RES 5040: Teacher as Researcher (spring 09)

Computer Software: Resource for the Classroom Action Project
Research Question:
Schools across North Carolina are scoring low on math tests. Testing is a stressful concept to all students. It puts pressure on students to achieve, but in reality has the opposite effect. They are so nervous, and can hardly remember their facts when they are testing. When they are in their classroom and working during math time they are constantly reminded of what they need to learn for testing. Math and other subject cease to be a learning experience, but simply a memorization of endless facts and figures. Students need to see math as relaxing and fun if they are going to actually learn. Educational gaming is a powerful tool that can engage a student in active learning. In my research project, I will focus on the following question. How do incorporating meaningful software programs increase student achievement in the classroom? I want to observe and explore how educational gaming has a positive impact on my students. I recently acquired Jumpstart 3rd Grade for my 3rd grade students. This program incorporates math and science skills that create critical thinking. The most important aspect about this program is that students are actively learning in class.
Background on Research Question:
I am working on my literature review to find out what other researchers have found with this study. I currently have two articles that I have read for my literature review. The first article, A Case study of computer gaming for math: Engaged learning from game play, shows medium ground for educational gaming. The article shows that students enjoyed math learning in a computer setting, but there were no changes in scores. The second article, Major Study on Software Stirs Debate, shows similar findings. As my literature review expands so will my categories. I want to look at all the literature, but also focus on the study and observations at my school.
Setting:
The setting of this action research project is at Cherokee Elementary. This school is located in Cherokee, NC on the Cherokee Indian Reservation. There are 600 students at this school, grades K-6. This is the last school year in the old school building. We will move into our new school building in the fall. The students at this school have a rich culture, and are bright hard working students. Education is very important at this school, and we believe that all our students can succeed in life. This study is relevant, because the majority of my students don’t have computers in the home. When they come to computer class they are eager to use the computer, because they rarely get the chance outside of school. This provides an edge to my research, because the computer is a fun tool for these students.
Participants: Ms. Nicholas class will be the 3rd grade class that participates in this action research. I will observe the students and see how the math program increases enjoyment of math, and improvement of math skills in the classroom. I will interview Ms. Ingrid and her assistant to see what improvement in math that they have noticed in their students this quarter. I will also interview the Horizons math teacher Mr. Barrett. He teaches the gifted math program at our school. He has students that come from Ms. Nicholas class to his for math time. He will be another source to evaluate the results of educational gaming.

The blog titled second draft is mine. Elizabeth McMullan.

Question: I have several versions of my research question. I don’t know which is best. I would love everyone’s input.
How does have an interactive white board in the classroom affect teaching (or - instructional) methods?
Or
What changes in teaching (instructional) methods are brought about by having an interactive white board in the classroom?
Or
How do interactive white boards change instructional methods?
Setting:
My research will take place in five schools (two elementary, two middle, and one high school) in an urban school district in the Piedmont of North Carolina. The school system is comprised of 53 schools: nine high schools, eleven middle schools, thirty-one elementary schools, one alternative school and one school for special needs children. The school district currently enrolls 32,196 students and employees approximately 2,000 teachers.
Elementary school A was opened in 2004 as a replacement to an older school which was closed. It is a Title 1 school with 93% of its students on free and reduced lunch. The current enrollment is 431 students in grades pre-kindergarten through five of which 47% are African American, 29% are Caucasian, 17% Hispanic, 5% Multi-Racial and less than one percent is Asian. Elementary school B is located in a bedroom community just west of a major metropolitan city. School B currently enrolls 687 students in grades two through. Thirty percent of the students are on free or reduced lunch. The student population is made up of 83% Caucasian, 8.6 % African-American, 4% Asian, 3% Hispanic and less than one percent Multi-Racial.
Middle School C has a population of 836 students in grades six through eight. It is located in a suburban area of the county. 24% its students are free or reduced lunch. Middle School D is located in the far corner of our county and serves a small town. It has a student population of 545 students of which 81% are Caucasian, 11% African-American, 3% Hispanic, and less than one percent Asian. It has a 48% free and reduced lunch rate.
High School E is a large inner-city school with grades nine through twelve. It has a student population of 1,384 and a free and reduced lunch rate of 45% The racial make-up is 52% Caucasian, 33% African-American, 12% Hispanic, 2% Multi-Racial and 1% Asian.
Participants: Participants in this study are two middle school teachers, two high school teachers, and two elementary teachers. These teachers are part of a group of district teachers that have been accepted to our district’s technology project and been trained to be technology leaders in their respective schools and the district. The goal of the technology project is to train classroom teachers to truly integrate technology into the instructional process and to become teacher technology leaders in their schools. Program teachers agree to use their skills, training, and technology to transform their classrooms from a teacher-centered environment to a learner-centered environment. All project participants had to apply to the project and group participants were selected based on their application scores. They join an existing group of 130 other teachers in the district who have completed the program training.
Teachers from this particular technology training group were chosen to participate in this study because they were the first group to receive SMART Boards as part of the program’s hardware package. These teachers received a laptop, projector, SMART board, Airliner (wireless slate), and a set of Senteos (clickers) which are student response devices.
Mary is a teacher in Elementary School A. Ann is a teacher in Elementary School B. Sue is a teacher in Middle School C. June is a teacher in Middle School D. Sally and Chris both teach in High School E. ( I am in the process of collecting specifics about each of participants.)

Question: How does using technology in a foreign langauge classroom impact students' cultural perceptions, or cultural awareness, and motivation?

