Family Dynamics

In my recent coding endeavors I have realized that many students have very busy lives.  One of my group members posted a set of questions she asked her parents (thanks Amy!) and it got me thinking.  I sent my parent questionnaire home today.  I modified it after coding my data when I found that many students lead quite busy lives.  It is not at all what I thought.  I had in my mind that students were just playing outside instead of working.  Granted, I have those as well, but I also have students whose lives are filled with practices, classes and they also attend the classes of their siblings!  All of these things go on during the week.  I have always made it a practice to hand out homework on a nightly basis and it is supposed to be returned the next day with the exception of spelling.  To my surprise, students have responded with the difficulty they have in completing assignments on some nights.  I spoke on another blog entry about a mother who said she liked the way the previous years teacher had homework due.  It was sent home on Monday and Collected on Friday.  I am very interested in what my parents will have to say on the questionnaire that went home today.  That can be viewed here.  I wanted to see what else parents had to say about homework, not just the parents in my classroom.  I will share a quote from one article I found.  This mother is also a clinical child psychologist who teaches psychology.  McReynolds (2005) states "I remember what my children and I used to do before homework took over our lives.  We ate dinner together, telling stories about our days.  We read together.  Sometimes we played cards or Monopoly.  Once we made an entire gingerbread town.  The children had time to themselves too.  Time to play, time to go outside, time to do nothing." (p. 10).  I think this encompass what I have been hearing from my students through my data.  Looking back, I wish I would have sent home questionnaires at the beginning of my study to reflect a before and after of my students and their relationship with homework.  Better yet, it would have been very beneficial to send a survey home where parents could share with me what it is like for them at home.  I am curious whether or not the parents in my classroom would agree with McReynolds (2005) and what she describes as her relationship with her children "before homework took over [their] lives" (p. 10).  

McReynolds, K. (2005).  Homework. Encounter: Education for meaning and social justice,18(2), 9-13.

More Coding...

The second type of coding that I started to do was on the Student Surveys that I had students complete on day 1 of my action research.  I had them complete this earlier in the day before I announced that we would be changing everything around as far as homework goes.  The inductive analysis process seemed much easier in class when we were working as a group on this type of coding, but on my own I feel just as lost as I was when coding my interviews.  I decided to take it in chunks.  Then, I had to break it down even further.  I ended up writing out the answers to each question (there were 6 questions in all with an additional 2 that needed to be answered with a yes or no).  I have not finished this process yet, but I realize now that I will be typing the last two questions up instead of hand writing them on paper.  I'm not sure why I didn't do that initially?  I am still in the very beginning stages of this coding process, but I wanted to share what I have so far.  I am just at the point where I am preparing the data to be able to more easily look at it for commonalities.  I am going to find commonalities within each question.  These are the sheets that I have so far from questions 1-4.  Those are the responses from all of my students. Some of my students wrote no under the question about giving suggestions on how to change the homework and I didn't record anything for those students since there were no suggestions.  I also figured out how to upload all of the transcribed interviews that I coded, in case anyone wanted to have a look.  All 6 interviews with the level one coding can be found here.  I'll be working hard this week to complete my analysis and find themes that emerge from all of this data.  It sure is time consuming though!  =)

Coding the Data (YIKES)

Shew-we, that took forever.  I have 6 transcribed interviews and I wasn't sure if I was going to code all of them.  I just finished the first level of my grounded analysis.  Pulling out the action that was happening was difficult for me since my questions were not surrounded around actions, more feelings.  That led to many of my students just agreeing or disagreeing with the question that I had asked.  I guess those were gerunds that I could have used!  Honestly, I didn't think about that.  I realize now that I didn't do what I have been asking of my students all year long!  I asked many thin questions, for those of you out there reading this who are not in the education profession that means questions that can be answered with a yes or no.  Or at least that is one of the ways I try to get this across to my students.  Funny that I didn't create thick questions myself!  Not so funny really, I think that I could have got a lot more out of the students I interviewed if I had asked thick questions.  I plan on improving the questions that I have as well as adding some that another blogger posted in her study on homework (thanks for sharing Amy)!

