REFLECTION

Impact on Student Learning: Challenges

Throughout the course of my study, I faced some challenges. My main challenges involved student behavior. Before we started reading, I went over expectations for what reading time should look and sound like. We practiced these expectations for several classes until students were able to follow these without any interruptions. At first, some students found it difficult to be silent for an entire 10 minutes. Others were tempted to sleep during this time. To help them stay focused during these 10 minutes, I allowed them to work on their reading journal as they read, instead of after. Having a purpose to read motivated them, leading to less talking and off-task behavior. Originally, I planned for reading to occur later in the class, but I changed it to immediately following the warm-up, so we could dive right into reading and focus on content/instruction later.

Impact on Student Learning: Successes

Some of the successes that I had throughout the study were related to student growth. As a second-year teacher, I had previously taught this content last spring and was well aware of the struggles that students in Spanish 2 faced. I was discouraged by some of their scores and wondered what I could do to assist them in their struggles. When I compare unit 2.2, 2019 to unit 2.2, 2020, I can see a huge improvement in terms of behavior, motivation, and student achievement. Not only did students improve reading skills, but they did much better on the vocabulary and grammar of the unit.

Another success that I had was students improving their overall reading abilities. Based on my pre and post-test data, FVR had a significant impact. As I looked through reading logs from beginning to end, I noticed longer entries and more personal connections rather than questions about words or phrases. These entries told me that my students were engaging deeper with the text and were not just reading the 'surface', but rather understanding the context.

Another success I saw was a change in attitude. Throughout this semester, I observed my students grow considerably in terms of their engagement. I noticed less frustration and questions regarding vocabulary. Even with more rigorous content and expectations, students far exceeded the expectations that I had set. From the pre-test to the post-test, more students felt neutral or agreed that they felt confident in their ability to read in Spanish. While they didn't necessarily indicate a change in their feelings towards reading, hopefully they still had an improvement in their reading comprehension skills.

Impact on Current Teaching

During the course of action research, my teaching continuously changed and evolved. At the start of this process, I felt nervous about the content I was teaching and if my students would see any growth. Along the way, I slowly grew more confident in my research and started to change things as I monitored my students' achievement.

My current teaching was also impacted because I learned the importance of setting and maintaining clear structure and expectations. Because I set expectations and held my students to them, they were successful and productive during their reading time. As a result of my action research, I now feel more confident in collecting and analyzing data. I understand how to use data to drive the decisions I make in my classroom.

Impact on Professional Growth

Completing my Masters through the cadre program and implementing an action research plan has changed my perspective and thinking regarding learning and growth.

I learned how to collaborate and reflect on my progress. In terms of collaboration, I spent a lot of time working with not only my co-workers but my fellow cadre teachers, my associate, and my university professors. I depended on these people to help guide me through the process and I wouldn't have been successful without their help. I consider myself a life-long learner, but this experience really put that into perspective as I found research-based strategies and implemented them in my classroom via my action plan. Throughout the whole year, I've continually reflected on my teaching and what I could do to improve.

Learnings & Remaining Questions

Overall, I have learned that learning truly is a lifelong process. At the start of this school year, I never imagined seeing that growth that I have seen within myself. I learned how to collect research, prepare a plan, collect student data, and use it to aid in my instruction. I also have learned how to analyze it in many different ways, instead of simply looking at numbers, I am able to dive deeper into the reasoning behind those numbers.

Some lingering questions I still have about my study:

1. How might FVR look if implemented over the course of a full school year?

2. Do the students who disliked reading have any influence at home or from peers that could affect their attitude toward reading?

3. Would I have seen more growth if I hadn't required a reading journal, but if so, how would I have held students accountable for their learning?

4. How does block scheduling affect students' abilities to meet expectations? I wonder if having a set period each day for reading would be more beneficial for establishing habits and building exposure.

Future Thinking & Learning

FVR is a research-based practice that is commonly used to support comprehensible input instruction. Given that my district is moving in the direction of implementing this model into our new curriculum and I had success with it, I plan to utilize it in the future. However, I think that it might be more effective if implemented over a longer period of time. I would also love to continue to expand my classroom library to be able to offer a wider range of books for my students.

In addition, action research has changed my thinking about how I collect and use data. In the future, if I were to notice that my students needed support in a certain area, I can use the tools that I learned during this study to collect data and create a plan of action. While this project was more formal and elaborate, action research happens every day in classrooms; it can be as simple as trying a new procedure for warm-ups. Moving forward, I can use what I have learned from this process to help my students reach their full potential.