the interest of their students to maintain on task behavior. Rebecca Stout wonders if she needed to incorporate some of the balanced literacy practices in order to help her students. She found the most noticeable difference between the programs was the emphasis that balanced literacy placed on teaching the writing process. Rebecca seems determine to emphasize her literacy centers as a vital part of writing and how reading and writing went hand in hand.
I began to think that this too could work for kindergarten with hands on approach of a way to write. Rebecca also suggested to make her literacy centers very structured and with deeper meaning to help student emphasize their love for writing. Everyone has a story but couldn’t write it down. Literacy centers can offer hands on approach to writing.
I would like to post my challenge to my kindergarteners on how the use of structured literacy centers intrinsically motivate student writing? How can students become better writers by using the activities in the literacy centers? Where will the evidence show their growth in their writing from using the literacy centers? What are some age appropriate activities to put into a literacy center to motivate writing?
Story telling for a literacy center helps students to express a way of writing orally. Like some adults we record our stories students should have the same opportunities too. Kathryne Macgrath Speaker (2002) “Children involved in storytelling programs exhibit improved listening skills, better sequencing abilities, increased language appreciations and more thoughtful organizations in their own writing. At kindergarten it seems to be just this kind of process that will kick start a young writer. Scaffolding and interacting with learners help support learners to complete activities which they might not be able to carry out by themselves.
Aside from the drawing students learn that print also conveys a message. In order for children to benefit from formal reading instruction, they must have a certain level of phonemic awareness. Children can learn phonemic awareness through a process of language play; word play, listening to rhymes, songs and poetry; and engage in shared reading of predicable literature.
Reading and writing at this young age go so much hand in hand. Students use scribbles to represent their thoughts and ideas. How do we support this journey that shows growth over time to show a story that is recognizable to another reader? How will literacy centers enhance and encourage the writing process to intrinsically motivate the thoughts and ideas of young writers? Everyone has a story to tell even the infant child sitting in his chair and making faces at you as if trying to get the words out.
For many young writers writing seems to be a nightmare. Even when students are asked to just draw a picture of a small moment they still seem to panic about writing. I want students to be encouraged to draw that small moment out as if trying to peep into their minds. The nuts and bolts of writing by Lucy Caulkins says, “think of something important to you and draw it. “ while conferencing with the student the teacher says, “what more can you tell me? Detail, an issue with young writers and also a process to help them see the big picture in what they are thinking. So we start with an art class to create a picture. Triangles are found on the roof of houses and squares are the body of a house with smaller squares for windows. George Deboer (2002) wrote that the current trends toward standards-based education have decreased the opportunities for child-centered teaching and reduced the autonomy of teachers. The NCLB have changed teacher’s curricula, pedagogy and schedules in ways that do not always support best practices. Deboer found that when content standards are more general and teachers more flexible then teachers can teach to the interest of their students to maintain on task behavior. Rebecca Stout wonders if she needed to incorporate some of the balanced literacy practices in order to help her students. She found the most noticeable difference between the programs was the emphasis that balanced literacy placed on teaching the writing process. Rebecca seems determine to emphasize her literacy centers as a vital part of writing and how reading and writing went hand in hand.
I began to think that this too could work for kindergarten with hands on approach of a way to write. Rebecca also suggested to make her literacy centers very structured and with deeper meaning to help student emphasize their love for writing. Everyone has a story but couldn’t write it down. Literacy centers can offer hands on approach to writing.
I would like to post my challenge to my kindergarteners on how the use of structured literacy centers intrinsically motivate student writing? How can students become better writers by using the activities in the literacy centers? Where will the evidence show their growth in their writing from using the literacy centers? What are some age appropriate activities to put into a literacy center to motivate writing?
Story telling for a literacy center helps students to express a way of writing orally. Like some adults we record our stories students should have the same opportunities too. Kathryne Macgrath Speaker (2002) “Children involved in storytelling programs exhibit improved listening skills, better sequencing abilities, increased language appreciations and more thoughtful organizations in their own writing. At kindergarten it seems to be just this kind of process that will kick start a young writer. Scaffolding and interacting with learners help support learners to complete activities which they might not be able to carry out by themselves.
