Reflection
Impact on Student Learning
The process of action research had a positive impact on the students in my classroom and their learning. Throughout the action research process I learned about many activities and instructional strategies that I was able to apply in my classroom.
The activities implemented, including small groups, kinesthetic activities, Constant Time Delay, and investigation, allowed me to differentiate activities to accommodate all learning styles.
Small groups provided opportunities to purposefully group students and design lessons that were developmentally-appropriate for each group. Small group instruction was how my class learned best due to fewer distractions and more individualized attention.
While small group instruction had been incorporated in my classroom before research, I believe that it was especially beneficial for word study. It provided the students a chance to complete more hands on activities that I would not be able to easily incorporate in a whole group setting.
Kinesthetic activities also positively impacted my students learning. By incorporating clay, body movement, and cubes as manipulatives I was able to create multi-sensory lessons that encouraged spatial thinking. These activities were incorporated to meet the needs of my kinesthetic learners, as well as enhance the learning process for all students. I saw a significant increase in excitement on days when kinesthetic activities were included. Before research, students would often groan or complain when it came to word study activities. After the implementation of kinesthetic activities, students would excitedly ask me, “What are we doing today?” and were more engaged and enthusiastic about the lessons. I observed that kinesthetic activities benefited my students more than I had predicted.
Constant Time Delay (CTD) also showed to have an impact on my students' confidence. Through my observations during word study, I saw an increase in correct answers and my students’ confidence in answering questions. Before research, students would often say “I don’t know” or shut down if their answer wasn’t correct. After slowly incorporating longer periods of wait time and allowing my students to process the questions, students responded with more accuracy and tried without fear of being wrong.
Lastly, investigation activities also impacted my students learning. By incorporating inquiry activities, my students were exposed to new methods of word study that I had not previously utilized. Activities that prompted deeper thinking and analysis of words allowed my students to recognize spelling patterns. The longer investigation activities were implemented, the more I observed students recognizing word and spelling patterns. Before research, students were unable to produce words of the same family, such as “-at.” After research, if I provided one word such as “cat” students were able to orally state other “-at” words as well as write and read them. Due to these inquiry-based activities, my students gained an increased understanding of word families.
The study also proved to positively impact my students’ scores in phonics, phonemic awareness, phonological awareness, and reading level. The amount of grade-level scores increased across all assessments. The data indicated that the study was successful due to the steady increase in all word study areas, including letters and letter sounds, initial and final sounds, blending, segmenting, rhyming, syllables, and word awareness. The activities that were implemented positively impacted my students learning experiences, confidence, attitudes, participation, and increased levels of understanding in ways that continued to appear throughout the classroom after research had ended.
Impact on Current Teaching
Action research has impacted how I planned my lessons, how I chose the activities, and how I prepared for lessons. Before research, I would sometimes plan specific word work activities and other times I would not. This resulted in some word study activities being structured while others were unorganized. By creating my action plan calendar, I was able to plan differentiated word study activities in advanced. It was easy for me to reference the calendar and prepare materials so that the activities were purposeful and time was used efficiently. After research concluded, I continued to plan ahead and create word study activities for my groups so that I could be better prepared and use time efficiently.
I also was able to apply the instructional strategies that I researched to other areas of my teaching, beyond word study. By incorporating kinesthetic activities for word study in guided reading, I realized that my students showed an increase in content retention. After seeing how excited and enthusiastic my students were about word study when kinesthetic activities were involved, I decided to continue the use beyond the conclusion of the study. Once I realized this, I chose to add kinesthetic activities to math and science, as well. I added the use of clay to our science unit by creating models of planets to compare the sizes. I also added more math manipulatives to my math instruction in order to provide more hands-on opportunities for kinesthetic and spatial learners.
Professional Growth
The process of action research also helped me grow as a professional. By researching instructional strategies for my Literature Review, I deepened my pedagogy and expanded my knowledge of research-based strategies that would benefit the wide variety of needs in my classroom. By creating developmentally-appropriate goals for each of my guided reading groups, I learned the value of using data to influence my instruction and created activities that would meet the needs of each group.
Collaboration also served as professional growth throughout this process. In order to provide adequate activities and instruction to all of my students, I discussed my research with others as a way to broaden my knowledge, receive advice, and ensure that I was being culturally responsive in the classroom. My reading specialist, CADRE associate, principal, UNO professors, and CADRE peers were exceptional resources before, during, and after research. Due to these conversations, I was able to make adjustments to my study, if necessary, and grow as an educator. This process showed me the benefits of collaboration. Working with other professionals provided opportunities for me to grow as an educator.
