Week 12- Parent Teacher Conferences, New students, and After-school activies

     Last Wednesday was my very first parent teacher conference! It was definitely stressful but very enlightening! We had every spot filled except for one. I was surprised that many of the spots were taken by the parents that we often see or speak to on a normal basis. I find this interesting because the students who were struggling the most, the parents have had little to no contact with me or my mentor teacher. I often wonder the student's poor behavior (which leads to poor grades), is a result of a parent not taking an interest in their child's learning or if the parents have so many other things going on that the parent not participating is by necessity to other things, not by choice.
     I really feel like these students can learn, and they often surprise me with some of their insightful responses. The parents all had worried looks when they were able to look at report cards. I know the parents worry about how their students do academically and many mentioned behavioral concerns as well. I was also surprised at the number of parents who asked for suggestions on what to do with the student at home. This made me happy to see parents reinforce and support teachers' efforts that they make during the school day.
     Parent teacher conferences also provided a deeper explanation for why a student may be acting a certain way in class that you were clueless about beforehand. For example, one student had been talking more often, being more defensive, etc. and it turns out she's struggling with her parents arguing over a divorce and moving. Also, I'm noticing that all the girls are going through a developmental change, which makes for awkward conversations and very emotional pre-teen girls. I'm beginning to question how teaching middle school would be with all of these changes going on in both males and females. I would definitely like to learn more about how I would interact in a middle school atmosphere.
     We also have a new student! I am always interested in the situations that students come to a new school with and what led them to change schools midway through the year. This particular student's family needs financial help, which is not uncommon in my PDS, but I'm struggling with teaching these students when they have so many other needs going on in their lives. What can we do as teachers to meet the needs of our students when they come from situations that we can't control? I guess the most that we can do is provide them with a place to feel safe, secure, and cared for. Only then can we expect students to focus on their learning.
     Today, the intern across the hall and I stayed for Tech Kids. I was impressed that so many students wanted to stay after school and learn more about science, math, and technology. The Tech Kids program brought students in from WVU Lunabotics program. The students were SO excited and wanted to ask questions and touch the invention.





     Tomorrow is Halloween! I'm so excited mainly because the students are so excited. It's infectious! The 5th grade team is dressing up as minions from Dispicable Me. I think it's great that the team really is a unified team that participates in things together, even something as small as a Halloween costume. The students know they can always come to one of the team teachers and talk about things if another teacher is busy. It's important to depend on (and even have fun with!) the team members that you work with on an everyday basis! I think the more enjoyable you make things for yourself, the students will see how much you love your job and that learning and school can be a place that is fun and creative.

Week 11-Coding Craziness

     I'm in full swing of full-time teaching! I am collecting so much data, which is both great and scary. After going to small group seminar yesterday, I know realize that it's not only time to collect it, but also to analyze it. I'm intrigued yet still baffled by how to code my data. I have collected data in forms of video, exit tickets, audio recording, student samples, and initial surveys. I'm now looking to see how my data can help me discover answers to these following questions.

The following question guided my research study:

·         In what ways can differentiation influence students’ comprehension in literacy development?

While researching my main question, I asked myself the following questions:

·         “How can differentiation in literacy have implications for other content areas?”

·         “How will differentiation affect the motivation levels of my students?”

·          “In what ways do practicing metacognitive skills through discussion affect comprehension and retention of text?  

     I have given students initial surveys to see how students view themselves as readers and writers.
A student survey helped me identify my students' thoughts and confidence levels with their own literacy development before and after station implementation.

      A student exit ticket will have students identify one way that they learned the content, what process or strategy they used, as well as an alternative way to approach the task, another strategy that a group member used that they may consider using next time.
     I will watch the videotape to notice how students act/what they say/ how they perform when my attention/focus is with another station. I will also be able to watch my own interaction, as well as my mentor teacher and the special-educator during whole group/small group instruction throughout the 6 (+) weeks.     
     Class discussions will be recorded on a tape recorder during whole class and small group instruction. I will pay attention what questions the students ask and the information they share within their station group. I will then code these discussions, such as the questions being asked, into Bloom’s Taxonomy levels. 
     Lesson plans will be kept from any whole group involvement as well as all small group involvement with the comprehension and vocabulary This will allow me to look back at the flow/ procedures of the lesson and the differentiation provided    
     Visual observations (which can also be recorded) will be recorded into a teacher researcher notebook to refer to. I will take notes on what the student did during the lesson/things they said/how they look or reacted. Initially, reactions can be coded as positive or negative then use quotes to identify learning (level of interpretation/understanding)
      
     We practiced coding data last night, however, I'm unsure how to apply it to my own research. I know that I go through and mark what stands out for me, then give it a label that can then be transferred across many statements. I then take those codes and mix them around to see if I can see any themes emerging. I'm thinking I might go through each station, such as the research station, and see what students pulled out of those stations then code based upon that. Next ,I'd take the vocabulary statements and code those. I also want to code the discussions that the students had using the chat questions and see if I can see any strategies or themes emerge from how students learn while being exposed to comprehension/metacognitive strategies and encouraged to discuss the theme of the story with students from various ability levels. 


I think I have a long road ahead of me...