In doing all of this coding, I have come to many "oh, why didn't I think of that" moments.  One such moment was when I realized that I should have had interviews before I started the change in homework, or at least day one of my study.  That way I could have seen a clear before and after picture.  I have student surveys that I will hopefully be able to judge that from and parent surveys which will go out near the end of my study which will also hopefully assist in this, but I realize that I could have got a lot more rich data from the interviews done in the same fashion.

The data so far has me wondering how some students have been able to accomplish the homework I had been giving.  After listening to students with different rates of completion for homework I see how busy my kids are after school.  This reminded me of two parents who discussed this with me at a field trip during the start of my action research.  They stated how much they liked the way that the 2nd grade teachers (last years teachers) assigned homework.  I didn't have a recorder unfortunately, but I did ask for more details.  The one mother said that her son has after school day care, sports practice and sometimes even games as well.  At the time, I thought that was an isolated case.  After coding my interviews I see that many of my kids have after school obligations.  Some of them are not even for them, but for siblings and they just attend.  These are things I had never taken into consideration as I am not a parent yet myself.

The data from my interviews did seem to answer my question about what students were enjoying.  Overall, they students that I interviewed liked the spelling tic-tac-toe choice board.  I can counter that with the fact that many students didn't mention reading unless to state their ill feelings towards it.  Here is one of my interviews that I have coded.

Depressing Realizations

As I attempt to embark on coding the masses of data that I have already taken in it is overwhelming.  I feel as though I have my head wrapped around the process involved in coding each piece of data that I have collected.  The depressing realization is that I won't be able to code everything.  I am not sure how exactly I am going to sift through all of my student journals for example.  I have been handing out a student journal to all 23 of my students EACH WEEK.  That is 115 student journals so far, and I have only just completed week 5.  I feel like I am at a cross roads, do I attempt to do it, attempt to code all 115 student journals thus far or change my plan up and work with the data from a smaller group of children?  My original idea was to work with a focus group.  I changed that original idea when I made small changes to my research question.  At this point I'm not even sure WHY I decided to change it from a small group of students to the entire class.  I realize now, that it won't be possible to sift through that many student journals.  I do think it is important to use all of the student surveys though.  There is only one set of those from the beginning of my study and if I the coding completed on that set, then the next group of student surveys at the conclusion of the study will not be so overwhelming.  Not to mention the parent surveys that I will also be collecting at the conclusion of the study.  I had all of these great ideas about what I was going to investigate and what conclusion(s) I might find.  Right now, I feel like I haven't found anything at all.  This is especially depressing as I am at the near conclusion of my action research and I should have something to show for it.  

Interviews

I interviewed six of my students.  Most of them didn't last very long at all, but one student had a lot of opinions to offer.  The interview transcription can be found here.  This is a student who always turned in her homework before we changed the homework system.  She  also always turns in her homework now.  She also saves her sticks, this week she only used 6 sticks in the stick store.  This week, it got to a point where I had to borrow sticks from her and give her an I owe you post it note to keep in her stick bag because I didn't have any more sticks to give to those who were turning in homework.  This was not because so many students were turning in homework this week.  It was because we had not had stick store in a long time.

I also interviewed another student who never did his homework before when it was required.  However, now, with the reward he has been completing spelling assignments on a regular basis.  Here is his interview.  I found it interesting that when I asked him if he has done more or less homework with the change in our homework policy he said that he does the same amount, which is not the case, he does more!

