Significance
Two very effective practices that I have learned throughout the research process is using collaborative projects as well as establishing norms within the classroom. Although difficult, asking students to work together is a necessary skill for them to acquire in the classroom.
Community Developed norms are a powerful tool to hold students accountable to
Once the students developed the norms, they were definitely holding each other accountable to the norms that they set for themselves. The students saw that there were things about group work that they did no t like but they never voiced out. By creating a safe space for students to develop norms and agree on the norms for the projects, I saw that community was being developed as well as collaboration was improving within the projects.
Once interesting aspect of creating norms that I noticed is that students would not only hold each other accountable to the norms that they set but that there was an ongoing desire to improve the norms and to adapt it as they saw fit. After the first project of phase 2, the students did not hesitate to add to the norms and were very vocal about doing it. (This is in comparison to the first time they were asked to create norms and were hesitant about it).
Developing Community in the classroom supports learning
One thing that I noticed was that as we continued to use community building exercises students started to communicate better with each other in their projects. I noticed an increase in quality of the projects that were created, this occurred in writing, presentations, and overall grade.
Active listening plays a role in developing collaboration skills. By teaching students how to listen to each other, it encouraged learning during activities and projects.
Collaboration for projects requires detailed attention from the teacher
Projects were effective because they allowed for adaptation. Each project changed slightly to support the needs of the classroom. There were a total of 5 projects during both phases of Action Research, and during each project there were aspects that were changed to support the learning of students. I saw that by adapting these projects, students became more successful in collaboration and building community.
Initially I thought that creating a project that required groups to work together would be enough for them to learn how to collaborate. During the course of the two phases I realized that the effectiveness of collaborative projects lies not in the "do it in groups" but it lies in the instruction of how students are asked to work together. An example of an adaptation is the use of graphic organizers and carefully picked presentation tools help support learning at the individual level. By asking students to be accountable for their individual work, it helped students contribute at the group level.
Graphic Organizers were an essential part of group work
The use of graphic organizers was a key essential in getting students to learn to work together. Prior to asking them to fill out graphic organizers, students would just research facts from websites and place them in the project. This allowed for students who were lazy to participate in the research and discussions. Once I required students to fill out a graphic organizer, I noticed many of the students starting to share with each other and collaborate more effectively.
Community Developed norms are a powerful tool to hold students accountable to
Once the students developed the norms, they were definitely holding each other accountable to the norms that they set for themselves. The students saw that there were things about group work that they did no t like but they never voiced out. By creating a safe space for students to develop norms and agree on the norms for the projects, I saw that community was being developed as well as collaboration was improving within the projects.
Once interesting aspect of creating norms that I noticed is that students would not only hold each other accountable to the norms that they set but that there was an ongoing desire to improve the norms and to adapt it as they saw fit. After the first project of phase 2, the students did not hesitate to add to the norms and were very vocal about doing it. (This is in comparison to the first time they were asked to create norms and were hesitant about it).
Developing Community in the classroom supports learning
One thing that I noticed was that as we continued to use community building exercises students started to communicate better with each other in their projects. I noticed an increase in quality of the projects that were created, this occurred in writing, presentations, and overall grade.
Active listening plays a role in developing collaboration skills. By teaching students how to listen to each other, it encouraged learning during activities and projects.
Collaboration for projects requires detailed attention from the teacher
Projects were effective because they allowed for adaptation. Each project changed slightly to support the needs of the classroom. There were a total of 5 projects during both phases of Action Research, and during each project there were aspects that were changed to support the learning of students. I saw that by adapting these projects, students became more successful in collaboration and building community.
Initially I thought that creating a project that required groups to work together would be enough for them to learn how to collaborate. During the course of the two phases I realized that the effectiveness of collaborative projects lies not in the "do it in groups" but it lies in the instruction of how students are asked to work together. An example of an adaptation is the use of graphic organizers and carefully picked presentation tools help support learning at the individual level. By asking students to be accountable for their individual work, it helped students contribute at the group level.
Graphic Organizers were an essential part of group work
The use of graphic organizers was a key essential in getting students to learn to work together. Prior to asking them to fill out graphic organizers, students would just research facts from websites and place them in the project. This allowed for students who were lazy to participate in the research and discussions. Once I required students to fill out a graphic organizer, I noticed many of the students starting to share with each other and collaborate more effectively.
