Test Data & Strategies

The test scores at my PDS school for the fall, East Dale Elementary, seems to be generally above the state and county level. The lowest levels there are social studies, where only 50.13% are proficient, and 32.62% are below mastery, and 17.22% are novice level. Also, only 8.45% are at the distinguished level. So, a definite learning need at this school is to increase knowledge in the social studies area. One thing I thought about was using music from other cultures in the music classroom to get students interested in learning about other cultures. Specifically, I was thinking about an experience with African drums and dance. I could teach the students about the instruments and dances, and possibly have an African percussion group from FSU or WVU come in and give a performance for the kids. I could also teach the kids about the culture, even using books about African stories and reading them aloud to the class. Reading aloud improves students' vocabulary, improves students' listening comprehension, and allows them to enjoy texts that they may not be able to read. From these activities I would hope to increase not only the student's interest in these kinds of cultures and instruments, but their ability to play rhythms on these types of instruments. For an assessment, I could assess the students' abilities before and after the lesson to repeat a rhythm on a drum.

Action Research

1. What is the title of the project?
Getting Smarter at School: A 7th Grade Class Researches and Reflects on its Discussion Habits

2. What is the problem?
The class's discussions were unfocused and didn't meet the criteria of the speaking and listening standard. Also, the students are expected to use higher-level thinking.

3. Describe the instructional intervention.
The teacher collected research by observing classroom discussion, then presented this research to the class. Individual members of the class changed their behavior to make the discussions better. Later, half of the class observed the other class during discussion, which gave them a perspective on the effectiveness of the class discussions.

4. What kind of strategy is the instructional intervention?
Setting Objectives

5. What evidence is presented that the strategy will work?
-Instructional goals should not be too specific. When goals are too narrowly focused they can limit learning (Fraser, 1987; Walberg, 1999).
-If students are encouraged to personalize the teacher's goals, then learning increases. Student ownership enhances learning focus. Studies show the benefits of students setting sub-goals derived from the larger teacher-defined goals (Bandura & Schunk, 1981; Morgan, 1985).

6. How will data be collected to determine if the strategy will work?
The teacher collected data on the class discussions. She counted the number of students who raised their hands, students who talked out of turn, and the number of side conversations. The teacher did this several times over the year. Later on, half of the class observed and collected data on the other half of the class.

7. How was the data analyzed?
Over the course of the implementation, the teacher took her observations. Then she could compare this data and see how the numbers of hand raising, talking out of turn, and side conversations increased or decreased.

8. What were the results?
Overall, the results were positive. The number of times the students raised their hands increased greatly and the number of side conversations decreased greatly. There was not, however, much of change in the number of students who talked out of turn. Also, it seemed like the attitude and understanding of the students increased greatly, and they became interested in the quality of their discussions.

Example

Here is the example of what students will be creating in my WebQuest:

Listen

Struggling Student Learning Styles Results

Auditory: 5
Kinesthetic: 4
Visual: 2
Reading/Writing: 2

Lesson Plans

Lesson Plan #1

Lesson Plan #2

Lesson Plan #3

Rubric

Formative Assessment.

If it doesn't load on here, go to: https://sites.google.com/site/wleeperwebquest/process

Driving Question & Anchor Video

Driving Question:
What are the elements of music?

Anchor Video:

Multiple Intelligences

Musical: 4.86
Spatial: 3.71
Self 3.43
Language: 3.14
Nature: 3
Logic/Math: 2.71
Body Movement: 2.57
Social: 2.57

Lesson Plan

Here is a lesson plan I found that I think is a good idea:

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/songs-lives-using-lyrics-30620.html

This would be a good lesson to do because it allows students to use their own experiences and favorite lyrics to create a story about themselves. Then students collaborate with all of their individual stories to make a class book with all of their stories. I could also see this working as a digital story, since it would definitely work well with incorporating the music that the students have chosen to represent themselves. This lesson definitely incorporates writing and auditory, through music. Maybe if the students added pictures to their stories it would incorporate visual as well. I don't know if I would have time to actually do this lesson, since it involves the students reading a book, but I like the idea.

