Action Research: Disruptive Behavior and Transition Time



INDEPENDENT READING CONFERENCES

An Action Research Proposal

By

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Concordia University: ESL 6640

Mr. Greg Wolcott

December 14, 2014

Introduction

Throughout the past few years, education has underwent many changes that have affected the way educators set up their classroom and function on a daily basis. One particular area of education that has changed is the way English and Language Arts is taught. With there being so many components to reading, the Balanced Literacy model is such a great way to teach all areas of reading. One component of reading that is often overlooked is independent reading. The problem I’ve faced recently is that there simply is not enough time for independent reading. Independent reading has been known to not only reading fluency and reading comprehension scores on assessments, but overall confidence as a reader. This is such an important area to examine closer because students of all cognitive levels can be doing this at the same time at their own pace. Conferencing with students during independent reading time is another way to hold students accountable for their reading and let them select their own text to read whatever they want to read.

As a first grade teacher in a school comprised of mostly English Language Learners, we typically have many students that are below the 50th percentile in reading achievement scores. Every year we are trying to find new ways to improve reading scores. With our school district being fully engulfed in Common Core, our curriculum has turned from teaching with a basal reading program to the “balanced literacy” model. This is the second year of CCSS and the first year was a struggle for many teachers. I decided to focus on independent reading as an area where I can meet with all of the students in my class and monitor their progress. I picked this particular area because I believe that independent reading is an area that can often go overlooked and not stressed as much as the other areas of balanced literacy. I think that when performed correctly, independent reading is very beneficial and can be just as important as the other components of balanced literacy.

Literature Review

There is a lot of research about different strategies that work with students when teaching them how to read. Some research contradicts other research and at the end of it all, different strategies are going to work better with some groups of students than others. One thing that many educators believe when teaching reading is that students simply just need the opportunities to read- the more, the better. Independent reading is such an important component of the balanced literacy model and the research supports the importance of conferencing and how it effects their reading scores in various assessments.

Routman (2002) states that struggling readers really need more time to read. Not only do all students need time to read, but struggling readers need that time just as much. Many times, struggling readers are in intervention groups and might miss out on that independent reading opportunity, but when they are reading lower-level text it is just as important for them to read and reread. While conferencing with students, it is a great chance to work with them and reiterate the importance of using strategies when independent reading (“Independent Reading,” 2005). Other research reinforces the fact that all students need more time to read (Roller, 2001). Independent reading in the classroom is so different from independent reading at home. Students are free from those distractions that they would face at home and they are being held accountable in many ways, conferencing being one of them.

Research validates using independent reading in the classroom as a tool to support reading instruction. Not only does more time reading make a huge difference in reading instruction, but it is imperative that students have a wide variety of different texts to read (Fountas & Pinnell, 1996). Guided reading is a great way to set up students for a more beneficial independent reading time and lock down on some of the strategies that students can then take and use for their own use. Hinnebusch (Reintroducing, n.d.) states that conferences with students during independent reading can be both formal and informal. Simply walking around the room and sitting down with students and asking them questions is a great way to hold students accountable for their reading time and become more engaged with them. This is also a great way to meet with many students in a given period. Students need to not only select texts from a wide variety of books in the classroom library, but this is a chance for them to read something that interests them (Sanden, 2014). This is perhaps their only chance to read books that they select and what they have an interest in. It is so important that they are selecting them and they are choosing what they want to read (Stairs & Stairs Burgos, 2010).

Most research finds that independent reading is a great way to encourage students to read, to increase fluency and comprehension, and to hold students more accountable for their reading.

Research Questions

After evaluating different sources of literature and reviewing different types of research, I narrowed down my problems to one question and purpose for my inquiry. I addressed the question: How will increased independent reading time and independent reading conferences effect reading achievement scores in a first grade classroom?

Methodology

Sample

The students participating in this action research attend first grade in a southwestern suburb of Chicago. There are 16 students in the class, consisting of 8 boys and 8 girls. The average class size for the school is 14. All students in my classroom are Hispanic and 8 of them are English Language Learners who speak Spanish primarily at home. In the entire school, 45% of students are ELLs. Of the 16 students in the class, there are three students who have an IEP, two of which are considered to be disabilities that effect student learning. Most students at the school go home to very little support for outside schoolwork. A large percentage of students (88%) are considered to be low-income students who receive free/reduced lunch. There is no method for how I chose the students to work with because I will be working with all of them. This is a very accurate representation of the student population in the school.

