Well, my research got a little sidetracked by a beautiful baby boy, but I haven’t completely forgotten it.  My question started as, “How can Accelerated Reader be used to motivate students to read?”  it evolved a few times, but really never became a good researchable question because it didn’t take much research for me to find an answer.  Accelerated Reader, or any other program for that matter, is only as good as the teacher using it.  So, my research is in the area of teacher development.  I fully believe that all teachers come to the profession with good intentions.  All teachers have the heart of a teacher.  Whether they came to the profession because of their love for children or their love for the subject they teach, they came to the profession with the heart of a teacher.  (Read Parker Palmer’s The Courage to Teach Chapter I for more on the heart of a teacher).  Why is it that so many teachers lose heart?  I believe that it is due to a lack of development and professional growth, but how do you tell a teacher who has been teaching for 20 years that she is underdeveloped and needs to grow professionally?  I am currently reading and listening to a lot about professional learning communities in my search for an answer.

And in my spare time, I’ve been playing with wordle.

This word cloud was created by pasting my ramblings about my research question into wordle.net . Just click on it and you too can create cool word clouds.

My research is a lot of fun right now.  My survey has been completed by 96 8th grade teachers as of this morning, and the results are facinating. 

I contacted the SDOE again yesterday to ask some questions.  One question was to see if change was on the horizon for Tennessee’s writing assessment since the standards are changing next year.  The answer was nope.  We’re stuck.  Other states are modifyingand tweaking their writing assessments to fit in better with technology, higher standards, NCLB, etc.  Tennessee?  We’re happy with just being mediocre.

I haven’t done much with inquiry. I have had my students write in their writer’s notebooks with a class entry and then at least 3 home entries a week. I am using Amiee Buckner’s Notebook Know How and her rubric, which I have found helpful. I like this rubric so much better! I have slacked off with proposing class entries. I need to get back into the swing of things, but probably won’t until after Christmas. I still have students writing daily and then those who don’t write at all–maybe that’s my fault b/c I don’t take them up as often as I should. I have taken them up once a quarter – this is working for me now, but next year I will HAVE to do more. I just don’t have the energy especially with all the other writing we’re doing. Not to make excuses, but I am not myself pregnant.

Well, I suppose I am technically meeting the deadline since the goal was to submit to the blog in November, and this is the last day of the month.  I am very much in the same boat as Greg.  I keep thinking that I REALLY need to get back to my question and make something happen but haven’t really progressed past the thinking stage.  As I think about how my inquiry has not been so successful in terms of what I hoped I would have accomplished so far, I think that I may need to revisit and reevaluate my question.  My goal was to incorporate more engaging and meaningful writing into my literature classes.  I keep comparing the types of writing and time spent writing in class to my experiences teaching 7th grade, and I have come to realize that this is where I think I am going wrong.  At that grade level, I was expected to teach grammar and writing, and in 11th grade, I am expected to teach literature, writing, and brush up grammar skills.  My current curriculum does not really allow me to spend as much time in class on writing as I was able to in the past nor does it allow me to spend as much time on “fun” and “creative” writing.  This is just a fact.  I think that I need to refocus myself and my question by looking at how I can connect writing to my literature curriculum in a better way.  I still want students to be able to write about things that are important to them and have some choice in their writing, but I need to find a way to do this in a way that relates to our literature, which is the primary focus of our course.

One thing that has gone okay in this area is the research paper.  I tried something new with the research paper this year that gave students much more choice than what I had done in the past.  While less than half my students turned in a paper on the date they were due, the papers I received were decent, and I think that part of this was due to the fact they had choice in their topics and means of presenting their research.  Students had to complete an evaluation of the research paper/project, and  while there was also a fair amount of complaining about the amount of work required, they did respond positively to was the ability to have choice in their topic and means of presentation.  I think that my goal for the second semester will be trying to incorporate more choice into the required writing, which still coincides with my original topic.