Aside from the drawing students learn that print also conveys a message. In order for children to benefit from formal reading instruction, they must have a certain level of phonemic awareness. Children can learn phonemic awareness through a process of language play; word play, listening to rhymes, songs and poetry; and engage in shared reading of predicable literature.
Reading and writing at this young age go so much hand in hand. Students use scribbles to represent their thoughts and ideas. How do we support this journey that shows growth over time to show a story that is recognizable to another reader? How will literacy centers enhance and encourage the writing process to intrinsically motivate the thoughts and ideas of young writers? Everyone has a story to tell even the infant child sitting in his chair and making faces at you as if trying to get the words out.
Critical Thinking Skills for 3rd Graders-Shawna
Introduction
It is report card time. My computer grade book has the Hawaiian General Learner Outcomes for each of my third grade students. These are the over-arching goals of a standards based education. Are the students self-directed in their learning? By this time of the year I know my students’ behaviors very well and even as a scour my grade books for notes and evidence of such, this is a relatively easy grade to give. I have those students who consistently make goals for their own learning and reflect on that learning, turn in assignments and are responsible with their time. They are independent and thrive with instruction followed by work periods where they are must regulate their own behavior. Yet the next grade I must give is ironically more complicated. I must mark for each of my students a grade on a continuum of consistently to rarely, whether they are complex thinkers. We have a rubric given to us by the state to measure this goal and as a grade level team we have attempted to create a child-friendly rubric in order to teach this. Yet still I struggle with defining the thinking level of each of my students. What does it mean to be a complex thinker? How do you gauge whether complex thinking has occurred? Curiosity, skepticism, the need to question are beginning indicators. Beyond that students learn to analyze, evaluate and ultimately self-regulate. What level of complex thinking can I bring my own third graders to? I have been pondering about exactly what I want to impart to my students. I have a year to leave my mark on these future citizens. We need a society that doesn’t take things for face value, that delves deeper to solve problems, that doesn’t always believe what is being portrayed in the media. I have thought about Doris Lessings’ article, “Group Minds” many times since I first read it in college. She argues that it is human nature, not just periods of time like Germany during the Holocaust, to follow the group opinion even when there is evidence contrary. She says that it has been noticed that there is ten percent of a given population who are the natural leaders that will follow their own independent thinking and opinions. And I see this in my own classroom. The few children, eyes sparkling, who will politely disagree with the teacher and the rest of their peers when something contradicts the obvious. I have desired to foster this and to have this modeled for the children who never quite seem to evaluate what is presented to them. How do you teach children to think for themselves without teaching them to be disrespectful? How do you teach kids to question ideas when they have been expected from day one to give rote, memorized answers?
Literature Review
Basically, thinking is an invisible, abstract process that needs to be made visible so that children can learn to extend their thoughts. How can that which is invisible be made visible? Many researchers have been trying to answer this question. Some suggest that modeling, drawing, writing and other forms of art can bring make the invisible visible. Once students become aware of their thinking, teachers can use that knowledge to scaffold lessons to stretch their students ability to think critically. So what is critical thinking? "Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action" (http://www.critical thinking.org)
Brain research supports the explicit teaching of critical thinking skills ( http://online.learningbridges.com/OC/Course.aspx). Teachers can teach students to be metacognitive. Metacognition means to think about your thinking and to learn to think better. Sometimes young students need concrete experiences in order to understand this abstract concept. According to McGregor (2007) “First impressions are critical to a learner. When introduced to a new thinking strategy, the learner instinctively asks, ‘Is this interesting? Do I need or want to know this? Can I succeed in thinking this way?’ A concrete launching lesson helps students reply with a resounding yes to each of these questions.” McGregor goes on to outline in her book, “Comprehension Connections” ways to make these thinking strategies concrete and accessible to children.
