Action Research Introduction
In late August I walked into my first day teaching first grade. I was greeted with twenty-four energetic, enthusiastic, and conversational learners. They wanted to know everything. I quickly realized that the students’ overwhelming amount of questions and motivation would be something I needed to foster and encourage, but also facilitate in a positive direction. I have spent the past month getting to know my learners on more personal levels, and have been consistently confused by the inconsistency of understanding of others and compassion the students exhibit. On one account, I saw one of my students go above and beyond to get our special needs student his jacket and zip it up for him on a cold day, without any promoting or intervention from a teacher or fellow student. Unfortunately, this was not a common act by that student as I later noticed him break the pencil another student was using in an act of frustration, showing no concern or regret. This inconsistency in behaviors is representative of my observations of most students throughout the first month. Throughout the semester, I plan to address the negative actions by focusing on and fostering the positive actions.
Background
Our classroom is made up of seventeen boys and seven girls, ages five or six. Many of our students are from Mexico, and twenty-three of our twenty-four speak Spanish as their primary language. I have learned a little about the prior experiences of our students, and have found that about five students have no prior schooling experience. The remaining students all attended kindergarten at various schools in the neighborhood. I have talked with a few of the students’ kindergarten teachers and found the behavior and academic observations I have made are consistent with those made in their kinder year.
Initial Observations
In my first few weeks in this class, I would overhear students calling each other “dumb, stupid and lazy”. Even worse, some students would tell me they were not able to do their work because they were “dumb, stupid or lazy”. Other times, I would hear the students praise one another for their smart thinking and discuss how smart they were feeling.
Some students were unwilling to speak in front of the class, work with certain other students, or allow the teacher to help them because they were scared we would call them names and make fun of them. In one instance, a student told me he was not willing to share his answer because he was “dumb” and other students agreed that he was dumb and shouldn’t share because they were smarter. Students were also resistant during group tasks to work with that individual. I later found out that he was laughed at in kindergarten when he shared wrong answers.
In making these unfortunate observations, it was clear that there was a need for confidence building and the establishment of a safe learning environment. The desired environment is one in which students work together in a positive and encouraging way, help one another, and are unafraid to make mistakes.
Needs Assessment
To further understand these needs of my students I administered a “Needs Assessment” that included recorded responses, group conversations, and private conversations. In this assessment, I learned that every student wanted to get smarter, most of the girls felt unsafe at school, and many of the students were unwilling or scared to answer questions honestly because of intimidation or pressure form friends. I witnessed one girl covering up her answers so the boy next to her could not see them. I spoke with her about this after the survey was complete and she told me that she did not feel safe because some kids were bad and mean. Another occurrence from the administration of the needs assessment was one student taking the assessment from a peer and changing the answers to what he wanted. I asked him why he did this and he simply said, “I didn’t like his answer”. Two positive findings from this survey and conversations were that, one, most of the students enjoyed both their teachers because they were “nice” and “helped them get smarter”, and two, the students, as a whole, enjoyed coming to school to see their friends and teachers.
Specific findings from the needs assessment that I would like to draw attention to are comments from questions 2, 3 and 5. Question 2 reads “My teachers make me feel…”. The comments from students who felt happy about teachers included “I am happy cause I learn” while one student who felt sad towards teachers said “the teacher squints at me”. This sad comment made me reflect on the unintentional things I do each day that impact my students’ learning. Question 3 reads “My classmates make me feel…” and I had 5 students who did not respond. I asked 2 of these students about this privately and both told me they were scared to put “sad” because they didn’t want their friends to see. The final survey question, question 7, reads “Do you feel safe at school?”. This question was most interesting to me, as I intended emotional safety and physical safety to be considered. The actual interpretation of the students reflected on mainly physical safety. One student who told me she did not feel safe said, “it’s dangerous” while another student felt “a little worried and sad” about what might happen at school.
In this needs assessment it is important for me to say that I received more valuable feedback from my conversations with the students than I did from the actual assessment, because of the difficulties some had with others seeing their answers and not liking having to circle something different that a happy face. In these conversations I was able to get honest truths about students’ feelings towards school and one another.
Background
Our classroom is made up of seventeen boys and seven girls, ages five or six. Many of our students are from Mexico, and twenty-three of our twenty-four speak Spanish as their primary language. I have learned a little about the prior experiences of our students, and have found that about five students have no prior schooling experience. The remaining students all attended kindergarten at various schools in the neighborhood. I have talked with a few of the students’ kindergarten teachers and found the behavior and academic observations I have made are consistent with those made in their kinder year.
