Engagement

How am I facilitating student Engagement with learning through relevant, personalized, authentic, challenging and self-directed learning presently? To what degree do I see myself as capable of fully Engaging learners for deep learning and growth in their own ability to direct and regulate their own learning?

I try to allow a good amount of choice in my classroom to facilitate student engagement. Students are so much more willing to take on a task when it is something of their own choosing. This certainly isn’t the case in every classroom situation but I try to do it as often as possible. I like to think I am capable of engaging most learners, but fully engaging can be challenging at times. Believe it or not, it’s not easy to please 21 kids all at the same time. Helping students identify things they do well boosts their confidence for items that don’t come as easily. I like to get students engaged in helping and supporting others around our classroom.

What’s difficult for me when it comes to this aspect of A.G.A.P.E.?

When it comes to engagement, I sometimes find it difficult to find the time to plan the most engaging and meaningful activities everyday. It is exhausting to be running at 110% all the time. Then it seems like when we have a bit more low-key lesson that kids lose interest quickly. Sometimes (okay, a lot of the time) it feels like I am putting on a show and my audience might revolt if they aren’t wowed. I have gotten better at being okay with days like this and being honest with my students that we can’t always have “really fun” days. Sometimes we just need to get down to business.

What’s easy for me when it comes to this aspect of A.G.A.P.E.?

When it comes to engagement, I generally find it easy to get my kids excited. My personality resonates well with elementary aged kids. I can definitely see that when I am excited about something, they mirror that reaction and get excited as well. I am conscious of being a good model of being interested in other when they are talking, making eye contact, and focusing on the tasks presented. I hope that my students also take note of that (I think they do…) and, in turn, want to show me they can act that way as well.

How would I like to grow when it comes to engagement this semester?

I would like to grow in the area of more choice when it comes to engagement. I am pretty good about offering choice on bigger things (guided reading, guided math, projects, etc.) but could certainly improve on more of the day-to-day things. I get stuck in a rut of grammar worksheets because they are a quick way to assess a skill. I could get better at finding different ways for my students to show their understanding of a concept in different way. *The question of "What do I put in the grade book? just popped into my head. I'll have to do some more thinking about that. I won't get started on the "grading" controversy here! hahaha*

Three Words...

The three words that describe my Action Research are...

Encouraging: The results of my implementation are certainly encouraging. When I started researching I didn't know how "hard" of data I would be able to come up with at the end of all of this. Fortunately, between my NWEA results, math fact improvement, and student surveys I have been very pleased with the confirmation of my personal views of this being a successful implementation. I still feel like I have just experienced the tip of the iceberg and still have so many more things I could do. I hope I can properly convey that to participants at the conference and at least peak a little interest into giving it a try if they have been considering it.

Challenging: For as great as this experience has been, there have certainly been challenges along the way. One of the biggest has been the time commitment necessary to make guided math a reality in the classroom. Not only did I have to find an extra 1+hour block in our schedule, I also had to plan four different rotations for each day. I certainly had weeks that I got a little burned out on guided math. I think my students had some weeks like that, too. I also got frustrated with the the lack of punctual volunteers. I was SO thankful to have any volunteers to begin with (I don't want to sound ungrateful) but when they arrived 10 -15 minutes late (or not at all) it put a wrench in our whole rotation schedule and it threw everyone off. This will be something I will address next year right away when I begin asking for volunteers.

Continuous: The great thing about guided math is that it will always be changing. I will need to continually readjust based on student needs and find new and excited activities for my students to use. There will always be opportunities for changes and improvements. I see the technology piece becoming more prevalent in providing extended differentiation for my students. My hope is that our school/district can muster up more iPads sooner than later that can be used by individual classrooms. While there are definitely great things about the hands on and cooperative learning opportunities, I can't overlook all of the above and beyond opportunities that technology has to offer as well. We can have the best of both worlds in guided math!

Finding My Direction

As we cross into the "less than two months before conference" time frame, I find myself examining just where I am headed with my Action Research and how I will transition from having a paper with tons of information into a succinct presentation to share with others. This week I did some final reflections with my students. I shared some of the data with them and asked for feedback about why we saw some of the results that we did. They said that the math stations kept things fun and they liked being at the back table with me in a small group. That bit of feedback was pretty encouraging. The kids feel as good as I do about how this is going!

But.... then I asked if we should continue guided math or go back to a whole-group instruction model. I did the almighty closed-eyed vote with my second graders and discovered that only less than half of my class wanted to stay with guided math. What?! They just sounded so positive (which reflected so nicely to some of my data analysis). I then dug deeper and asked if anyone wanted to share why they didn't want to keep going with guided math. The majority of responses were based on the partner station. There has been too much arguing, people not playing by the rules, taking too much time to decide on a game, etc. Most of the responses touched on the cooperative learning aspect of these rotations and not so much on the actual math instruction. It was certainly an ah-ha moment for me! This is very typical in the social development in 7- and 8-year-olds but I had been pretty blind to it while working diligently with my group at the back table. In order to continue in a more positive way, I need to address these concerns from students and go back to a modeling refresher on how the partner station should work. 