Critical thinking should be taught explicitly, and students must learn to monitor their own thinking. Benjamin Bloom (1956) created a hierachy of thinking skills referred to as Bloom‘s Taxonomy. From lowest level of skill to highest he rated types of thinking as: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. Knowledge refers to information that can be recalled simply through rote learning. Further down the list is where higher level thinking occurs. Analysis is where students classify information by parts. Synthesis occurs when a learner combines the parts of message and assembles into something of his/her own. Evaluation is when a thinker presents and defends judgments or opinions based on a set of criteria. As a teacher, the level of questioning I present to a student will directly effect the level of responses. If I ask simple recall questions than I shall get answers that are low level thinking skills. If I structure my questions as more open-ended where there isn‘t necessarily a right or wrong answer students will have to respond by applying their background knowledge and refine their understanding.
If I want to teach my students to think critically, I need to be able to measure their development of critical thinking skills. According to Stiggins, Rubel, and Quellmalz (1988) the way to measure thinking skills is similar to the way teachers measure all other skills: oral questioning, pencil/paper tests, and performance assessments. The key to using traditional means to measure nontraditional skills is to watch the key words in which tests are phrased. Low level thinking skills such as recall can be identified by keys words such as define, identify, name, list and when. Higher level questions such as for the skill of inference will have key words such as predict, anticipate and infer. If a student is asked to evaluate, key words would incluse judge, assess, argue, debate and critique. As an educator, I can change my students’ thinking by being conscious of changing the level of questioning I engage them in.
Shawna’s Notes:
-Mosiac of Thought, , project zero references, developing minds, research papers, Anderson + Krathwohl updated blooms taxonomy
Methodology
Strategies I would like to use:
Debbie Miller, Comprehension Connections, Explicit teaching of Critical Thinking Skills
Data collection:
Complex thinking rubrics to grade student reflections--students opinions of books (dra question), student self reflections
Anecdotal notes in green student notebooks--cooked notes as well
Digital recordings of students book talks --beginning, middle, end
Students thinking charts --use of a lot of graphic organizers and systematic teaching of how to link new thinking to schema
Report card grades??? Complex thinking???
Exit passes?
Student Interviews?
Students tests with higher level thinking questions
HSA test scores of test group students fall data vs. spring
It is report card time. My computer grade book has the Hawaiian General Learner Outcomes for each of my third grade students. These are the over-arching goals of a standards based education. Are the students self-directed in their learning? By this time of the year I know my students’ behaviors very well and even as a scour my grade books for notes and evidence of such, this is a relatively easy grade to give. I have those students who consistently make goals for their own learning and reflect on that learning, turn in assignments and are responsible with their time. They are independent and thrive with instruction followed by work periods where they are must regulate their own behavior. Yet the next grade I must give is ironically more complicated. I must mark for each of my students a grade on a continuum of consistently to rarely, whether they are complex thinkers. We have a rubric given to us by the state to measure this goal and as a grade level team we have attempted to create a child-friendly rubric in order to teach this. Yet still I struggle with defining the thinking level of each of my students. What does it mean to be a complex thinker? How do you gauge whether complex thinking has occurred? Curiosity, skepticism, the need to question are beginning indicators. Beyond that students learn to analyze, evaluate and ultimately self-regulate. What level of complex thinking can I bring my own third graders to? I have been pondering about exactly what I want to impart to my students. I have a year to leave my mark on these future citizens. We need a society that doesn’t take things for face value, that delves deeper to solve problems, that doesn’t always believe what is being portrayed in the media. I have thought about Doris Lessings’ article, “Group Minds” many times since I first read it in college. She argues that it is human nature, not just periods of time like Germany during the Holocaust, to follow the group opinion even when there is evidence contrary. She says that it has been noticed that there is ten percent of a given population who are the natural leaders that will follow their own independent thinking and opinions. And I see this in my own classroom. The few children, eyes sparkling, who will politely disagree with the teacher and the rest of their peers when something contradicts the obvious. I have desired to foster this and to have this modeled for the children who never quite seem to evaluate what is presented to them. How do you teach children to think for themselves without teaching them to be disrespectful? How do you teach kids to question ideas when they have been expected from day one to give rote, memorized answers?