Setting: The majority of my research will take place in my middle school Spanish class at John Chavis Middle in Cherryville, Gaston County, North Carolina. I have almost 60 seventh and eighth grade students this semester. Twenty-six are female and thirty-two are male, all between the ages of 12 and 16. Out of my fifty-eight students, fifty-two are Caucasian, 3 are African-American, and 3 are of other ethnicity.

Participants: I don't have specifics in mind yet on which students will be participating. I do, however, think I will be interviewing 8 total students, 2 male and 2 female in seventh grade and 2 male and 2 female in eighth grade.

Kristen Clark

Shocker, I changed my whole idea.

Research Question

How can a community of practice specifically devoted to technology integration be fostered in a school? Or How can informal staff development and collaborative planning create enthusiasm for technology integration?

In other words, I want to examine how to start a technology professional learning community in this school. I want to remove the typical learning environment and expectations of staff development from the professional learning process and institute some sort of monthly planning meetings. The initial idea, to be shaped as participants see fit, is to gather in a more casual setting to discuss the participants’ recent successes and mistakes in integration in order to engage in reflection, share resources with others, and plan further learning experiences. Meetings could shape themselves organically into a show-and-tell on occasions when folks are eager to share. Other times, they may evolve into impromptu staff development where the day’s expert teaches the group how to use a new tool. On other occasions we may gather around to do more conventional planning utilizing the strengths of all involved, cracking the texts, the pacing guides and the laptops. In some way, I want to extend the passion for learning to teachers that can permeate to students and is somehow sapped by traditional staff development.

Setting

I will be researching in a lower-middle class elementary school serving PK-5 grades within our district. The school is under relatively new leadership where the principal is entering his third year following a very successful and data-driven principal who was promoted. The assistant principal is also in her third year as an administrator and the second in this school. Teacher turnover has been very low in the last several years, until this school year which brought eight new teachers into the 21 regular education classrooms. Most of the staff are classified as ILT’s in their first three years of teaching or are beyond twenty years of teaching.

In examining the most recent data from the NC Report Cards and from our SMS, this school is slightly smaller than the average school in our district and made expected growth on last year’s EOG tests. This school is somewhat typical of many others in our district scoring just a few percentage points below the district average in reading (51.0% proficient compared to 52.6% proficient district-wide), but did excel in math EOG’s achieving a 6% higher proficiency than other elementary schools in the district.

In most ways, the school is very typical of those throughout the state in achievement on standardized test scores, population, and staff makeup. There are two distinctions sure to bear on this study. Last year, the school benefitted from Title I funding due to its percentage of economically disadvantaged students. However, the requirements were greatly increased such that despite having 69% of students classified as economically disadvantaged for the current school year, it school does not receive Title I status and the additional funding that the designation brings.

The other distinction is that all grade 3-5 classrooms participate in the Technology and Reading Ignites Comprehension and Kindles Success program (T.R.I.C.K.S.). T.R.I.C.K.S. is a district initiative created to use existing software to enhance the language arts curriculum. It consists of lessons where students examine nonfiction selections to complete a technology task and then a range of comprehension questions designed to match the EOG. All of these teachers receive additional training annually and are supported and monitored bi-weekly in order to facilitate this program.

Participants

I have begun talking to the administrators to clear time with teachers who might be interested in this process as well as some teachers likely to be interested in a different manner of a community of practice. I anticipate drawing in a lot of the new teachers whom appear more eager to learn, share and help each other. However, I am also going to draw from several other teachers, one of whom has been a literacy coach before in our state and has studied collaborative planning and others whom I know are floundering having already mastered the idea of the T.R.I.C.K.S. program and are capable of more. I am also tapping into the administration as participants in shaping the community. One administrator has made it part of his own growth plan to increase technology use in the building and is devoting the majority of the school’s funds to acquiring technology such as interactive whiteboards, wireless slates and digital cameras, that the school sorely needs. The other has been a technology advocate in some capacity for some time having even participated in our district’s Pinnacle Leaders’ Network, a program setting out to further train and grow technology leaders. The last key stakeholder will be the computer lab specialist whom is not a certified teacher, but easily accounts for most of the instruction of applications in the curriculum.

Kyle Wood

Categories are blatantly stolen from the Research Proposal Guidelines Handout (please refer to the handout, as only my additions are posted here):

1. Background of Your Research Question
a. 12.5 Years in Developmental Dept. at community college; received tutor training in 1996; have worked with tutors/students/staff.
b. TBA
2. Problem Statement and Research Question(s).
What are the distinguishing characteristics /expectations /habits of successful students who receive tutoring?
3. Research Methodology: Action Research.
Will address as process commences.
4. Site of Research.
Bliss College Happy Center, NC; Office of Learning Center coordinator; 2 year community college; socioeconomic class of students varies, but enrollment skyrockets when economy is in decline (i.e. 3300 developmental students enrolled as of Spring 2009 semester)
5. Sample and sample selection.
(a) Tutors, minimum 1 year experience (b) tutors bring a wide and deep range of experience with student needs, habits, and successes/failures
6. Methods and Data.
(a) Interviews will be stressed, as I must draw on data from previous semesters; I tutor a bit, but in a very limited capacity, so anything I would add in the way of observations would be anecdotal, for lack of a better term. (b) Per Stringer, the Working Principles of Action Research of Relationships, Communication, and Participation are already applicable; Inclusion, while possible, is in my opinion for purposes of this study, overreaching, as real inclusion would include student interviews, and faculty interviews for real data saturation. This focus may require appending or editing the research question (c) See (a) and (b) above
7. Validity.
Credibility: Prolonged Engagement and Persistent Observations, 12 + years involvement; Triangulation, may require limiting the research question, as noted in 6b, above; Participant Debriefing, TBD; Diverse Case Analysis, will not be able to provide all possible perspectives in time allowed; Reverential Adequacy, should be applicable due to the experience level of the participants; Member Checking can be applied and ongoing, due to the relationship to the participants.
Transferability: may be possible in part due to the ubiquity of the Ross MacDonald Master Tutor training method; other sites with comparable data sets could possibly be found.
Dependability: Inquiry audit should result in adequate dependability, owing to the ongoing relationships of all participants.
Confirmability: may depend primarily on raw data, will append as needed.
8. Ethics and Politics.
(a) Confidentiality should not be a problem, as we will be discussing trends rather than specific sessions. As the topic is already one that has been discussed informally, and as the department is continuously looking to improve the process, the results should be receptively received. (b) Discussions with the department head will address issues in advance, as well as during the study. (c) Resistance should be minimal, as several subjects have already been approached and are receptive to the study. (d) My own bias is the desire to document successes and shortcomings, and to attempt to improve the process that I have been a part of for over 12 years.
9. Implementation.
If the research question is adequate, I will begin by constructing the specific interview questions. As I have access to the participants on a regular basis, I can add to interviews over time. This is somewhat dependent upon participant commitments to their own students. If I can conduct one interview per week (which may be wishful thinking), I should have 4-5 done in time to analyze data and hope to complete the study by the deadline.

