Implementation
As the purpose of this research is to develop a community atmosphere in the classroom, I needed to have my students start to learn about each other. The needs assessment showed that many students did not know the names of those who sat next to them.
Setting the foundation of building a sense of community within the classroom (Cycle 1)
In order for community to be a part of the classroom environment, I knew that I had to equip each student with the tools needed to build community. The first thing that I had the students do was a community building exercise, it was a simple exercise but it required students to do something that they had not done previously. I had the students ask each other what they did for the weekend. After that, I asked if anyone had a partner that did anything interesting that they would like to share. A few students shared, but most remained quiet during the class sharing portion of the exercise.
Plugging students in (on going cycle)
I wanted to implement twitter in the classroom as soon as possible, but I also wanted to do it in a timely manner. So for the week leading up to announcing twitter in the classroom, I would briefly mention to students the possibility of using social media in the classroom. There was a decent amount of interest by the students, and then on April 10, 2015 I took 15 minutes of the period to have students sign up for a twitter. Many of the students were excited to sign up for a Twitter account, while a few of them dragged their feet and were reluctant to sign up.
Developing engaging projects that promote collaboration.
Divide and Conquer (Project 1)
Many of the students in the class are not accustomed to doing group work, so to test the waters we did a 1920s magazine group project in which students were assigned groups of three and asked to produce a magazine that included: 3 writing pieces, a title, an advertisement, and a political cartoon. After explaining that students were able to use their iPads to search for sources, they were given 3 full days to complete the magazine. Many students began on their projects by splitting up the work into three and immediately went to work.
[Day 1] While they worked, I circled the classroom and was curious to see what topics the students were choosing.
[Day 2] I walked around with an observation guide; I was interested in the types of conversation that they were involved in with each other.
[Day 3] I reminded the students to include the different portions of the magazine, and asked each group who was doing what part. I wanted to know how each group was functioning, and whether or not the students were actually working in groups to support each other or just splitting up the work.
A Mix of Individual Work to Produce a Final Group Poster (Project 2)
After analyzing the results of the first project, I realized that many students were still getting to know their group members and still trying to understand the dynamics of working in a group. I knew that the results of the first project would not be sufficient evidence to gauge each student’s group involvement, and so I hoped that creating a second project with slight adaptations would foster better community within the classroom. There were several issues that arose from the first project; one big issue was that many of the sources that students drew their data from were unreliable sources. The second issue was that I wanted to incorporate an aspect in which each student would be able to contribute to the group.
Implementing another group project was the next step to create an opportunity for students to become more acquainted with working in their group. The project was an alphabet agency project in which students were required to research a specific alphabet agency as well as create a poster that represents the agency. One added requirement was that students were required to fill out an individual graphic organizer using sources that were provided. Another requirement was that students would be performing a gallery walk, and one of the members of the group would need to present to a small group. This project also lasted for 3 days, and the students were required to use the links for research that we provided them, so that the sources would be reliable.
[Day 1] Many of the groups spent the first day doing research and filling out a graphic organizer that was provided for them. I
[Day 2] Students were asked to begin their projects, and I observed the approach of various groups while they created their posters.
[Day 3] Each group was asked to send put their poster up on the wall, and they were asked to present what their alphabet agency did as well as how significant it was.
Setting the foundation of building a sense of community within the classroom (Cycle 1)
In order for community to be a part of the classroom environment, I knew that I had to equip each student with the tools needed to build community. The first thing that I had the students do was a community building exercise, it was a simple exercise but it required students to do something that they had not done previously. I had the students ask each other what they did for the weekend. After that, I asked if anyone had a partner that did anything interesting that they would like to share. A few students shared, but most remained quiet during the class sharing portion of the exercise.
Plugging students in (on going cycle)
I wanted to implement twitter in the classroom as soon as possible, but I also wanted to do it in a timely manner. So for the week leading up to announcing twitter in the classroom, I would briefly mention to students the possibility of using social media in the classroom. There was a decent amount of interest by the students, and then on April 10, 2015 I took 15 minutes of the period to have students sign up for a twitter. Many of the students were excited to sign up for a Twitter account, while a few of them dragged their feet and were reluctant to sign up.
Developing engaging projects that promote collaboration.
Divide and Conquer (Project 1)
Many of the students in the class are not accustomed to doing group work, so to test the waters we did a 1920s magazine group project in which students were assigned groups of three and asked to produce a magazine that included: 3 writing pieces, a title, an advertisement, and a political cartoon. After explaining that students were able to use their iPads to search for sources, they were given 3 full days to complete the magazine. Many students began on their projects by splitting up the work into three and immediately went to work.
[Day 1] While they worked, I circled the classroom and was curious to see what topics the students were choosing.
[Day 2] I walked around with an observation guide; I was interested in the types of conversation that they were involved in with each other.
[Day 3] I reminded the students to include the different portions of the magazine, and asked each group who was doing what part. I wanted to know how each group was functioning, and whether or not the students were actually working in groups to support each other or just splitting up the work.
A Mix of Individual Work to Produce a Final Group Poster (Project 2)
After analyzing the results of the first project, I realized that many students were still getting to know their group members and still trying to understand the dynamics of working in a group. I knew that the results of the first project would not be sufficient evidence to gauge each student’s group involvement, and so I hoped that creating a second project with slight adaptations would foster better community within the classroom. There were several issues that arose from the first project; one big issue was that many of the sources that students drew their data from were unreliable sources. The second issue was that I wanted to incorporate an aspect in which each student would be able to contribute to the group.
