Chapter 4 questions

1.Consider for a moment curriculum design: we align unit goals to specific instruction and align this with assessment. How is the same principle applied to an action research design?

In action research, the goal or question is determined by the context. Once the goal is in place, the method is aligned with the goal.

2. How is alignment between the critical question and the action research plan creating a “strong sense of connection”?

When the critical question and the action research plan are aligned, the alignment can set a solid base for the connection to the literature, data, context, and the interpretation of the data.

Chapter 4: Process Questions

1. How will you balance the demands of learning to teach and the act of conducting research? How is teaching and research the same, different?

In all honesty, I probably wont have much time to research. Instruction and presence in the classroom is the most important job that a teacher has, and I will work by a case to case basis with each student depending on their needs. There wont be any longitudinal studies but there will be development of goals and methods for students on a daily basis. So, to rephrase my previous statement, I will be performing action research every day. Teaching and research can be the same because I will be learning about my students every day.

2. Describe your action research design in one brief concise paragraph. Now read it to someone who is not as familiar with your project. Have them summarize what they hear. What questions do they have for you? Do they understand the goals of your action research? Is there anything you need to revise based upon their comments and/or questions?

Here is what I read:

Our research will revolve around the connection between a students academic success and their social base/needs. Our main question is "does a student perform better in school when they have a friend?"

My wife just had two questions which were "what about if that student has more than one friend and how does their performance compare to their peer who only has one friend?" I would allow for more time to obtain more data in the future.  

Chapter 3 questions and they say I say 3

1. Crystalization is the idea of having multiple sides to the information and triangulation is using the relevant data from that information. The combination of the two shows exploration of varety of biases and alternative causes while Identifying the commonalities between the points of data.
2. They help set parameters for your thesis as it is what your main focus is. Focus and purpose keep your thesis and main themes in the spot light while trustworthiness supports your ideas.
3. Make sure you have permission to use relevant data, or people have the the right to know if their information is being used.
4. Methods may be appropriate for one sample but inappropriate for another. This can be avoided by specifying your samples and adjusting your methods so to fit the samples better.
5. The context could influence the research design by forcing you to gather information a certain way. Doing a study on SPED students would be very different than doing one on general education students because you could use different methods such as surveys and other self evaluation methods with different populations.
6. It means that you are an active learner as well as an educator. It shows that you want to better your methods while working and implementing them at the same time.
7. The most challenging thing about data collection will be enough time in the day. I work as a one-on-one and my student needs help all the time. Carving out time in the day will be the hardest part, but I can ask other IA's to help out when I'm not there.   

The first point that jumped out at me during my reading of they say I say part 3 was at the very beginning. The example they gave about the student who was having a hard time with writing fluently made me think about how I write and the best way I would sum up this idea is write something you would read. I don't write that well, but I do use transition statements pretty well. I also noticed later in the chapters that the text says to repeat key phrases to make an emphasis on something. I never do that just because it seems like I am sounding to monotonous. I guess if I do it the right way, I may not come across as that. Finally I just wanted to note the idea of metacommentary. Honestly, it sounds like bad journalism, guiding people how to feel. I haven't very much practice at that only because I wasn't taught to do that in my papers as a student, though it is nice to see how it helps clarify a point you're trying to communicate or a judgement you wish to avoid. This section was very helpful and I can see where I can grow as a writer. 

Journal for 10-18 to 10-20

10-18
Student and I are in full swing of our new routine. She seems to handle everything well until around thirty minutes before school gets out. At that point, she becomes over stimulated, giddy, and unable to complete work in a timely manner. It makes sense to just to call it quits for the day rather than push her too hard because I want her to like coming to school. We got a lot done today, but we have such a limited amount of time. I hope to extend her work time every day so that we could work until the very end, but for now, I am happy where we are.

10-19
I love manipulatives. I was having such a hard time today trying to teach her subtraction, but using toy bears worked wonders. I highly recommend them. Nothing really new today, but still looking to extend our work time every day. I will update later.

10-20
Today, we worked hard on social skills and interactions with others. Student and I walked around the school and tried sitting in on the whole class time which turned out to be longer than I thought before we began distracting too many people. I am tired of just going over academics and needed to mix it up. These kids need as much exposure to others as possible so that they can become more independent.