The Different Looks of Free Time (Thick Description)

Homework has just been handed out and one table has two students who are taking advantage of the free time to get some of their homework done.  Two students at this table are concentrated on getting as much spelling homework done as they can.  They are not wasting time looking around the room, or chatting with others at their table.  These two students only take their eyes off of their notebook paper to look for the next spelling word to write.  Two girls that sit at this table are using the time to finish up a math assignment that they need to complete in order to have recess tomorrow.  One of the girls works out a problem and then moves on to look through her Scholastic book order which happens to be sitting next to her on her desk.  While the other student working on math  is very pre-occupied with looking around the room to see what everyone else is doing.  There is yet another student at this table who has chose to use his time different from everyone else.  He has his homework out and in front of him, but is completely enamored by the mechanical pencil that he is taking apart.  It is now time to move on so I tell the class to pack up their things to get ready to leave the classroom for lunch.  One of the students that is described above who has been working hard on completing a spelling homework assignment shouts out to the other student (who was also working hard on a spelling assignment) and says "I almost finished it, I got done with one!  Then, I started another one!"

A Shift in the Numbers

Last week 15 students returned some sort of homework assignment.  This week only 12 did.  This week I had another teacher video tape me handing out homework to the students in efforts to be able to write a thick description for my case study.  As a result, she was shocked at the number of students who opted out of reading.  She asked the class "Who reads every night at home?" a lot of hands went up.  She said, "so you'll get sticks for doing what you already do?!"  Another student commented "I know, RIGHT?!" It was quite comical, and it resulted in four students returning to the table to take reading homework.  Sadly, only one of those students actually returned some reading homework.  That seems to be the mood for this week.  It is back to "the usual’s" that are completing their homework.  I have continued to hand out 2 sticks this week, but I haven't seen the results that I did last week.  I'm not sure what to attribute this to.  I have thought of increasing the stick count again... but I'm not sure.  I have had one student try to hand in an unlimited amount of spelling assignments.  I wasn't quite sure what to do about that?  One day she handed in four spelling assignments.  We have always only done three, but I gave her the sticks anyways.  I didn't think much of it.  Then, two days later she turned in another two spelling assignments.  I didn't realize that she had already turned in more than all of the assignment.  Then the next day she tried to give me one more, and I looked back at my documentation and told her she had already turned in more than enough spelling.  I didn't give her any sticks but I told her I would take the assignment.  What are your thought on this?  No other student has tried to max out the homework.  When I asked her why she kept doing spelling assignments even thought she had turned in the three she started to giggle and said "I wanted more sticks!"  That is a good thing!  However, I feel like the reward part of this is lost on many students.  

Handing Out Homework (Thick Description)

Table by table students were called up to the kidney table to collect homework.  This has been the routine in my classroom for the last three weeks.  The sheer joy and lack of guilt can be seen in the actions and faces of many students as they come up to my table to collect a stack of February book orders and decline the reading and spelling homework that is offered.  One student who is strong in math approaches the table, responds with a quick "nothing".  While taking a closer look at what is sitting next to me she asks for last week's math homework.  The next group of students slowly approaches the table to accept or deny the homework.  Those die hard homework fans approach with a confident "I'll take both" before they even scan the sheets on the table.  They are the students who know that they easy reward of a whapping two sticks awaits each sheet of paper they return tomorrow.  Meanwhile, others only take spelling homework because "everyone knows that is the easiest to do".

Half of the next summoned table comes at a slow pace while the remaining students from the table pop up out of their seat and prance like Peter Pan does through the sky on their way over.  "Could they be this excited for homework this week?"  I think to myself as I proudly perk myself up in my chair.  Of course not, I'm also giving out book orders... come on!  The eager spirit of the last table can be seen through every member of the next group to approach.  Now defeated by the last table, I expect this response is for the book orders, not the homework.  However, each student collects at least once assignment that is offered.

As the last table to be called approaches yet another student inquires about math homework.  This student is one that struggles with math.  My grin from ear to ear conveys "I'm so proud of him for asking" as I answer him.  I start to ponder how many more students would like to have seen math homework today?