Conrad Martin

RES 5040 Athletics in Education Scott Harrill

Research Question: What are some of the factors that can make athletics a positive experience on education and what factors may cause it to be a negative experience?

My first connection to the research at hand comes from my athletic background. Growing up, participating in, and coaching sports has been a life long journey. My professional background lead me into the teaching and coaching profession and has brought the two together dealing with student athletes. Prior research shows different views on the role of athletics in education and I would like to have a unique perspective on how different coaches use athletics to motivate student achievement in the classroom. In other words, what works best and what doesn’t. I hope to learn from this research things that can help our student athletes, parents, and other schools in our county to make the best out of the opportunity they are presented with.

Setting: The setting of this research will be at TL High School in Western North Carolina. The research will be focused on the students at TL High School. The research will focus on 12 sports that take place during the fall, winter, and spring seasons. Within those 12 sports there are 18 teams that play between the varsity and junior varsity levels. There are approximately 285 students on these teams. I will take 4 student athletes and observe both the classroom participation and the after school activities. The current enrollment in the school is 661.

Participants: The participants will be students, teachers, staff, principals, parents, booster club members, and community volunteers. As Stringer pointed out, I will focus on people who actually live the experience. I will interview both athletes and non athletes at TL High School. I plan to interview the two varsity coaches and gather their input on the pros and cons of athletics and education. I will also interview at least four student athletes from the school. Furthermore, interviews will also be taken from the Principal, Athletic Director, four non student athletes, booster club president, and community volunteers. The participants at TL High School will be the most used source of research. I will also make sure to do as Stringer says and have credibility. I want to make sure that the participants are involved in athletics and education process. Each participant will be treated fairly and with the utmost respect for their opinions. I also would like to try to figure out some ways to help those who struggle with their academics while also playing athletics. What things could educators do to help those student athletes. Hopefully all will go well and I will find some good, helpful information.
Scott Harrill

Research Question: What can be done in High Schools to support the academic achievement of students from diverse family structure?

Coming from a less than desirable family structure myself, I have often wondered how I made it through high school. I have always had a soft spot for kids who grow up with a messed up family structure and find myself usually going out of my way to help them. The purpose of this research study is to gain understanding of the external environments of my students and to explore ways to help support those students.

Setting: In this action research study, I will explore what can be done in high schools to support the academic achievement of students from diverse family structures. The setting of this research will be in classrooms at TIS High School in Western North Carolina. The research will be focused on a selected number of students from various family structures (natural birth parents, separated-divorce families, single parent families, step-parent families, and adoptive/foster/relative families). I will interview students from the selected group about their thoughts and feelings about their school experience. I will plan meetings with students, teachers, support staff and the administration to formulate strategies to support this growing population. Over a four week period we will implement strategies, observe students, and gather data. At the end of the four weeks I will again meet with all participants to gain feedback. In other words, the research will focus on the students past experiences and their current classes in order to formulate ideas and strategies to support students that fall into this population.

Participants: The participants will be students, teachers, support staff, and administration.

Scott Heavner

The purpose of this study will be to determine the effects of teaching the Self-Advocacy Strategy on the involvement in Individual Education Program (IEP) planning of high school students with mild to moderate cognitive disabilities.
Participants .The participants in this study will be five high school students from a rural school located in the Southeast. These participants will volunteer to be involved in the intervention, they will be interviewed and be given information about the Self Advocacy Strategy. All participants will be receiving special education services since primary grades. All students will have parental consent to participate in study and pseudonyms will be used to report findings.
Setting. The setting will be a self-contained classroom in a rural high school. The only high school within the city limits. The classroom is located on campus within the school building. All participants will be receiving special education services. Instruction will be delivered daily within a 90-minute block.
This is of interest to me because a high percentage of students in my classroom have an EC classification. I feel their low self-esteem significantly impacts their performance. Self advocacy strategy is a research based intervention with proven results.

Shannon Mosteller

Question:
How does the implementation of literature circles affect student attitudes about reading in a middle school classroom?

For this Action Research Project, I will actually be conducting research on two topics: one, how to correctly implement a literature circle unit, and two, how will it affect student attitudes about reading? I need to do the preliminary research to make sure that I understand the procedures and planning of an effective theme-based unit. After my unit is ready, I can proceed with surveying student opinions before the literature circles unit is actually conducted.

