Reflection
How action research impacted student learning
How action research impacted current teaching
Throughout action research, I saw growth in myself as an educator in more ways than one. I learned to become a better planner. I learned to plan for student error instead of planning to just a standard. I learned to adapt my plans in the moment as I saw my students struggle with key reading skills. I have was given the opportunity to get to know all of my students as readers which, in return, helped me understand how to teach them in a way that worked for them. The relationships that I built with my students during this process helped their attitudes towards academic and behavior skills in the classroom. This shift in attitude allowed me to grow as an educator by allowing me to understand that my students needed someone who cared about them first. They needed someone who would never give up on them even when things got tough. I started to focus on building relationships with my students through this process and letting the learning fall into place. Once I started to see my students gain more confidence in themselves in reading I became more confident in my teaching. Before this year I had never taught guided reading or been exposed to Fountas and Pinnell. Since this was all new to me I relied on the research to help guide me through the process. I learned that research is necessary when there is something that comes up with which I might not be familiar. Action research also taught me the importance of tracking data and how to track data the right way. Learning how to analyze data allowed me to plan with the end in mind. I have been able to address the skills my students needed along with weekly assessment goals by looking at data I collected. Action research has shown me that, as an educator, I will always have room to continue to grow, but noticing the small accomplishments I have made is important.
How action research impacted professional growth
Action research has helped me grow as a professional. I have learned that it is crucial to ask questions to internal stakeholders and external stakeholders if I want to develop as an educator. Collaboration with my building principal, focused on MAP data and goals, has given me so many insights on how to improve my classroom for my students. Collaboration with my reading specialist, focused on benchmarking assessment and grouping, gave me a great deal of support and understanding when forming my groups. Collaboration with my director of curriculum and instruction, focused on Fountas and Pinnell guided reading instruction, gave me a deeper understanding of the pedagogy involved in teaching guided reading. Therefore collaboration was a necessity for me to grow as a professional educator. Learning new methods to incorporate in my teaching and my classroom has made me eager to continue my growth as a professional. I have learned to not look at my lessons that didn’t go as planned as a failure. I have learned to look at them as a chance to grow and improve which has made my outlook on the challenges that came with action research much more positive.
What has been learned and what questions remain
Throughout the process of action research, I have learned how important research and data are to drive my instruction. I have learned that all students learn differently so research is necessary to find what works best for each of my students. Without the data I collected I would not have been able to know my students as readers so well. I would be guessing on how to help them become better readers instead of having proof of what skills they needed to improve. The struggles I went through during this process, such as failed lesson plans or student behavior, only made me a stronger educator. I learned so many new things during this process that will remain with me for the rest of my teaching career. The lingering questions I still have are: How much more growth would have been shown if we didn’t have as many snow days? What growth was from my study specifically and what growth was from natural grade level progression?
What will need to be changed, modified or refined in the future
For the future, I will need to modify all my questions to be geared toward my future students' needs. I will implement reading goals for my students to work toward in order to engage them more in small group. I would like to add writing in response to reading at the end of my guided reading lessons to allow my students to apply what they learned and express their ideas through writing. This will help my students have an even better understanding of the texts we are reading and will help them develop writing skills. I would also like to add more manipulative strategies and anchor charts with which my students will be able to interact.
How future thinking, behaving and interacting will be impacted and/or changed
As a result of action research, I hope for a more student-led conversation when it comes to guided reading. I want my students to arrive at the level of thinking where they can come up with their own comprehension questions, with a little guidance. I want my students to hold onto the positive outlook they have gained about reading during this study for the rest of their lives. I have grown so much as a professional during this study that I have changed my outlook on data and research. Research and data are two powerful things that impact instruction in so many ways. I will work to incorporate more research and data into all subjects throughout my teaching career.
How action research will impact future teaching
In my future teaching, I will be more aware of needs in my classroom and how to approach those needs because of action research. When I find a need in my future classroom I will do research, collect data, implement research-based strategies, collaborate with internal and external stakeholders, and reflect on my teaching in order to improve that need. I will always strive to continue to seek out different opportunities to grow as a professional educator.
Throughout this study, both my students and I grew. My students' growth became evident when attitudes began to change and comprehension assessment scores began to rise. Since I took the time to pre-plan targeted questions and comprehension strategies into my guided reading time, my students started to take over the conversation and became more independent in their reading. The guided reading time became more of a natural conversation rather than myself probing questions. Students began using the strategies that were taught to achieve deeper thinking to ask new questions about the text built around specific targeted questions. They became more curious about the text. They began to wonder why an author might write a certain way, or why a character might act a certain way. They started to put themselves in the books they were reading as if they were the characters. This has helped them to have a better understanding of what it was they were reading. Not only did they find themselves digging deeper into the text, but they were also able to share their opinions with others in the group. Instead of interrupting each other they began to listen to one another. This created a better atmosphere for guided reading. Because of this, students were becoming more confident in their answers and were willing to ask for help from peers during small group discussions, independent work time and whole group reading. I no longer had to lead them in guided reading, they led me in discussions. This was one of the biggest accomplishments I saw them make because I saw how creative they could be. The reading comprehension growth that my students made, over time, during this study will stay with them throughout their education. Differentiated targeted questioning and guided discussion had a positive impact on my students' journey to become lifelong learners. The impact of differentiated targeted questioning, guided discussion and pre-planned comprehension goals and strategies definitely increased my students' reading achievement in all that we read in our 2nd grade curriculum.