What have I learned as a result of action research?
This process taught me many things. First, I realized that data is an important component of teaching. Data should always be utilized to influence instruction in both short and long-term. While I had always collected data in various ways, I did not always examine and analyze the data of assessments in order to adjust my instruction. Analysis of data from multiple sources before research caused me to see that my students lacked phonics, phonemic awareness, and phonological awareness skills, causing me to choose word study as my research topic.
During research, I collected pre-test data on every student in those three word study areas as well as their reading level. I was able to use that data to determine which students would be in which groups, what word study activities were appropriate for them, what books to read, and more. My study reinforced the idea that data is truly the backbone of instruction. Both qualitative and quantitative data should always be considered when designing lessons in order to meet the needs of each student and ensure that students are understanding content before moving on to something new.
I also learned that word study skills impacted more than just reading comprehension. I saw an impact on my students in other areas such as writing. My students showed an increase in their writing abilities. Students started to write longer sentences and required less assistance. I also saw an increase in attitude towards writing. Before research, many students expressed “I hate writing! I can’t spell!” or “Writing is boring.” During and after research I noted that many students did not need help and were willing to try on their own. I observed an increase in happiness during writing time, some students asking excitedly, “Is it time for writing yet?” I believe that the word study activities implemented throughout the study had an impact on both reading and writing achievement.
Remaining Questions
Questions still remain after completing my action research. First, I wonder what my classroom would look like now if I had started this intervention earlier. After seeing the vast improvements within just 7 weeks, I wonder how this study would have impacted my students if it lasted the entirety of the year. I was pleased to see how many students increased their reading level, I can only imagine how they would grow if this intervention had started much sooner. Also, how would the activities need to be altered for the beginning of the year? By beginning my research in January, most of my students held the foundational skills necessary for the activities I had designed for them. If I began this intervention in August, the activities would need to be altered. Would this study still be effective if it was implemented when my students held little to no background knowledge on reading, phonics, phonological awareness, or phonemic awareness? Or was this background knowledge pivotal for the rapid growth that I saw?
After examining and analyzing the data, I could see that my class improved in all areas of word study as well as reading achievement. While it may seem that the study was successful, I wonder how much improvement was also due to natural progression throughout the school year. For example, kindergarten students are supposed to increase one reading level per quarter (students should be reading at a level “A” in quarter 1, a level “B” in quarter 2, a level “C” in quarter 3, and a “D” by quarter 4). When research began in January, many students were not reading on grade level (Level “C”). However, third quarter had just begun at the beginning of January, so it was not surprising that many students had not progressed to a level “C” yet. When research concluded at the end of third quarter and students were assessed again, majority of the class was reading on grade-level. It is unclear whether this was due to the intensive word study activities, normal kindergarten growth, or a combination of the two.
Future Changes
While I continued small groups, kinesthetic activities, Constant Time Delay, and investigation activities in guided reading through the year, I would love to incorporate this at the beginning of the year next year. As mentioned above, if this study were to start at the beginning of the year, changes would need to be made so that activities aligned with the ability levels of my class.
Next year, I want to start the beginning of the year with some baseline assessments, similar to the pre- and post-tests given throughout the study. I want to use this data to determine guided reading groups at the beginning of the year. Since many kindergarten students are considered “Pre-A” leveled readers at the beginning of the year, I typically do not have enough data to determine functional guided reading groups based on reading level alone. However, if I complete some baseline assessments on word study, I could group students based on that data. Then, word study activities could be differentiated based on their baseline scores from the beginning of the year. These assessments could be given periodically throughout the year so that I could analyze the data and determine if adjustments or changes in instruction need to occur.
The activities that students participate in could be taken from our reading curriculum. Each day provides a specific phonics and phonemic/phonological awareness activity. These activities are a perfect introduction to phonics, phonemic awareness, and phonological awareness and would be easy to incorporate immediately at the beginning of the year. Instruction can be adjusted as necessary to meet the ability levels of the students.
I would also like to include a method of formal progress monitoring in the future. During my study, much of my progress monitoring was through observations or anecdotal notes. I would like to create weekly, biweekly, or monthly activities that could track student progress throughout the year. This could also serve as another data point that could influence instruction. By acquiring quantitative data on a regular basis I can ensure that my students are improving steadily, and if not, I can use the data to analyze and determine why my students are not progressing.