Setting:
The setting for this project will be Brevard Middle School in Transylvania County, a rural community in Western North Carolina. The school has approximately 600 students, with roughly 200 children in each grade level.

Participants:
To conduct this project, I will focus on eighth grade students; an interesting mix of developing young teens who are the "big kids" of the school, often with big attitudes to match. I teach Communication Skills (what most middle schools call "Language Arts") to about 75 students each day. My class load includes one inclusion class (with daily support from an EC teacher), one advanced class (attended by higher-achieving and/or AIG students) and two standard classes. At this point, I plan on focusing the study in only one of the four classes, though I honestly have not decided which class I will use. My first instinct would be to do it in my advanced class; they are generally avid readers. Upon further reflection, I realized it might be more beneficial for information purposes, and for student achievement to use a lower-performing class. I would like to use all four of my classes, but worry that it might yield more data than is managable for this study.

Final Thoughts:
I am excited about the possibilties of designing and implementing something totally new into the classroom. As chapter 3 of Stringer (2007) states, teachers need to boost our own creative energy. In addition to that, I want to gain some perspective on WHY literature circles are effective, particularly with middle school students. Do they really improve student attitudes about reading?

Amy Galloway

Question:
Having patronized the Pack Memorial Library for years and having worked there for eight months, I have observed the complicated and deeply enmeshed relationship between the library and the homeless population of downtown Asheville. I am interested in exploring how the library can more effectively serve this portion of its patronage. Though the actual numbers of homeless patrons represent a small percentage of the overall patronage, they require a significant portion of the staff’s energy and the library’s resources.
In my action research project, I plan to explore this question of how the library can more effectively serve and interact with the homeless component of its patronage. I am interested in researching ways that the library can be more effective in providing tools and resources for its homeless patrons while also exploring how the library can make this relationship work better for itself. Would it benefit the library, for example, to formalize this “social service” aspect of its work into its mission and policies? Would there be funding benefits to this formalization? How might the library fund and provide programming marketed to this demographic that might help them to access needed community and government resources and that might foster a more respectful and reciprocal working relationship?
My research plan includes interviews with patrons of different backgrounds, interviews with the library staff, a series of facilitated “think-tank” meetings of the staff, and research into other libraries who have engaged similar questions.
Participants:
The participants in this research project are the Pack Memorial Library staff, and a cross-section of high-usage library patrons.
Setting:
The setting for this research project is the Pack Memorial Library in downtown Asheville, NC. The focus will be on the adult section of the library. Interviews and group meetings with the staff will be held in the library board room. Interviews with patrons will be arranged and planned in the Adult Main section of the library and will be conducted in the Lord Auditorium. Research of other libraries’ relevant practices will include literary journal articles and phone interviews when possible.
Lyme Kedic

Question: How can the amount of curriculum that is being taught through the media center increase across the elementary grades (kindergarten - 5th).

Setting: The setting is an urban elementary school in Asheville, NC. We are school-wide Title 1, with at least 90% free and reduced lunch. There are 26 classroom teachers, and a wide variety of support staff, including a full-time media coordinator and full-time assistant. The school has 470 students across grades K-5.

Participants:
I will interview 2 teachers from K-2, and 2 teachers from 3-5, the media coordinator, media assistant, and principal or assistant principal.

What (factors) motivate a teacher to implement technology into their curriculum?

As a technology facilitator my worth to a district is based on the fruits of my labor. I teach teachers to integrate technology into their curriculum. I am always bewildered when teachers don't see how the cool technology concept that I am showing them at the moment is going to change the way they teach and how their students learn. I would like to study the factors that contribute to motivating a to integrate into their curriculum.

Setting: I plan to conduct my research in the small middle school that I spend the majority of my time. I know all of the teachers there very well and have conducted countless technology staff development session there as well. The school has approximately 35 teachers and 400 students, The school is the only Title One middleschool in our district thanks to the 89% of our students that qualify for free and reduced lunch. With the downfalls that come with title one, also comes a few blessings. Title one contributes a large amount of money that my Principal has dedicated to purchasing technology. We have 5, 16 unit laptop carts, two full computer labs and at least two dedicated pcs in each classroom. Our campus is wireless and 3/4ths of our teachers have a laptop. Every one of our classes have a smartboard and projector. We also have a tremendous amount of other technology goodies that include student response systems, wireless slates, document cameras, camcorders and digital cameras. It is basically utopia for a tech. geek. With all of these resources paired with my outstanding staff development, why do we not have a higher rate of true technology integration?

Participants: I plan to interview a select number of teachers at this school to identify the factors that they feel contribute to there technology integration or lack there of. I also plan to observe teachers before and after two technology staff development sessions (a time when teachers seem to be most open to integration) to see if I can identify any factors that might contribute to the likelihood of a teacher to integrate the technology. I also plan to offer an online survey that I can gather input from teachers across a larger population. This last part is more quantifiable, so it may not be appropriate.

Jason Mammano

Background:

In the course of two visits to the Wake Forest University Professional Center Library, I became aware of an issue regarding providing reference services to the general public. Public library patrons are coming to this private law library for assistance, but it is not geared to provide them with appropriate help. They should be seeking services at community public libraries or a county law library if one is available in Winston-Salem (unless they are at the WFU PCL to access Federal Depository materials). The following research question is designed to gain a better understanding of the experiences of key people involved in this information services issue.

Research Question:

What is the legal research experience of the general public and the librarians who serve them? The question is very open and was designed to avoid assumptions about the causes of any concerns. Its purpose is to find out what is going on before exploring possible solutions.

