2015 Action Research: Entry 5
Brittany Keifer 4/13/2015 Action Research: Entry 5 Demographics The Demographics of Haffaford High School is diverse in all aspects of the word. There are students who come from high income families that are dressed in nothing less than designer clothing and then there are students from low income families wearing hand-me-downs from siblings. Haffaford High School is also very diverse racially and ethnically. There are students from all ethnic backgrounds represented, some of which are first generation American in their families and others who have recently moved here themselves. The high school used a four level academic placement system: Foundations, College Prep, Advanced and Honors. The Foundations classes generally consist of students of nonwhite ethnic background and lower socioeconomic status. In contrast, the honors classes consist mostly of Caucasian students residing in families with higher socioeconomic status. The class that I will be focusing on in my study is a diverse College Prep level geometry class. This class consists of twenty two students with a male to female ratio of 14:8. Of these 22 students 4 are of Latino background, 4 are black, and the remaining 14 are Caucasian. Teaching Context and Issue of Concern Typical of the College Prep level courses in this high school, the classes are a mix of all ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds. The focus of my action research study is my first period College Prep Geometry class that runs from 7:45 to 9:05am. This class consists of mostly 10th grade students with the exception of three 11th grade students who are repeating the course. In general this class consists of middle class students of all backgrounds. Unfortunately, my students are not particularly excited about learning the content because they believe they are not good at math. Having math first period does not help with their attitudes, so keeping the students actively engaged and participating is extra challenging. When students aren’t actively participating, they are not learning the material as effectively. If the students aren’t learning the material, it has a potential domino effect. If the students don’t learn the material in class, then they cannot do the homework at night. If they aren’t practicing with the homework, then they will not be successful on their tests and quizzes later on. Therefore, throughout the course of my student teaching placement I plan on implementing different strategies and teaching techniques to find the most effective way to do this. Some strategies I plan to test are the use of mobility of the teacher, mobility of students, the use of technology, group work, partner work and individual work. Research Question What instructional strategies are most successful in keeping students actively participating in their learning in a College Prep level geometry class?
My Goal My goal of this research project is to improve students’ participation in class and active involvement in their own learning. I am particularly focusing this study on students who are in lower level mathematics classes. From this research I hope to learn effective teaching strategies that are most effective in influencing students to be engaged in their learning. The Plan My plan is to implement different teaching strategies throughout the course of my student teaching experience. Such teaching strategies include mobility, technology, and group work. I will not only test how students’ mobility increases their engagement in learning but how my mobility throughout the classroom while teaching effects student participation as well. I will also test different technology such as iPads, computers and interactive math applications and their impact in students’ learning. Finally I will test individual practice, partner practice and group practice to see which is most effective in general for students’ learning in the classroom. Implementation of the Plan During the first chapter and sections of the course, I followed the traditional classroom structure; standing in the front of the room and lecturing while students take notes, modeling a few examples as a class followed by individual practice and finishing with assigning the students homework . Although not an uncommon class structure for high level students, I became aware quite quickly that such a structure would not work for my college prep (previously called “tech prep”) geometry class. At this point I developed my action research plan to create a learning environment that is conducive to student’s being active participants in their own learning. The first thing I will do to implement this plan is to integrate activity changes every 15 minutes or so throughout the lesson. Lectures will be broken into smaller pieces with group work or individual practice in between topics throughout the lesson. Changing the overall structure and flow throughout the 80 minute period will keep students engaged throughout the entirety of the lesson. After changing the general structure, I will begin to implement different strategies to keep students actively participating. One of these will include my mobility throughout the lesson. This will be done through the use of the iPad. With the iPad I will be able to teach from all corners of the room and monitor student participation. In addition to my mobility I will also implement student mobility. This will be done by calling on students and having them come up to the board to complete examples and “teach it” to the class. Changing the “teacher” will keep the students attention and provide a different way of explaining the material to the rest of the class. Finally, I will implement and test different types of practice. Practice is crucial in all subject areas, but particularly important in mathematics. The best way to practice is dictated by the atmosphere of the classroom and the students. Different types of practice that I will implement include but are not
limited to: individual practice, partner practice, small group practice, practice utilizing technology, and hands on practice using manipulatives.
