This class has been very informative. I completed two action research projects, one on creating a successful classroom management plan and the other on student engagement with interactive whiteboards.
The support I received from my peers was outstanding. I enjoyed reading other's work and giving them support, by emailing and adding comments to their projects. I found editing my peers work helped me with creating my own write up. I enjoyed having critical friends in this class.
I have finished looking over my work, reviewing, analyzing and reviewing more. I am extremely pleased at the result and look forward to sharing my information and knowledge with other colleagues.
I have to say, while this has been an incredible journey, everything that you could possibly imagine has gone wrong while writing and finishing this project. It all started with losing a bunch of data on my computer, but thankfully I had kept a log on google drive, which saved from many hours of work being lost. Then it was almost at the end of finalizing my paper, making corrections and finishing the last touches, when my HD disk was full and I wasn't able to save any of my work. I had to copy all of the information I had onto a google drive document, I tried saving it to a jump drive, but that wouldn't work either. I watched tutorial videos on how to make more space on the HD... it suggested to go to the activity monitor and delete the trash and download bin. I did that, nothing changed, closed out other programs, still nothing changed. I clicked on another program and saw "force quit" well I clicked on this button and shut down my whole computer. Thankfully, google drive saves automatically. I didn't lose anything, but did have to copy and paste to get my paper back to where it was before the shutdown. When the computer shutdown, it made more room on the HD. So I was finally able to save my project to the HD and a jump drive, you can never be too safe.
Then I went to the final touches and presented my information through screen-cast-o-matic. This was great, I explained my reasoning for the project, my findings and results. I encoded and uploaded it to youtube. Before I ever turn in something, I always review many times. I clicked on the link to the video and it came up "private" oh brother. I tried to change the settings, but once screen-cast-omatic uploads it is final. So I had to encode and upload again. It has been a long journey and quite stressful and chaotic, but I am very pleased with the results.
I enjoyed the two research classes I took. I have changed my classroom plan and set up during this action research. That is what action research is about.
Thank you for the strength building journey and I hope you enjoy my two wonderful research action projects.
Below are my two action research projects
Amanda Hartman's SEACCR Portfolio
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Reflection and Data Collection Week 7
This week I collaborated with my colleagues and peers
through the weekly twitter feeds.
I received information on other tools to use in my classroom and I
explained how Promethean boards and certain tools could be used in my
colleagues’ classrooms. One of my colleagues said it was amazing how the online
module helped their students stay engaged, rather than discussing as a
class. I tried a couple of the ones I received. I found that using the
interactive whiteboard as a screen to view something, keeps students engaged.
This helps with reading as a whole class. Students are able to see the correct
page number and follow along together. If they lose the page number, they can
glance at the Promethean board and view the area the class is reading at. I
also tried some new math game sites on the Promethean board. My students and I
can play these games in teams and as a whole class. When my students go to the
computer lab, they are able to play the same games individually.
Data Collection – Week 3, responses from survey (http://surveymonkey.com.)
Do you use your
Promethean Board in the classroom? If no, why not?
1.
Almost everyday. It has been extremely helpful during math
this year. I also use it a great deal during WTL to get different lessons from
Promethium Planet.
2.
No Promethean board in my Gym.
3.
Yes, everyday.
4.
Yes.
5.
No in a gym setting
6.
No, I do not have one in my room.
7.
Yes, but I am not in my classroom very often.
8.
I do. For signing-in in the morning, using the document
camera for Read-Alouds, completing worksheets together as a class, teaching and
reviewing math concepts.
What types of
technology do you use to keep your students engaged?
(8 responses)
1.
I use the Promethium Board and computers. Students are
able to go online to several reading and math sights. We also go to the computer
lab once a week. I also use the doc camera which is very helpful for visual
students.
2.
No computers in the gym.
3.
Promethean interactive lessons computers in the classroom
to do word processing projects keynote presentations google apps educational
websites to do at school and home digital cameras to use in projects.
4.
I make flipcharts and download flipcharts from promethean
planet and Discovery Education videos. Go Math! videos, flipcharts, and math
models. Document camera.
5.
As little as possible, we want these students moving . Not
sitting behind a screen or on a ipad.
6.
Websites, movie clips, interactive quizzes, and powerpoint
presentations. I also use document cameras when I have access to one.