Journal for 10-10 to 10-12

10-10

Today we have started focusing more on completing IEP goals in different ways. I have started using manipulatives more often and using worksheets just a little less. I don't want to get lost in worksheets and data sheets, but the amount my teacher wants me to assess my student makes it feel like all I may ever do is enter data. At the end of the day, I felt like my student did well despite the change in lessons and routine. I hope that she shows as much flexibility during the following days.

10-11

I had a hard time with my student today. We think shes having "girl" problems and doesn't fully understand whats going on. I haven't found myself in a situation before, but I don't really know what to do or how to handle it. I can be understanding and flexible with my plan, but what do you tell someone that doesn't understand what your saying unless you use three word sentences? How do you teach this population sex education? How do you prepare them for the changes that they will go through?

10-12
My girl didn't ride the bus today, so I had time in the classroom! Woohoo! I worked on classroom management like there's no tomorrow and it felt good to stretch my legs. I had a kid go into crisis mode when he didn't want to read the book that we were reading as a group, which made me super happy to have an awesome fellow staff that helped with self regulation. I feel like a bunch of these kids should have behavior support plan or at least some goals that are related to behavior management but many of them don't.

They say I Say 1 and 2

The main points that I took away from the reading of section 1 and 2 of They Say I Say were many. I am still learning a great deal about writing in general and appreciate the things that this book is showing me. I have learned that its important to create a context for your argument, or to communicate the big picture and how your argument plays a part. It's also important to know how the context responds to your argument. Creating an order or process to your arguments and the points you're trying to make can help. I may have pointed this out before, but I love how the text gives tons of examples of what you can insert into your text to communicate your argument in a more effective manner. Always make sure that you compare your ideas with others. To do this, you can create a dialogue. By creating this dialogue, you can use a little time to summarize others ideas so that they can fit your agenda and can be used to support your claim. By using others thoughts, you can be led to quote a great deal, which can benefit or be detrimental to your idea. Too much quoting can lead to less of your own work, which can seem like you don't see much merit in your own thoughts but too little can show little support for your ideas. When you do use quotes, make sure that they are framed in the text properly and not merely tossed in to fill space. Make sure the quotes you use are relevant to the sections they fall into. In chapter four, I love how simplification is important when you respond to someones ideas. Either saying “I agree because. . .” or “I disagree because. . .” is enough. 

Journal for 10-4 through 10-6

10-4
My student and I are in full swing. Shes still coming everyday and we have finally been going to PE with the rest of the class and actually staying at lunch. Now, I need to focus on keeping her "in the zone" and focused without frustrating her or getting her escalated. Once I can get her focused for longer than five to ten minutes, I can start getting base line data on her IEP goals. This is hard enough with one student. I hope I can handle a class load.

10-5
My student didn't come today because she was sick, but this gave me plenty of time to prepare my materials I need for probing and assessing. I also had a good amount of time in the classroom today which put my mind at ease, getting more practice. It's easy once you have been up there for at least one subject. That got me thinking about how I can be an effective teacher and still find the time to do all the case managing.

10-6
Today we started going through the process of getting data so that I could create a basal for my student. She started getting stressed out every time we would work for more than ten minutes. This meant that we could only get so much work done, and she got frustrated when she didn't know an answer to a question. I will have to find a way to make it more interesting and help her regulate herself so as to get more time and have less frustration.

Journal for 9-26 to 9-29

9-26
As the routine with my student becomes more fluid and frequent, I have had to come up with ways to keep her focused on different lessons and activities. I will probably base my research around this, but she has a hard time with transitions, being around large groups, and loud noises. I am trying to use a reward system based off of a token board that provides frequent breaks. I hope it goes well.

9-27
So it seems that she needs to work for somewhere between five and seven minutes until she loses interest. Today, I made sure to keep working on things just to keep her busy and to see how long she would repeat the work then break process. She made it for about half the day and then had a hard time with self-regulation. She just got to excited. I still didn't have any luck getting her out of the classroom and down to PE today but will try again tomorrow.

9-28
Today I was able to keep her working for about an hour longer than yesterday. I don't know if it was a fluke but she responded well to the process. I suppose my question of the day would be "How much does daily routine add to her stress and performance in our lessons?" I plan to keep trying to motivate her to leave the classroom for parts of the day, either during walks or going to outside classes.

9-29
Finally got her out of the classroom! Went for a walk in the building. it was very exciting! She had good day working. Still hoping to extend our daily work time, which was pretty short today. Maybe if I get her on a walk in the middle of the day, it will help.