Draft Action Research Project Progress Report

Week 3 Assignment, Part 3

Draft Action Research Project Progress Report

Building Computational Fluency Through Addition and Subtraction Strategies

     Through years of classroom observations as a fourth and fifth grade teacher, I’ve watched my students struggle with their basic facts of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. As a Mathematics Instructional Coach for Kindergarten through fifth grade, I see the efforts that teachers are putting forth to help students master their basic facts, however, students are still struggling. Year after year, across both genders and all lines of ethnicity, students have difficulty learning and retaining basic facts, understanding reasonableness, and problem solving. I’ve attended several trainings about number sense and computational fluency this year and the common thread is all about teaching students the number strategies, such as learning and applying doubles, doubles plus one, making a ten, and composing and decomposing numbers, to help them be successful.

     The objective of my Action Research Project is to determine whether or not second grade students’ scores and recall will increase on weekly math fact tests after direct and intense instruction on fact strategies, such as, but not exclusively, learning doubles, doubles plus one, making a ten, and composing and decomposing numbers. In one of the second grade classrooms, the teacher, Mrs. Smith, and I have compiled the scores from the weekly fast fact tests for the fifth six weeks before we began working on number strategies. I have been modeling lessons in the classroom with whole group instruction and small groups for the last month using manipulatives, ten frames and double ten frames to model addition problems. Using problems such as 8 + 7 is helping students manipulate the numbers to see that the number eight is two away from ten and seven is three away from ten. Some students are using the doubles plue one strategy while others are using doubles minus one. My vision is ultimately to help students learn how to manipulate numbers and make connections when adding and subtracting. I am also hoping that we will see increases in student scores on weekly timed fast fact tests; many of the teachers are leary about teaching these strategies because it is so ‘different from the way we learned and ever taught’. Seeing improvement in student scores will be a positive step toward helping teachers understand the benefits of teaching specific number sense strategies. Students will continue to take weekly timed fast fact tests and student scores will be compiled. At the end of the grading period, we are going to compare student scores from ‘before’ learning strategies, ‘during’ learning strategies, and ‘after’ learning strategies to determine whether or not students benefitted from the direct, intense instruction.

     My reasoning behind conducting this action research about learning math strategies stems from my studies of what Jon Van de Walle and LouAnn Lovin have found through their research about teaching mathematics to young children using best practices. Van de Walle and Lovin (2005) found that

 “many children have learned basic facts without being taught efficient strategies. They develop or learn many of these methods in spite of the drill they may have endured. The trouble is that far too many students do not develop strategies without instruction and far too many students in middle school continue to count on their fingers.”

I’ve looked to Principals and Standards for School Mathematics (NCTM) for information regarding children developing an understanding of whole numbers and operations and found that students in grades Pre K-2 should “develop a sense of whole numbers and represent and use them in flexible ways, including relating, composing, and decomposing numbers (NCTM). In Texas, our first grade Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) and state standards do not give enough support for teaching numeracy and number fluency. Therefore, curriculum development is left up to the districts to decide where gaps are occurring in student learning, what does best practice tell us about learning, and how can we close in the gaps to support student achievement. Case in point, last summer our district revised the curriculum for our first grade students to include number fluency, numeracy, and a rich foundation for the conceptual understanding of numbers. I can’t help but wonder whether or not this change in the curriculum will indeed increase the level of student understanding and performance and what long-lasting effects it will have on student achievement and problem solving skills on my campus. Since these changes have taken place in the first grade curriculum, it’s going to be ever so important for the second grade teachers to be prepared for these students with their variety of number strategies. Although our primary teachers will be the first to tell you their students have no number sense and a change has been long overdue in the curriculum, many of them are resistant to spending the amount of time needed on numeracy, decomposing and composing numbers, and building upon the important understanding of part-part-whole relationships. Their fear and resistance stems from a lack of training and staff development for teaching number sense. They will need a great deal of my support which beautifully lends itself to becoming my action research plan. It is my hope that our students will have a greater understanding of numbers with fewer struggles in learning their basic facts. My principal is completely supportive of my action research plan and is anxious to view my findings. Since I am new to the campus this year, I couldn’t begin the project as early as I anticipated because of the time it has taken to build relationships and trust with classroom teachers. The decision was finally made that I would work with only one teacher with the hopes that my findings will spark an interest in more teachers wanting the job-embedded professional development in their classroom as well.