Setting

The setting is the public library system in the Winston-Salem community. Due to close proximity to Wake Forest University, their patrons may be among those going to the law library.

Participants:

The first participants I’d like to interview are the public librarians in the Winston-Salem community. I’m thinking of these interviews as a “Phase I” action research sub-project. I’d like to first see what they share with me, but some possible follow up questions that could fall under the umbrella of the overall research question are: How do they support patrons who are doing legal research? What services and materials are available through their libraries or interlibrary loan? What are the challenges of providing these services? (publicity, staff development, fees for ILL, resources, collection development, etc.) What services are available in the community to complement library services for patrons doing legal research? How do they perceive the legal research needs of the community?

I would also like to interview patrons, but more knowledge of the context and guidance from the librarians would be required before I can approach that aspect of the situation. Patron interviews might be a “Phase II” or “Phase III” action research project after ethical issues have been explored and addressed according to the guidance in chapter 3.

Question
Technology integration involves using available new technology in curriculum-based instruction. The challenge for my school is using the new technology so that students are engaged in learning, and the curriculum requirements are being met. My school has just acquired forty thousand dollars worth of new technology such as document cameras and projectors in each classroom grades first through fifth. Now, it seems a must to incorporate the technology we have, but no one seems to be using the new technology effectively to its full potential. In this action research study I want to find out how to integrate this technology in a variety of ways in order to create a curriculum-based learning environment while increasing teacher's technology literacy and students active engagement in learning.

Setting
North Elementary is located in Western North Carolina, and is the second largest school in the county with an enrollment on 492 students. The student body consists of 253 boys and 239 girls. There are two American Indian students, two Asian, four Black, and fourteen Hispanic. Two children are migrant students, and will return to North Elementary in March.
North Elementary is a Title I school, and uses the school wide Title I model. The Title I reading teacher and assistants travel to the students rooms, and every student gets Title I reading for thirty minutes per day.

Participants
There are four kindergarten teachers/classes with an average of 20 students per class. First through fourth grade has four teachers in each grade level with an average of 21 students per teacher. North School also has a transition first grade classroom of thirteen students. These students were not academically or developmentally ready for a regular first grade classroom. There are forty-two certified staff members of which four are board certified, seven have a masters degree, and two have a masters degree and are board certified.
There are twelve academically gifted students or talent pool students in grades 3-5, and 68 special needs students in grades 1-5. More will be added as kindergartners are tested under the CARE team. 243 students at North Elementary receive free or reduced lunch.

Jill Mann

Research question(s): Since I have not worked with RtI before this year, nor know much about it, I would like to study how the use of technology might affect student intervention outcomes. This year is our school's first year in the implementation of RtI, so we have had much training in the implementation process (administering probes, etc) but very little training and/or experience with regard to the actual interventions.

Setting: There are two elementary schools located in this particular community. One of the elementary schools houses grades pk-2. Our school houses grades 3-5. Our school consists of (8) third grade classes, (7) fourth grade classes, and (7) fifth grade classes. The school building itself is quite large due to the fact that our building at one time housed a high school, so we are not yet busting at the seams. However, plans are in the works to add two new classrooms, by reconfiguring an old auditorium within the school in anticipation of a growing population. Because our school is rural, its student population is mainly caucasian. Of our AYP subgroups, the black and EC subgroups are the most notable. Our school has a relatively large EC subgroup, compared to other schools. Our hispanic population is relatively low. Most of the adults in our community are skilled laborers, depending on industries that have or soon will be closing their doors. Most have at least a high school diploma, but many adults in the community did not graduate from high school nor have a GED. There is a small, but growing number of adults who are college educated. I suspect they have moved to the community from the large city east of our community.

Participants: For my project, I plan to interview and work with 5 or 6 students, who have previously been identified for RtI from their previous EOG scores as working below grade level in reading and math. I have been working with this group of students in a small group setting 2-3 days per weeks since November, 2008. This group of students consists of 4 boys and 2 girls. All 4 boys and one girl are working below grade level in both reading and math. One girl works on grade level in reading, but not in math. The students had been making good progress before Christmas, as their grades had risen to around 80% from the high 60's to low 70's. After Christmas, it seems that progress has flattened out as grade averages have fallen 2-10 points. I am currently considering moving some of these students to Tier 2, which means I am required to implement more intensive interventions. I feel that the use of technology could possibly be a solution to both the implementation and the increasing time required for management of the interventions and results.

Research Question:
What has led to a decrease in student productivity in my video production class, and how does class organization, student ability and student effort impact student performance in a technology class?

Research Setting:
This research will take place in an 8th grade video production classroom in a rural/suburban middle school. This school has had a video production program for the past 13 years.
Research Participants:

This is a class of 10 students with nine females and one male. Two of the 10 students are African-American and all of the students except one are in their second year of the class. All of these students completed an application process to participate in this class. While the students in the class are the primary stakeholders, it is also possible I will include some members of the viewing audience, which would include a sample from all students, teachers and administrators. These groups will provide perspective on the quality of the student productions.

