More on Garfield

According to McKenna and Kear (1990), suggests measuring classroom averages from the beginning to the end of the school year to determine growth and progress of a group of students. However they do not encourage comaring individual students growth from beginning to end. They state, "the pre/post difference would, in general, need to be 5 points or more on either the academic or recreational subscale before any real change coudld be assumed. On the total score, the pre/post difference would, in general, be 7 or 8 points." (McKenna and Kear, 1990).

My Data:

• Individual Students:
•  Sam's recreational reading score improved from 26 to 31 (5pts)
• Amanda's recreational reading score improved from 26 to 31 (5pts)
• Amanda's total reading attitude score improved from 57 to 66 (9pts)
• Brittneys academic reading attitude score improved from 26 to 34 (8 pts)
• Brittney's total reading attitude score improved from 56 to 64 (8 pts)

 ** The survey shows that the implementation of the Daily 5 did increase 3 of my 8 focus students' individual attitudes towards reading. **

• Focus Group Beginning:

                Recreational- 58%
                Academic- 58%
                Total- 59%

• Focus Group Ending:

               Recreational- 38%
               Academic- 53%
              Total- 46%

**This data shows that according to the Garfield Reading Attitude Survey my focus group's attitude towards reading actually decreased as they participated in Daily Five reading activities.

• Thinking about this data really disapoints me. Mostly because I feel like my students are much more excited about reading and writing after watching them participate in Daily 5 and having discussions with them about reading. Maybe the attitude survey is not a great way to measure or compare. I will figure out how to handle this data as I move forward...

Here are a few notes that would explain the differences in my scores.

• Hannah circled the happiest Garfield on the first test for every question. Therefore her score was as high as it possibly could have been. On the second survey she was much more honest, a more true reflection of the attitude I see her show about reading.
• Michael a student that answered very honestly on the first survey. However, he scored VERY poorly on the second reading attitude survey. I really doubt that his attitude decreased that much over the course of my study. Maybe I just caught him on a bad day?

What's Left??

I can't believe it.... but it is about time to wrap this thing up!

Here is what I have so far:

• Original DRAs
• Survey 1- Data and Analysis
• Survey 2- Data and Analysis
• 2 Garfield Attitude Surveys
• Field Notes- 5 Weeks worth

Here is what I still need to do:

• Re-do DRAs on my students
• Analyze the Garfield Attitude Surveys based on how the article describes

I cannot believe I am finished collecting data (except for DRAs) and am almost finished analyzing! This truly has been a much more successful process than I expected.

Then... onto my powerpoint presentation!

Analyzing Survey 2

Once again... I was pleased with the survey I gave to my focus group of students. They did a really good job answering the questions, and I think they were honest. I thought of a couple of questions after I typed up the survey. I had them answer these questions on notebook paper. They really struggled with these. I am not sure if it was because they were confused without having the question on the paper in front of them, or if my questions were not as clear. Oh well. I think I got some good data!

 

I have 4 themes that I found within this survey. I did not have any oddball post-its this time!

 

 

 

1. Behavior (purple)

2. A sense of autonomy or choices (orange)

3. Positive attitude towards Daily 5 (blue)

4. Helps academically (green)

 

Here is a picture of the memo I wrote about this survey.

 

Inductive Analysis

Well... I spent ALOT of time fretting about coding! As the semester went and we read more and more articles it just seemed like it would be a huge undertaking. After we had the last class, I felt much more comfortable about it, but still wasn't exactly sure how it would work for me.

I must say I am very pleasantly surprised! I have used inductive analysis to code the data for both of the surveys I gave. It is a very quick process to go through and write up post it notes about the ideas the students write about. Then I move the post its around on my desk as I put them into categories!

I have been much more successful with it than I would have expected back a few months ago. Yay!

Below is a picture of the data from my two surveys:

These surveys will be the biggest chunk of my data. I also have my Garfield reading attitude surveys and I will also be giving DRAs in the next week or so. I also have my field notes to back up the data I collected and provide good thick descriptions.

For now.... I have these major themes: (I am not sure about the wording for these- any suggestions would be fabulous!) Also.... can I have 5?

