As I'm reviewing the IRB proposal form, I am taking note of things that I will need to know or do before I am able to complete it. I need to first come up with a hypothesis, a specific question that I am going to answer by using my research.
Possible Driving Questions: Some ideas I currently have for my driving question are as follows. How does self-assessment increase motivation? How does student agency increase rigor in the classroom? How can student voice improve teaching and learning in the classroom? How can I improve student leadership and engagement in the classroom? Possible Issues: The problem I have with some of these questions, is that I'm not sure what data to use in comparison to the data I will be collecting this year, as I haven't collected data of this exact type before. Possible Steps to Success: I know that to accomplish my goals in student learning, agency and engagement in my classroom I will be using smart goal setting with the students and self assessment of goals weekly. I will be using AVID strategies, fostering a growth mindset, building positive community in the classroom, and using sentence framing, talking chips, hand signals, etc. during classroom discussions to encourage engagement of all students. Potential Risks: The risks as I see it now are that students could dishonestly self evaluate, or set goals that are too easy for themselves and miss pushing themselves and extending their learning. I am hoping that the students find freedom here, but also feel motivated intrinsically and by their peers to set achievable goals that are also rigorous. One more risk is that students who tend to not speak up or participate in class will feel uncomfortable with the way I am hoping to run the classroom (more student voice and less teacher talk). Possible Benefits: The benefits that I am hoping the students will reap from this study is a self awareness of what their personal goals are and what their best work is, the feeling of success in meeting a goal they have set for themselves, increasing their scores in reading and math due to adapting a growth mindset and working hard. I also hope students will develop leadership, and communication skills as I guide them into leading and participating in academic conversations with each other. I hope to address the risk of students feeling uncomfortable voicing their opinion or participating in conversation by creating a safe learning environment, building positive relationships between teacher and peers, and by allowing for lots of practice time with partner and group talks before asking for whole class participation. I am also willing to make any accommodations for participation (partner talk first, writing down answers, etc) if a student requires one. Data The data I'm hoping to collect will be a lot of observational data of participation and engagement, evaluating conversation between students, and hopefully tracking teacher talk time vs. student talk time. I am also hoping to evaluate student work and track progress and scores for the specific goals they are setting and self evaluating to see if this process is helping them to achieve at high levels or if it is average. Maybe I can compare my student's data with other classes at school who are not doing goal setting?
6 Comments
Jose G. Cerda
9/4/2017 05:41:12 pm
You have many great possible driving questions! The first question you listed called my attention as it makes me think about my own questions in the classroom. I think getting students to self-assess and actually use that information for their growth can be very beneficial in the classroom. I see that you have many great strategies already in place to help students in this process. You mentioned you are planning to do weekly self-assessment of goals, this may help with the risk of students choosing goals that are too easy or too difficult. They may have to modify their own goals as they assess themselves. Weekly or even daily checks, depending on their goal, may help students see if their goal is as attainable as they thought.
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9/4/2017 07:34:27 pm
I am so excited to see what goal setting will do to increase student participation, engagement and performance in your class. I think it will most definitely improve all three! When students become more self-aware, they become more able to self--regulate and self-progress. How are you planning on having them record their goals and keep track of their growth? It might be neat to have them store it in a manner that they can reflect upon and encourage one another all year long, such as on Seesaw or another website. This can allow students to receive encouraging feedback from their peers, you, their families, as well as, in time learn from themselves, their accomplishments, and their areas in need of improvement. I am very much looking forward to the research you are going to take part in!
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Diana Olguin
9/4/2017 09:22:54 pm
I have similar ideas about collecting data on student motivation through class observation and student progress and scores. How will you track progress in a quantitative format?
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Rian
9/5/2017 11:15:04 am
I appreciate the way you organized your thoughts and ideas. I too, am worried about creating and analyzing data in the classroom. I am also hoping to use student work as a data point.
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Jeff Albertazzi
9/5/2017 04:23:31 pm
I too am looking at this for a driving question. I have always had a hard time evaluating growth mindset or Agency especially when I am also trying to incorporate standards based grading. Getting the buy in so they do it honestly I think comes with building the classroom culture you talked about. And those shy kids, different platforms to share Ideas, like a blog
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Benjamin Scinto
9/6/2017 07:39:35 am
Suggestion: Your dilemma about comparative data, at least when it comes to student agency, could be pre and post self assessment, using scales/rubric that measures self-efficacy and perceived challenge.
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AuthorKayla Bryant is an elementary school teacher in Napa, CA. This year she teaches a 2/3 combo class. She keeps a journal with funny quotes from her students, and enjoys learning and laughing alongside them. Some of her main educational interests are related to goal setting, growth mindset, and creativity. Archives
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