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!
I was so bummed to see you are in the same presentation round as I am. I am very interested in what you have been working on and would have loved to hear more about it. Funny thing, all three of the people I follow with our inter community assignment are presenting during the last round. You will do great and people will appreciate all the hard work you have done!
ReplyDeleteOh shoot! But the good news is that there seems to be a TON of other small group math instruction presentations. It's funny how so many people have been wanting to shake up their math instruction and finally had a reason to get 'er done. Thanks, St. Mary's :) I hope your implementation wrap-up and prep for the conference is going well!
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