As an Academic Specialist for my elementary school, part of my responsibility is to analyze school wide data. I have learned how to find patterns and trends in quantitative data both with a birds-eye view of the school down to digging deeper into individual student's data. I have appreciated having this opportunity to learn how to use data to inform instruction at a systematic level and help teacher's use the data to make sure their student's are placed in the correct programs and interventions. It is helpful to have an objective person (other than the classroom teacher) look at the quantitative numbers and offer conclusions about what the data suggests. Our district has a relatively new forum called "DataCom" in which each school presents their data to a panel of other school sites, superintendent, etc with the goal of sharing progress towards our school goals and learning from other sites.
In working on my research paper, I felt comfortable with analyzing my students' quantitative data, but I was at a loss as how to summarize my qualitative findings based on their written comments on an end of year survey. I always felt that qualitative methods were exclusively subjective (as the graphic above demonstrates), but it was very interesting to look at student comments to find trends/patterns with an almost quantitative lens (counting/tallying certain words that were repeated). I was able to see categories and group them together which helped focus my attention on the bigger picture. A part of the analysis still was subjective because I was interpreting what the student meant by their comment because I have known many of my students for several years. Meeting with Dr. Hawley was eye-opening who suggested writing about the qualitative method by introducing the data, writing the student quote and then analyzing each comment. While I still believe that teachers should use quantitative data to inform their instruction, I see how qualitative data is a useful part of good teaching and learning.
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My Driving Question: What impact does students’ attitudes and self-perceptions have on reaching proficient reading levels in intensive intervention for 1+ years? In the process of doing research related to student attitudes and the challenges with reading achievement in younger elementary age students, it did not take long until I came upon the work of Carol Dweck and the concept of growth vs. fixed mindset. As the graphic above demonstrates, the overarching concept is that intelligence can be developed and is not a static or merely genetic. This idea has been confirmed by the latest brain research which shows the plasticity of the brain and how neural pathways are created and strengthened. Teaching students to be metacognitive about their thinking patterns can foster this growth mindset and how to handle the inevitable "failures" that are part of the learning process. Pinterest has hundreds of creative ideas of how teachers are encouraging their students to turn those "I can'ts" and "I'll nevers" into "I'll try another way" and "This may take some time to learn". The business community is also latching onto this concept as a way to increase productivity and creativity in the workplace (this graphic is from a business website) I just returned from an AVID 3 day college readiness training which focused on critical thinking and the inquiry process. Low and behold, our presenter told us that AVID Elementary is based upon Carol Dweck's book "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success". This has been a powerful experience for me as a teacher this summer to see connections between the latest brain research, our district's vision (4 C's, PBL, etc. ) and what is happening on a daily basis at my site and own classroom with AVID strategies. I feel revitalized and eager to use some of AVID's resources to help my own struggling reader's develop the connection between their own self-perceptions and reading achievement. Having the extra push of doing quantitative and qualitative action research is scary, but at the same time I know that it will force me to dive in and not let this important work take a back seat to all of the daily business that tends to pile up on my desk! Video Highlights
2. John Seeley Brown - A new culture of learning
3. Howard Gardner - Five minds of the future
4. Sir Ken Robinson - Challenges the way we're educating our children.
5. Daniel Pink - The surprising science of motivation
In my search for common threads among these videos, I found myself metacognitively thinking about my own neurological connections and trying to make those synapses fire! Brain research is definitely a fascinating area that teachers should understand better. Two important threads that stood out to me as a teacher of struggling readers is the idea of fostering creativity by preparing students to be wrong and the importance of intrinsic motivation. These two concepts fit perfectly with my driving question of self-perception and reading achievement. Growth mindset seems to also support creativity since perseverance and making mistakes is encouraged. Philosophically I completely agree with this idea, but our educational system and my own classroom is not designed this way since student achievement is based on their quantitative scores (Reading Counts quizzes, Reading Inventory, Read 180 software grading reports) How do we teach students to want to make mistakes when those very "mistakes" on their assessments are what is keeping them in intensive reading intervention?
The other idea I found intriguing is that incentives kill creativity and don't work. More importantly they can actually cause harm. As teachers, most of us realize that extrinsic motivators should be temporary and that intrinsic motivation is the ultimate goal. How to make that happen is still a mystery to me. I especially related to Daniel Pink's concept of mastery- the desire to get better at something that matters. How do I show students, especially my "whatever" attitude 5th graders, that reading skills actually do matter and there is a real sense of urgency for them to improve? One reason students like being in my class is that I offer many different ways for them to earn rewards, but those sweeter carrots only work for some kids. How do I make this shift in my teaching so that kids truly have the desire to get better at something that matters? Any and all suggestions are welcome!!
After finishing Darling-Hammond's Flat World, the policy that could effect the most change in education, especially here in the Napa Valley, is #4 "Strong professional standards and supports". I strongly agree with the career ladder model that she describes in Ch. 9. The current system's message is "Those who work with children have the lowest status; those who do not have the highest." (pg.318) I have worked as a 50% TOSA for the past 2 years as an Academic Specialist and I felt this firsthand. Although I love the concept of teacher coaching, it still seems odd to me that it requires excellent teachers to leave the classroom. If teachers had the support they needed from teacher coaches with the 10 hours a week of joint planning time, I think real change could happen. I found the Benwood Inititative very interesting (pg.321-322). The idea of combining financial incentives along with creating collegial professional communities seems like a great beginning step for our district. Even in our relatively small district, we have high-need schools. Money alone would not be enough to keep high quality teachers because we all know that we need other teachers for support. Teachers at my school often comment about what a positive group of people we are who are always ready to help each other out. My school is poised to make the next step forward because we already have highly trained, passionate teachers but we have too much on our plates and not enough time to "digest" it together. |
Dana HandI teach Read 180 at Northwood Elementary School and I am passionate about reading (obviously!) In my "free time" I love hanging out with my 2 teenagers and taking our two dogs for long walks. Archives
March 2017
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