Future Thinking, Behavior, and Interactions
In the future, my thinking, behavior, and interactions will be influenced by my action research. As mentioned, I have learned that data is paramount to adequate instruction. I will always be thinking about the data I have collected, what new data I can collect, and how I can use it to ensure that my students are receiving instruction that is culturally responsive.
When I continue these activities throughout my teaching career, I want to remember and reflect upon the best way to conduct the lessons and assessments. While the pre-test and post-tests for my research were beneficial and provided a lot of data, they required a lot of time to facilitate due to the fact that I wanted the assessments to be completed individually in order for my students to present accurate responses. With a large class, individually assessing each student on multiple tests takes up a lot of time that can take away from valuable instruction time. For next year, I will research assessments that are streamlined but can still provide sufficient data about my students.
The lessons that I completed with my students were enjoyable and I saw an increase in engagement and excitement. However, next year I will need to begin the year with explicit teaching about the activities and materials. Since my students began this study in January, they had already been taught how to use clay, dry erase markers, cubes, and other materials. But, I cannot begin next year with these activities before I teach my students how to treat the materials. I will need to create plans and classroom rules for the necessary materials. Materials such as cubes were not taught immediately at the beginning of the year because they were used as a math manipulative and were not necessary at the start of the year. If I want to include the materials in my guided reading lessons at the start of next year, I will need to teach rules and expectations about all materials and explain their use as a reading tool, rather than a math tool (such as cubes) or center (such as clay).
Future Teaching
As described, my future teaching will be influenced by my action research. I will continue to implement purposeful word study activities in guided reading. I will select developmentally-appropriate goals for my groups based on their reading level, assessment data, and observations. I also will continue to incorporate these strategies in other subject areas such as health, social studies, and writing.
As I continue my career as an educator, I plan to incorporate purposeful word study activities at the beginning of the year in hopes to create a strong foundation for my students. My research has shown me that the activities used were beneficial and positively impacted my students. I want to research and incorporate other activities into word study so that my students will be engaged and challenged throughout the year. I also plan on incorporating new assessments that can be used to collect baseline data at the beginning of the year, as well as develop a progress monitoring system that will provide quantitative data throughout the year.
The process of action research had a positive impact on the students in my classroom and their learning. Throughout the action research process I learned about many activities and instructional strategies that I was able to apply in my classroom.
The activities implemented, including small groups, kinesthetic activities, Constant Time Delay, and investigation, allowed me to differentiate activities to accommodate all learning styles.
Small groups provided opportunities to purposefully group students and design lessons that were developmentally-appropriate for each group. Small group instruction was how my class learned best due to fewer distractions and more individualized attention.
While small group instruction had been incorporated in my classroom before research, I believe that it was especially beneficial for word study. It provided the students a chance to complete more hands on activities that I would not be able to easily incorporate in a whole group setting.
Kinesthetic activities also positively impacted my students learning. By incorporating clay, body movement, and cubes as manipulatives I was able to create multi-sensory lessons that encouraged spatial thinking. These activities were incorporated to meet the needs of my kinesthetic learners, as well as enhance the learning process for all students. I saw a significant increase in excitement on days when kinesthetic activities were included. Before research, students would often groan or complain when it came to word study activities. After the implementation of kinesthetic activities, students would excitedly ask me, “What are we doing today?” and were more engaged and enthusiastic about the lessons. I observed that kinesthetic activities benefited my students more than I had predicted.
Constant Time Delay (CTD) also showed to have an impact on my students' confidence. Through my observations during word study, I saw an increase in correct answers and my students’ confidence in answering questions. Before research, students would often say “I don’t know” or shut down if their answer wasn’t correct. After slowly incorporating longer periods of wait time and allowing my students to process the questions, students responded with more accuracy and tried without fear of being wrong.
Lastly, investigation activities also impacted my students learning. By incorporating inquiry activities, my students were exposed to new methods of word study that I had not previously utilized. Activities that prompted deeper thinking and analysis of words allowed my students to recognize spelling patterns. The longer investigation activities were implemented, the more I observed students recognizing word and spelling patterns. Before research, students were unable to produce words of the same family, such as “-at.” After research, if I provided one word such as “cat” students were able to orally state other “-at” words as well as write and read them. Due to these inquiry-based activities, my students gained an increased understanding of word families.
