RATIONALE
RATIONALE
RATIONALE
RATIONALE
DATA COLLECTION
SUMMARIZING MY DATA SETS
MONITORING STUDENT PROGRESS
Throughout my action research, I aimed to consistently and accurately measure and monitor my student’s writing achievement and growth mindset. I utilized three specific forms of data collection methods to measure my students’ growth throughout my study's journey. These data points were District Summative Writing Assessments, Time on Task Records, and Anecdotal Notes from Student Surveys/Conferences
The first piece of data collected was a pre and post writing assessment. This was a reliable piece of data that explicitly showed the growth, or the lack of growth, among the sixteen students in my classroom before and after the implementation of growth mindset strategies. The pre and post-test were assessed using the same district provided rubric. There were four sections to the rubric: word choice, organization, sentence fluency, and conventions.
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I chose to do a pre and post-test writing assessment to show me the overall growth made among students during the six weeks. I scored the pre and post writing with a district-provided rubric because it was consistent across schools and grade levels. This meant that the skills that are being worked on one-year would progress to the next. It prepared students to be successful in applying writing skills they would be expected to know for years to come. I also asked my teammates to help me doublescore the writing pieces. Since writing can be subjective, having another set of eyes score these pieces ensured that I was not applying any of my own biases towards my student.
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Using the district rubric and utilizing my teammates was fair and equitable. I hoped to see that with developing a growth mindset, students’ scores would inevitably increase due to their ability to work through and accept challenges.
The second data collection method was tracking how many students were on task during a five-minute period of the writing block. This was administered during different times of the writing block once each week. During the five minutes, a student would be observed for five seconds at a time, the person observing would glance around the room randomly at different students. Being on task was considered only if the student was writing, reading their writing, looking at an anchor chart, or conferencing with an adult. If the student was deemed on task a plus sign (+) would be marked in a box. If the student was not on task a zero was marked. At the end of the five-minute period, the observer would take the total number of student markings of a + and divide it by 30. This would determine the percentage of time on task during that writing time. (Since the writing portion is 30 minutes of the writing block)
I chose to utilize this assessment tool for my class because through observation, it appeared as if my students could not all continuously write throughout the writing block multiple students shutting down. This would then cause a ripple effect causing other students to become off task. According to my research, when a student has a growth mindset, they are able to persevere through challenging tasks. To see if the strategies I put in place teaching students about having a growth mindset had an impact, I wanted to track student time on task once a week during the 6 week study.
The third data collection method that I utilized was anecdotal notes taken from student surveys and student conferences. These notes came from asking students their thoughts and feelings toward writing and being a writer. The students were asked these six survey questions individually to allow enough time without feeling rushed and to gain honest answers at the beginning and end of the study. Students were encouraged to be truthful during the survey, but also during our one-on-one conferences. During conferences, I would be able to ask students why they felt stuck or why they did not think they were able to do something. We were able to process through these emotions and determine what mindset each child had. I was able to track their attitudes in my daily notes.
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I chose to do this particular survey because I needed to know where my students stood when it came to writing. I wanted to know what the challenges were for them and how their thoughts impacted what I was observing inside the room at the beginning of the year. These thoughts and feelings help determine what my mini-lessons needed to focus on. This survey had six questions where students needed to identify thumbs up, middle, or thumbs down (always, sometimes, never). Personal thoughts and feelings had an impact on the effort the students would put forth. When a child believes in themselves and/or has the tools to work through tough challenges, it reflects in their attitude and work.
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