Teacher as Researcher
Nearing the last few courses of my wonderful and informative graduate school career, it was now time for me to put my Inquiry question into the focus of my research. Furthermore, I would use this scholarly information to create a final project that combined my Action Research which in turn will change my teaching practices to better my students. Teacher Research was a fairly new concept to me, therefore I had to really emerce myself in scholarly literature to better understand teacher research. Teacher research is a systematic practice that teachers perform daily. Teachers regularly reflect on how successful or not successful their lessons have been. I also learned that teacher research is done through means of journaling thoughts, lessons, ideas from the teacher's workday that could be revisited at a later time.
Consequently as I delved more into the practice of teacher research I began to flesh out my Inquiry based question even more so. After constantly observing my students, journaliing and analyzing their test scores I started to see patterns in their data. I recognized a need for my students to partipate in authentic reading experiences which would help improve their motivation to read. I selected Digital Stoytelling as a web 2.0 tool that allowed my students to retell the major concepts of their reading and synthesize their comprehension in the form of digital media. I gathered the reading scores of my students, allowed them to participate in a focus group discussion, and collaborated with the Media Specialist to gain insight on what literature would appeal to these young, reluctant readers. A description of my focus group's student reading ability is shown below as well as samples of the student focus group discussion questions and permission form that I sent home to parents about my Action Research plan.
From this point I researched articles and reports that discussed the educational benefits of developing lesson plans for struggling readers that allowed students to demonstrate their knowledge of reading comprehension through step-by-step writing and creating images that capture their understanding.
Ultimately, my students created digital stories which summarized (in their own words) different chapters of a novel entitled, The Pinballs by Betsy Byers.
Consequently as I delved more into the practice of teacher research I began to flesh out my Inquiry based question even more so. After constantly observing my students, journaliing and analyzing their test scores I started to see patterns in their data. I recognized a need for my students to partipate in authentic reading experiences which would help improve their motivation to read. I selected Digital Stoytelling as a web 2.0 tool that allowed my students to retell the major concepts of their reading and synthesize their comprehension in the form of digital media. I gathered the reading scores of my students, allowed them to participate in a focus group discussion, and collaborated with the Media Specialist to gain insight on what literature would appeal to these young, reluctant readers. A description of my focus group's student reading ability is shown below as well as samples of the student focus group discussion questions and permission form that I sent home to parents about my Action Research plan.
From this point I researched articles and reports that discussed the educational benefits of developing lesson plans for struggling readers that allowed students to demonstrate their knowledge of reading comprehension through step-by-step writing and creating images that capture their understanding.
Ultimately, my students created digital stories which summarized (in their own words) different chapters of a novel entitled, The Pinballs by Betsy Byers.
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permission_form_digital_stories.pdf | |
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interview_questions__october_20.pdf | |
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