-Jeff Kitchen

Can technology help to beat the “reputation” issues some students feel about giving academic pursuits their full effort, more specifically, can different technologies that are available help to engage a group of very intelligent boys, all athletes, who consistently perform at the bare minimum?
The setting for my study will be at a mostly rural middle school that houses about seven-hundred 7th and 8th grade students. This is a good school, it is filled with people who care about and are connected to this community. There are approximately 60% of the students on free or reduced lunch. The surrounding community is largely textile and factory dominated and the current economic conditions are not good. The school has consistently outperformed the other middle schools in its system and has a relatively low turnover rate. The average age of the faculty is slightly over 36 years old and more than half of the staff was hometown products. The principal is in his first year but inherited a well run and well maintained environment. There is about 80% home internet access for the school, and 64 out of 67 of my students. The three without home access, consistently come early and stay late to use school computers. The middle school concept is still in full swing. There is a lot of effort made to make the most of the team and block schedule components. The parent involvement is low, but the discipline problems are predominantly minor ones.
The five students I will be interviewing and observing are all in the 8th grade. All of these boys are well adjusted and well liked, by peers and staff. They are in two different levels of math. Two of the boys, DM, and WB, are in the higher math class and the remaining 3, BS (really), SS, and JJ are split between two lower groups. They all have the same academic teachers and are grouped together in Language Arts. Given any free time they consistently are together. These kids, as a group, complete every task given on time; the issue is in the quality of their work. They are all capable of As and Bs, but will not make their best effort, because of their concerns about the perceptions of their peers and what making good grades does to their reputation. I will attempt to use blog or wiki applications to engage them in a setting outside of the classroom, and out of the direct line of sight of their classmates. I want to see if the use of technology they are familiar with can be used to “trick” them into giving a task their best effort, if their interest in the topic can overcome their interest in their reputation. I think.

Craig Cavender

Research Question:
Parents’ Involvement in their child’s school has been on the decline for years all over the country. I want to research what new ways we can’t draw in parents who are not participating. I would like to see how many parents would be more open to email and other means as a way to communicate with the school. So my question is going to be; How can Parent Involvement be improved at a school using technology and other means? OR Why are parents not more visible in the school setting, and how can we change this?
Setting
This research will be taking place in an elementary school in Charlotte, NC. XYZ Elementary is a Partial Magnet School serving 768 students across K-5. XYZ Elementary is a melting pot of diversity, with 51% of the students being African American, 25% Hispanic, 14% Caucasian, 7% Asian, and 4% Multi-Racial. I have some very interesting statistics when it comes to Parents. The school has confirmed that 93% of the parents attended at least one conference with the teacher last year. A Family Survey showed that 98% of the parents felt the principal and teachers try to provide a safe environment for the students. The school has 75 staff members, 28% of which have master’s degrees or higher. The average years teachers on the staff have taught is 11.7. The school is percentage points away from being a Title I school, at 72% Free and Reduced Lunch. The Magnet Talent Development Program adds a dimension of accelerated learning at the school. There is also a Multi-Age program where the students are with the same teacher for three years in K-2.
Research Participants:
Since this is such a large school, I planned on interviewing parents from the different areas of learning in the school. I would like to interview a parent from the Multi-Age classrooms, a parent from the K-2 and 3-5 regular education classrooms, a parent from the TD classrooms, and a parent from the PTA advisory board. The principal has been an educator at the school for many years, and received her leadership degree while teaching in the classroom there. I would like to interview her as well. I haven’t decided whether are not to include a new and veteran staff member to add to the mix.
I hope I haven’t created something with this that will be too much to do…..

As I looked at the readings for this week, I began to realize that my research topic could use some refining to reach what I think is the real question behind my subject of interest. I found both Stringer's and Hubbard/Power's instructions for focusing research questions to be very helpful, as I had just begun to start worrying about how viable my research idea would be. I think I have a firmer grasp upon what I'd like to investigate now, and my ideas have taken off from there.

Research Question:
What elements of popular literature are most appealing to teens and how can they be used to foster readership in my community?

Setting & Background:
I will do my research at the Spartanburg County Public Libraries' Headquarters Branch, where I am the teen services assistant. SCPL is a large library in a moderately-sized (and growing!) urban setting. According to the US Census Bureau, the city's population is around 37,000, though the urbanized area is much larger (the county's population is around 270,000). Spartanburg is 50.8% African-American, 45.8% White, and 2.5% Asian. While I do not live in Spartanburg and have only worked there for a few months, I'm getting a pretty good grasp of the community and our library's patrons. The city has a growing arts community, seven school districts, and several colleges. It is a progressive town, but is still largely traditional in many aspects.

The Spartanburg County Public Libraries have a large teen fiction collection and provide frequent programs and events for our teen patrons. The Headquarters Branch has a separate room for teen services with eight computers, cafe tables and other seating reserved for teens only. While many programs are well-attended and the computers are frequently occupied, I would like to see an increase in the teens' use of our collection. Those teens that do read do so voraciously, and have varied tastes. However, as with all libraries there is sometimes concern regarding the content of the books in our teen fiction section. Community members have occasionally expressed an interest in "cleaning up" the section or altering the materials selection policy to more closely examine the content of our titles.

Participants:
As we have a solid group of teens that attend programs and regularly come to the teen room, I hope to work with several of them to look at what books they read and why. As Stringer suggests that we consult both those people who are affected by the issue and those who affect the issue, I will also include my boss, the teen services librarian, in the participant group. Finally, I am good friends with a popular (though controversial) young adult author and may consult with him throughout the course of my research.

To gather my information, I plan to interview the teens and Susan, the librarian. I will also look at circulation records to see which titles are the most popular, and plan to analyze which themes and writing styles are common among them. I will compare popular titles with award-winning titles (Printz, NBA, Alex) to see if those titles that win awards also reflect the teens' preferences. While working with my group of participants, I hope to discuss some of these books (both award-winning and controversial/popular) with them, and might ask them to read one or two titles and give their opinions in an informal reading discussion. I will also observe the reading habits of the teen community as they request books and recommendations and check items out at my library.

-Tara Smith

Question:
What can a classroom of Kindergarten students do to help feed the hungry?

