Action Research Data
During
this unit, I finished my vocabulary lessons that related to my action research project.
The third grade students completed their final survey for the vocabulary
strategies. The comments from the students included: “It was fun and good”, “It
was fun and to write our vocabulary”, “It was fun”, and “It was fun to do
this”. I was able to collect the data
for the third grade students relating to their vocabulary assessment scores in
Open Court. To thank the students for participating, I gave each one a
dictionary/thesaurus, a small notebook, pencils, and stickers. The students really appreciated the gift bags
and having the opportunity to participate. My hope is that they will use these
tools to help them learn their vocabulary words in the future.
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| Synonym/Antonym for vocabulary word - Tyranny |
The
fifth grade students finished their final lesson which was to use the Thesaurus
to find synonyms and antonyms which relate to their vocabulary words. The fifth
graders were not as enthusiastic about this lesson as the others, and I am
interested to see how they will rate this lesson. This past week, I collected
the final data for the fifth grade students. I was also able to collect the final
surveys with the exception of one student who was absent. This coming week, my
goal is to collect the vocabulary assessment scores from the fifth grade
teachers and the final survey. Overall,
I felt the project went very well and the students enjoyed the learning
activities. My goal is to compile all
the data as soon as possible so I can begin to analyze the information.
Looking at the Discovery Program
My
family had the opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C. While we were there we
made a visit to our daughter’s former school in Clinton, Maryland. The school
is a private school that offers the Discovery program. I wanted to learn more
about this program. I had several friends who had their children enrolled in
this program. The discovery program is under the National Institute for
Learning Development (NILD) and provides students with educational therapy. The
school has been using the NILD education therapy program since 1985. The
program has four distinctives which include: a) Instruction is both explicit
and intentional, b) Therapy employs inductive reasoning and Socratic
questioning, c) Guided practice and systematic feedback, d) Self-regulation and
transfer. The program focus on teaching students how to learn, not just what to
learn. In order to participate in the program the students are assessed, a
meeting is scheduled with the family, testing is set up for the student, and
follow-up meeting is set up with the family with the test results. My daughter did not participate in this
program while she attended this school; however, she had several friends that
did. My daughter’s friend was in this
program while attending this school. She struggled with academics and her
grades for many years. Her mother kept her in the program to ensure that she
would make passing grades to participate in sports. She is attending a
university in Virginia and last semester she maintained a 4.0 GPA. I feel that the lessons she learned
throughout her primary and secondary education prepared her for college.
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| Lincoln Memorial - Washington, D.C. |
Home Education
The
past few weeks have seen a reduction in assignments due to traveling and
preparation of upcoming activities. The children will be participating in a
Geography fair on February 25th.
The countries selected related to the history lessons they have been
studying this year. My daughter has been focusing on Ancient Egypt; therefore, she
will be completing her project on Egypt.
Early in the school year, my son studied Viking history and chose Norway
as his country for the fair. While the geography fair focuses on current
information, I have asked both the children to include ancient civilization
information to their projects. The past two weeks, they have researched basic
information that relates to their country such as: location, president or
leader, indigent animals, size, and currency. The research information was
initially located and written on a data sheet once this sheet was completed
they could begin typing the information to prepare it for their display board. They
also had to develop a plan for how they were going to display their
information. This coming week, they will
work on completing the display board, an ethnic food, and a costume.
Also,
this week the children completed three science experiments relating to gases,
liquids, and solids. I had them complete
work sheets related to the experiments but realized after we cleaned up I did
not take any pictures. In reflection, I
will make sure that I have a camera out to capture the experiment. I am also
thinking about using the video camera so they can verbally share what they learned
from the experiment. This coming week will also include a
field trip to the Cortez Journal, the local newspaper. I will want to provide my children with an opportunity
to write and share about their experience and what they will learn.
Labor Omnia Vincit
I also have
Latin club next Friday. My goal is to
contact the parents several days in advance to ensure maximum participation. We
will be covering 10 new Latin words and their derivatives. I am also going to
cover the Roman poet, Virgil, who was the author of Aeneid. I feel that his saying “Labor omnia vincit” (work conquers
all) relates to my life at this time. I have many assignments coming up along
with my project and it is the work and effort that I apply that will ‘conquer’
this semester.
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| Image from: www.zazzle.com |
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