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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_mjaGACpVeIa8jQYEVqm7Wd8BArnkadaNYGY0rU0h0I/edit#
The results of my paper lead me in many different directions. First and foremost setting goals with students in a one on one setting gave almost double the average score than with students that did not goal set on a reading comprehension test. I think the most profound outcome that was unexpected was that I realized from my Reading Survey was that students that struggle to read also struggle to focus when learning to read and while reading on their own or with others. My next steps are how to incorporate, not only goal setting, but mindfulness into the curriculum to improve struggling readers performance when it comes to reading comprehension to teach the skill of focus and reading stamina. Well, it has been quite a journey. I am not done with the paper yet, but the research took me down a number of rabbit holes in various directions. After this action research project I now know why people spend decades of their lives researching on one topic. It can be messy and unclear with a ton of variations as to which way to turn or go and not sure if any really tell the data that one is searching for as a finality.
As a self reflection I did a great job researching my question with various influences that are not always typical in science and academia. I read a ton of books on audible and other professional leaders in the community that have made it their life's work to find the answers. I am only one in and I My study and research on goal setting in Language Arts Reading from grades 3-5 will mostly be quantitative. The independent variable will be setting reading goals and reading their personalized goals each school day at the beginning of the period. The dependent variable will be whether the student accurately documents the minutes read each day to reach their personal goal. Another dependent variable is the difference in ages of growth between the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. Some age ranges may have a larger growth because of age and experience with the four formal assessments and their developmental growth by age. The purpose of the research is to see if the data increases more with students that set goals with a teacher or if the goal setting didn't make a difference towards the Reading scores increasing. The students will be given a survey about reading strategies and personal interest in their reading likes and dislikes to compare at the end of data collecting to see if their interests and strategies change throughout the process.
I will compare these two groups (goal setters vs non goal setters) and as a sub-question look to see if ethnicity ( Hispanic or Non Hispanic) had an impact culturally in setting goals with a teacher. This would be the only area in which I will be exploring inductive behaviors in nature and look for themes in the data in terms of motivation, growth mindset and experiences. There is an increasing achievement gap between Hispanic and Non Hispanic students in schools. Some students begin Kindergarten as second language learners and consistently stay behind throughout the years. Goal setting is a positive way to set a growth mindset in academics with an adult to support their progress. Will having a clear target goal make the leap to the progress intended to be proficient at grade level material? Steve Graham is a researcher that studies motivation in writing support to become better readers, that tests digital tools for literacy and specializes in special education. Writing goals to become better readers to close the achievement gap in reading can be used in all areas of education to raise the bar of ESL student success. A teacher will spend one-on-one time with students to set goals and make action plans to raise test scores in Reading in four areas of formal assessment? (Phonics Inventory, Reading Inventory, Core Phonics Assessment and a “Words Their Way” Spelling Inventory) After the teacher gathers the data it will then compare the four pieces of data with students that have personally set goals with a teacher. The students will track their reading daily in their planner and read their personalized goals in school each day at the beginning of class. Students that did not work with a teacher to set goals will be compared and see if their is a more significant gain or not. The two groups of data will be averaged as to which group has the most gain in their scores (goal setters vs non goal setters) to see if the goal setting strategy is a superior one. A sub-question that will be analyzed will be cross checked identifying if one tactic works more for one culture (Hispanic) over another culture (non-Hispanic), the two dominant cultures at the school site that have the greatest achievement gap. The articles that I read... https://edsource.org/2011/design-schools-so-students-become-real-workers-in-education-system/8332 https://edsource.org/2015/theres-more-to-a-growth-mindset-than-assuming-you-have-it/90780 https://edsource.org/2010/negotiate-student-achievement-goals-into-teachers-contracts/4282 https://edsource.org/2015/home-visits-are-key-to-kids-success/88510 After exploring in areas of my topic area of Setting Goals in the area of Reading with a positive growth mind set I found a few articles of interest. The first of which I found as fascinating reading was in how to design school so that students are the real workers, as though in a work force in the real world. I thought it was a great way to increase the personalized motivation and learning component to be the acting adults that kids want to be with the safety net of supervision. Having projects and learning about motivation and the brain I realize how important creativity is and and how important it is to be driven and passionate about what we do in our lives to give meaningful purpose to make the most out of what we do. All o f the information that I gather about teaching and learning are of value. Every day that I explore is valuable to my next steps and plays as a teacher influencing the lives of children. It directly gets me to inspire and motivate struggling readers and gives them purpose and have reason and drive to become better because they want to. In the second article, was the buzz words about Growth Mindset and how when it was developed it had much more meaning and purpose to what it meant. Like in the game of Telephone, people in the field of education have found ways to shorten and simplify meaning and therefore have lost a chunk of the core meaning along the way. The last two I felt went closely together. One, there was a time only a few years back where politics wanted teachers to be held more closely accountable to the effect of their teaching methodologies and put teacher achievement into their contract and be paid and given bonus' accordingly. The second, was regarding home visits and how important