Data to be Used Data will be collected through both formal and informal methods. Formal data that will be collected will be the formative quizzes and summative chapter tests. Although both of these graded assignments are important, what I think is more important to focus on in regards to this study is the informal data. The informal data is what serves as a road map to where the lesson and future lessons go. Formal data will be collected through observation of the students’ faces and participation throughout the lesson. Other informal data will be collected through practice during the lesson and gaging how well the students do or do not understand the material presented. The most informative forms of informal data to be collected, in my opinion, is the ticket out the door and the warm up the following day. The ticket out the door allows students to not only show me what they got out of the lesson that day, but allows them to communicate with me on a private basis and ask questions that they may be afraid to ask during class. The ticket out the door, although an immediate form of data on how engaged students were in the lesson, it is short term. This is where the warm up the following day comes into play. The warm up will consist of a review of previously learned material in the chapter. This provides a more accurate picture of what the students have really learned in a long term sense. The combination of all of this informal data lends way to reflection and adaptions to lessons to ensure the best success on the quizzes and summative test at the end.
Reflection on implementation of the plan at the half way point Through the implementation of the above stated plan, I have discovered strategies that are effective and not so effective in the active engagement and learning in this particular class. The use of technology has been very beneficial for long-term comprehension. One particular lesson that I would like to highlight used Geometer’s Sketchpad to discover the properties of different polygons. Students used Geometer’s sketchpad to discover the sum of the interior angles for triangles (polygon with 3 sides), quadrilaterals (polygon with 4 sides), pentagons (polygon with 5 sides), hexagons (polygon with 6 sides), and heptagons (polygon with 7 sides). The students were able to manipulate these figures in any way they wished. What the students discovered was that no matter how they manipulated the size of the quadrilateral the sum of the interior angles always added up to 360 degrees. From this the students were able to find the formula for interior angle sums for polygons on their own: (n-2)180. Although it would have been much quicker for me to stand in front of the room and tell them the formula, having the students discover it on their own through the use of technology allowed for a deeper understanding and appreciation for lesson. Throughout this activity the students were all on task and did not have to be reminded to stay off of other websites once. The students showed signs of excitement towards the topic as they thought logically to find the formula for interior angle sum on their own.
Another lesson that I would like to highlight is a triangle congruency matching game. On the previous day, the students created a foldable that highlighted the postulates and theorems they had so far to prove triangle congruency: Side -Side -Side, Angle -Side -Angle, Angle -Angle -Side, Side -Angle Side, and Hypotenuse Leg. The students then worked with a partner, using their foldable as a resource, to match congruent triangles. The students were given sheets of 26 different triangles that were marked with congruent sides and angles. The students then had to find 10 pairs of congruent triangles. Some triangles were used in more than one congruency while others were not used at all. This required a higher level of thinking than is often required in the college prep (tech prep) level. The students worked hard and even enjoyed the challenge of trying to find all 10 pairs. This type of excitement and drive is not something that I see every day from these students so I considered this activity to be a huge success. This held to be true through the ticket out the door that day and the section quiz later that week. Nineteen of the twenty students got the ticket out the door completely correct and only 2 of the 22 students failed the quiz. Although ideally I would want no students to fail a formative assessment, only having 2 is a great improvement to the average of 8 that was the case with the traditional style of teaching in the beginning of the semester. One thing that I have found to be more detrimental than beneficial is small group practice. When the students are working in groups larger than two, I have found that the students get off task much more frequently. Once the students get off task it is very difficult to rein them back in and regain focus and productivity. At this point in the implementation of my plan, something I would change if I were to do this again would be to compare two or more samples of classes implementing these strategies. I unfortunately only have one section of college prep (tech prep) level students and two sections of honors students and the college prep and honors sections are not comparable for this study. Being able to compare different sample groups would strengthen the study and provide a more accurate picture of what strategies pave the way to active student engagement in learning in a typical college prep level classroom. As I continue to reflect and implement my research, I will implement more unique hands on activities as well as change seating charts and classroom layout.
Continued reflection on implementation of the plan Through the course of the implementation of the plan and the use of different strategies to keep students actively engaged, I have seen great improvement in students’ academic performances. At the end of the quarter only 3 of the 22 students were failing the course; a great improvement from the 7 that were failing before implementation. One hands - on activity that I would like to highlight was the use of dry erase boards. On the test review day I gave each student a dry erase board and marker. We then went through the review practice as a whole class. I found this to be very beneficial because it kept all of the students on the same pace and forced each student to try each problem and stay on task. The students responded positively to this activity and I think it was the most beneficial review day I have had so far. On past
review days the higher thinking students would rush through the review just to get done; meanwhile other students would barely get through a single page. Using the white boards forced the students to stay all on the same pace and resulted in an effective review. I have also continued to change the seating chart at the end of each chapter. Because we do a lot of partner work, I think it is important to change partners frequently so that students get to work with various peers. When creating the next seating chart I considered the class dynamics as a whole as well as each individual student. Which students are the students who got off task easily? Which students were my leaders? Which students were struggling? Once I identify these key students I created a seating chart that allowed for the most effective learning environment. Students who were struggling were surrounded by stronger students. Students who easily got off task were strategically spread out and surrounded by the leaders and quieter students. Although it takes time, creating an effective seating chart is one of the key elements to a successful classroom environment. Answer to the question What instructional strategies are most successful in keeping students actively participating in their learning in a College Prep level geometry class? Through the course of the implementation of this Action Research over a span of three months, I found the use of technology, hands – on activities and structured partner work to be the most beneficial instructional techniques in the classroom. These activities kept the students engaged in their own learning, created an environment that caused them to think deeper and more critically ask questions and seek out and discover the answers. The success of the implementation of different techniques was measured in ticket out the doors, section quizzes, and summative chapter tests. Students’ grades drastically improved over the course of the implementation. When the research was started, 7 students were in danger of failing the course. At the end of the third quarter, about two months into the implementation, only one student was failing the class. Now, it is important to note that, although I found these strategies to be successful here, every single class is different. Therefore, the techniques used to keep students actively engaged in their learning will need to vary based on the dynamics of the class.