Struggling Student

I have enjoyed being out in the school and watching the teachers and students interact. Getting through all the behavior problems and into actual learning seems like a real challenge for my host teacher, not to mention all of the other teachers in the school. The teacher really does handle discipline problems well, but sometimes students can baffle her. One student in particular, on one of the days I was in class, has recently started having behavior problems that are affecting his school work. One morning, the student was muttering out loud and bothering the other kids around him. While my host teacher quickly reprimanded him, he refused to stop his behavior, which resulted in a scene in front of the whole class and a punishment of lunch detention. She even had to place him off in the corner of the room for the remainder of the class. She also told me that he hadn't been taking any notes or doing his work in class. In her class, the notes are graded and also help with the open-notes part of the test (which is next week), so he is really setting himself up for failure with his refusal to take notes. From watching him, I have noticed that he doesn't seem to be paying attention much of the time, and doesn't like to participate in the songs or rhythm activities.

Voki

Clinical II Schedule

I'll be at my PDS school on Mondays and Wednesdays from 8:00-11:45

Where I'm From - Final Draft

Here is the final draft of my "Where I'm From" digital story:

Where I'm From Digital Story

Here is the rough draft for my "Where I'm From Digital Story":

Where I'm From

I am from the woods that were my playground, from peanut butter and freeze-pops.

I am from the yellow house with long driveway.

I am from the place where the grass grows high in the summer, the snow in the winter wipes it all away.

I am from holidays and birthdays and togetherness, from Josh and Jonathan and Leeper.

I am from the hill where all my relatives live and the dogs and other pets.

From academic success will lead to life success and love is stronger than anything else.

I am from a Methodist church.

I'm from Fairmont, WV, turkey and Klöße .

From the Aunt and brother who are in Florida, the grandfather I barely knew, and the grandmother I never had a chance to know.

I am from photo albums.

Interest Inventory

Here is an interest inventory for music:

www.knoxvillemusictherapy.com/resources/MusicInterest.doc

Purcell-Gates

"Having seen two of my own children through elementary schools and having garnered a wealth of experience with schools in general, I knew that teachers, specialists, and administrators would have created quite a big fuss if any middle-class child finished first grade knowing how to read only one word. Parents would be called and consulted, assuming they hadn't already been haunting the school corridors, testing would have been recommended and carried out, the instruction and teaching would have been questioned and examined, and elaborate educational plans drawn up to remediate this issue would have been drawn up. But no notice was taken of Donny's failure to learn."

I thought that this paragraph really illustrated the double standard that the article talked about. The difference in the educational quality between poor students and middle-class students is alarming. So many assumptions are made about certain students, like the boy Donny in the article, that they never really have a chance to succeed from the beginning. I know that we all know teachers who do this, put their students into boxes and categories even before the first day of class. Just like the teacher in the article who made assumptions upon hearing Donny's mother speak, these teachers believe that there is no hope for these students to read because of judgments made about their parents or background. Every student should be given a blank slate and an equal chance to succeed regardless of their home life or prior experience.

Mountaineer

Do you think that West Virginia has been able to hang onto our traditions and way of life to a greater degree than other states? If so, why?
I think that West Virginia has more of a connection to its traditions and past than other states. I think one reason for this is that the population of West Virginia is older than most states. West Virginia is one of the oldest states in the United States, meaning there is a higher percentage of elderly people living in this state. Most of these people have been here their entire lives because West Virginia, unlike states like Florida, is not a retirement destination. These people have lived in one place their entire lives and have very strong roots here, meaning they are going to uphold the traditions and way of life that they has been all they know. This also means that young people are moving out of the state, so new ideas have a harder time taking hold. What does this mean for the future? As the older generations go, and the younger generation has moved away, what will that mean for the culture and way of life of West Virginia. I think we will have to reinvent ourselves and our way of life. Perhaps with a mixture of old and new ideas.

Some West Virginians stereotype their own. Do you ever use the phrases "poor white trash", "hillbillies", or "hicks?" Are there parts of West Virginia you avoid because of the people that live there? Are you ashamed of these areas? Why do you think these areas exist? What is being done to help these areas?
Yes I definitely think that there is a difference between different parts of the state. Being from the "civilized" area of the state (Fairmont-Morgantown area), I almost find myself proud that I live here and not some of the more rural areas. A lot of the difference has to do with money. There is serious poverty in some parts of the state, and it definitely shows with the quality of life that these impoverished people live. You can see it in their houses, their cars/trucks. I think this is where a lot of the stereotypes come from, it just boils down to money. However, there are definitely places I would not want to end up alone at in the middle of the night. I know that there are charities set up solely to help people in southern Appalachia, but I don't know how successful they are. I imagine that these charities get lost in the storm of other charities that are out there, and it would be hard to make America understand the situation here.