it is to make the connection with the family for the success of the student. Both of whom, the teacher was going way above and beyond the extent of just doing a job, but making efforts that connect to the community in an extreme way to make change in the school system. I found these articles particularly pertinent to my research action's driving question because my driving question has to do with making goals, having a positive growth mindset, and closing the achievement gap when it comes to reading goals. As far as education and learning have come, it is not at a quick enough pace as to keep up with the technological times that we are facing today. We can use all of the strategies in the world, but what are the ones that are really going to make the most change in the quickest amount of time. Testing various strategies as good teaching methods in the 21st Century to discover what is going to be the most powerful affect for change and be able to spread the word in the teaching field is what I am aiming for. Driving Question-Making Goals with Low Achieving Readers I am having a great time interviewing and meeting with my low phonics kids and making goals with them in regards to the data that is driving my project. I am really getting into the research component in my class with assessments and documentation to have comparable data to assess at different points in the research for the end of the course journal assignment. I have made up a reading survey that addresses strategy awareness and interest level for my students reading possibilities and read many books in line with education on becoming a better reading teacher. I have interviewed and talked with peers teachers and have gotten really fantastic help in my pursuit to being a better teacher when it comes to reading. I have to be honest here, I am really struggling to get to the research component of my journal articles. I have attempted a data collection table, but I am not sure how it is different from a research table? I am having trouble with finding articles, journals and publishing's to get the full articles without paying. I know we have had the librarian chat, but I am still trying to figure out the research component of it all. In regards to what authors of research seem to stand out, a few names keep popping up when I type in my key word search of 'goal setting with reading students'. One of the most prominent names is Steve Graham. He has been cited 37,655 times since 2013. I am also interested in getting to know BJ Zimmerman and DH Schunk. I don't think that I have seen the word "self-efficacy" more times in my life than in articles these researchers/authors have written in their journal articles. I am excited to see their findings and their suggestions as to what they did that worked well. As a struggling reader myself, it is fascinating to see all of the technological options out their now that didn't exist when we were kids. For goodness-sakes, when I went to college last they still had a card catalog as the primary system in their library. There were no online classes to take or ways to turn your homework in other than in person. I have had some huge learning curves, thus far, when it comes to the technology component and I am proud of how far I have come and where I am going to be by the end of this journey. IRB-https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QDCXf0HkyQDgh991WbyTSdsWEpvbySP8Z7085GBpM0w/edit#
My Driving Question is to track data in reading areas (as phonics and comprehension) and set goals to show an effect a teacher has on personalized student learning and how impact full it can be to readers that find it challenging to overcome second language learning delays when it comes to reading in English. My goal is to close the achievement gap when it comes to reading and spreading that to many other areas of academia. Internationally, our world is changing to a world of online teaching and no contact with students and I want this to show that teaching is a trade that is necessary to provide personal contact to students in their academic lives and their personal lives can make bigger strides in the academics overall to be seen as the whole student instead of just the scores of a student making the student and their progress or lack their of. I would love to start a program that would hit various districts in our state of California to make a how to on goal setting and have studies that show the impact that setting goals and an action plan has on children, even at the elementary school level. I would love to travel and teach districts of teachers how to go about setting goals and action plans for students to know the goal desired by grade level and have an action plan for students to meet their goal with their own input and drive to stay motivated, increase engagement and strive to be and do their very best in any academic situation with a positive growth mind set. EDU790: Blog for September 5th, 2018
A problem as a Reading Specialist as a TOSA is the drive and motivation to want to become better. The enthusiasm to want to strive, practice and become the best reader they can be. Reading, decoding and comprehension is clearly not their strong suit and pushing through the limits of something they have always struggled with is hard to overcome to change the mind set that they arrive with, even if they are only in the 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade. My question, as of this point in my journey, is what is the most effective way to inspire a student to strive and do their best? Does positive talk and positive energy change the mind set of a child and motivate them to strive or does changing the sub conscience mind and the way they think change their mind set to grow beyond possibilities? I would like to explore what makes learners tick most effectively. I already know that the students that I work with are below grade level when it comes to reading, decoding, and comprehension. I already know that this is not their strength yet. I already know that some are more motivated than others intrinsically for various reasons. What I need to know is what methods have the biggest impact each day to change a child's learning and motivational path? Is it the teacher's enthusiasm of the subject matter? The personal connection to each student and their knowledge about their family and life activities? Is it the way the teacher interacts with the student each day? Is it the one-on-one personal attention and goals that inspire and motivate a student to work hard for you (the teacher)? And then, are they working for that particular teacher or do they intrinsically want to strive to be their best self for themselves and does it last as a part of their self motivation? Will daily impact for 10 months change the path for the rest of their lives or only be temporary. |
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January 2019
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