     I have communicated the vision to staff members and administrators through numerous discussions about the importance of teaching students how to develop their number sense. Each grade level on my campus has a copy of Teaching Student–Centered Mathematics. Before each unit of study, we review what Jon Van de Walle (2005) says about best practices for introducing and teaching the content at each of the developmental levels.

     I have organized the Action Research Plan with the help of a second grade classroom teacher, Mrs. Smith. I have been modeling lessons in her classroom and then helping her implement the activities with me there as a support if she doesn’t feel comfortable with using the questioning strategies needed for students to begin to make connections with their learning. With a priority given to student learning, we’ve been working on finding out from students ‘how and why’ they know the answer instead of just an answer alone. Burns (1992) explains that “math instruction should seek to help children learn to think, reason, and make sense of numbers” which is why I find it so important for students to explain their thinking. Students explain their thinking through words, pictures, and using their manipulatives. Van de Walle and Lovin (2005) point out that “as students continue to attempt to show their thinking, they will improve both from practice and from seeing the methods using by others.” Money has not been needed for this project; time, manipulatives, and questioning strategies are all that have been needed to complete this action research.

     First and foremost, the priority from the beginning has been about helping students be successful in their development of number sense. The second grade teacher that I’ve been working with, Mrs. Smith, actually approached me and explained that her students were struggling with learning their basic facts and she did feel like she had sufficient training for teaching students to be computationally fluent. Her other teammates are not on-board with teaching these strategies and believe their methods of ‘drill and kill’ are sufficient. Mrs. Smith asked if I would model several lessons in her classroom and then watch her teach a small group using the same activities and strategies. After I model the lessons, we debrief about the student responses, my questioning strategies and discuss observations about formative assessments on each student and their level of understanding. Based on the observations and student responses, we have made changes to our small groups on several occasions.

     Mrs. Smith’s class has a diverse population with a wide-variety of readiness levels. We are scaffolding lessons and differentiating to meet the needs of all students. Van de Walle and Lovin (2005) found that “all children are able to master the basic facts—including children with learning disabilities. Children simply need to construct efficient mental tools that will help them.” By conducting this action research, the students, teachers, parents, and our campus will benefit from determining whether or not there really are benefits to devoting time to number fluency. In the short amount of time that we’ve been working on this project, we are already finding that students are making connections and building a deeper understanding about numbers in their world.

References

Burns, M., (1992). About teaching mathematics. Sausalito, CA: Math Solutions Publications.

National Council of Teachers of Mathemetics (NCTM). Principals and Standards for School

Mathematics. Retrieved from http://www.nctm.org/standards/content.aspx?id=7564#numbers

Van de Walle, J., Lovin, L., (2005). Teaching student-centered mathematics: grades K-3.

Boston, MA:  Allyn & Bacon.

Week 3 School Community Web Conference

The majority of this week's web conference focused on utilizing technology. Dr. Abernathy posed the question "How do we connect these resources with the community?"
Many suggested conferencing with parents using Skype, offering an Open Lab for parents and community members to use computers and email, utilizing Web 2.0 Tools, and Edmodo.

The majority of the 3rd through 5 grade teachers on my campus use Edmodo in the classroom. This is a wonderful tool for communicating with students and creating paperless assignments. The students love it! It is sometimes a little more time consuming for teachers than they would like because it must be monitored.