Setting:
An elementary school in Burke county is implementing a Read to Feed: Helping to feed the hungry program using a Heifer International Global Education Resource Kit during the month of March. Through lesson plans, activities, readings and videos, the students will learn ways in which they can help to fight hunger and poverty.

Participants:
Though the entire school is participating, I will only be working with the Kindergarten teacher and her students using the Global Education Resource Kit for Pre-K - K students. The kit contains information about the program, a map showing what countries Heifer Intl. works with, what animals are provided and how they help fight hunger, a couple of books that introduce some of the lesson plans, and a video of Dan Zanes working with Heifer International.

I am excited about working on this project. We have some great ideas, too many actually, of things we can do to get the kids excited about this program. We feel that having these kids participate in something so profound at such a young age could really make a difference in their lives and what they choose to do with it.

~Sherry Fender

I am not sure if this project will work... It sounds good in theory but I am having a difficult time finding literature to review

So any suggestions would be great!

Question:

How do reflective practices in a primary school classroom enhance students understanding?

or

How does primary student achievement increase by using reflective practices in daily instruction?

or

How do reflective practices in daily instruction build greater understand for primary students?

Setting:
My research was conducted at in a small, rural community located in the Mountains of North Carolina. The county borders Tennessee and has a major interstate system running through it. There is only one school district for the whole county. It is made up of nine different elementary schools, three middles, two high schools, one alternative high school, and one Early College house at the local Community College campus. The setting for my research was at the smallest of the nine elementary schools with an average of 250 students. The school was built less than ten years ago and has a recent addition of four new classrooms in the last year. The school was built to consolidate two of the smallest, rural elementary schools that were below state building standards in the county into one larger but still smallest elementary school. Recently the school received a $250,000.00 Technology Grant that has assisted in launching this school into the 21st Century in terms of technology. There are 43 staff members that serve a population of 250 Kindergarten through 5th grade students. Due to the small size of this elementary school some of these staff members are only part time. The student population is comprised of majority Caucasian with only 1% minority. The school qualifies as a Title I school.

Participants:

The participants in this study will be a small group of fifth grade students. The group will vary in student’s ability level. The group will include equal amounts of girls and boys.

Nikki Jaynes

Background
I am personally connected to the research by being a high school English teacher at the alternative school. I am also a library science student that has a passion for knowledge. I feel that all students should be offered that resource.

I feel that the alternative schools get left behind. The budget is a mere fraction of that of a traditional school. The regular education teachers and administration often feel that this is a dumping ground for students that they don’t want. I want to show the community and schools officials that these students do matter, and they should have the same opportunities as other students. I hope this research helps us gain a library.

I want to know if the achievement levels of students would increase if there was an accessible media center on campus for the students and teachers to use. They are not able to get a hold of books, reference materials, or computers for research and/or pleasure.

Question
How does the lack of a media center in an alternative environment affect reading levels (scores/abilities) of students?

Site of Research
~96 students out of 120 available slots attend the Alternative School.
~Slots are available to the 4 middle and the 4 high schools only (8,836 students)
~Slots are available to school based on school population.
~87% of school free and reduced lunch
~70% of school population are Black; 28% White, 2% Hispanic
~16,473 students in CCS.

~Population of Shelby is just shy of 100,000 people. (2006 census - 98,373 people)
~Rural setting
~72% of population has high school diploma.
~13% of population has bachelor’s degree or higher.

Sample and sample selection
My first period classroom consists of five English 9 students. I don’t know these students well. I have only had them for 5 days. I will continue to gather information about them. Student A is a white male. He is 16 and involved with the court system. He has missed 2 days to attend court. Student B is a 17-year-old black male that can be very confrontational. However, he has been very polite to me. Student C is a 16-year-old female. She was sent to the alternative school because of skipping class at her home school. Her reading ability is low. Student D is another black male. He is 17 and was in my class the previous semester. He dropped out after only attending three days and has returned for another go. Student D is also a black male. He, too, is 16. He has missed three days this semester due to suspension. I chose this class over the others because they are more involved in their class work than the other classes. They will complete their assignments without me asking them over and over. They are also pretty responsive to talking to me about what is going on in their lives.

Please give feedback on anything above. Any suggestions? Is the question too broad?

Heather Greene

Tina Nicholson Mallén

Yes, Kyle, I too have changed my topic! After reading the articles about forming a research question and Chapter 3 of Stringer, I realized that my previous question was going to be difficult to measure.

I teach two year-long Spanish I classes which meet fourth and fifth periods. Both classes contain a large variety of race, age, and abilities. Each class meets for a total of 55-minutes, five days per week. My students' ages range from 15-19 years and each class contains roughly 29 students.
After struggling for over a semester with student apathy, lack of participation, and continued poor performance with listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills, I have puzzled over what method would be best to encourage more student participation. I believe that many of my students have the skills, but do not fully understand what exactly they can do with the language. Even when I have explained what objectives and standards each activity meet, students do not see how far they have come with what they have learned so far. Therefore, I want to conduct a study that allows the student to show what they can do, without "teacherese", but by using a portfolio system that states what the students can do, not with state standards lingo, but with "I can" statements.
What happens when my Spanish I students use portfolios to measure their performance?

So I'm still working on the refinement, of course, as I go through the literature, but here's where I'm starting.

Research question:

How would marketing affect the patronage and/or circulation at a public library that has a built in steady circulation but that makes very little attempt to bring in additional patrons?

