ACTION PLAN
Implementation
I have two goals for my phase 1 intervention. 1) I would like to see an overall grade increase in assessments that are naturally occurring in my classroom such as tests and World History Interactive Notebook (WIN) assignments (examples can be found below) and 2) a visible increase in student participation and productivity during class. I will work and communicate with them in a series of dialectical journal entries that allow room for choice in what they choose to share with me and feedback based on their input. With these goals in mind I have crafted phase 1 intervention that will help promote an atmosphere of communication and connection in my classroom that I feel was lacking.
I plan to take the first 10 minutes of the period 2-3x a week (2-3 week duration) to implement a written dialogue with my students. The first day I will need 15-20 minutes to explain what these journals (see photo above) will be used for, where they will be stored and to model the format I wish them to write. Also, they will not be required to write in English. They can write in Spanish or in a combination of both English and Spanish (all ELL students in this class have Spanish as their native language). I considered writing the questions themselves in Spanish but decided against it for two reasons. The first being that in order to include the entire class population of 22 students I could not utilize a language that 55% of the class did not understand. The second being that even though Spanish is listed is the primary language for all my ELL students, their reading and writing skills are not up to par with those of native speakers. This is often the case with ELL students in primary and secondary grades because their brain is trying to process two language simultaneously, Spanish at home and English at school. The result usually being they lack proficiency in both languages (Viviana Alexandrowicz).
I also will not be grading or correcting spelling/grammar errors. This is going on Spack and Spadow's (1983) theory that "ungraded, uncorrected journals can provide a non-threatening way for students to express themselves. I want my students to feel that the I am more interested in their thoughts and sentiments rather than if they spelled a word correctly. I have been around Spanish speakers learning English my entire life and have been accustomed to piecing together words and fragments into coherent thoughts. I do not foresee any difficulty in making sense of their writing. I will also to encourage them to make these journals their own. They can decorate or personalize their journals any way they wish, as long as it does not interfere with the readability of their or my responses.
Below are pictures of the actual journals I will be using. I chose these specifically because of their non threatening look. They are 7.5 x 9.5 inch notebooks containing wide ruled paper. Even for the English speaking student a blank page can be a scary thing. The more I can make these journals look less like an assignment the more I believe not only my ELL students, but the entire class will participate.
I have two goals for my phase 1 intervention. 1) I would like to see an overall grade increase in assessments that are naturally occurring in my classroom such as tests and World History Interactive Notebook (WIN) assignments (examples can be found below) and 2) a visible increase in student participation and productivity during class. I will work and communicate with them in a series of dialectical journal entries that allow room for choice in what they choose to share with me and feedback based on their input. With these goals in mind I have crafted phase 1 intervention that will help promote an atmosphere of communication and connection in my classroom that I feel was lacking.
I plan to take the first 10 minutes of the period 2-3x a week (2-3 week duration) to implement a written dialogue with my students. The first day I will need 15-20 minutes to explain what these journals (see photo above) will be used for, where they will be stored and to model the format I wish them to write. Also, they will not be required to write in English. They can write in Spanish or in a combination of both English and Spanish (all ELL students in this class have Spanish as their native language). I considered writing the questions themselves in Spanish but decided against it for two reasons. The first being that in order to include the entire class population of 22 students I could not utilize a language that 55% of the class did not understand. The second being that even though Spanish is listed is the primary language for all my ELL students, their reading and writing skills are not up to par with those of native speakers. This is often the case with ELL students in primary and secondary grades because their brain is trying to process two language simultaneously, Spanish at home and English at school. The result usually being they lack proficiency in both languages (Viviana Alexandrowicz).
I also will not be grading or correcting spelling/grammar errors. This is going on Spack and Spadow's (1983) theory that "ungraded, uncorrected journals can provide a non-threatening way for students to express themselves. I want my students to feel that the I am more interested in their thoughts and sentiments rather than if they spelled a word correctly. I have been around Spanish speakers learning English my entire life and have been accustomed to piecing together words and fragments into coherent thoughts. I do not foresee any difficulty in making sense of their writing. I will also to encourage them to make these journals their own. They can decorate or personalize their journals any way they wish, as long as it does not interfere with the readability of their or my responses.
Below are pictures of the actual journals I will be using. I chose these specifically because of their non threatening look. They are 7.5 x 9.5 inch notebooks containing wide ruled paper. Even for the English speaking student a blank page can be a scary thing. The more I can make these journals look less like an assignment the more I believe not only my ELL students, but the entire class will participate.
Journal Cover
Phase one will consist of 6 journal entries responding to the prompts I have listed below. They will ask or answer any additional questions in the space provided after my response to their input to the prompt. Students will only write the first sentence that corresponds with each question number. This is for both our benefit to easily reference which responds corresponds to which question.
Guiding questions will be left on the projector to help guide the student. The first three questions are intended to encourage student engagement in these written conversations by focusing on topics outside of school and geared towards their interests and life outside of school.
Guiding questions will be left on the projector to help guide the student. The first three questions are intended to encourage student engagement in these written conversations by focusing on topics outside of school and geared towards their interests and life outside of school.
Inside of Journal
These questions were implemented the first week back from spring break and I took advantage of the opportunity to gather insight on their non academic life as you can see from Question #1. Question #2 is designed to have the students reflect on something they feel they excel at and the the reasons why. In my responses, I will make the connection to the notion that practice makes perfect and highlight that skills and achievements do not come easy and applaud their efforts.