There is a great video on YouTube by Corning called A Day Made of Glass. Technology is advancing; unfortunately most of us are technology immigrants rather than natives. It's challenging to keep up with the latest technology and learn as quickly as it is advancing. Dr. Abernathy posed a great question... one that I will continue to ponder... "How do we connect these resources with the community?"

School Community - Week Two

Unfortunately I missed the Sunday evening Web Conference this week but thought I would write a few thoughts about this week's assignment. I spent a great deal of time thinking about the Partnership Proposal and decided to  focus on problem solving in Mathematics. I am proposing a series of parent / student evenings throughout the school year devoted to Mathematics and problem solving. During each of these evening events, parents of primary students will learn numeracy strategies and with activities to engage and support their child at home. Parents will learn the importance of using a number line, a hundreds chart, manipulatives, and build an understanding of the part/part/whole relationship of numbers by composing and decomposing numbers. Materials and directions for each of the activities, along with a demonstration and opportunity to participate in the activity will be provided. Parents of intermediate students will learn about solving multi-step word problems using a variety of strategies including the Singapore Model Method; parents will have an opportunity to learn how to solve problems with the strip diagrams since this is very different from the way ‘we’ learned problem solving. Parents will also be exposed to solving addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division problems in ways other than the traditional algorithm.
I am hopeful my principal will let my 'dream' become a reality next year.

Reflections about Action Research

One of the first lessons I recall learning through the readings in this research class is that administrative inquiry, or action research, utilizes the expertise of the teachers and staff to reflect about the work being done in the school, successes being made, and changes that may be necessary to improve upon what is not working. Action research is not the traditional ‘go to the library and document all these findings’ type of research. Action research, also known as inquiry, involves reflection by those closest to the situation, whereas traditional educational research is conducted by “outsiders” also known as university leaders with theories unfounded in realistic, practical findings (Dana, 2009). Elliot (1988) describes action research as a continual set of spirals consisting of reflection and action. On the other hand, traditional educational research is often viewed as the “latest fashion” thrown into classrooms without practicality or total buy-in by the staff. This form of educational research is often times conducted by researchers at the university level who are far removed from the day to day needs and dilemmas of children in schools (Dana, 2009). Action research can be conducted through discussions at administrative meetings, campus leadership teams, or professional learning communities (p. 21), and it is a real-world, applicable way of learning more about our students and how they learn. Principals who practice action research are engaged with their teachers, become role models for life-long learning, and support best practices for teaching and learning. The readings also helped me understand the passions that drive our wonderings. I was able to relate several of Dana’s nine passions to either my current research or research that I participated in during previous years of teaching, back when I didn’t’ even realize I was conducting action research.      Creating a blog was an integral part of sharing reflections openly on the web. By creating the blog, classmates within other sections of the course were able to communicate, reflect, and have continued discussions after the web conferences. I have been very appreciative of the feedback and responses regarding my Action Research Plan. Just as we reflect about our day to day activities, reflection is also an important aspect of action research. In fact, if you are conducting action research, I don’t know how it would be completed effectively without reflecting on the process and data collected. I am looking forward to following the progress of action research plans on the blogs throughout the courses.      Finally, participating in the weekly web conferences was especially important to my learning. In fact, during our second web conference, after listening to others read their proposals and hearing the responses, I realized my own original thoughts were way too broad and needed refinement. It was important for me to hear the conversations Dr. Abshire was having with other students so that I could reflect on my own work. The web conferences are an invaluable tool to bring the online learning to a classroom atmosphere. Dr. Abshire has done a great job connecting with the students and has relieved many of my stresses through her personal connections each week. I have looked forward to the weekly discussions; it was also very nice to put a face with the names of students in the course. References Dana, N.F. (2009). Leading with Passion and Knowledge: The Principal as Action         Researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Elliot, J. (1988). Educational research and outsider-insider relations. Qualitative Studies

     in Education, 1(2), 155-166.

My Action Research Plan has been approved...