My Goal My goal of this research project is to improve students’ participation in class and active involvement in their own learning. I am particularly focusing this study on students who are in lower level mathematics classes. From this research I hope to learn effective teaching strategies that are most effective in influencing students to be engaged in their learning. The Plan My plan is to implement different teaching strategies throughout the course of my student teaching experience. Such teaching strategies include mobility, technology, and group work. I will not only test how students’ mobility increases their engagement in learning but how my mobility throughout the classroom while teaching effects student participation as well. I will also test different technology such as iPads, computers and interactive math applications and their impact in students’ learning. Finally I will test individual practice, partner practice and group practice to see which is most effective in general for students’ learning in the classroom. Implementation of the Plan During the first chapter and sections of the course, I followed the traditional classroom structure; standing in the front of the room and lecturing while students take notes, modeling a few examples as a class followed by individual practice and finishing with assigning the students homework . Although not an uncommon class structure for high level students, I became aware quite quickly that such a structure would not work for my college prep (previously called “tech prep”) geometry class. At this point I developed my action research plan to create a learning environment that is conducive to student’s being active participants in their own learning. The first thing I will do to implement this plan is to integrate activity changes every 15 minutes or so throughout the lesson. Lectures will be broken into smaller pieces with group work or individual practice in between topics throughout the lesson. Changing the overall structure and flow throughout the 80 minute period will keep students engaged throughout the entirety of the lesson. After changing the general structure, I will begin to implement different strategies to keep students actively participating. One of these will include my mobility throughout the lesson. This will be done through the use of the iPad. With the iPad I will be able to teach from all corners of the room and monitor student participation. In addition to my mobility I will also implement student mobility. This will be done by calling on students and having them come up to the board to complete examples and “teach it” to the class. Changing the “teacher” will keep the students attention and provide a different way of explaining the material to the rest of the class. Finally, I will implement and test different types of practice. Practice is crucial in all subject areas, but particularly important in mathematics. The best way to practice is dictated by the atmosphere of the classroom and the students. Different types of practice that I will implement include but are not
limited to: individual practice, partner practice, small group practice, practice utilizing technology, and hands on practice using manipulatives.
Data to be Used Data will be collected through both formal and informal methods. Formal data that will be collected will be the formative quizzes and summative chapter tests. Although both of these graded assignments are important, what I think is more important to focus on in regards to this study is the informal data. The informal data is what serves as a road map to where the lesson and future lessons go. Formal data will be collected through observation of the students’ faces and participation throughout the lesson. Other informal data will be collected through practice during the lesson and gaging how well the students do or do not understand the material presented. The most informative forms of informal data to be collected, in my opinion, is the ticket out the door and the warm up the following day. The ticket out the door allows students to not only show me what they got out of the lesson that day, but allows them to communicate with me on a private basis and ask questions that they may be afraid to ask during class. The ticket out the door, although an immediate form of data on how engaged students were in the lesson, it is short term. This is where the warm up the following day comes into play. The warm up will consist of a review of previously learned material in the chapter. This provides a more accurate picture of what the students have really learned in a long term sense. The combination of all of this informal data lends way to reflection and adaptions to lessons to ensure the best success on the quizzes and summative test at the end.