Limitations
Limitations of a student teacher as a researcher
Balancing the objectives as a teacher and researcher was difficult.
It was often difficult to maintain the focus of researching collaboration and community while making sure the students were learning the content. Especially during the civil rights movement project my passion of allowing students to see the injustices of our society today often made me overlook the collaborative and communtiy aspect of the research. Juggling the extrinsic (content oriented) objectives with the intrinsic research oreiented objectives was a difficult balance to maintain.
Also as a student teacher it was often difficult to do what I wanted to do with the class. I wanted to make sure that I had accomplished teaching all of the content before focusing on the research objectives.
Limitations of Time
Time to develop a community in a classroom limited the effectiveness of collaboration in the projects.
Starting off second semester when students had already established unspoken norms of interactions within the classroom during the first semester made it difficult to change the dynamics of the classroom. One example of a norm in the class is that students spent a lot of time doing individual work and were not used to doing group work. I spent the most of the semester trying to gain their trust as a student teacher, that by the time the students started to share with each other and talk to each other, the end of the school year was near.
By the time we started establishing norms, the end of the school year was already in sight. As the school year wound down, we found ourselves having to spend a week on state mandated testing. This took away time that I had originally wanted to spend on elaborating on the norms that were created. Instead of spending 1 week on a project, a week on developing the norms, and another week for the final project, we were left with a gap in between the projects. So when we returned to working on the projects, students had to think back and try to remember the difficulties and challenges of the previous project.
If I had more time I would have also incorporated different methods of grouping students. I attempted to see how student choice affected the grouping of students and realized that it was not as effective.
Balancing the objectives as a teacher and researcher was difficult.
It was often difficult to maintain the focus of researching collaboration and community while making sure the students were learning the content. Especially during the civil rights movement project my passion of allowing students to see the injustices of our society today often made me overlook the collaborative and communtiy aspect of the research. Juggling the extrinsic (content oriented) objectives with the intrinsic research oreiented objectives was a difficult balance to maintain.
Also as a student teacher it was often difficult to do what I wanted to do with the class. I wanted to make sure that I had accomplished teaching all of the content before focusing on the research objectives.
Limitations of Time
Time to develop a community in a classroom limited the effectiveness of collaboration in the projects.
Starting off second semester when students had already established unspoken norms of interactions within the classroom during the first semester made it difficult to change the dynamics of the classroom. One example of a norm in the class is that students spent a lot of time doing individual work and were not used to doing group work. I spent the most of the semester trying to gain their trust as a student teacher, that by the time the students started to share with each other and talk to each other, the end of the school year was near.
By the time we started establishing norms, the end of the school year was already in sight. As the school year wound down, we found ourselves having to spend a week on state mandated testing. This took away time that I had originally wanted to spend on elaborating on the norms that were created. Instead of spending 1 week on a project, a week on developing the norms, and another week for the final project, we were left with a gap in between the projects. So when we returned to working on the projects, students had to think back and try to remember the difficulties and challenges of the previous project.
If I had more time I would have also incorporated different methods of grouping students. I attempted to see how student choice affected the grouping of students and realized that it was not as effective.
Reflection
The overarching question that I attempted to learn about was "how can I create a collaborative learning environment that builds a sense of community?" This question implies that using collaboration can build a sense of community in a classroom, and it also means that collaborative effectiveness can result in building a community. What I learned through Action Research was that collaboration does not inherently support community building in the classroom, but rather community building in the classroom supports collaboration.
Community skills are greater than collaboration skills
My largest mistake from this AR was that I spent a great deal of time hoping that pushing students towards collaborative projects would help them build a community within the classroom. I realized early on in the research that placing them in the vicinity of each other does not make them talk to each other, and just because I gave them a project to do together does not mean that they need to communicate with each other in order to finish the project. What was more important was the importance of having the skills to collaborate, which comes from having a community within the classroom.
I learned that the foundation to collaboration is a willingness to work together, almost a sort of trust that they need of each other. This trust came through talking and listening to each other, and the ongoing development of these skills. The skill of active listening for students helped them create a relationship that did carry into the way they approached the project and collaboration.
As an educator, I have learned the value community in collaboration. I have learned that as I continue in my teaching career, I will need to implement ways for community to be encouraged in the classroom in order for students to be more willing to work with each other. Establishing a healthy classroom environment is one important part of being a teacher. This Action Research project has helped me understand the tools of active listening, creating norms, and group projects can encourage students to collaborate.