Implementing another group project was the next step to create an opportunity for students to become more acquainted with working in their group. The project was an alphabet agency project in which students were required to research a specific alphabet agency as well as create a poster that represents the agency. One added requirement was that students were required to fill out an individual graphic organizer using sources that were provided. Another requirement was that students would be performing a gallery walk, and one of the members of the group would need to present to a small group. This project also lasted for 3 days, and the students were required to use the links for research that we provided them, so that the sources would be reliable.
[Day 1] Many of the groups spent the first day doing research and filling out a graphic organizer that was provided for them. I
[Day 2] Students were asked to begin their projects, and I observed the approach of various groups while they created their posters.
[Day 3] Each group was asked to send put their poster up on the wall, and they were asked to present what their alphabet agency did as well as how significant it was.
Introducing Project 3
The third project asked students to research a specific topic in World War 2, and they were going to present the project, this time in front of the entire class. I changed the presentation method from a gallery walk into a presentation for the entire class in hopes that students would be held more accountable for their presentations. This project included various forms of student choice; they were allowed to choose the topic of research as well as their method of presenting the information (timeline, storybook, video, etc.)
[Day 1] Students were introduced the project, I observed to see whether or not students were using each other’s names. They used this day for research and to choose the way they would present their information. Initially, students seemed to be quite excited about the research project. I expected this to continue for the duration of the project since the topics of research were chosen by the groups and were engaging.
[Day 2,3] Students spent the day preparing their presentations. During these two days I observed student interactions to see whether or not students were working together or if they reverted to the method of “divide and conquer.”
[Day 4,5] Presentations were given and you could tell the difference between the group projects which were well collaborated on and the projects which students who split the work and combined it.
Frustrations Arise
Students were given 10 minutes to prepare their presentations at the beginning of day 4. During this time a student came up and said to me “Mr. Liew, I just wanted to let you know that I did most of the work, it’s no big deal but I did want to let you know.”
Moments later, I started to hear yelling and a student slammed his fist on the table. The student that came up to me and another student in the group were having a disagreement about the fairness of the group grading.
It took me a full minute to get them to stop arguing and take them outside. The two students who were arguing were not happy with the way work was divided in the group. The student who came up to me earlier said she did all of the work, and the reason that the second student stated was that the other student took the project and did everything. We resolved it by having each of the students write on a piece of paper the grade that they think they deserve and to justify it.
Choosing Groups
As a one-day assignment, the class was asked to examine Cold War Documents and answer questions. During this period long activity, I allowed the students to choose their own groups. I wanted to use this as a way to see which students enjoyed working together with students and those who preferred to work by themselves. Immediately when the assignment started, students started to break off into different parts of the room so that they could work. About half of the students decided to stay in their seats and work by themselves. Instead of trying to keep students on task, I allowed them to freely talk and observed the amounts of on task and off task interactions.
During this one-day assignment I attempted tweeting through another avenue. I wanted to have students use it to research facts and help each other with their projects. So I told students that they would be using Twitter to tweet facts and that they would be able to access those facts and put them in their project.
The third project asked students to research a specific topic in World War 2, and they were going to present the project, this time in front of the entire class. I changed the presentation method from a gallery walk into a presentation for the entire class in hopes that students would be held more accountable for their presentations. This project included various forms of student choice; they were allowed to choose the topic of research as well as their method of presenting the information (timeline, storybook, video, etc.)
[Day 1] Students were introduced the project, I observed to see whether or not students were using each other’s names. They used this day for research and to choose the way they would present their information. Initially, students seemed to be quite excited about the research project. I expected this to continue for the duration of the project since the topics of research were chosen by the groups and were engaging.
[Day 2,3] Students spent the day preparing their presentations. During these two days I observed student interactions to see whether or not students were working together or if they reverted to the method of “divide and conquer.”
[Day 4,5] Presentations were given and you could tell the difference between the group projects which were well collaborated on and the projects which students who split the work and combined it.
Frustrations Arise
Students were given 10 minutes to prepare their presentations at the beginning of day 4. During this time a student came up and said to me “Mr. Liew, I just wanted to let you know that I did most of the work, it’s no big deal but I did want to let you know.”
Moments later, I started to hear yelling and a student slammed his fist on the table. The student that came up to me and another student in the group were having a disagreement about the fairness of the group grading.
It took me a full minute to get them to stop arguing and take them outside. The two students who were arguing were not happy with the way work was divided in the group. The student who came up to me earlier said she did all of the work, and the reason that the second student stated was that the other student took the project and did everything. We resolved it by having each of the students write on a piece of paper the grade that they think they deserve and to justify it.
Choosing Groups
As a one-day assignment, the class was asked to examine Cold War Documents and answer questions. During this period long activity, I allowed the students to choose their own groups. I wanted to use this as a way to see which students enjoyed working together with students and those who preferred to work by themselves. Immediately when the assignment started, students started to break off into different parts of the room so that they could work. About half of the students decided to stay in their seats and work by themselves. Instead of trying to keep students on task, I allowed them to freely talk and observed the amounts of on task and off task interactions.
During this one-day assignment I attempted tweeting through another avenue. I wanted to have students use it to research facts and help each other with their projects. So I told students that they would be using Twitter to tweet facts and that they would be able to access those facts and put them in their project.