Literature Review
Basically, thinking is an invisible, abstract process that needs to be made visible so that children can learn to extend their thoughts. How can that which is invisible be made visible? Many researchers have been trying to answer this question. Some suggest that modeling, drawing, writing and other forms of art can bring make the invisible visible. Once students become aware of their thinking, teachers can use that knowledge to scaffold lessons to stretch their students ability to think critically. So what is critical thinking? "Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action" (http://www.critical thinking.org)
Brain research supports the explicit teaching of critical thinking skills ( http://online.learningbridges.com/OC/Course.aspx). Teachers can teach students to be metacognitive. Metacognition means to think about your thinking and to learn to think better. Sometimes young students need concrete experiences in order to understand this abstract concept. According to McGregor (2007) “First impressions are critical to a learner. When introduced to a new thinking strategy, the learner instinctively asks, ‘Is this interesting? Do I need or want to know this? Can I succeed in thinking this way?’ A concrete launching lesson helps students reply with a resounding yes to each of these questions.” McGregor goes on to outline in her book, “Comprehension Connections” ways to make these thinking strategies concrete and accessible to children.
Critical thinking should be taught explicitly, and students must learn to monitor their own thinking. Benjamin Bloom (1956) created a hierachy of thinking skills referred to as Bloom‘s Taxonomy. From lowest level of skill to highest he rated types of thinking as: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. Knowledge refers to information that can be recalled simply through rote learning. Further down the list is where higher level thinking occurs. Analysis is where students classify information by parts. Synthesis occurs when a learner combines the parts of message and assembles into something of his/her own. Evaluation is when a thinker presents and defends judgments or opinions based on a set of criteria. As a teacher, the level of questioning I present to a student will directly effect the level of responses. If I ask simple recall questions than I shall get answers that are low level thinking skills. If I structure my questions as more open-ended where there isn‘t necessarily a right or wrong answer students will have to respond by applying their background knowledge and refine their understanding.
If I want to teach my students to think critically, I need to be able to measure their development of critical thinking skills. According to Stiggins, Rubel, and Quellmalz (1988) the way to measure thinking skills is similar to the way teachers measure all other skills: oral questioning, pencil/paper tests, and performance assessments. The key to using traditional means to measure nontraditional skills is to watch the key words in which tests are phrased. Low level thinking skills such as recall can be identified by keys words such as define, identify, name, list and when. Higher level questions such as for the skill of inference will have key words such as predict, anticipate and infer. If a student is asked to evaluate, key words would incluse judge, assess, argue, debate and critique. As an educator, I can change my students’ thinking by being conscious of changing the level of questioning I engage them in.
Shawna’s Notes:
-Mosiac of Thought, , project zero references, developing minds, research papers, Anderson + Krathwohl updated blooms taxonomy
Methodology
Strategies I would like to use:
Debbie Miller, Comprehension Connections, Explicit teaching of Critical Thinking Skills
Data collection:
Complex thinking rubrics to grade student reflections--students opinions of books (dra question), student self reflections
Anecdotal notes in green student notebooks--cooked notes as well
Digital recordings of students book talks --beginning, middle, end
Students thinking charts --use of a lot of graphic organizers and systematic teaching of how to link new thinking to schema
Report card grades??? Complex thinking???
Exit passes?
Student Interviews?
Students tests with higher level thinking questions
HSA test scores of test group students fall data vs. spring
Agenda for August 14th, 2010
Lehua Teacher Research
August 14, 2010
Shawn Fischer’s Home
Conference on Lit Review & Next Steps
Module 2
8:30-11:30
Please view calendar dates on http://www.lehuawritingproject.blogspot.com/
Agenda:
8:30-9:00 Greetings and Research Question
Please update with any news you want to share and state your research question.