Storytelling

Last week I started a new unit in Social Studies. We are now studying the Native American lifestyle and traditions. Our assignment to do some storytelling in our SMU class could not have fit more perfectly with my agenda for the week!

Today I started our lesson by talking about legends and folktales. Students shared several examples of stories they have heard- How Giraffe Got a Long Neck, Why Zebras Have Stripes, etc. We discussed that even though these stories may not be true, they do give us a fun reason of why things are like they are. I then read How Chipmunk Got His Stripes by Joseph and James Bruchac. I think the trick to good storytelling is to use different voices, animation, and movement. A few times in the story I got really quiet and then really loud for dramatic effect. The kids loved it! It was fun to see them leaning closer and so engaged during those quieter parts.

Action Research Mindset

This week I am reflecting back on my action research and thinking of times when I experienced either a fixed or growth mindset. I will say that overall the experience has been very positive but there were certainly moments that didn't seem so positive.

Fixed Mindset
I think I experienced a fixed mindset when my survey given didn't quite hit all of the points I wanted it to. I was kind of going in blind to exactly how I wanted this guided math experience to play out in my classroom. After a few months of our routine I was ready to give the survey again and compare results. It was then that I realized that a lot of the things I had noticed (and wanted to know how kids felt) were not addressed on the initial survey. In order to have a good comparison of data I gave the same survey again. Now I wish I would have just done that but also added a few questions just to satisfy my curiosity about a few areas. [I still think I might to do that as I am working on my paper]. 

Growth Mindset
I think I experienced a growth mindset several times but one was definitely when I tried to go back to whole class math instruction on one of our goofy schedule weeks. My class struggled and were noticeably more scatter-brained. They were not grasping the lesson and more confused than I had seen them all year; the concept wasn't anything overly complicated. It was at that moment that I realized that maybe this guided math is really working like I had hoped it would. It made me to want to continue fine-tuning my method and looking for new ways to reach everyone in my small groups. That day gave me the oomph to continue growing in my teaching strategies in order to best meet the needs of my students.

NWEA Results

All of my students have finally completed the Winter Math NWEA test. Between vacations and illnesses it seemed like we were always waiting on someone. Today I sat down with the data and am just starting to dig in and look at the growth from Fall to Winter. I have decided to use the other second grade class (same number of students) as a control group since they have continued with teacher-led whole group instruction. Obviously it isn't the perfect control group but it as close as I can get. I am planning to use the data in two ways: 1.) to compare whole class growth data and 2.) to look at students in both classes that scored similarly in the Fall to how they scored in the Winter. I have always said that the NWEA scores need to be taken with a grain of salt since they are just one measure but these results help to confirm the positive feeling I have had about the impact guided math has had on my students.

Here is quick peek at the initial whole class growth data.

	Students Who Met or Exceeded Projected Their RIT score	Percentage of Students Who Met or Exceeded Their Projected RIT score	Overall Percentage of Projected RIT Met or Exceeded
Guided Math	14	63.6%	134.5%
Whole Class	10	45.5%	90.0%

Shackleton and Changing the World

This week we were asked to reflect on the progress of our Shackleton Strength. I am still seeking out ways for my students' strengths to shine whenever possible. Lately I have trying to consciously focus attention on when students master a concept. Students are transitioning into the 'teacher role' more and more in my room. I make sure that the same kids are not always the 'teachers' that can be the go-to in our classroom when I am working with other students. I try to emphasize students (especially those at a lower academic level) when they finally understand a concept. I love to see them being able to use their knowledge and assist others. My higher students do wonderfully as teachers as well, but there is just something about those kids that usually need to ask for help being able to take charge and answer questions for a change. It's fun to see how comfortable students are getting with each other.

We also viewed William McRaven, an Admiral for the United States Navy, as he addressed the University of Texas graduates at their commencement ceremony in 2014. He shared 10 great tips about how to change the world. I wish I had a speaker like that at my undergrad graduation. I can't even tell you who addressed us five years ago!

The tip that resonated most with me was: You change the world by giving others hope. One person can give the world hope- sing when you are neck deep in the mud. This made my think of a recent Kid President video I had seen. That kid cracks me up and inspires me at the same time :) I try to focus on this idea of changing the world when things get overwhelming or I see too much negativity in the world around me. We need to start small and remind others that change can happen from the simplest moments. I don't need to be the world's greatest teacher to have an effect on my students. Change can happen with a smile or  a kind word. As long as people are feeling loved and appreciated, they are changing for the better.