After meeting with my site supervisor, the Action Research Plan that was posted last week will remain the same without any changes. Because I had great difficulty posting the table into this blog and there were no revisions or additions to its current condition, I am not re-posting the table. Please find my plan in its entirety in my previous blog thread.
I'm very appreciative of your thoughts and feedback as you read through my plan. Ruth had an excellent question regarding the use of report card data as a measurable standardized tool. In answering that question, our assessment tool for the first grade first six weeks report card is scripted; every first grader in our district will receive the same "scripted" oral performance assessment with a standardized rubric. Students will receive either an S, N, or U depending on their performance. Because it is truly a "Common Assessment" across the grade level (and the district), I feel this is a reliable tool. Great question, Ruth! Thank you for asking so that I could clarify.

AbiHabib's Research Action Plan

AbiHabib’s Action Research Plan
Goal: Determine how implementing the changes in the first grade curriculum, where numeracy is the only focus during the first semester, help increase the level of student’s mathematical understanding and performance in first grade and what effects will it have on student achievement and problem solving skills when the students are in second grade.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Review data from the math pre-assessment administered to first graders in 2011 at King Elementary.	First Grade Teachers; Ginger AbiHabib	August 2011/ September 2012	pre-assessment data; classroom teacher observations	Record the number of students below level, on level, or above level based on the pre-assessment
Review data from the post- assessment and student progress on report cards for 1st 6 weeks, 2nd 6 weeks, and 3rd 6 weeks grading periods at King Elementary	First Grade Teachers; Ginger AbiHabib	September 30; November 4; December 16;	classroom data; post assessment; classroom teacher observations	Record the number of students below level, on level, or above level based on the post assessment; report card data
Informally discuss with the 1st grade teachers at King Elementary how their student performance levels in the classroom this year, after focusing on numeracy during the first semester, differ from last year where numeracy skills were taught throughout the year.	First Grade Teachers; Ginger AbiHabib	August 2011/ June 2012	classroom data; classroom teacher observations	Using the  number of students below level, on level, or above level discuss  teacher observations
Review data from the math pre-assessment administered to second graders in 2011 at King Elementary (who did not have a strong numeracy- focused curriculum as first graders)	Second Grade Teachers; Ginger AbiHabib	September 2011	pre-assessment data; classroom observations	Record the number of students below level, on level, or above level based on the pre-assessment; classroom observations
Review data from the math pre-assessment administered to second graders in 2012 at King Elementary (who did have a strong numeracy- focused curriculum as first graders)	Second Grade Teachers; Ginger AbiHabib	September 2012	pre-assessment data; classroom observations	Record the number of students below level, on level, or above level based on the pre-assessment; classroom observations
Discuss the data and findings of the effects of numeracy with the mathematics vertical committee at King Elementary	Mathematics Vertical Committee	September 2012	Pre-assessment data; post assessment data; teacher observation discussions	The mathematics vertical committee will discover the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the new first grade curriculum in regards to numeracy and number fluency and how it applies to problem solving skills in grades 1 - 5

Week 2... New learning about action research

In my classroom, I always thought being a reflective thinker just meant you were practicing good teaching. I had no idea that being a reflective thinker coupled with all the wonderings in my mind that I 'unofficially researched' had a name- action research. This week was quite validating. I realized in my Part 2 assignment that I had quite a few real-world applications that applied to the nine passions that guided my thinking when finding out about my wonderings (Dana, 2009). As Dana quotes from Todd Whitaker's (2003) work where he describes the most important factor in determining school quality: "... that effective principals never forget: It is people, not programs, that determine the quality of a school." (p.8) We all have wonderings and what if's swirling around in our minds; good leaders recognize that the staff plays an important role in moving the school forward, while great leaders cultivate great thinking and bring the wonderings to light.

References

Dana, N.F. (2009). Leading with Passion and Knowledge: The Principal as Action Researcher.

       Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Whitaker, T. (2003). What great principals do differently: Fifteen things that matter most. Larchmont, 
       NY: Eye on Education, Inc.