As each person updates and shares questions, the listeners will be writing the question down on a feedback form (everyone will have a feedback form for each speaker). Quick feedback will be given to encourage specific, focused and local questions.
Jeannine—Book Clubs, Pay for participation
9:00-9:30- Ann will read her paper that she has posted it on our web site so we can read along with her. http://lehuaresearch2010.blogspot.com/. We will take notes on our feedback forms and then share with Ann.
9:30-10:00- Cathy will read her paper that she has posted it on our web site so we can read along with her. http://lehuaresearch2010.blogspot.com/. We will take notes on our feedback forms and then share with Cathy.
10:00-10:30 Shawna will read her paper that she has posted it on our web site so we can read along with her. http://lehuaresearch2010.blogspot.com/. We will take notes on our feedback forms and then share with Shawna.
10:30-11:00- Debbie will read her paper that she has posted it on our web site so we can read along with her. http://lehuaresearch2010.blogspot.com/. We will take notes on our feedback forms and then share with Cathy.
Researcher:_ Ann
Reviewer:____________________________________________________________________________
Inquiry Question:
A literature review serves to review current literature on issues that inform or impact the inquiry question. These issues may speak directly to the inquiry question or peripherally—just adding to the knowledge. The lit review issues may show a variety of perspectives that will help the researcher as she begins her study.
As you listen to a lit review being read today, please list the issues and its researcher that you feel most directly speak to the inquiry question.
Are there any issues, voices or perspectives that are missing? Please list them.
Write in your own word a brief summary of what this researcher is saying in her lit review.
Researcher:_ Cathy
Reviewer:____________________________________________________________________________
Inquiry Question:
A literature review serves to review current literature on issues that inform or impact the inquiry question. These issues may speak directly to the inquiry question or peripherally—just adding to the knowledge. The lit review issues may show a variety of perspectives that will help the researcher as she begins her study.
As you listen to a lit review being read today, please list the issues and its researcher that you feel most directly speak to the inquiry question.
Are there any issues, voices or perspectives that are missing? Please list them.
Write in your own word a brief summary of what this researcher is saying in her lit review.
Researcher: Shawna
Reviewer:____________________________________________________________________________
Inquiry Question:
A literature review serves to review current literature on issues that inform or impact the inquiry question. These issues may speak directly to the inquiry question or peripherally—just adding to the knowledge. The lit review issues may show a variety of perspectives that will help the researcher as she begins her study.
As you listen to a lit review being read today, please list the issues and its researcher that you feel most directly speak to the inquiry question.
Are there any issues, voices or perspectives that are missing? Please list them.
Write in your own word a brief summary of what this researcher is saying in her lit review.
Researcher:Debbie
Reviewer:____________________________________________________________________________
Inquiry Question:
A literature review serves to review current literature on issues that inform or impact the inquiry question. These issues may speak directly to the inquiry question or peripherally—just adding to the knowledge. The lit review issues may show a variety of perspectives that will help the researcher as she begins her study.
As you listen to a lit review being read today, please list the issues and its researcher that you feel most directly speak to the inquiry question.
Are there any issues, voices or perspectives that are missing? Please list them.
Write in your own word a brief summary of what this researcher is saying in her lit review.
VERY IMPORTANT: READ THIS
Next Steps: Creating a Research Design MODULE 3 DUE SEPTEMBER 1
Walk through Chapter 2 of The Art of Classroom Inquiry
READ or REREAD Chapters 3 & 4 of The Art of Classroom Inquiry
Project Design DUE by September 1—Jeannine will put our course up on a developmental site that we can keep on Laulima so we can upload our documents in WORD, have asynchronous chats, put up modules, videos, etc.
Design Plan will include:
I. Research Purpose (directions on p. 13 of TACI)
II. Research Question (directions on p. 13 of TACI)
III. List of Relevant Data (directions on p. 13 of TACI)
IV. Data Collection Plan (directions on p. 13 of TACI)
Create this in a WORD document and post on Laulima. I will send the address.