Tools are essential to support a classroom
Using student feedback forms and gauging student responses and analyzing the response will be very helpful in the future. It was enlightening to see how big of a role a graphic organizer could be. After the first few projects, I saw that the individual efforts that students put in showed that creating projects and rubrics required careful thought. Through this Action Research, I have realized that it is in the most basic components that we are challenged the most. These basic tools such as norms and graphic organizers can make a big difference to encourage certain students.
Consciously gathering data is important in my development as an educator
Throughout this entire Action Research, I have learned that there is a constant amount of data that students give through their assessments, interactions with each other, and participation in the class. During Action Research I have learned the importance of gathering data, but more importantly comparing different forms of data to develop strategies to support the classroom environment. Although my data collection tools and methods were fairly simple (observations and student feedback forms), I was able to learn a lot about my students. More important about learning about students, I learned to see what practices I used were effective and ineffective. Action Research has been a very important factor in my development as a young educator and has shaped the way I have approached post-assessment evaluations.
Final Thoughts:
In the end, I believe that Action Research has changed the way that I approach the development of classroom activities, classroom environment, and my teaching career. From creating norms to using projects to gauge student learning, I have grown immensely in the way I view my responsibilities as a teacher. Students feedback showed that it had not only improved my teaching abilities but of the students as well. Action Research has shown me that a teacher's classroom values will be constantly challenged through difficult circumstances. Teaching might not always end up the way you expect, but it does help teachers learn about their practices. Action Research has proved very useful, and I know that I will continue to use Action Research for my personal development. The process of investigating a wondering to writing it down to adapting my classroom practices will undoubtedly make me a better teacher.
Community skills are greater than collaboration skills
My largest mistake from this AR was that I spent a great deal of time hoping that pushing students towards collaborative projects would help them build a community within the classroom. I realized early on in the research that placing them in the vicinity of each other does not make them talk to each other, and just because I gave them a project to do together does not mean that they need to communicate with each other in order to finish the project. What was more important was the importance of having the skills to collaborate, which comes from having a community within the classroom.
I learned that the foundation to collaboration is a willingness to work together, almost a sort of trust that they need of each other. This trust came through talking and listening to each other, and the ongoing development of these skills. The skill of active listening for students helped them create a relationship that did carry into the way they approached the project and collaboration.
As an educator, I have learned the value community in collaboration. I have learned that as I continue in my teaching career, I will need to implement ways for community to be encouraged in the classroom in order for students to be more willing to work with each other. Establishing a healthy classroom environment is one important part of being a teacher. This Action Research project has helped me understand the tools of active listening, creating norms, and group projects can encourage students to collaborate.
Tools are essential to support a classroom
Using student feedback forms and gauging student responses and analyzing the response will be very helpful in the future. It was enlightening to see how big of a role a graphic organizer could be. After the first few projects, I saw that the individual efforts that students put in showed that creating projects and rubrics required careful thought. Through this Action Research, I have realized that it is in the most basic components that we are challenged the most. These basic tools such as norms and graphic organizers can make a big difference to encourage certain students.
Consciously gathering data is important in my development as an educator
Throughout this entire Action Research, I have learned that there is a constant amount of data that students give through their assessments, interactions with each other, and participation in the class. During Action Research I have learned the importance of gathering data, but more importantly comparing different forms of data to develop strategies to support the classroom environment. Although my data collection tools and methods were fairly simple (observations and student feedback forms), I was able to learn a lot about my students. More important about learning about students, I learned to see what practices I used were effective and ineffective. Action Research has been a very important factor in my development as a young educator and has shaped the way I have approached post-assessment evaluations.
Final Thoughts:
In the end, I believe that Action Research has changed the way that I approach the development of classroom activities, classroom environment, and my teaching career. From creating norms to using projects to gauge student learning, I have grown immensely in the way I view my responsibilities as a teacher. Students feedback showed that it had not only improved my teaching abilities but of the students as well. Action Research has shown me that a teacher's classroom values will be constantly challenged through difficult circumstances. Teaching might not always end up the way you expect, but it does help teachers learn about their practices. Action Research has proved very useful, and I know that I will continue to use Action Research for my personal development. The process of investigating a wondering to writing it down to adapting my classroom practices will undoubtedly make me a better teacher.