7.
We only have computers and the Promethean Board.
8.
Promethean board, document camera, music.
When you are using
your promethean board, what percentage of the time are your students engaged?
5 responded 75-100% on task
Why are
students off task when the Promethean Board is being used?
1.
They all get to participate in one way or another so it
really keeps their attention.
2.
When there is technical errors with the board or computer,
too small of images on the screen (GoMath), and distracted by the fact that the
board is in the back of the room right by the door.
3.
Not enough opportunities to participate and be actively
engaged since only one or two people have the pen.
4.
If there are technical problems.
5.
Too excited about activity and they loose focus of the
lesson at hand, or when the lesson is not interactive enough and they are just
sitting and looking at a the screen.
From this data collection this week, I had eight respond to my
survey. Most of the teachers use their Promethean board in the classroom. I
didn’t get any responses on classroom management skills being used with
technology. I was surprised to hear this. A lot of the responses I received
were from rhythm claps, counting down, turning the lights off, positive
behavior rewards and table points. The response of why students are of task has
to do with the program not working correctly. When I have my students sign in
on the Promethean Board in the morning, sometimes it will automatically shut
off. This tends to start off tasks behaviors. Some of my students have figured
out how to turn the flip chart back on. This week I tried playing an
instructional song without giving direction before hand. My students were off
task and needed a brain break. I turned the song on and watched my students’
response. 20 out of 23 students stood up and started to follow instructions
from the song. Three students needed to be redirected. I didn’t sing the song out
loud, like I usually do. 21 students out of 23 followed the instruction. Two
students had to come and stand by me while I did the movements to the song. I
found this management tool very effective. I let the song give the instructions
to my students without explaining the instructions.
During our Math lesson on the Promethean board I had 10 students
off task and 13 paying attention. When I asked the 10 students why they weren’t
listening in an exit slip, they replied bored, too difficult, hard to see the
board and wanted to play with the Promethean board. I have found when I have my
students use the Promethean board during a lesson, they all want a chance to
write on the board. It is difficult to have one board in the room. It would be
nice to have Ipads for each student and be able to access the sites that I show
them on the Promethean board.
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Data Collection Week 6
This week our twitter session was very informative. I collaborated with some peers and helped define deadline dates and certain locations for resources. The school week with my students was very short. Our district had Parent Teacher Conferences two days and my students were at school for only half days. We had two full days during the week and no school on Friday. I was able to collect some data on the first two days and the conference days, not very well. My students were full of energy and excited to go home. My students were in my classroom from 9:00 - 12:30 without any breaks. They didn't get their pull out or have recess. Data these days, were not of the norm. Analyzing the data from the past few weeks, I have started to notice that my students are engaged when they are up out of their seats and moving. All of the brain break songs for this week, were songs with instructions in them. Tooty Ta, gives rhythm, beats and instructions for the students to follow along with. I played the Casper Line Dance and the Cupid Shuffle. The Casper Line Dance all students were engaged and completed the instructions. With the Cupid Shuffle, I had six students off task and not following directions. I had a conversation with these six students after an exit ticket. The conclusion was, the song was too repetitive and it got boring for the students. With the Casper Line Dance, the students didn't know what was coming next, so they were all engaged and waiting for the next instruction. It also had them clap to a beat, count and learn new dance moves. During lunch this week, my students were in the classroom. I had the lights on and let them eat with their friends. This didn't work. I found free animated books online. I played the book on my interactive whiteboard and turned the classroom lights off. Immediately my students were engaged in the book, the noise level had dropped and all of my students were in a seat eating. The animated book, played as a movie. The characters moved on the screen and a narrator told the story. The stories were aligned with Social Emotional Learning. I wasn't sure if my students' were going to like the books, but they all did. When the story was over, every single one of my students asked to play another one. The stories are quite short. They only last for ten minutes. The students liked these stories so much, that when one finished a student got out of their seat and clicked on a new story. I have found my students are responding and engaged when they are up and moving and watching an online story. I read a story to my students and found half of my students were not engaged. When I played the same story online, through wegivebooks.org every student was engaged and listening to the book. The survey I sent to my colleagues has a few responses, I'm hoping with a full week and conferences complete the survey will receive more responses. At this time, I don't think I have enough data to analyze from my survey. I will continue to explore new songs with instructions and fine different ways to keep my students engaged using our interactive whiteboard.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Week 5 - Reflection
This week was an interesting week to collect data. At first
our power went out from a windstorm for 30 minutes. The activity I had planned
on completing with the interactive whiteboard was changed to using a whiteboard
and individual whiteboards at student’s seats. Engagement was at fifty percent,
with the lights flickering on and off.