IRB Class: Taught online or in person DECIDE DATE
IRB UHH DUE: September 15th
IRB DOE DUE to Submit upon receipt of IRB UHH Approval
Data Collection Begins
Weekly Journal Posts
Review Meeting Dates for Fall Semester
August 14, 2010
Shawn Fischer’s Home
Conference on Lit Review & Next Steps
Module 2
8:30-11:30
Please view calendar dates on http://www.lehuawritingproject.blogspot.com/
Agenda:
8:30-9:00 Greetings and Research Question
Please update with any news you want to share and state your research question.
As each person updates and shares questions, the listeners will be writing the question down on a feedback form (everyone will have a feedback form for each speaker). Quick feedback will be given to encourage specific, focused and local questions.
Jeannine—Book Clubs, Pay for participation
9:00-9:30- Ann will read her paper that she has posted it on our web site so we can read along with her. http://lehuaresearch2010.blogspot.com/. We will take notes on our feedback forms and then share with Ann.
9:30-10:00- Cathy will read her paper that she has posted it on our web site so we can read along with her. http://lehuaresearch2010.blogspot.com/. We will take notes on our feedback forms and then share with Cathy.
10:00-10:30 Shawna will read her paper that she has posted it on our web site so we can read along with her. http://lehuaresearch2010.blogspot.com/. We will take notes on our feedback forms and then share with Shawna.
10:30-11:00- Debbie will read her paper that she has posted it on our web site so we can read along with her. http://lehuaresearch2010.blogspot.com/. We will take notes on our feedback forms and then share with Cathy.
Researcher:_ Ann
Reviewer:____________________________________________________________________________
Inquiry Question:
A literature review serves to review current literature on issues that inform or impact the inquiry question. These issues may speak directly to the inquiry question or peripherally—just adding to the knowledge. The lit review issues may show a variety of perspectives that will help the researcher as she begins her study.
As you listen to a lit review being read today, please list the issues and its researcher that you feel most directly speak to the inquiry question.
Are there any issues, voices or perspectives that are missing? Please list them.
Write in your own word a brief summary of what this researcher is saying in her lit review.
Researcher:_ Cathy
Reviewer:____________________________________________________________________________
Inquiry Question:
A literature review serves to review current literature on issues that inform or impact the inquiry question. These issues may speak directly to the inquiry question or peripherally—just adding to the knowledge. The lit review issues may show a variety of perspectives that will help the researcher as she begins her study.
As you listen to a lit review being read today, please list the issues and its researcher that you feel most directly speak to the inquiry question.
Are there any issues, voices or perspectives that are missing? Please list them.
Write in your own word a brief summary of what this researcher is saying in her lit review.
Researcher: Shawna
Reviewer:____________________________________________________________________________
Inquiry Question:
A literature review serves to review current literature on issues that inform or impact the inquiry question. These issues may speak directly to the inquiry question or peripherally—just adding to the knowledge. The lit review issues may show a variety of perspectives that will help the researcher as she begins her study.
As you listen to a lit review being read today, please list the issues and its researcher that you feel most directly speak to the inquiry question.
Are there any issues, voices or perspectives that are missing? Please list them.
Write in your own word a brief summary of what this researcher is saying in her lit review.
Researcher:Debbie
Reviewer:____________________________________________________________________________
Inquiry Question:
A literature review serves to review current literature on issues that inform or impact the inquiry question. These issues may speak directly to the inquiry question or peripherally—just adding to the knowledge. The lit review issues may show a variety of perspectives that will help the researcher as she begins her study.
As you listen to a lit review being read today, please list the issues and its researcher that you feel most directly speak to the inquiry question.
Are there any issues, voices or perspectives that are missing? Please list them.
Write in your own word a brief summary of what this researcher is saying in her lit review.
VERY IMPORTANT: READ THIS
Next Steps: Creating a Research Design MODULE 3 DUE SEPTEMBER 1
Walk through Chapter 2 of The Art of Classroom Inquiry
READ or REREAD Chapters 3 & 4 of The Art of Classroom Inquiry
Project Design DUE by September 1—Jeannine will put our course up on a developmental site that we can keep on Laulima so we can upload our documents in WORD, have asynchronous chats, put up modules, videos, etc.
