By Sarah Gilbert | Posted: Thursday December 8, 2016
The following is a brief synopsis of the teacher's inquiries they have completed this year.
Action Research Executive summary
Every year, either individually or in groups our teachers complete action research projects (teacher inquiries). This research stretches across multiple terms and involves a lot of extra work by our teachers. We use our action research projects to trial new learning practices and/ or to target groups of children to extend or improve their learning. The action research projects are a valuable tool for teachers’ professional development and enable us to adopt new ideas and concepts that are best for learning and teaching for our students in our school. Some have been obvious such as the open plan classroom in Room 7 and 9 while others less so. Below are short synopses of each action research project.
Room 1
Several students in Room 1 were writing below, or well below the National Standard. My research focussed on helping these students, but the action was taken by all the students. My action research was all about improving writing skills for students by using google docs.
The most pleasing outcomes were: increased enjoyment and outputs, improved speed, accuracy and neatness, students have instant access to feedback from the teacher and peers, and students have a more settled and sustained interest in writing tasks. I particularly appreciated the ease of accessing their writing at home. The areas that initially challenged were: getting used to logging in, using google docs, ensuring equity of access, and using google docs to add to an e-portfolio (WOW folder).
Our continued focuses are to develop more peer sharing, to develop more willingness to act on feedback and to encourage more access/use at home.
Room 2
Our class focused on using technology to enhance our classroom writing programme. This included becoming familiar with Hapara(Google Docs management tool) and using it as part of an integrated writing programme. The effects of technology on motivation were also studied, as well as using technology to help engage and improve skills, including editing, reworking their stories and mileage. The children also got the chance to share not only with the teacher, but also share and evaluate their work with each other. Children opting to collaboratively write with each other, was also a positive result of using our Hapara programme. Our class (including the teacher) are now much more comfortable with using Google Docs to write, proof-read and edit their work. Their attitude to using technology and writing, improved significantly and helped me identify the importance of technology in our learning programmes.
Room 2a
The purpose of this Inquiry was to see if the Room 2a students could develop Google Forms to conduct research around the 2016 Olympic Games.
The Children were looking to see if Google Forms is an effective tool for gathering information when undertaking student led research. In short, they were using the technology and environment to make running statistical investigations more efficient.
A Google forms survey sent out to the classes by Room 2a students indicated to them that using Google forms was in their view a more efficient way of gathering data. It also showed that most children knew how to use Google forms to do this task.
Room 4
Individual learning pathways in writing were designed from a combination of student input and formal assessments. This learning framework was delivered through a continuation of everyday teaching practices and the use of Hapara workspaces.
Hapara workspace provided a learning framework for students to make decisions about what writing skills they need or want to learn. It provided an online application where students can gain information and learning, provide evidence of their learning, gain focused feedback on their work and then act upon it. This fostered independence by giving students a say in what and how they learn.
Next steps of the research included the potential for collaboration as workspaces could be shared among staff and students. Also one-to-one students on devices was seen to be a good option for learning. Hapara workspace was not a replacement for good teacher practices, such as teacher modelled writing, shared and guided approaches.
Room 3 & 5
Our action research was based around writing and improving student agency. Student agency is students knowing what they are learning and their next steps. We did this by working together as teachers to plan and deliver our writing programme. Children then opted into workshops which were planned and organised based on formal and informal assessment results. During the trial period children were able to work in either class to attend workshops and to complete their work during writing time. Once the trial was over, students completed a writing assessment. The assessment results were very positive although the children’s views on spending time in other classrooms were mixed. As a result of this trial both classes are running writing workshops within their own classrooms.
Room 6
With funding from the Ministry of Education, one of our senior classes (Room 1) was given the opportunity to be involved in a joint project with other local primary schools, coordinated by Dr Simon McMillan of Kaikorai Valley College. The aim of the project was to create an Urban Farm at Kaikorai Valley College. I worked with groups of children from Room 1 in the lead up to deciding on a plan for their own project on the farm. They were involved in research, developing and planning a project, and this term they will work to put their plans into action. The scope of this project was impressive, giving our students the opportunity to explore farm related ideas with local experts, and to develop their own ideas over a sustained period of time. This is an ongoing project.
Room 7 and 9
Our action research looked at how collaborative teaching benefits students and teachers. In Term 2, part of the wall was taken out between Rooms 7 and 9. This enabled our two classes to work together in the afternoon for our inquiry programme. Teachers worked collaboratively to plan units of inquiry and teachers and students came together in our ‘Meeting Space’ every afternoon at 2-3pm. Lessons began in the ‘Meeting Space’ and then students were able to work in groups or pairs in the larger space to carry out independent activities. From this action research, we found that children widened their friendships, had greater empathy for each other's learning styles and abilities and broadened their communication skills.
Room 8
My action research was using google docs to support leading a syndicate and having a living document that the syndicate could refer to. I also looked at how we can utilise our meeting spaces and what kind of meeting place suits our needs. The end result was that I became more competent in using google docs and that our syndicate now has an agenda and the discussions from each meeting that everyone can add to and refer to. I am also now able to use google docs to enhance the children’s learning and share their work with families.
Room 11
I undertook a trial of a new New Zealand Reading Intervention Programme called Quick 60. I used a group of three children from the Junior Syndicate who needed a reading boost. The 10 week programme was very structured and used non fiction books. It included reading, writing, dictation and spelling. The children responded very positively to the programme. The children’s teachers and I were also pleased with the results and noticed a carry over improvement in other school areas. I am continuing the programme this term with another younger group. The school has purchased the resources for 2017 as I had them on loan from RTLB.
Room 12
I investigated the use of Physical Activity as an extrinsic motivational tool for my class. Tasks completed on time with compliance will allow the students access to an incidental PA activity (5-10mins) where they will use fundamental movement skills to participate in games/skill based activities within the confines of the classroom.
My action research has shown that short periods of incidental PA can result in a dramatic improvement in writing productivity. I believe that the ‘learnings’ from this research (which are consistent with published results in the literature) indicate the value of incorporating Physical Activity as a regular component of our daily program. There is also the additional bonus of students improving their physical skills of co-ordination, movement and exercise. Incorporating Physical Activity into our timetable is one way of future proofing our working classroom space.
Writing Support
It was becoming evident that boys are over represented in the school with writing that is below the standard. This is a nation wide problem.
Some of them were losing interest in writing tasks and they were not producing writing samples up to their potential. So I decided to find out HOW to engage boys in their writing and create more motivation and mileage. I wanted to compare and contrast the styles, interests, strengths and needs, attitudes and work ethics of the boys that were in my writing groups.There were 2 separate boys writing groups in this Action Research. The lessons/writing topics were tailored to the interests of boys. The boys were given writing attitude surveys at the beginning, middle and end of the project timeline. Each lesson was engaging for the boys and required the right amount of challenge to allow for feeling of success, with not too many hiccups along the way. In the end, most of the boys were engaged and motivated, enjoyed coming to sessions and their writing improved, especially in the amount of writing they did. This showed in their attitude surveys and their work samples.