Reflection on implementation of the plan at the half way point Through the implementation of the above stated plan, I have discovered strategies that are effective and not so effective in the active engagement and learning in this particular class. The use of technology has been very beneficial for long-term comprehension. One particular lesson that I would like to highlight used Geometer’s Sketchpad to discover the properties of different polygons. Students used Geometer’s sketchpad to discover the sum of the interior angles for triangles (polygon with 3 sides), quadrilaterals (polygon with 4 sides), pentagons (polygon with 5 sides), hexagons (polygon with 6 sides), and heptagons (polygon with 7 sides). The students were able to manipulate these figures in any way they wished. What the students discovered was that no matter how they manipulated the size of the quadrilateral the sum of the interior angles always added up to 360 degrees. From this the students were able to find the formula for interior angle sums for polygons on their own: (n-2)180. Although it would have been much quicker for me to stand in front of the room and tell them the formula, having the students discover it on their own through the use of technology allowed for a deeper understanding and appreciation for lesson. Throughout this activity the students were all on task and did not have to be reminded to stay off of other websites once. The students showed signs of excitement towards the topic as they thought logically to find the formula for interior angle sum on their own.
Another lesson that I would like to highlight is a triangle congruency matching game. On the previous day, the students created a foldable that highlighted the postulates and theorems they had so far to prove triangle congruency: Side -Side -Side, Angle -Side -Angle, Angle -Angle -Side, Side -Angle Side, and Hypotenuse Leg. The students then worked with a partner, using their foldable as a resource, to match congruent triangles. The students were given sheets of 26 different triangles that were marked with congruent sides and angles. The students then had to find 10 pairs of congruent triangles. Some triangles were used in more than one congruency while others were not used at all. This required a higher level of thinking than is often required in the college prep (tech prep) level. The students worked hard and even enjoyed the challenge of trying to find all 10 pairs. This type of excitement and drive is not something that I see every day from these students so I considered this activity to be a huge success. This held to be true through the ticket out the door that day and the section quiz later that week. Nineteen of the twenty students got the ticket out the door completely correct and only 2 of the 22 students failed the quiz. Although ideally I would want no students to fail a formative assessment, only having 2 is a great improvement to the average of 8 that was the case with the traditional style of teaching in the beginning of the semester. One thing that I have found to be more detrimental than beneficial is small group practice. When the students are working in groups larger than two, I have found that the students get off task much more frequently. Once the students get off task it is very difficult to rein them back in and regain focus and productivity. At this point in the implementation of my plan, something I would change if I were to do this again would be to compare two or more samples of classes implementing these strategies. I unfortunately only have one section of college prep (tech prep) level students and two sections of honors students and the college prep and honors sections are not comparable for this study. Being able to compare different sample groups would strengthen the study and provide a more accurate picture of what strategies pave the way to active student engagement in learning in a typical college prep level classroom. As I continue to reflect and implement my research, I will implement more unique hands on activities as well as change seating charts and classroom layout.
Continued reflection on implementation of the plan Through the course of the implementation of the plan and the use of different strategies to keep students actively engaged, I have seen great improvement in students’ academic performances. At the end of the quarter only 3 of the 22 students were failing the course; a great improvement from the 7 that were failing before implementation. One hands - on activity that I would like to highlight was the use of dry erase boards. On the test review day I gave each student a dry erase board and marker. We then went through the review practice as a whole class. I found this to be very beneficial because it kept all of the students on the same pace and forced each student to try each problem and stay on task. The students responded positively to this activity and I think it was the most beneficial review day I have had so far. On past
review days the higher thinking students would rush through the review just to get done; meanwhile other students would barely get through a single page. Using the white boards forced the students to stay all on the same pace and resulted in an effective review. I have also continued to change the seating chart at the end of each chapter. Because we do a lot of partner work, I think it is important to change partners frequently so that students get to work with various peers. When creating the next seating chart I considered the class dynamics as a whole as well as each individual student. Which students are the students who got off task easily? Which students were my leaders? Which students were struggling? Once I identify these key students I created a seating chart that allowed for the most effective learning environment. Students who were struggling were surrounded by stronger students. Students who easily got off task were strategically spread out and surrounded by the leaders and quieter students. Although it takes time, creating an effective seating chart is one of the key elements to a successful classroom environment. Answer to the question What instructional strategies are most successful in keeping students actively participating in their learning in a College Prep level geometry class? Through the course of the implementation of this Action Research over a span of three months, I found the use of technology, hands – on activities and structured partner work to be the most beneficial instructional techniques in the classroom. These activities kept the students engaged in their own learning, created an environment that caused them to think deeper and more critically ask questions and seek out and discover the answers. The success of the implementation of different techniques was measured in ticket out the doors, section quizzes, and summative chapter tests. Students’ grades drastically improved over the course of the implementation. When the research was started, 7 students were in danger of failing the course. At the end of the third quarter, about two months into the implementation, only one student was failing the class. Now, it is important to note that, although I found these strategies to be successful here, every single class is different. Therefore, the techniques used to keep students actively engaged in their learning will need to vary based on the dynamics of the class.
