Beginning
August 2012, the 99 students who will be studied were identified and basic results
from previous STARR test and the pretest on academic vocabulary. These 99 students have a regular geometry class;
seventy of them have an additional tutoring before school, after school, or during
school. This process will end for the
students the day of the Geometry STAAR test.
The final outcomes of the project will be when the results of the STAAR
test return.
The
teacher will use research based strategies to introduce and reinforce academic vocabulary. Students will play interactive computer games
and paper to help build their skills. The students will create interactive journal
entries to reinforce the learning. The child will have multiple modalities to practice
and learn in his or her own way.
There is
strong parental support for anything that will
help students on the STARR test. Our
school had less than thirty-five percent of our students pass the STAAR test
the first time. The students had four weeks
of summer support and most are assigned an additional tutoring time that starts
at forty-five minutes before school or extends the school day by forty-five
minutes. With students failing multiple disciplines
many of them have been assigned all support sessions. Parents were provided with the initial selection
of students and STAAR results will be released to them. Parents were also provided with interactive
websites to practice at home if the family had a computer.
We have a
classroom set of I Pads. This allows
each group to have an individual device.
The use of the I Pads made implantation of the games easy for the
students since most have owned and I-device before. The use of I Pads made the creation of interactive
games much more difficult for the teacher.
I Pads do not use flash and many interactive games require the use of
flash. The paper activates were a huge
hit since it allowed for working in pairs.
This allowed the students to build a coach-coach relationship. Many times the paper activities helped
develop a deeper knowledge base.
The only
resources used were the classroom set of I pads and paper activities. No other funding or resources were required.
The study
promoted a positive school culture of school improvement by allowing the
students to play to learn. Through the
study, the children were having fun while gaining much needed vocabulary skills. As the process continued the children began
to develop self-confidence and their skill level and grades began to
increase. The students also became
active members in the classroom setting.
The extra practice allowed students to become classroom leaders, for
many this was a new role for them.
This
component is still in the works. Since the project is still in progress there have
not been any feedback surveys.
The results
of the research have been shared with the Geometry team and the Caprock High
School leadership team. Information was
shared in a written report and in the form of a PowerPoint presentation. The feedback from the project has been varied. The computer portion of the project has positive
feedback. The paper activities the
feedback has had some negative feedback.
Some teachers felt that the creation of the activities was very time
consuming. If they were created for them
the teachers liked them but they did not want to create their own.
Based on
the results of my action research project, teachers could easily implement the
process into their own classroom. I have
simply provided a list of educational websites and paper activities that have
been pre-created for Geometry. The only
other requirement the teacher needs is to ensure he or she has the necessary
technology and time set aside to allow the students to work.
Key words
for my action research project are I Pads, Response to Intervention,
comprehension, confidence, technology, vocabulary, hands on activities, and
interactive applications. Additional
words will be added as the report is finalized.
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