Impact on Students
My action research impacted student learning by increasing reading comprehension skills among my students in several areas. My students’ Fountas and Pinnell reading comprehension scores improved as a result of my action research and their bi-weekly comprehension assessment scores increased throughout my action research. Additionally, my students’ ability to respond to targeted comprehension questions during daily instruction improved throughout the course of my action research. Aside from scores improving, as a result of my targeted questioning instruction the confidence and energy my students had during small groups to answer questions grew exponentially. My students were no longer afraid to take a risk and answer questions they may not know for sure during small groups and throughout the day. The impact of my action research also spread beyond reading instruction. The impact my targeted questioning instruction had flowed into other content areas. My students were more engaged and thinking deeper about the science and social studies concepts we were studying and inquiring during our lessons to gain a better understanding of the content. Overall, my action research had a lasting impact on my students’ ability to think at various levels of cognition regarding any content.
Impact on my Teaching and Professional Growth
The experience of implementing action research has impacted my current teaching because it held me accountable to continue challenging myself and my students every day. I was constantly assessing myself and my students to ensure that we were both meeting our goals and growing each day. I held myself to a higher standard throughout the process of my action research than I had previously in the year, in terms of being the best guided reading teacher I could be for my students. Prior to my action research I had been in a rut with my guided reading instruction. I knew that I wanted to do better and be better for my students, but I did not know how to get there. My action research was the guide and the push I needed to actually take the steps in becoming a better guided reading teacher. This process also pushed me to become better at questioning my students in all content areas, not just during reading instruction. Collecting and analyzing data also impacted my current teaching. I had always heard that effective teachers use data to drive their instruction. This was something that I wanted to do in my classroom, but was not completely sure how. My action research gave me the opportunity to hone in on collecting specific data and then analyze that data to make further instructional decisions. As a result of my action research, I am now using data to drive my instruction. Along with this, I learned to be more flexible. If the data did not turn out how I had expected I had to make changes to my instructional plan. I no longer worried so much about sticking to my plan and instead focused on providing instruction that best fit the needs of my students at a particular time.
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Throughout implementing my action research, I have been grown professionally in numerous ways. I learned to research and implement best practice instruction and collect and analyze data in order to modify instruction based on student needs. I also developed more confidence in seeking out resources. Prior to my action research I was apprehensive to ask others for assistance. However, throughout this process I found that asking for help is not a sign of weakness, but strengthens you as a professional. When I was willing to reach out to colleagues for their insights I grew as a professional and my students benefited. I learned to keep an open mind when it comes to my teaching and collaborating with colleagues. Therefore, I had the opportunity to collaborate with co-teachers, reading specialists, and various other professionals while I prepare and implemented my action research. As a professional, these are individuals who I can reach out to and will continue to be resources to me throughout my teaching career.
Impact on my Future Teaching & Modifications
In the future when I am implementing targeted questioning instruction I will start my instruction at the beginning of the year rather than after the winter break. I would also like to research more about grouping: what duration of time spent with a guided group is considered best practice and how often to meet with each group every week? According to best practice I would like to modify when and how long I meet with each group during the week. I would also consider modifying the the sizes of my groups. Two of my groups contained six students each and the other two groups contained four and five students each. Ideally I would be able to implement this instruction with no more than four students in each group. I felt like I was able to provide the most individualized instruction and ensure each student was engaged with my group of four. I would change my instruction from only oral comprehension responses to incorporating written responses, especially with my higher achieving students. Finally, I would also like to incorporate students developing their questioning skills as well. Developing your own questioning skills (asking questions about a text to others and evaluating their responses) is another component of deeper comprehension. I will also be able to apply this targeted questioning instruction to any grade level I will teach. I will be able to modify and adjust my instruction to meet the needs of my students wherever that may be. In the future I will be able to use the skills I have gained and apply them to any teaching situation I encounter. Regardless of the school I teach at or grade I am teaching, if I see a student struggling or with a specific need I know I can turn to research. I can use research to better my instruction, make a plan, implement the plan, collect student data, then evaluate the data, and finally use the data to positively impact students.
Remaining Questions
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What impact would there have been on students if I had started my action research at the beginning of the school year?
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What would the impact have been on students if I had students respond with written responses to open ended questions, rather than solely orally responses?
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How much of the growth was gradual typical growth acquired throughout a school year compared to my specific targeted questioning instruction?
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What other instructional strategies could I pair with this instruction to have a greater impact on my students’ reading comprehension?