This week I typed up a sheet with a prompt for the first Student Journal. When I started to create this I found myself listing a lot of questions and it felt more like a survey or questionnaire and not a journal. Backing up to try to give less with the hope of getting more I gave only the question "What are your opinions on homework the way we have done it this week?" I will say, when I handed it out and read the prompt aloud, one student commented "I hope we do this again next week!" I guess all my efforts to fully explain this have fallen short. =)
After reviewing the responses, many students only wrote a few sentences. I noticed many mis-directed responses as well. Many of them included things about studying spelling words to do well on our spelling test. Others wrote just that they did not like homework or my personal favorite, one student responded with the reason for not being able to do homework because they had to eat! I suppose I should focus on the more fruitful responses one of which suggested that while the reading homework did change, the spelling homework did not and she would like to see that happen. Sadly, I only had ONE student mention the reward of sticks in their response!
My initial reason for including student journals was to document student thoughts in the event that during interviews students were shy and did not want to talk. I think it would be a good thing to continue, I am just a little lost on how I can get all of their opinions on homework without providing specific questions. Or, should I select only a few to respond using these journals? I am also struggling the the thought of interviews. I want to interview some students now, while the new look of homework in our class is fresh. Do you think I need to interview the same students now and at the conclusion of this study?
It should be another promising week full of confusion, and laughs. I hope that the class reading will help me this week to be better at writing field notes. Is anything in particular working well for anyone else in the area of field notes?
Free Images courtesy of Gecko Galz.
4 comments:
Well, I think you should interview the same students at the beginning and at the end of your study (but that is just me). I think it would be beneficial for you to see the impact your study had. Also, I was wondering what reward sticks were. Is it a positive reinforcement given for doing homework?
Just curious, have you gotten back all of your consent forms?
I asked if you have received them all since you have changed it from a handful of participants to the entire class. :)
I also believe that it may be best to interview the same group of students at the beginning and end. I think you will get a better picture of whether their opinions changed. It will also make it easier on you so you do not have to worry about who to pick. Maybe you could select one student who always brings homework, one that sometimes does, and one that rarely does.... Or pick a variety of performance levels to see how their opinions vary. These are just some thoughts = )
Thanks for your thoughts and suggestions ladies! Amy, the stick is just a popsicle stick, but they are used as our class currency. Once a month I have "Stick Store" and things are priced using the sticks. For example a pencil is 3 sticks. They can earn them different ways but they have never received sticks for homework before. Charis, I ended up going with your idea of one student who always brings in homework, one who sometimes does and another who never turns in homework. I actually interviewed two students from each category just to be safe in case anything were to happen by the end of the action research. Thank you for sharing ladies, it helps!
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