First graders with deer books.
Student shares final paragraph.
When I first began my Action Research class, I did not even know what action research was and how it differed from the traditional research I had always known from the past. I thought I would be studying active methods of teaching research to students! I came to understand that action research is a “reflective practice” which involves taking a specific problem that exists in the current time and place of the school community, analyzing it and working toward timely improvement. It was refreshing to see research as a tool that is practical and immediately useful. It was a totally new concept for me. Once I decided what the action research project in my school would be, I was off and running with great enthusiasm. I think my final product reflects the passion I had for the project throughout the process. My topic evolved from an article I reviewed from the December 2001 issue of Teacher Librarian called “The I-Search With Grade 5: They Learn!” by Carol Bowen. One sentence stood out to me: “If you want to see fear on the faces of many Grade 4 or 5 students, just mention the word ‘research’ to them.” I started thinking about how to take the fear out of research for older elementary students, and I wondered if there was a way to start researching in earlier grades so that the term would not make the students anxious. In my curriculum, the basic research process was introduced in the third grade, and it became progressively more comprehensive in fourth and fifth grades. I had never even thought of teaching research in the earlier grades. My project evolved from there: should I add a research component to the first and second grade curriculum?
Student shares final paragraph.
The PowerPoint I developed covers all components of my project and the process I used from the research questions all the way through the dissemination plan. It includes the literature review, the data research matrix, the research tools, the personnel involved and the timeline. I am proud of the results, and when I showed it to my Lower School colleagues at a faculty meeting, they actually clapped when I was finished! The beauty of this assignment is that I actually followed the plan, conducted the research, discovered that the plan was worthwhile, added research projects to both my first and second grade curriculum and implemented them the next year. The following is an explanation of one of the projects:
In the first grade, an entire team of teachers worked together to develop an interdisciplinary unit which we dubbed “The Deer Project.” Students were introduced to deer in their science classes and conducted basic research on deer in library class. They learned how to take very simple notes from books and the PebbleGo database. The first grade classroom teachers had them use the notes to write a paragraph. The students drew and cut out deer heads and antlers in their art class, and the final results were displayed on a big bulletin board in the hallway. The satisfaction I received from seeing that bulletin board was immeasurable.
The second grade project became the collaborative unit on biographies which I used in SLM 509 – Instructional Collaboration. This is explained in detail under Standard 1.2. Thanks to the Action Research course, I believe that I fully implemented Standard 3.4 and put it into practical use at Roland Park Country School. I was inspired to make action research a common practice in my library, and I hope to be able to have such good results in the future.
In the first grade, an entire team of teachers worked together to develop an interdisciplinary unit which we dubbed “The Deer Project.” Students were introduced to deer in their science classes and conducted basic research on deer in library class. They learned how to take very simple notes from books and the PebbleGo database. The first grade classroom teachers had them use the notes to write a paragraph. The students drew and cut out deer heads and antlers in their art class, and the final results were displayed on a big bulletin board in the hallway. The satisfaction I received from seeing that bulletin board was immeasurable.
The second grade project became the collaborative unit on biographies which I used in SLM 509 – Instructional Collaboration. This is explained in detail under Standard 1.2. Thanks to the Action Research course, I believe that I fully implemented Standard 3.4 and put it into practical use at Roland Park Country School. I was inspired to make action research a common practice in my library, and I hope to be able to have such good results in the future.