The study also proved to positively impact my students’ scores in phonics, phonemic awareness, phonological awareness, and reading level. The amount of grade-level scores increased across all assessments. The data indicated that the study was successful due to the steady increase in all word study areas, including letters and letter sounds, initial and final sounds, blending, segmenting, rhyming, syllables, and word awareness. The activities that were implemented positively impacted my students learning experiences, confidence, attitudes, participation, and increased levels of understanding in ways that continued to appear throughout the classroom after research had ended.
Impact on Current Teaching
Action research has impacted how I planned my lessons, how I chose the activities, and how I prepared for lessons. Before research, I would sometimes plan specific word work activities and other times I would not. This resulted in some word study activities being structured while others were unorganized. By creating my action plan calendar, I was able to plan differentiated word study activities in advanced. It was easy for me to reference the calendar and prepare materials so that the activities were purposeful and time was used efficiently. After research concluded, I continued to plan ahead and create word study activities for my groups so that I could be better prepared and use time efficiently.
I also was able to apply the instructional strategies that I researched to other areas of my teaching, beyond word study. By incorporating kinesthetic activities for word study in guided reading, I realized that my students showed an increase in content retention. After seeing how excited and enthusiastic my students were about word study when kinesthetic activities were involved, I decided to continue the use beyond the conclusion of the study. Once I realized this, I chose to add kinesthetic activities to math and science, as well. I added the use of clay to our science unit by creating models of planets to compare the sizes. I also added more math manipulatives to my math instruction in order to provide more hands-on opportunities for kinesthetic and spatial learners.
Professional Growth
The process of action research also helped me grow as a professional. By researching instructional strategies for my Literature Review, I deepened my pedagogy and expanded my knowledge of research-based strategies that would benefit the wide variety of needs in my classroom. By creating developmentally-appropriate goals for each of my guided reading groups, I learned the value of using data to influence my instruction and created activities that would meet the needs of each group.
Collaboration also served as professional growth throughout this process. In order to provide adequate activities and instruction to all of my students, I discussed my research with others as a way to broaden my knowledge, receive advice, and ensure that I was being culturally responsive in the classroom. My reading specialist, CADRE associate, principal, UNO professors, and CADRE peers were exceptional resources before, during, and after research. Due to these conversations, I was able to make adjustments to my study, if necessary, and grow as an educator. This process showed me the benefits of collaboration. Working with other professionals provided opportunities for me to grow as an educator.
What have I learned as a result of action research?
This process taught me many things. First, I realized that data is an important component of teaching. Data should always be utilized to influence instruction in both short and long-term. While I had always collected data in various ways, I did not always examine and analyze the data of assessments in order to adjust my instruction. Analysis of data from multiple sources before research caused me to see that my students lacked phonics, phonemic awareness, and phonological awareness skills, causing me to choose word study as my research topic.
During research, I collected pre-test data on every student in those three word study areas as well as their reading level. I was able to use that data to determine which students would be in which groups, what word study activities were appropriate for them, what books to read, and more. My study reinforced the idea that data is truly the backbone of instruction. Both qualitative and quantitative data should always be considered when designing lessons in order to meet the needs of each student and ensure that students are understanding content before moving on to something new.
I also learned that word study skills impacted more than just reading comprehension. I saw an impact on my students in other areas such as writing. My students showed an increase in their writing abilities. Students started to write longer sentences and required less assistance. I also saw an increase in attitude towards writing. Before research, many students expressed “I hate writing! I can’t spell!” or “Writing is boring.” During and after research I noted that many students did not need help and were willing to try on their own. I observed an increase in happiness during writing time, some students asking excitedly, “Is it time for writing yet?” I believe that the word study activities implemented throughout the study had an impact on both reading and writing achievement.
Remaining Questions
Questions still remain after completing my action research. First, I wonder what my classroom would look like now if I had started this intervention earlier. After seeing the vast improvements within just 7 weeks, I wonder how this study would have impacted my students if it lasted the entirety of the year. I was pleased to see how many students increased their reading level, I can only imagine how they would grow if this intervention had started much sooner. Also, how would the activities need to be altered for the beginning of the year? By beginning my research in January, most of my students held the foundational skills necessary for the activities I had designed for them. If I began this intervention in August, the activities would need to be altered. Would this study still be effective if it was implemented when my students held little to no background knowledge on reading, phonics, phonological awareness, or phonemic awareness? Or was this background knowledge pivotal for the rapid growth that I saw?