Design Plan will include:
I. Research Purpose (directions on p. 13 of TACI)
II. Research Question (directions on p. 13 of TACI)
III. List of Relevant Data (directions on p. 13 of TACI)
IV. Data Collection Plan (directions on p. 13 of TACI)
Create this in a WORD document and post on Laulima. I will send the address.
IRB Class: Taught online or in person DECIDE DATE
IRB UHH DUE: September 15th
IRB DOE DUE to Submit upon receipt of IRB UHH Approval
Data Collection Begins
Weekly Journal Posts
Review Meeting Dates for Fall Semester
Friday, August 13, 2010
My Question has changed.-Cathy..it seems fluid at this point
Here is my very rough draft of a lit. review
Ann, I was very impressed with your work, as you will see I need mucho help.
Literature review:
In 2010 classrooms are throbbing with the expectations of outside forces. Teachers are being pushed from above with directives from local administration to meet “Adequate Yearly Progress”, administrators are pressured by the State Department of Education who in turn have the looming stipulations of NCLB at a national level which all seem to be connected to monetary support of schools and education. The intense pressure for teachers and students to “make the grade” and pass the test is sometimes overwhelming. As a special education teacher I am constantly trying to find different ways to engage and interest the students in my classroom. They struggle with phonemic awareness, fluency and Comprehension as do many students but these students in particular are slow to pick up skills. These difficulties have contributed to the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results, indicating that 69% of fourth graders read below the “proficient” reading level (NAEP, 2005). It has also been noted that by third grade, children who cannot comprehend tend to fall further behind their peers in overall reading abilities regardless of their decoding skill levels (Chall, Jacobs, & Baldwin, (1990).Sometimes the difference between making AYP and not is measured by a few students who usually fall under the umbrella of special education. From IDEA 2004 “All children with disabilities are included in all general State and district-wide assessment programs ... with appropriate accommodations and alternate assessments, where necessary and as indicated in their respective individualized education programs.” (Section 1412(c)(16)(A)) Many times, the buck falls backward. Fifth grade teachers blame fourth grade teachers who blame 3rd etc. and often I hear; “We missed the benchmark by just a couple points.” followed by the inevitable glance at the special education department. For most of my teaching career I have described my students as a collection of little locks that all just need the right key. It is my job as a special education teacher to provide as many “keys” or different methods of learning to these children so that they may experience success in a classroom
For many years I have tried to inter-weave my master’s degree in theater with my teaching and have had small successes, seen amazing progress with students who seemed unreachable through drama and the arts. Harvard Graduate School of Education sponsors “Project Zero” a educational research group whose mission is to enhance learning through creativity in the arts. There are many current projects that work within the United States and internationally to build communities of independent learners across disciplines that is based on Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences.
From a website by Dr. Thomas Armstrong who is a proponent of the theory of multiple intelligences’
“Dr. Gardner says that our schools and culture focus most of their attention on linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligence. We esteem the highly articulate or logical people of our culture. However, Dr. Gardner says that we should also place equal attention on individuals who show gifts in the other intelligences: the artists, architects, musicians, naturalists, designers, dancers, therapists, entrepreneurs, and others who enrich the world in which we live. Unfortunately, many children who have these gifts don’t receive much reinforcement for them in school. Many of these kids, in fact, end up being labeled "learning disabled," "ADD (attention deficit disorder," or simply underachievers, when their unique ways of thinking and learning aren’t addressed by a heavily linguistic or logical-mathematical classroom.
If Harvard University thinks that education through the arts is a viable option, my question then becomes: Why can’t I teach reading and writing to Kindergarteners through drama and role playing?
