Reflective Fieldnote Blog Entry #3

Section #1 / Thoughts about action research – in general – as a tool to improve practice.

This project is really what teachers do every day without documentation.  We see what works and what doesn’t based on a variety of formal and informal data (ie. student activities, assessments, projects, interactions, etc.) and then adjust as needed.  Obviously that is an oversimplified way to describe it, but I think the action research project is a way to document exactly what you are doing or need to do and why.  It is also a good tool to use for the problems that, no matter what you try, don’t seem to have an easy fix.  A systematic, unbiased approach, such as action research, can expose areas in need of improvement and provoke thoughts on ways to improve, as well as give prompting for action necessary.

Section #2 / Ideas generated as a result of your project.

In my action research project I discovered that, because my area of endorsement is currently secondary education, I needed to become familiar with ways to encourage fluency in pre-reading/writing Kindergarten classes.  I have a “feel” for what might work, but after talking with my mentor teacher, I was equipped with several great writing activities that helped students connect to the lesson.  The first is a “four square” writing and drawing activity, in which students fold a paper into four squares and use the first square to write a specified letter that we practiced.  They would then draw pictures that started with that letter in the other three squares. The next activity is a “fill in the blank” sentence task using picture/word cards for the blanks.

 I found that when the students had enough time to share what they drew or wrote, they were generally excited to share, gained verbal practice in English, and proved that they connected to the lesson through their writing.  I learned that sharing at the end of their group time together was crucial in determining whether or not the students connected the written language to the spoken words they used.  Many times, however, this sharing time gets cut short or cut out altogether because of time constraints. 

Section #3 / Suggestions to other ESL professionals based on your findings.
       
         I suggest setting aside time for “share time” in collaborative Kindergarten groups because it is such an integral part of students learning to read and write.  Students are excited to show off their work to their classmates, and ELLs especially need to practice reading what they have written out loud.  In this way they are using all four language domains in the lesson (read, write, speak, and listen).  Making writing connections to the lesson/story and sharing this practice work, also gives students a purpose in doing the activity.  Tapping into students’ interests, giving them a purpose for their writing, and allowing students to share their work out loud can make for a very successful lesson.