After examining and analyzing the data, I could see that my class improved in all areas of word study as well as reading achievement. While it may seem that the study was successful, I wonder how much improvement was also due to natural progression throughout the school year. For example, kindergarten students are supposed to increase one reading level per quarter (students should be reading at a level “A” in quarter 1, a level “B” in quarter 2, a level “C” in quarter 3, and a “D” by quarter 4). When research began in January, many students were not reading on grade level (Level “C”). However, third quarter had just begun at the beginning of January, so it was not surprising that many students had not progressed to a level “C” yet. When research concluded at the end of third quarter and students were assessed again, majority of the class was reading on grade-level. It is unclear whether this was due to the intensive word study activities, normal kindergarten growth, or a combination of the two.
Future Changes
While I continued small groups, kinesthetic activities, Constant Time Delay, and investigation activities in guided reading through the year, I would love to incorporate this at the beginning of the year next year. As mentioned above, if this study were to start at the beginning of the year, changes would need to be made so that activities aligned with the ability levels of my class.
Next year, I want to start the beginning of the year with some baseline assessments, similar to the pre- and post-tests given throughout the study. I want to use this data to determine guided reading groups at the beginning of the year. Since many kindergarten students are considered “Pre-A” leveled readers at the beginning of the year, I typically do not have enough data to determine functional guided reading groups based on reading level alone. However, if I complete some baseline assessments on word study, I could group students based on that data. Then, word study activities could be differentiated based on their baseline scores from the beginning of the year. These assessments could be given periodically throughout the year so that I could analyze the data and determine if adjustments or changes in instruction need to occur.
The activities that students participate in could be taken from our reading curriculum. Each day provides a specific phonics and phonemic/phonological awareness activity. These activities are a perfect introduction to phonics, phonemic awareness, and phonological awareness and would be easy to incorporate immediately at the beginning of the year. Instruction can be adjusted as necessary to meet the ability levels of the students.
I would also like to include a method of formal progress monitoring in the future. During my study, much of my progress monitoring was through observations or anecdotal notes. I would like to create weekly, biweekly, or monthly activities that could track student progress throughout the year. This could also serve as another data point that could influence instruction. By acquiring quantitative data on a regular basis I can ensure that my students are improving steadily, and if not, I can use the data to analyze and determine why my students are not progressing.
Future Thinking, Behavior, and Interactions
In the future, my thinking, behavior, and interactions will be influenced by my action research. As mentioned, I have learned that data is paramount to adequate instruction. I will always be thinking about the data I have collected, what new data I can collect, and how I can use it to ensure that my students are receiving instruction that is culturally responsive.
When I continue these activities throughout my teaching career, I want to remember and reflect upon the best way to conduct the lessons and assessments. While the pre-test and post-tests for my research were beneficial and provided a lot of data, they required a lot of time to facilitate due to the fact that I wanted the assessments to be completed individually in order for my students to present accurate responses. With a large class, individually assessing each student on multiple tests takes up a lot of time that can take away from valuable instruction time. For next year, I will research assessments that are streamlined but can still provide sufficient data about my students.
The lessons that I completed with my students were enjoyable and I saw an increase in engagement and excitement. However, next year I will need to begin the year with explicit teaching about the activities and materials. Since my students began this study in January, they had already been taught how to use clay, dry erase markers, cubes, and other materials. But, I cannot begin next year with these activities before I teach my students how to treat the materials. I will need to create plans and classroom rules for the necessary materials. Materials such as cubes were not taught immediately at the beginning of the year because they were used as a math manipulative and were not necessary at the start of the year. If I want to include the materials in my guided reading lessons at the start of next year, I will need to teach rules and expectations about all materials and explain their use as a reading tool, rather than a math tool (such as cubes) or center (such as clay).
Future Teaching
As described, my future teaching will be influenced by my action research. I will continue to implement purposeful word study activities in guided reading. I will select developmentally-appropriate goals for my groups based on their reading level, assessment data, and observations. I also will continue to incorporate these strategies in other subject areas such as health, social studies, and writing.
As I continue my career as an educator, I plan to incorporate purposeful word study activities at the beginning of the year in hopes to create a strong foundation for my students. My research has shown me that the activities used were beneficial and positively impacted my students. I want to research and incorporate other activities into word study so that my students will be engaged and challenged throughout the year. I also plan on incorporating new assessments that can be used to collect baseline data at the beginning of the year, as well as develop a progress monitoring system that will provide quantitative data throughout the year.