I have been thinking a bunch about my question lately (haven’t done anything tangible, but I have been thinking), and I think I might alter it somewhat.  As I began to look at potential students for my current question, I began to think about the different things that caused them to perform at a low level.  It was at that point that I began to wonder if I could do more of an attitude/outside influence question about feelings toward school.  This would allow me to include higher as well as lower achieving students.  I’m curious to see how the views about school between these two groups differ.  Maybe (probably not) I can pinpoint something in my school that causes students to perform at a low level.  Please let me know what you all think about this shift, even if you think I am being an idiot for changing this late in the game.  I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

So, I thought I would get on here and post what I have been doing with my inquiry.  I have really done nothing.  That sounds terrible, but I am struggling with everything I have to do this semester without including my inquiry.  I do not want to sound like I am whining because I am not; I am just letting you all know that I am not doing a good job on this project thus far.  Is anyone coasting through their info gathering?  Hopefully mine will pick up during the second quarter of this semester.  Now you know what I have done…squat.

Well, my progress right now is slim to none.  I’ve thought about my research a lot, but it seems like the last six weeks have been nothing but school, school, school.  Now that we are more into the routine of things around school, I feel like my research will pick back up again.  I hope so, at least.

Hello all.  I thought I would give an update as to where I am thus far.  I still have not decided on exactly who I will use as my sample for this study.  I have a short list, but I still have to narrow it down.  I have done some activities with choice so far, but the results have not really been any different than my previous experience.

Hi, everyone.  I still need to post my action plan.  I have it, but I haven’t posted yet.  Most of my action will happen in the spring anyway. 

My survey has had ten responses.  That’s a nice start.  My favorite comment is, “I teach writing-not forms.” 

I got a letter from the state department from the man in chrage of testing.  It was interesting.  His comment was something to the effect of teachers should teach the FPE but then change to some other form of writing later.  Interesting…

This week was our first week back with students, and I have to admit that aside from getting up early and struggling to get back into the routine it was a great week.  So far my classes have gone really well, which given the reputation of this year’s class is not small feat.  However, I really try not to be too heavily influenced by other teacher’s opinions because I think it’s important to at least give everyone a fair chance for a fresh start.  When students completed their info sheets, they also completed the survey on writing I had compiled.  The surveys definitely made for an interesting evening of reading.  One thing I was surprised by was that only about ten students out of almost a hundred could pinpoint an experience that had influenced the way they felt about writing.  These experiences were split almost 50/50 between positive (a teacher who praised their work, good grades on writitng assignments) and negative (complaints of sloppy handwriting, poor grades on writing assignments).  I had anticipated that more students would have a significant experience to record.  I realize that their responses do not necessarily mean that these formative experiences did not occur but that they may have either forgotten about them or did not feel they were significant enough to record.  On the question asking for the hardest part of writing for school, the two answers reported with the most frequency were getting started and having enough to write about.  Those answers were about what I had expected.  Finally, when asked for suggestions as to what we could do to make writing better or less painful, the top two responses were allowing students to choose their topics and writing on topics that mattered to them.  After reading the surveys and taking into account their responses, I have decided that most of our writing the first six weeks will be directly related to the students.

I sent home parent letters explaining my research and asking for permission to use student work provided I think it will be beneficial to my study.  I have been very impressed with the number of parents who have marked “yes” on the form giving me permission to use their child’s work.  Right now I only have two students whose parents marked no.  When I explained my research project to my classes, they seemed very interested in both what I had to say and what I am hoping to do or prove this year.  I had thought they might just blow if off with a “whatever” so its reception was a welcome surprise.

So far we have written four lies and a truth, four true statements and one false one, about ourselves and read them aloud.  After a student reads his/her list, the class has to try and figure out which is the lie.  It made for lots of laughs and a good time as students learned some very interesting and unknown information about one another.  We compiled lists in four catgories (expert, things that bug me, waiting, and disappointments) to use as potential writing topics in the future.  We also created a found poem with these categories in which students wrote down one item in the topic I picked on a sheet of paper that was circulated around the room.  I then typed up the found poems and posted them on the walls along with their personal crests they created which provide additional information about each student.  We spent several minutes one day drafting a piece about one of their truths that they selected from their four truths and a lie.  We also drafted a letter to ourselves to be opened in the spring.

I was pleased because the students have been pretty willing to participate and share thus far, and when it’s been time to write students have spent most of the alotted time engaged in writing.  Right now I feel positive about the year and am curious to see what this will mean for my research.