Some Thoughts

After looking over this weeks Student Journals, I noted five students who said they completed more homework this week with the increase in sticks.  I also had one student who wrote about how she wanted reading to go back to the old way we had done it, where students are asked to write a summary for their reading each night.  I found her response interesting since many students initially stated in the student survey that they wanted something different for reading, something more fun like the spelling choice board.  In looking back at this students survey, I noticed that she stated that she would not do homework if she didn't have to.  However, each week since the change in homework, she has completed spelling and/or math homework.  Her initial survey can be seen below.  This is the student survey I handed out day one of the research study, before I announced I would no longer require homework to be completed each night.

While making a better effort to familiarize myself with my data, I now realize that the way I have been collecting data may need to be changed.  I have been circling the assignment that students return as well as marking tallies with the circle to indicate if more than one assignment was turned in.  Then, at the bottom I have been totaling the number of assignments turned in.  When I have been totaling the number of assignments turned in at the bottom of the sheet (which can be seen below) I have not been adding in the additional assignments (if students turned in more than one each day).  I'm not sure that this is the best way to do this.  I think I will have to go back through and keep running totals for each week,  not each day.  I am not sure how to best represent my data for a quick glance at totals for each sheet and I do not want to wait until the end of the study to figure out how best to total them.  Hopefully this visual of the sheet that I am discussing will help to clarify my thoughts.

This sheet shows the running totals at the bottom of the sheet for each

day and assignment that was returned.

This sheet shows a closer look at the tallies I discuss above.  The students
with 3 tallies next to spelling turned in 3 spelling assignments that day.

Double the Reward Payed Off!

I left my last blog entry on a bit of a cliff hanger.  I wasn’t quite sure if I was going to change the reward to incorporate electronics, more sticks or candy.  I made a split decision Monday when I was handing out homework.  I actually completely forgot that I was going to increase or change the reward for completed homework until my first table of students had left with (or without) homework.  It was then, that I stopped to announce that I would now be giving out TWO sticks (not just one) for each complete assignment.  As I reflect back on that day I think it would have been great to have set up a camera to capture the side conversations that I couldn’t hear or the facial expressions that are now (and were then) lost on me.  While I lost out on documenting those things, I did manage to see all four students from my first table return for another assignment that they previously had not taken!  I thought I would see a big jump in the number of students who took homework this week.  That was not the case.  However, I DID notice some other things when comparing my data on who took homework from last week to this week.  Overall, for the number of students who took spelling I had a number increase of one from week 2 (14 students) to week 3 (15 students) and the number of students who took reading homework did not change, it stayed at 5 students.  Upon looking closer at which students actually took the homework, I noticed that there were 9 students from week two (last week) who did not take any homework (see chart below).

 
This week (week 3), there were only 2, yes TWO students that did not take any homework (and one of them was absent all week)!  The chart for week 3 can be seen below.

 

After looking over who had taken homework, I found it interesting to see that I had a change in who turned in homework as well!  Below you will find week 2 and 3 data sheets on the students who completed homework.

 

 

 



I had 5 students who did not turn in homework from week 1 or week 2 who DID turn in homework with the stick increase. I also had 2 students who had not completed homework from week 2, but did for this week! The sheet above (week 3) is not complete with who has turned in assignments because tomorrow is Friday and I have more data to collect, but I wanted to show you guys what I was talking about.

After looking over my data, I would say that the number of students both taking and completing homework has increased with the increase in reward!  It is really great to see students who previously NEVER even took homework RETURN it!  (And I love that I actually have the data to back up this conclusion!)  This has been a very encouraging week for me!

Change is in the Air

I have been toying with the idea of giving out more sticks for homework assignments.  In my first week of student journals only one student out of 23 commented on the reward for homework.

I didn't change anything in week 2 (last week) because I wanted to see if it might have just been an adjustment period and it might sink in with some time.  Having said that, I thought I would get the most bang for my buck when stick store opened up.  I am sad to say, that was not the case.  I had stick store on Friday and no one even commented on the correlation between homework and sticks.  In fact, one student didn't have enough sticks for what he wanted.  He was one stick short and I suggested he do some homework next week so he could make that purchase and he said, no, and bought something else.