It has been proven that using different modes of learning is beneficial for emergent literacy learners and that K-3rd graders are able to retain more through movement and hands on activities ----- students comprehend significantly more when their lessons include both a linguistic and nonlinguistic input system. When information is received through a variety of pathways (e.g., auditory, visual, kinesthetic), readers’ retention of information increases significantly (Paivio, 1991; Sadoski, Paivio, & Goetz, 1991).
Ann, I was very impressed with your work, as you will see I need mucho help.
Literature review:
In 2010 classrooms are throbbing with the expectations of outside forces. Teachers are being pushed from above with directives from local administration to meet “Adequate Yearly Progress”, administrators are pressured by the State Department of Education who in turn have the looming stipulations of NCLB at a national level which all seem to be connected to monetary support of schools and education. The intense pressure for teachers and students to “make the grade” and pass the test is sometimes overwhelming. As a special education teacher I am constantly trying to find different ways to engage and interest the students in my classroom. They struggle with phonemic awareness, fluency and Comprehension as do many students but these students in particular are slow to pick up skills. These difficulties have contributed to the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results, indicating that 69% of fourth graders read below the “proficient” reading level (NAEP, 2005). It has also been noted that by third grade, children who cannot comprehend tend to fall further behind their peers in overall reading abilities regardless of their decoding skill levels (Chall, Jacobs, & Baldwin, (1990).Sometimes the difference between making AYP and not is measured by a few students who usually fall under the umbrella of special education. From IDEA 2004 “All children with disabilities are included in all general State and district-wide assessment programs ... with appropriate accommodations and alternate assessments, where necessary and as indicated in their respective individualized education programs.” (Section 1412(c)(16)(A)) Many times, the buck falls backward. Fifth grade teachers blame fourth grade teachers who blame 3rd etc. and often I hear; “We missed the benchmark by just a couple points.” followed by the inevitable glance at the special education department. For most of my teaching career I have described my students as a collection of little locks that all just need the right key. It is my job as a special education teacher to provide as many “keys” or different methods of learning to these children so that they may experience success in a classroom
For many years I have tried to inter-weave my master’s degree in theater with my teaching and have had small successes, seen amazing progress with students who seemed unreachable through drama and the arts. Harvard Graduate School of Education sponsors “Project Zero” a educational research group whose mission is to enhance learning through creativity in the arts. There are many current projects that work within the United States and internationally to build communities of independent learners across disciplines that is based on Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences.
From a website by Dr. Thomas Armstrong who is a proponent of the theory of multiple intelligences’
“Dr. Gardner says that our schools and culture focus most of their attention on linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligence. We esteem the highly articulate or logical people of our culture. However, Dr. Gardner says that we should also place equal attention on individuals who show gifts in the other intelligences: the artists, architects, musicians, naturalists, designers, dancers, therapists, entrepreneurs, and others who enrich the world in which we live. Unfortunately, many children who have these gifts don’t receive much reinforcement for them in school. Many of these kids, in fact, end up being labeled "learning disabled," "ADD (attention deficit disorder," or simply underachievers, when their unique ways of thinking and learning aren’t addressed by a heavily linguistic or logical-mathematical classroom.
If Harvard University thinks that education through the arts is a viable option, my question then becomes: Why can’t I teach reading and writing to Kindergarteners through drama and role playing?
It has been proven that using different modes of learning is beneficial for emergent literacy learners and that K-3rd graders are able to retain more through movement and hands on activities ----- students comprehend significantly more when their lessons include both a linguistic and nonlinguistic input system. When information is received through a variety of pathways (e.g., auditory, visual, kinesthetic), readers’ retention of information increases significantly (Paivio, 1991; Sadoski, Paivio, & Goetz, 1991).
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Action Research Question-Cathy ..draft
Here is what it looks like at this point. I have another idea that I will be looking at due to methodology and actual student counts, but I will talk to you guys about that on Sat.
Cathy Riehle's Question: How does movement and kinesthetic teaching methods affect special education students learning reading skills in Kindergarten.
Cathy Riehle's Question: How does movement and kinesthetic teaching methods affect special education students learning reading skills in Kindergarten.
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