Setting & Background:

The library that I'm working in, the Henderson County Public Library, was recently ranked highest in the state among libraries that serve the same number of patrons. Henderson County has a population of just over 89,000 and of that, it's believed that 75% of the population has library cards, though many of them are inactive. The library is very "basic". They plan very standard events and programs, with author readings, foreign films and such. While all events are well attended, it tends to be by the same people, for the most part. Regulars are at the heart of circulation, as demonstrated by the number of regulars that can be spotted in the library each week. While this population does make use of the library services, many folks that walk through the doors do so only to use the computers or perhaps to check out DVDs. I feel strongly that if the library were to implement some sort of marketing plan, that circulation would increase, as would overall patronage. In the past six months, the library has suffered from budget cuts and was forced to lay off staff. Marketing might also help to bring in a stronger volunteer pool to help fill the gaps that reduced staff are now having trouble filling.

Participants:

My intent is to work with two sets of people. First, I want to work with several of the librarians within the library, to get their feedback and thoughts on what's missing and on what the benefits might be of implementing a plan such as this. Secondly, I want to make contact with librarians outside of the system in libraries of similar or greater circulation and get their feedback on what works for them and on what value they put on marketing. I'd also like to visit some of these other libraries to see how their facilities differ from what I see on a daily basis here in Henderson County. At this library, there are almost no static displays and no attempts are made to make the library "friendly" to the patron in any way. I'd like to evaluate the effects these things have on other libraries' circulation. Though it would be hard to have hard numbers, I hope to get feedback that helps me to understand just what the effects are.

---Kate Whyte

Research Question:
“How do I motivate my students to become actively involved in team projects?” One that gives them ownership over their learning as well as creating a community of learners in which to see one another grow.

The nature of the problem my action research is focusing on is motivating my students to be fully engaged in group settings. Having taught high school students for the past 4 years, one thing I notice repeatedly is the complacency of some students to be an active participant in group settings. I want to remove the “conquer and divide” motive so that students truly are active learners and will learn how to work effectively in groups. Group settings should create enthusiasm, trust, and support amongst team members which will lead to more efficient academic work and one that fosters higher level order thinking skills. This focus will help make my students more successful learners which in turn I hope makes them more successful lifelong learners and learners in all their classes.

Research Setting:
This research will take place in my Sports and Entertainment Marketing classroom. This is a new course that is offered by Kings Mountain High School. The school is located in a rural setting with a population of 11,000.

The class is only offered to 10th-12th grade students. Sports and Entertainment Marketing is predominantly a project based learning curriculum. The class meets in a computer lab classroom environment. There are no textbooks and most of the curriculum resources are from power point presentations and from various internet resources.

Research Participants:

This is a class of 20 students. The class makeup is noted as below:
• Gender
o 5 females
o 15 males
• Race
o 7 Blacks
o 12 Whites
o 1 Asian
• Grades
o 11 Seniors
o 6 Juniors
o 3 Sophomores

In addition to the teacher, work samples by the groups will also be measured by outside participants (Administration, Colleagues, and Business Leaders). Most group activities encompass an interface with our local sports teams, Freshmen Academy, and other various events that are intertwined with the Sports and Entertainment Marketing objectives.

I have not had time to read anyone's entry since I posted mine. The stomach virus has run through my family this weekend. Hopefully no one will throw up during the night tonight. I will post my comments as soon as possible tomorrow.
Shannon

Question: How do students adapt learning strategies when participating in virtual or internet learning environments? The study will primarily focus on adult students (preferably non-digital natives) and will most likely contain some educational theory regarding adult learning methods in general. For my purposes, the internet learning environements will include the AET Zone and its assorted components, course blogs and wikis, and the ASULearn forums.

Background: I, like many of my classmates in the Buncombe cohort, grew up with computers but without a fully-developed internet. As a consequence, we have gained the majority of our online experience post-graduation through jobs or our home computers. Stepping into the AET Zone for our first graduate classes was an entirely new experience for many, as was conducting a large amount of classwork, research, and socail interaction online. The value and effectiveness of such a system has sparked a lot of debates among myself and my classmates, and since it is also an area of personal interest as a future public librarian I have decided to conduct an action research study in this area.

Participants: My main focus, as stated above, will be on adult students. This group will include current Buncombe/other cohort students who have been in the program for more than one year as well as students whose cohorts began in Fall 2008. I would also like to contact at least 2 students who attend classes on campus and 1 or more professors. The role of the professor(s) in the study is yet to be determined. I am also contemplating contacting one of the online library staff as well, but will know more once I get through more literature.

Setting: Fittingly, most research will be conducted via the Zone due to its convenience. I plan to use the coffeehouse lounge for most interviews, but can try the glass classroom if necessary. I feel the Zone offers several advantages, the most important being a great deal of flexibility in scheduling interviews or activities. I also feel that some students, particularly those who I have not met in person, might be more forthcoming and at ease in the Zone and perhaps more willing to volunteer for the study. The Zone might also be a double-edged sword, as students who frequent it during the week for class assignements might be reluctant to give up personal time to reenter an academic setting. In addition, some of the students, particularly the newer ones, could still be uneasy with the Zone and hesistant to speak up during scheduled interviews. The Zone will also make group activities difficult, but I will try to conduct some face-to face interviews when possible and perhaps manage to bring 2-3 people together for group activity to be determined.

Methods: I plan to conduct much of my research through interviews, either face-to-face or in the Zone, but am exploring the idea of group activities both in and out of the Zone. AS my literature review progresses I expect to narrow my focus and discover other opportunities for research methods beyond interviews.

-John Harrington

In this interpretive study, I will employ observations and interviews to analyze the responses and behaviors of five athletes who have tested above average, but perform below their potential, who attend a mostly rural small southern town middle school in order to determine if the use of technology in instruction can increase both their engagement and overall effort.

Craig Cavender