1. Students have positive attitudes about Daily 5. (blue- survey 1 and 2)
2. Daily 5 helps academically. (green- survey 1 and 2)
3. Daily 5 provides students with a sense of autonomy/ allows them to make their own choices (orange- survey 1 and 2)
4. Peers- work and learn together and its fun! (pink- survey 1)
5. Improves behavior (purple- survey 2)

Garfield Survey 2

I gave the Garfield Survey for the second time on Monday morning. I am starting to think I should have waited until later in the day, or maybe until Tuesday. I think I might have had a few kiddos that were grumpy about being at school that morning- because their attitude about reading had really dropped from the last time.

Here are a few pictures of the garfield survey from 3 different students:

Here is a picture of the results I got from the survey.

I was able to meet with my professor yesterday and she gave me some valuable information!
She told me not to compare the survey from February to March. I should go back and re-read the article that goes with the survey and check for the subsets that go together. This way I will be able to gather more information from the survey.

I hope to get to analyze this data further this afternoon, or this weekend. More coming soon!


I got the garfield survey from:

McKenna, M. C., Kear, D. J. (1990). Measuring attitude toward reading: A new tool for teachers.

         The Reading Teacher, 43 (9), 626-639.

Analyzing- Student Survey

Well... I just tried out the post it note method with my student surveys. I think It went pretty well! Here is a picture of what I endend up with!  (I have NO idea why it is sideways... ugh!)

 

**Updated** After speakin with my professor I have made a few changes to the way I coded.

 

Anyway... I came up with 3 themes and a few post its that are kind-of oddballs.

 

1. Students have positive thoughts about Daily 5.

• 8/8 like it
•  "I like reading"- John
• " It is fun" - Katherine (x2), Hannah, Brittney
• There were a variety of favorite stations
• There are plenty of books in the classroom library they like to read 8/8

2. Students enjoy working with thier peers.

• "It is not fun to read alone"- Brittney
• "They help you"- Sam
• "They help figure out words"- John and Sam
• "It's fun doing something with a partner"- Michael
• "You can talk"- Hannah
• Dislike being alone
• Would like expectatinons to have a voice level 1 instead of a 0 (all students)

3. Students say Daily 5 helps them academically.

• " It makes you smart"- Sarah
• " So I can be a better reader"- Brittney
• " You learn new things"- Sam

Oddball Postits:

• Dislike being still Sarah
• They like that there are no worksheets during Daily 5. They do not want to add worksheets.
• "You have to read and write alot" Hannah and Katherine

Overall, the results I got from my survey confirm many of the ideas that I found in my literature review. Especially about working with peers.

For example:
      I think providing my students a buddy, especially one with a slightly higher reading level, would increase reading confidence and reading attitudes. Research by Williams, Hendrick, and Tuschinski (2008) confirms my ideas. They say, “children appear to have high motivation to read when they will be sharing some aspect of their reading with others” (Williams, et. al, 2008,  p.136). The Boushey and Moser (2006) text provides a teacher with a step by step guide to teaching students to read to someone. Boushey and Moser (2006) recommend that students buddy read by, choral reading, echo reading, or taking turns reading pages.

Refrences:

Boushey, G., Moser, J. (2006). The daily five: Fostering literacy independence in the elementary

      Grades. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers. Williams, L.M, Hendrick, W.B, Tuschinski, L. (2008). Motivation: Going beyond testing to a

       lifetime of reading. Childhood Education, 84(3), 135-141 .

Field Notes 2-27

It was the BEST day ever!!

I swear, every student in my room was doing what they were supposed to be doing during Daily Five! Groups were productive, and it was quiet in the room. A first grade teacher's dream!

Here are pictures of my typed up field notes. I love the 2 column set up. It really works for me. It tells me what I see and what I think about it. I hope to start using the post it note method on some of my field notes this weekend!

Also, here are a few photos of the kids working today!

 

Read To Self- Amanda

 

 

Read to Buddy- Brittney

 

Listening To Reading- Katherine

 

Read to Self- Sarah