I have to admit, this week was tough. We were on vacation in Arkansas and Tennessee and I get extreme car sick so working in the car was impossible. But, I made it through.
I was not able to meet with my site supervisor this week but I did email her 3 topics that I thought would benefit our campus. The one that I had spoke with her about previously and the one that I have wanted to do my research project on all along is the one that she approved. YAY!!! When we spoke about my topic I had approached her with working with 1st and 2nd grade. We decided that it would be best to focus on the grade level that needs the most help, so I will focus on just 1st grade this year. This really excites me because before moving into the instructional specialist position, I taught 1st grade for 11 years. These babies hold a special place in my heart. :)
My topic of research will be: What are some effective strategies for building
automaticity and fluency to help comprehension and does implementing these
strategies prove to be successful in improving automaticity, fluency and
comprehension?
As far as our readings, videos, and assignments this week, it was very insightful. Like I stated in my first post, action research was foreign to me before this class. Now I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of what it is exactly, and I'm looking forward to learning more about how to actually do it. The nine passions were quite interesting. It helped me understand exactly how and where administrators begin the process of research inquiry.
It was also interesting to me that in the 2 interviews that I reflected on, both were very adamant about how important it is to make sure that what ever research you do, it is useful and will impact student achievement and result in student improvement. Also the fact that they also spoke of how data is the driving force in much of what you research.
Although this week was a tough one, I keep telling myself that I will make it through this journey. I guess that thing that stresses me out the most is the fact that it's still summertime and I feel overwhelmed. I can't imagine how I'm going to feel once school starts in just a few weeks.
Congrats on getting your topic approved. It is a big relief to be on the same page as your principal. It is great that you have 11 years of 1st grade experience to add to your project. Maybe I missed it, but what exactly are you going to research? Good luck!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great research topic! Reading is my absolute favorite subject. I was also told that 1st grade has some amazing importance as far as reading goes. I am drawing a blank on the statistic, but it was important.
ReplyDeleteI think you have a good topic that will benefit your campus. It's also a big benefit that you have such an extensive background in the grade level that you're researching. Focusing on 1st grade could potentially affect your whole campus since it is the grade in which students get all of their building blocks of reading.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the task of writing this action research paper seems overwhelming! I think looking at improving automaticity, fluency and comprehension is key for success for each student as they progress in their schooling. I think reading your blog is going to be interesting.
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