Intervention/Innovation

The intervention will be completed over a 6 week period where each student will conference with me during their independent reading time twice a week. In the past, independent reading has typically lasted 10-15 minutes in my classroom, however this research will need at least 20 minutes in order for students to receive conferences two times a week and an extended amount of time independently reading. Students will need to be taught explicitly what a classroom looks like and sounds like during independent reading and their reading stamina needs to be built up. In order for independent reading to be as productive as possible, students need to know the expectations and how they need to do. During the conferences with the teacher, students will answer a few questions about the books that they are reading, they will read a one-minute fluency probe and they will read part of a book to the teacher. Each conference will be anywhere from 4-7 minutes. During the time that students are conferencing with the teacher, other students are independently reading their own text that they have selected.

Data Collection

The data collection being used during this inquiry is based on three different types of assessment over a 6 week period. Data collected through the MAP tests is accessible to teachers through the NWEA website. Students will go into the computer lab, sit down and put their headphones on. At the primary level (K-2), all MAP tests are read to students by an automated voice on the computer. It is essential to our district and school because it is our main source of assessment data. Teachers work to set goals with their students based on their MAP scores. Perhaps more important, students progress and achievement scores are measured via their MAP data. Once students have taken the test, the “descartes” report will give the teacher a closer look at what particular needs students may have. The data can then be looked at by teachers and trends can be found based on how they are receiving their interventions.

The next form of data collection is through the Next Step Guided Reading assessment. In addition to our district’s MAP assessment, our school also uses the Next Step assessment in order to measure reading fluency and group students in guided reading groups. This particular assessment is a wonderful way to measure their reading fluency and also their reading comprehension. I sit down with every student and give them the assessment. This assessment requires students to read a selected text to me and I basically give them a running record. If the student reads it with minimal errors, he or she reads a more difficult book. This process continues until the student can no longer read a text. I assessed students at the beginning of this particular plan and then assessed them again at the end. Our school uses this assessment because with the high population of ELLs, an “untimed” assessment can be more accurate and less intimidating. Once they have all completed it, I am able to see how much students have progressed and which students may have progressed more than others. The big thing here to look for similar trends in students and see why some students may have progressed more than others.

The last form of data is a simple AIMSWEB CBM reading fluency probe, it can be seen in appendix A, B and C. Instead of reading a picture book that can give them other context clues, this is a probe with just words on the page. This assessment will only measure fluency. It is a timed assessment and gives students one minute to read as much as they can. This is an effective assessment because it gives an accurate fluency rate for the student reading. Our district has chosen these assessments because they are research-based and the data is very beneficial. This assessment, although timed, gives a good read of where students are in terms of reading fluency. Again, I will have assessed students at the beginning of this plan and then at the end.

Appendices

Appendix A[pic]

Apendix B

Appendix C

Appendix D

References

Cullinan, B. (2000). Independent Reading and School Achievement. Research Journal of the American Association of School Librarians, 3(1523-4320), 1-24. Retrieved from aasl/slr

Hinnebausch, A. (2009). Reintroducing Independent Reading into the Classroom: An Active Approach. Reading and Writing, 2, 20-24. Retrieved from

article5.pdf

Independent Reading Assessment Tools. (2005, January 1). Retrieved October 20, 2014, from

Pinnell, G., & Fountas, I. (1996, January 1). Research Base Guided Reading as an Instructional Approach. Retrieved October 20, 2014.

Roller, C. (Ed.). (2001). Learning to Teach Reading: Setting the Research Agenda. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Routman, R. (2003). Plan for and Monitor Independent Reading. In Reading essentials: The specifics you need to teach reading well. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Sanden, S. (2014). Out of the Shadow of SSR: Real Teachers’ Classroom Independent Reading Practices. Language Arts, 91(3), 161-175.

Stairs, A., & Stairs Burgos, S. (2010). The Power of Independent, Self-Selected Reading in the Middle Grades. Middle School Journal, 41-48.

Zygouris-Coe, V. (2001, January 1). Balanced Reading Instruction in K-3 Classrooms. Retrieved October 20, 2014.

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