Action Research Project

My Action Research project began in the Spring semester of 2013 and was completed at the end of that semester. I monitored student progress on a weekly basis with the principal and grade level teachers.  Using data from the online resources IXL and ReadingPlus, classroom observations, grade reports and testing scores the principal and myself identified at risk students and created a tutorial program to address each student’s needs.  The monitoring of the students and creating adjustments as the semester progressed proved to be successful as all test scores improved by at least 5% in every tested area and as much as 25% in some areas.  We only retained one student for the 2013 school year and it was not related to academic achievement. 

Tracking the 60 at risk students using various data at each grade level was time consuming originally until I was able to create tracking documents that provided an easy visual to better understand each student’s progress.  Challenging aspects of the project were tracking the students who were right on the edge and either had low scores from a previous year but where successful in the class or vice versa.  Despite the success of the program overall we had two students fail a state mandated test and they were students that we never identified as at risk through any of the methods we were implementing.

            During this time there were significant hours spent on this research project monitoring student progress, analyzing weekly data produced from online educational websites and interviewing students and teachers.  Throughout this project over 90 hours were spent working on and developing this plan that due to its success will be implemented again this spring. 

“Audacity Quick Start”.

Brandie: Hello!  This is Brandie Roe and this is a tutorial of “Audacity Quick Start”.
Brandie: I am going to walk you through the steps of importing a file in Audacity.                              Brandie:  Select the start button and then go to all programs and then select the Audacity icon.
Brandie: After the program has opened select file from the menu bar and then select import. You will then select the audio option. After the dialog box appears, browse to where the audio file is stored. Once you select this file to upload the audio bar work area will appear.

Brandie: Thank you for participating in this tutorial of “Audacity Quick Start”.

http://youtu.be/Fn-6JzshUwI

EDLD 5363

Overall my experience with this class has been very positive.  I have gained a lot of new knowledge on how to create various types of multimedia projects to the extent I feel comfortable that I could easily use this in my classroom as well as teach others how to use it.  There were times the class became a little overwhelming with the amount of work and readings plus researching the types of media to use but in the end this all proved to be helpful to gain a full understanding of not only the content but time management. I had an amazing group to work with, which helped tremendously in being able to pull this project together in the end.  Lisa was a strong group leader that kept the project moving and everyone brought a lot of technology knowledge to the table making this a fun group to collaborate with.  This was a very demanding class that I feel I gained a lot of practice and knowledge from.

Web Confrences

EDLD 5363 Web Conference

July 6, 2013

I did not attend this conference but upon reading the script there was some confusion on submitting the work for this class.  Some of the questions were the same ones i had and it was useful having other students input on the submission.  I liked having the scripts up throughout the class it was an easy resource to go through and read when questions came up.  The scripts always contained information not only about this class but about the entire program and it was nice to use this as an information tool.

EDLD 5363 Web Conference June 29, 2013

I read the script on this conference it was not very informative as to the work for the class but helpful in other ways about classes and organizations to join.

 

EDLD 5363 Web Conference

Friday, June 28, 2013

I read the script for this conference and I agree being able to collaborate with others at various times of the day or all at the same time through a google doc was very useful in this project.  Finding out about some of the conferences that are available and that others in the teaching profession like gives me some insight into what can help me in the area of learning about new classroom technologies.

 

My Digital Story EDLD 5363

I enjoyed creating the digital story and I think it would be a great tool to use at the beginning and end of the school year.  I plan on having my students create a digital story about themselves and their goals for the year during the first six weeks and then add to it during the last six weeks reflecting on their school year.  Junior high students love telling stories about themselves and are always taking photos of each other.  This would be a great multimedia project in addition to a writing project.

Week 5

As an English Language Arts teacher, deciding on a lesson that would accommodate the scenario given was one of the easier parts of this assignment.  I selected the tall tale lesson plan because it gave the group the most flexibility knowing that not everyone has a strong literature background but that everyone would be familiar with that genre of literature from childhood experiences.  Due to the exaggeration involved in tall tales it provides an array of technology lessons that could be implemented and easily created by all group members.

Looking back over the entire project I appreciated the group aspect of the class.  Working with others around busy schedules and developing a concept that could be implemented in a classroom was an enlightening and very challenging experience.  The ideas and experience brought to the table by my group members taught me the most and I appreciate their patience and willingness to work together.- Brandie Roe

Week Four

This week of EDLD 5364 I learned additional information about how to assess various students in ensure their understanding of the material taught.  It is important to allow students to not only learn in different ways but also to be assessed in various ways to obtain an accurate view of your students ability to comprehend the material.