Web Conference

Great web conference!  The questions asked were ones that I had.  I need to work on my intership summaries.  I'm glad to know there is the roadmap available.  I'll post more after I finish mine!

EDLD 5326 Week 5 Action Research Update

The goal of my action research project is to find out how differentiated instruction will increase student achievement?  This is an on-going research question that is asked at Watkins Middle School and attempted by few teachers.  I have been asked to join the DI Leadership Team to be trained by a differentiated instructional coach, Carol O’Connor from ASCD and develop strategies that will work for my students in my classroom.  As I become more proficient at DI, I hope to share ideas with my math team to show the success of my project.  People affected by my action research will include my 7th grade math students and my math department. Not only will my action research project add to the knowledge base of differentiated instructional strategies, I will be able to actively apply these strategies in the classroom.

To date, I have completed the “Introduction/Background” of my project, identified the teams that will be included and affected by my action research, the “Literature Review” and set up the “Action Research Design” including the subjects and the procedures for the research. 

This has been a very successful and interesting topic for me to research as it has had tremendous effects on my students success in Math.  Throughout the year, I have worked closely with my Mentor, Principal, CCIS, District Math Coach and DI Consultant Carol O’Connor learn new strategies to differentiate the curriculum in Math and how to continuously assess the affects of DI.  The more I learn regarding DI, the better my teaching practices solidify and I have seen a huge improvement in my student’s test scores.  Throughout the process, I have continuously graphed my students scores on each test and benchmark.  Although my students still struggle with the Math concepts, their test scores have begun to improve. 

As I continue on in my action research, I have two more training sessions with Carol O’Connor this year.  We will continue to work together to discuss various strategies I can use in the classroom.  I look forward to seeing the results from the 2013 STAAR Test scores.

I have been doing research on my action research project and I am finding great information regarding differentiate instruction.  I found this comment to be very interesting as to why we need to differentiate in the classroom..."Gone are the days when all children in a classroom looked the same:  same race, economic background, culture, ethnicity, ability/skill level, learning style, gender, needs, interests – the list is endless” (Roberts and Inman, 37).  This is such a true statement.  My classes are so diverse in the needs, gender, interests, readiness and ethnicity of my students.  As I continue digging into this research, I find it amazing all the options I have to try in my classroom with research to back it up! 

http://www.k8accesscenter.org/training_resources/mathdifferentiation.asp

This website looks great for ideas in Math.  I would like to start tiering our lessons for our students.  I have a very diverse classroom with many different levels.  I think my students would benefit from tier lessons.  What do ya'll think?

Due to my recent classroom issues of students not understanding coordinate graphing and transformations, I am eager to start my training on DI!  I am tutoring like crazy!

My action research question:

How will incorporating differentiated instructional strategies improve student achievement in 7^th grade Math?  What differentiate instructional strategies are most beneficial in improving achievement?

I chose this particular action research questions because differentiated instruction is one of our campus’s initiatives for student achievement.  Our school has been working with Carol O’Connor of ASCD for the last three years to train the teachers on differentiated instruction and I have been asked to join the team.  This year, I will work closely with Ms. O’Connor – first being observed, then trained and finally a plan to implement the DI strategies.  As the only member on the team from my Math team, I am eager to learn new strategies regarding differentiated instruction and track the results based on a variety of data – test scores, behavior, etc.  These new strategies I will learn and implement will hopefully lead to a better understanding of the key math concepts and a deeper student understanding of the math, which in turn will lead to high student achievement and student performance. 

My target population is the 7th grade math students at Watkins Middle School in both upper and on level math classes.  This study will include general education and special education with an emphasis on our lower scoring student demographics of African American and Hispanic and those who are economically disadvantaged.  Traditionally, the students that fall within this population have not met AYP so I will pay close attention to these areas during my action research.  My sample size will include 457 students in 7th grade math. 

My initial summary would include background information on my school.  My focus is to improve student achievement and differentiated instruction is one our campus’s best practices; therefore, our Principal teamed up with ASCD to train the teachers. 

In addition to background information, it is necessary to share how we set up the inquiry.  Data will be collected from the analysis of test and benchmark results.  Additional forms of data collection will include surveys, classroom observation and core team discussion.

The analysis of data will occur every three weeks.  My team will use this data to identify areas of improvement and areas that still need work.  The frequent occurrence of data analysis will allow us to make necessary adjustments quickly. 

At the conclusion of the research project, I will share my findings with my Principal, administrative team and faculty.  This action research project will help us determine if implementing differentiated instruction has a positive impact on student achievement. 
I will conduct my research throughout the 2012-2013 school year.  I my timeline of events will include  the following actions:

Gaining approval from my principal, analyzing SFA data, analyzing behavior within in the classroom, creating a plan to implement DI strategies in my classroom with Carol O'Connor, being trained on DI strategies by Carol O'Connor, implementing DI strategies, analyzing test scores of students and analyze teacher contact logs.

I must say, I am beyond frustrated with week 3 of this.  I do not understand what I have to do for my action research draft.  I'd love if someone can help me.  I really want to understand this.  Are part 2 and 3 supposed to be different?  What if they are not?  I read all of the material before hand trying to get a firm grasp on how to create a draft and I think I soured my part two...how do I know what the outcomes are?  Will they be predictions??  So confused.