Initial Observations
In my first few weeks in this class, I would overhear students calling each other “dumb, stupid and lazy”. Even worse, some students would tell me they were not able to do their work because they were “dumb, stupid or lazy”. Other times, I would hear the students praise one another for their smart thinking and discuss how smart they were feeling.
Some students were unwilling to speak in front of the class, work with certain other students, or allow the teacher to help them because they were scared we would call them names and make fun of them. In one instance, a student told me he was not willing to share his answer because he was “dumb” and other students agreed that he was dumb and shouldn’t share because they were smarter. Students were also resistant during group tasks to work with that individual. I later found out that he was laughed at in kindergarten when he shared wrong answers.
In making these unfortunate observations, it was clear that there was a need for confidence building and the establishment of a safe learning environment. The desired environment is one in which students work together in a positive and encouraging way, help one another, and are unafraid to make mistakes.
Needs Assessment
To further understand these needs of my students I administered a “Needs Assessment” that included recorded responses, group conversations, and private conversations. In this assessment, I learned that every student wanted to get smarter, most of the girls felt unsafe at school, and many of the students were unwilling or scared to answer questions honestly because of intimidation or pressure form friends. I witnessed one girl covering up her answers so the boy next to her could not see them. I spoke with her about this after the survey was complete and she told me that she did not feel safe because some kids were bad and mean. Another occurrence from the administration of the needs assessment was one student taking the assessment from a peer and changing the answers to what he wanted. I asked him why he did this and he simply said, “I didn’t like his answer”. Two positive findings from this survey and conversations were that, one, most of the students enjoyed both their teachers because they were “nice” and “helped them get smarter”, and two, the students, as a whole, enjoyed coming to school to see their friends and teachers.
Specific findings from the needs assessment that I would like to draw attention to are comments from questions 2, 3 and 5. Question 2 reads “My teachers make me feel…”. The comments from students who felt happy about teachers included “I am happy cause I learn” while one student who felt sad towards teachers said “the teacher squints at me”. This sad comment made me reflect on the unintentional things I do each day that impact my students’ learning. Question 3 reads “My classmates make me feel…” and I had 5 students who did not respond. I asked 2 of these students about this privately and both told me they were scared to put “sad” because they didn’t want their friends to see. The final survey question, question 7, reads “Do you feel safe at school?”. This question was most interesting to me, as I intended emotional safety and physical safety to be considered. The actual interpretation of the students reflected on mainly physical safety. One student who told me she did not feel safe said, “it’s dangerous” while another student felt “a little worried and sad” about what might happen at school.
In this needs assessment it is important for me to say that I received more valuable feedback from my conversations with the students than I did from the actual assessment, because of the difficulties some had with others seeing their answers and not liking having to circle something different that a happy face. In these conversations I was able to get honest truths about students’ feelings towards school and one another.
Summary and Action Research Question
This semester, I plan to find out more about my students, make them confident learners, and develop a safe and supportive learning community in our classroom in which students are able to work with one another and help each other. I want the students to be ok with making mistakes without feeling judged by other students or feeling poorly about themselves. It is my goal that the students develop self-confidence and community member skills that are transferable life skills helping the students forever achieve success.
As such, I have developed the following Action Research question and sub questions:
My Action Research Question:
What happens when our students work to become confident learners and to develop a safe and supportive learning community?
Sub questions:
How do regular appreciation meetings help build our children’s confidence and leadership?
How do lessons focused on community and safety help our students work together to accomplish a common goal?
How will focusing on developing a safe community impact classroom behavior and academic achievement?
This semester, I plan to find out more about my students, make them confident learners, and develop a safe and supportive learning community in our classroom in which students are able to work with one another and help each other. I want the students to be ok with making mistakes without feeling judged by other students or feeling poorly about themselves. It is my goal that the students develop self-confidence and community member skills that are transferable life skills helping the students forever achieve success.
As such, I have developed the following Action Research question and sub questions:
My Action Research Question:
What happens when our students work to become confident learners and to develop a safe and supportive learning community?
Sub questions:
How do regular appreciation meetings help build our children’s confidence and leadership?
How do lessons focused on community and safety help our students work together to accomplish a common goal?
How will focusing on developing a safe community impact classroom behavior and academic achievement?