Action Research Proposal by a former Fairmont State Student

1. The problem he is addressing is rhyme and word recognition.
2. The rational of the project was to have students learn to recognize rhyme and word families as a critical literacy skill and help them as beginning readers.
3. Simulation and Games
4. "How can I use a varity of rhyming games to help my students recognize rhyme and word families in text?"
5. The teacher backed this stragety with research from Integrated Strategies Approach: Making Word Identification Instruciton Work for Beginning Readers.
6. The teacher will copare pre and post-test results to document the overall impact of this project. The teacher will also use a checklist while observing the small group and reading center rhyme games.   

Action Research Project

1. Looking into the Mirror
2. Why self-reflection and portfolios?
3. Setting objectives
4. In the begining the teacher has a section on research summary. In the summary it talks about students begining to internalize instructional goals and standard and to apply them in future efforts.   
5. See what students scored at or above grade level in reflection.
6. The teacher saw what percentage of the student score at, above or below grade level.
7. There was a 73% rise in students who scored at or above grade level after the intervention and the was a 51% decrease in students who scored below grade level in reflection after intervention.
8. The stragety that this teacher implemented showed that it was very productive. It was a great way to prepare the students to present portfolios and presentations in their future. It also helps the teacher see what the students need to improve on by having them find their own misakes and realize what their specific goals are for that project. 

Struggling student

From what I have observed about this struggling student I can see that no matter what activity is done is class the student shows very little desire in wanting to finish the activity. My host teacher offers the option to the student everyday either the student comes to the class and puts forth an effort of do the assignment or the student goes to the principals office. By doing this the decision is left up to the student as to whether he or she is willing to accomplish the task at hand for that day.

Verbatim Questions

1. What do you know from reading the question?
2. What do you think your first step should be to answering this question?
3. How did you get that answer?

Reactions:
1. The students told me the numbers the were important to that problem. This helped them to elimate the number that did not pertain to that particlular problem.
2. Many of the students first step was to set up the equation after reading the problem.
3. As the students showed me how they got that specific answer they would catch their own mistake or show a strong understanding of that specific problem.

Double Entry Journal #17

Here is a link to my Venn Diagram in google docs.

Student Interest Survery

Here a link to Wordle.

Double Entry Journal #15

1. Give an example of an authentic form of assessment the students engaged in a PBL performed well on?

• Students engaged in a PBL performed well on the IOWA test of basic skills as well as national exams.

2. How does project based learning promote intrinsic motivation?

• Project based learning uses the element of choice to allow the students to strike their own interest in the topic. By allowing the students to make their own decisions throughout the project it allows them to discover things they want to know and are interested in.

3. What do students who experience a PBL do better than students who receive traditional direct instruction?

• Students develop twenty-first century skills such as teamwork skills, use of different technologies, and solving real world problems. The skills they experience extremely critical to success to any job the students will have in the future.

4. How does PBL align with John Dewey's philosophy of education?

• A PBL fits into John Dewey's philosophy of education because he believed you learned by doing. IN PBL students take a real world problem and then propose ways how to solve it. A PBL is a great way to improve a students problem solving skills and have them "learn by doing".

5. Why do our assessment practices need to change if we are going to prepare students for the 21st century?

• Our assessment practices test a students current knowledge on a specific topic. Rather than preparing the student for how they will be assessed in a work environment. A PBL helps the student see the connection from what they are learning to real world situation. This prepares them for possible problems they could encounter during their future jobs.