Action Research Project from a former university student

1. What is the problem?

Kindergarten students are have difficulty recognizing word families and rhyming words in text.

2. What is the rational for the project?

Instead of using an overdone version of phonics that will create many syllables to a word with few syllables, students can use rhyming games to recognize word families and rhyming words. Though this skill is not necessarily part of the WESTEST, it has been identified in the school's Strategic Plan.

3. What strategy will be used to address the problem?

The researcher wishes to implement a variety of rhyming games through group and independent practice. Some of the games include "Odd Word Out" and "Go Rhyme Fish". The researcher plans to select games that best match to their student's abilities and learning styles.

4. What is the question?

How can I use a variety of rhyming games to help my students recognize rhyme and word families in text?         

Will the rhyming strategies change student attitudes about reading instruction?

5. What evidence is presented that the strategy will work?

Using rhyme and word families are shown to have helped students decode new or difficult words. Games like "Odd Word Out" help students recognize patterns in literature. Studies have shown that many of the rhyming games mentioned do actually aid in helping students recognize rhymes and spelling patterns.

6. How will data be collected?

The researcher will use a checklist that assesses each student's progress while observing the students play the games. There will be a pre-test and a post-test to evaluate the impact the games have had. 

The students are to play the rhyming games for 20 minutes daily. Group read aloud and study of Dr. Seuss's books that emphasize rhyme will also occur daily. This group reading will be observed, and participation shall be noted. The researcher will use these observations to adjust the focus of their project as needed.

Action Research by Teachers

1. What is the title of the project?

Making Meaning Through Written Response

2. What is the Question? (two research questions in this case)

How do reading journals guide instruction to improve student learning?

How do readers with varying abilities respond to literature?

3. What strategy is being used to address?

 Noting similarities and differences between students and note taking were the two main strategies being used in this research project. The students were being assessed with the journals by practicing a note taking strategy and answering the prompts, which were questions..

4. What evidence is presented that the strategy will work?

Similarities and differences in high level readers and low level readers will provide data about what high level readers are achieving and how. Studies show that reading journals show evidence of student comprehension (versus multiple choice) and construction of meaning. 

Teacher journals were used by teachers performing the research as a scheduled reflective time to better discuss their findings with each other. In these teacher journals, the instructors could write down the similarities and differences in the reading levels as they observed them.

5. How will data be collected to determine if the strategy will work?

Data was collected and separated into categories,  such as summarizing the text, opinion, real life connections, etc. Summarizing the text was discouraged, but the wider variety of categories addressed in the journals was considered a good indicator of comprehension. 

The students were also separated into 3 categories from high to low levels of reading. This allowed teachers to compare students in the groups, so the differences between learning styles and how students responded to literature became apparent. 

Changing around subtle techniques like teacher prompts and student prompts caused teachers to better examine the effect that reading journals have on student learning. 

6. How was the data analyzed?

The data was analyzed by noting that average and lower level reading students were more likely to summarize the text and not justify their answers. The higher level reading students used opinion and real life connections along with a variety of other ideas in their reading journal. Higher level reading students were also more comfortable with creating their own prompts. 

7. What were the results?

Learning is guided by using reading journals to link real world scenarios to the written text. Higher level reading students used what researchers called "higher thinking skills". Teachers wondered if they could instruct lower lever reading students to use these methods and create these wide varieties of structures in their reading journals. 

8. How do the results inform teacher practice?

The teachers from this research project wish to implement reading journals every year, now that there is evidence that it does guide instruction. It also informs instructors about how their students react to literature and on what reading level. This instructional tool is possible to implement in many classrooms and this project shows that the data can be used to get to know your students and spot comprehension difficulties.