I will try to come back to this notion when discussing that they can use the skills they use to better themselves at what they enjoy to better the academic achievements. Question #3 was made with the hope that I can get more insight into their everyday life. I want to get a better understanding if there are any major concerns/joys/accomplishments happening outside of school that they feel comfortable sharing with me.
I will try to come back to this notion when discussing that they can use the skills they use to better themselves at what they enjoy to better the academic achievements. Question #3 was made with the hope that I can get more insight into their everyday life. I want to get a better understanding if there are any major concerns/joys/accomplishments happening outside of school that they feel comfortable sharing with me.
Journal Format
CLICK TO ENLARGE
The last three questions are designed to shift the conversation to our classroom. The previous three questions were used to get a better understanding of my students as a person, now I would like to get a better understanding of them as a students and how they view their academic success so far. An exit slip will be given to students after question #4 to survey their reactions to my implementation thus far.
Prompts Students Will Respond To
1) Tell me about your spring break.
Did anything exciting happen?
Not so exciting?
Anything happen that maybe upset you?
Anything happen that made it the best break ever?
2) What is something that you are good at?
What originally got you interested in this activity?
How often do you spend doing this activity?
Is this something you see yourself always doing?
What is it that you do that makes you feel you are improving in this area?
3) Tell me about a normal Saturday in your life
Who is home for you to hang out with?
Are you part of any extracurricular activities? (Sports, gymnastics, singing, dancing,
acting)
Do the weekends seem too long? Too short?
4) When have you felt successful in school?
When have you been the most proud about learning something?
5) What is the easiest part of school for you?
What is the hardest part of school for you?
What do you like about History?
When is History easy for you?
When is History hard for you?
6) What are 3 things I as the teacher do (or should do) to help you become a more successful student in this class?
What are 3 things you as the student do (or should do) to help you become more
successful in this class?
DATA COLLECTION METHODS
I will use 4 methods of data collection: my own reflection journal, teacher observations in the form of student productivity and participation charts, naturally occurring assessments in the form of tests and WIN assignments and student feedback in the form of exit slips. Before implementing phase one I will utilize the teacher observation charts to establish a baseline of on task behavior (reading, writing and following directions during group activities) and off task behavior (not following directions and distracting others). I am fortunate that our class is starting a new ancient Greek unit that coincides with the introduction of phase 1. Therefore, all naturally occurring assignments (tests, WIN pages and art projects) can be used as data and the students' previous scores can be used to establish another baseline set of information.
Based upon the research uncovered in my literature review, I predict that on task behavior and naturally occurring class assessments will increase, hopefully indicating students are more engaged due to the introduction of the dialectical journals. Throughout phase one I will conduct and collect data protocols as a class, but pay special attention on the output and productivity of my ELL students. I will also analyze the depth students go into when responding to the journal prompts.
Based upon the research uncovered in my literature review, I predict that on task behavior and naturally occurring class assessments will increase, hopefully indicating students are more engaged due to the introduction of the dialectical journals. Throughout phase one I will conduct and collect data protocols as a class, but pay special attention on the output and productivity of my ELL students. I will also analyze the depth students go into when responding to the journal prompts.
Timeline
4/11/13- Journal Prompt #1
TELL ME ABOUT YOUR SPRING BREAK
4/16/13- Journal Prompt #2
WHAT IS SOMETHING YOU ARE GOOD AT?
4/19/13- Journal Prompt #3
TELL ME ABOUT A NORMAL SATURDAY IN YOUR LIFE
4/23/13- Journal Prompt #4 (Beginning of class) and Exit Slip #1 (End of class)
WHEN HAVE YOU FELT SUCCESSFUL IN SCHOOL?
4/29/13- Journal Prompt #5
WHAT ARE THE EASIEST AND HARDEST PARTS OF SCHOOL FOR YOU?
5/1/13- Journal Prompt #6
WHAT ARE 3 THINGS I AS THE TEACHER DO (or should do) TO HELP YOU BECOME A MORE SUCCESSFUL STUDENT?
WHAT ARE 3 THINGS YOU AS A STUDENT DO (or should do) TO HELP YOU BECOME MORE SUCCESSFUL IN THIS CLASS?
5/2/13 - Continue collecting and analyzing data and formulate phase 2 based on results and findings
TELL ME ABOUT YOUR SPRING BREAK
4/16/13- Journal Prompt #2
WHAT IS SOMETHING YOU ARE GOOD AT?
4/19/13- Journal Prompt #3
TELL ME ABOUT A NORMAL SATURDAY IN YOUR LIFE
4/23/13- Journal Prompt #4 (Beginning of class) and Exit Slip #1 (End of class)
WHEN HAVE YOU FELT SUCCESSFUL IN SCHOOL?
4/29/13- Journal Prompt #5
WHAT ARE THE EASIEST AND HARDEST PARTS OF SCHOOL FOR YOU?
5/1/13- Journal Prompt #6
WHAT ARE 3 THINGS I AS THE TEACHER DO (or should do) TO HELP YOU BECOME A MORE SUCCESSFUL STUDENT?
WHAT ARE 3 THINGS YOU AS A STUDENT DO (or should do) TO HELP YOU BECOME MORE SUCCESSFUL IN THIS CLASS?
5/2/13 - Continue collecting and analyzing data and formulate phase 2 based on results and findings
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