Then due to it raining sideways, we had students indoors for recess. The
afternoon was full of energetic students. For management I turned on music, but
that didn’t work to get the students attention. Instead I put on my teacher hat
and made a decision to do sprints outside. After coming inside, my students
finally started to calm down and get to work.
What I have
noticed from this week is during brain breaks, playing songs for students has
worked well. I received a long list of other songs from a SEACCR peer. I’m very
grateful to receive this list. I will try these songs in the next couple of
weeks.
I played the cupid shuffle and all
of my students were moving in the classroom. When my students sat down to start
work after the song, they were engaged. While my student’s worked, I played
music. The exit slips explained
twenty-one students were not distracted from the music, but two of them were. I
had a discussion with the two students that put distracted on their slips. The
reasoning was, it was too noisy; they were not able to work with music. They
would start singing the song and lose their focus on what they were supposed to
do. I asked the students if I were to play classical music (music without
words) would it be better. Their response was “yes, I can do that.” I have
found that if I knew the song that was being played, I was distracted. While
walking around I really had to listen to the students question. I would find
myself singing the song in my brain. I think the change to classical music will
work for everyone. I cannot write or read when there is music playing in the
background.
The end of
the quarter is this Friday. Grades are due on Monday and we have a Professional
Development Day on Friday. The survey I created for colleagues has not been
completed. I expect the survey to be completed by next week.
This week I
have rearranged a lot of my students’ desks. I made sure every student was able
to see the interactive whiteboard. Before, I had students move to the back
table. I realized after this week our
back table would not work every time during an interactive whiteboard.
From
another exit slip my students informed me that they enjoy the interactive
whiteboard lessons better when they are whole group interactions. I have
noticed my students are engaged during whole group interactions as well. I’m
interested to see what next week’s data collection will show.
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Week 4 - Rationale, Methodology and Experience
This week was very confusing and extremely difficult. The
webinar on Tuesday helped explain the process and outline of the proposal. It
would be nice to have the webinars explain the requirements for the next couple
of weeks. It’s stressful and
overwhelming when we’re only given a few days to complete the assignment. When I read the information and
requirements for week 4, I was a little confused on how to set up a research
question. I read through the resources that were given, but I was guessing when
creating my rational for the proposal. It wasn’t until after the webinar on
Tuesday that I finally figured out how to design my proposal. The twitter
session helped a lot on Thursday too. I noticed a lot of my colleagues were a
bit confused. I’m glad we have the twitter sessions. I finished writing my
proposals and sent it to two colleagues to review in LiveText. Finding how to
send the review took more time. I sent the proposal for the review and turned
in my assignment. I appreciated
the comments I received from my peers. It has helped me look at my research
proposal through different points of view. I enjoyed reading the proposals I
was reviewing. It’s amazing to see many different topics being studied in one
class. I wrote two proposals this
week. The first proposal was about five management skills that use technology. The
second proposal was how do interactive whiteboards keep students engaged. The
methodology collections I have decided to do is create a survey for my
colleagues to take, observation of my students, try the skills I learned from
the literature and have my students complete an exit ticket. I will keep the
data in a google drive document and excel sheet.
Rationale
This study needs to be done because it is important to know and
have effective management skills that use technology in the classroom. The purpose of this study is to
discover different types of technology management skills that work in a
classroom for students who are not engaged in learning. The participants in this study will be
my first grade students at Bayshore Elementary. At this stage in the research,
I would like to identify five effective management skills that use technology
to keep students engaged in the classroom. I have found when music is played
from the Promethean board for the students moving brain break, it has helped
keep students engaged. With the Go Math curriculum, clicking on the speaker
icon lets a narrator explain the essential questions that are aligned with the
common core state standards through the Promethean board. The different voice
and image on the board helps the students’ stay engaged. Discovering these different skills will
give me the opportunity to share with my colleagues and keep students engaged.
