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...