Having said that, I was overly eager to hear some sort of feedback on the rewards and any thoughts related to that and homework.  I made the student journal prompt for week 2 "Share your thoughts on our reward for homework.  Would you like to see any changes?"  I wanted to take into consideration any of their suggestions before changing the amount of sticks.  To my surprise, many people wanted candy instead of or in addition to the sticks.  Of course, some wanted more sticks, and one unique entry stated that I should MAY do a cartwheel at the end of the week! =)

I foresee a lot of fun when it comes time to code this set of student journals!  I did take special note to one entry where a student suggested to sit where they want, play on the computer or bring in electronics to use at recess.  I am seriously thinking about doing something with electronics in my study.  Student are occasionally allowed to bring electronics in for what we call "Fun Friday" which is filtered through our school wide behavior system.  Needless to say, that is not an option all the time.  The kids only ever get one of those days once, possibly twice in a quarter, and only on Friday.  I never considered electronics in relation to the reward with the homework.  What are your thoughts on this?  My only quandary with this is... would those that brought back ALL of the homework be allowed to have electronics during recess on Friday?  Or, just anyone who brings in one assignment throughout the week?  I feel as though I am in a trial and error point in my study, but I also don't want to throw too many variables into the mix and make it difficult to later decipher what worked best to uplift student attitudes toward homework.  I'll be changing it tomorrow, I'm going to think on it some more before I decide WHAT exactly will change.

Take it into Consideration

After parent teacher conferences this week, the element of what parents thought was weighing on me.  In my action research I don't have anything planned for the opinions of parents.  This got me thinking "is there anything out there about parent opinions on homework"?  One article, Making Homework work at Home: The Parent's Perspective (to find complete article see complete citation below) found that parents had a lot to say about the homework their students were bringing home.

The research conducted by Kay, Fitzgerald, Paradee & Mellencamp (1994) found five themes:

1. Parents felt ill-prepared to help their children with homework.
2. Parents needed more information about the classroom teachers' expectations of their child and of their own roles in helping with homework.
3. Parents wanted their children to be given homework assignments that were appropriate for them as individual learners.
4. Parents valued and even enjoyed hands-on homework and projects in which the whole family could participate.
5. Parents wanted an extensive two-way communication system that would allow them to become partners on their child's instructional team.
*As the themes are described, the term parents, will mean the parents of students with disabilities, unless otherwise noted. (p. 554)

Remembering back to last week, I had two parents chaperon our class field trip.  Somehow they got onto the subject of homework.  One of the parents told me that she liked the way homework was handed out last year when it was given out on Monday and collected by the teacher Friday.  When I asked her why to gain more understanding on the reason behind it she said that some night it is hard to get homework done with so many after school activities going on.  When it was all due on Friday they would work towards doing more homework on the days their schedule would allow for it and still have everything turned in by Friday without the stress of cramming it in on their busy nights.  Since I am not a parent myself yet, that thought never dawned on me!

I also had one father tell me during parent teacher conferences "Whatever you're doing, it's working!  She completed like five spelling assignments this week!"  That was encouraging since other parents told me "My child won't take homework if it is an option and I want them to have it, so just give it to him!"

Considering everything, it was a fast week and I feel as though I didn't complete nearly as much as I wanted to.  My class took the MAP test three days this week, we had an early release day with a school wide meeting before conferences and Friday got started with a delay due to the snow (or at least with what Kentucky calls snow).  =)

I am looking forward to next week after watching the video about data.  I feel much better and I have more clarity on what exactly I should be writing down throughout the day.  My notebook of observational notes is still light since I'm not really sure when or what I should be observing, but I will do better next week.

References

Kay, P. J., Fitzgerald, M., Paradee, C., & Mellencamp, A. (1994). Making homework work at home: The parent's perspective. Journal of learning disabilities, 27(9), 550-561.