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?