Background Information
I have struggled this year with getting my kids to connect what we are learning and without connection there is no retention. If the kids do not retain what they are learning then they do not perform well on tests. I started searching through educational journals and found a lot of research about reflection journals and their impact in the classroom. I want to conduct a study in my class next year comparing test scores of students who take time to reflect on what is going on in class versus those that do not.
Design Plan
Action Research Plan
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Goal: The goal of this action research is to determine if the use of reflection journals increases test scores.
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| Action Steps(s): | Person(s) Responsible: | Timeline: Start/End | Needed Resources | Evaluation |
Discuss Action Research Plan with Site Supervisor
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M. Van Vossen
D. Papadimitriou | March 2013/March 2013 | Topics | This step will help identify my action research topic and supporting inquiries. |
Perform background research
| M. Van Vossen | March 2013/August 2013 | Internet, library | This step will help review relevant information to aid in beginning formulating action research inquiry objectives |
Develop additional inquiry questions
| M. Van Vossen | August 2013 | Research | This step will help identify any additional inquiry to identify in my research. |
Develop the plan to be carried out, determine the data to be collected and how it will be collected.
| M. Van Vossen | August 2013 | Research | This step will help identify the steps needed to conduct the research in the classroom and what type of data that will be used. |
| Develop an analysis plan | M. Van Vossen | August 2013 | Computer, Data | This step will help determine how to anaylse the test scores collected. |
| Determine the participants. | M. Van Vossen | September 2013 | Course listing | This step will help identify three classes to keep journals and three classes that do not. |
| Interview students in both groups to evaluate student perception. | M. Van Vossen | September 2013 | Survey Monkey | This step will provide qualitative data for which to compare students who kept reflection journals to those that did not. |
| Gather baseline data on all six classes. This will include last years benchmark scores, STAAR scores and semester averages for both groups. | M. Van Vossen | September 2013 | Eduphoria and gradebook | This step will provide qualititative data as the starting level so we can compare back to this in the end. |
| Gather comparison data over the course of the first semester. This will include benchmark scores, STAAR scores and semester averages for both groups. | M. Van Vossen | September 2013/December 2013 | Eduphoria and gradebook | This step will provide qualititative data througout the semester to compare. |
| Interview students in both groups to evaluate student perception. | M. Van Vossen | December 2013 | Survey Monkey | This step will provide qualitative data for which to compare students who kept reflection journals to those that did not. |
Prepare a report that will explain comparisons of the two groups of students. Report will include quantitative and qualitative data gathered throughout the semester.
| M. Van Vossen | December 2013 | Data collected, Microsoft Office | This step will present data collected to justify the decision to retain or cancel the reflection journals. |
| Share the report, the data and decisions. | M. Van Vossen | May 2014 | Data, Report | This step will provide a comprehensive collection of my findings. |
This looks great. And I love your topic. I believe that having students reflect on their learning and work is so beneficial. I am excited to see what you learn and the data you collect.
ReplyDeleteMeghan, This is a very thorough plan and includes great detail to your thoughts and purpose for the action plan. I like the fact that you have a great balance of qualitative, and quantitative assessment tools to help you gather information. I am very interested to see the progress of your action plan, and the wonderful data your will collect. If you have time, please stop by my blog at: www.vickidibler.blogspot.com to tell me what you think. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea of reflection journals. Even in our assignments for this class, writing was listed as a great way to reflect on what you are doing. I think having the students write will definitely help their scores. I look forward to seeing the progress and results of your project.
ReplyDeleteMeghan, This is an interesting topic. As teachers, we are constantly reflecting on our lessons and student outcome. I would expect that reflection journals with students would promote a similar result when it comes self improvement. I look forward to learning from your research.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a great idea. I have been thinking of doing something similar with behavior. I created a short student survey with questions like, "How would I rate my behavior in class today?" "How would I rate my attention in class today?," etc. So it's the same idea of having students reflect on something to try to retain (or in my case retrain) what they have learned (them to self-correct). I'm very interested to see if this will help your students to remember and be a able to use the stuff that we spend so much time preparing for them to learn.
ReplyDelete