How do the first grade students in my class respond to the five management
skills that use technology? Does it work and keep them engaged or do these
skills disrupt from their learning?
Methodology
(data collection)
I am going to collect data for three
weeks. I will send a survey to my colleagues. And have them explain their
management skills that work in their classroom and what types of technology do
they use in the classroom to keep students engaged. I am going to experiment
with the skills that I have learned from the literature and from my colleagues.
I’m going to keep the daily log on a google drive spreadsheet. The log will
explain if the skills worked, what time it worked and why? I am also going to
keep a log of my students’ reactions. I will have my students complete an exit
ticket. They will explain to me if they liked the technology management skill
and why or why not. This will help me understand what management skill my
students respond to the best. I will present the data I collect from this
research experiment through a bar graph. The bar graph will show the top five
technology management skills, what time of day the specific skill worked the
best and if it was more effective with male or female students.
Rationale
The purpose of this study is to discover how
effectively interactive whiteboards engage students in the classroom. This
study needs to be done because it is important to know if interactive
whiteboards are engaging students or distracting them when they are learning.
The participants in this study will be my first grade students at Bayshore
Elementary. At this stage in the research, I would like to identify how
interactive whiteboards are engaging my students and how it could be
disengaging from their learning. I have found when using the interactive
whiteboard in my classroom, students are ready to learn. When I write the
objective for the lesson or information on a regular whiteboard, I have
students off task. Most of my students are engaged, but a fourth of my
classroom is off task. With the interactive whiteboard, it is a new tool for my
students to use. All of my students want a chance to use the interactive
whiteboard. When my interactive whiteboard doesn’t work or shuts down during a
lesson, I find that my students become off task and disengage from learning.
Discovering how to keep my students engaged with the interactive whiteboards,
will give me the opportunity to share with my colleagues and help keep all
students engaged. How do interactive whiteboards keep students engaged in
learning?
Methodology (data collection)
I am going to collect data for three weeks. I will send a survey
to my colleagues and have them explain if they use the interactive whiteboard
in their classroom. I will have them tell me how many times a day, are their
students on task. If they’re off task what are the teachers doing at that time?
I will also have them explain in the survey if they feel comfortable using the
interactive whiteboard, and if not why do they feel this way? I am going to
experiment with the programs and classroom set up that I have learned from the
literature and from my colleagues. Is the set up of my classroom engaging to my
students when the interactive whiteboard is being used? Can all of the students
see the interactive whiteboard? I’m going to keep the daily log on a google
drive spreadsheet. The log will explain if the students were on task during the
interactive whiteboard lesson. If students were off task, what were the reasons
and problems during the lesson? I will observe my students during the
interactive whiteboard lessons. I will keep track of how many students were on
task and engaged during the lesson.
I will have my students complete an exit ticket. They will explain to me
if they liked the interactive whiteboard lesson and why or why not. This will
help me understand what kinds of lessons keep my students engaged. I will present the data I collect from
this research experiment through an excel sheet. The excel sheet will list all
the different activities that were completed on the interactive whiteboard.
Were the students engaged during the lesson and if they were disengaged, what
were they doing? This data will help me understand how interactive whiteboards
keep students engaged?
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Week 3 Reflection
This week was probably the toughest. Trying to find articles that would work for my question was difficult. I was not able to find articles that worked for my question. I found some of my peers having the same trouble. I explained how the Egan Library was the best resource to use when searching for full PDF articles.
When I started researching for articles, I had to modify my question and ended up changing it completely. Once I changed my question to "what are effective management skills used in the classroom"? I was able to find a lot of information. Google Scholar only gave me articles I could purchase. When I started researching for articles through the Egan Library, I found many articles with very in-depth information on my new question. Next week, I plan on creating a new survey for my colleagues to complete due to changing my question completely. I also plan on researching for more articles and adding it to my annotated bibliography.
When I started researching for articles, I had to modify my question and ended up changing it completely. Once I changed my question to "what are effective management skills used in the classroom"? I was able to find a lot of information. Google Scholar only gave me articles I could purchase. When I started researching for articles through the Egan Library, I found many articles with very in-depth information on my new question. Next week, I plan on creating a new survey for my colleagues to complete due to changing my question completely. I also plan on researching for more articles and adding it to my annotated bibliography.
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