Assignment:
Guided Response: Respond to at least two peers. In your replies, take on the role of a teacher listening to the presentation. Ask questions about your peer's action research study and offer an additional resource for consideration that supports an alternative viewpoint.
Part 1
Article title: Nevin, A., Hood, A., & Arizona State Univ.-West, P. (2002). Improving the Learning Outcomes of Preschool-Grade 12 Students with Disabilities through Collaborative Action Research and Data Based Instruction.
The purpose of this article is to hear from teachers in what methods worked in their classrooms for students with disabilities. This article is about data-based instruction and collaborative actions that help improve behaviors of children preschool to the twelfth grade. discusses collaborative action research and the teacher reflected on strategies that worked in her special needs classroom.
The article discusses motivations to curve behaviors and incentives that worked. It also talked about how the classroom setting helped with behaviors. This article also gave a good description of the disabilities and behaviors the teachers were seeing in the classroom, identified the problems the teachers wanted to solve, identified the steps they used to correct those issues and how each strategy worked.
The outcome of the research was that behaviors can be reduced and modified using appropriate techniques and strategies in the classroom. It also found that these techniques were similar for children without disabilities. If I were to do a modification of this study, I would use less teachers and include classrooms of children with out disabilities. Would choose the techniques the teachers would use and do a comparison.
This study is important for practitioners to read because there is a lot of reflection in this study. This study also uses teachers of varied years of experience. This study also spanned over time, so it discussed the progress of the students over time.
Reflection of assignment:
Week three assignment was a redesign of a lesson plan with added assessments embedded throughout the lesson plan. This assignment was useful because is showed the importance of assessment and how to add it through out the lesson to get the best impact out of a lesson. The modification of this lesson plan caused me to think about how I can enhance a lesson using assessment. The assessment I use through out the lesson can help me to gather information about the students.
Link to portfolio
https://pathbrite.com/biscegliawhi/profile
Part 2
Describe the purpose of the study by writing a statement that completes the following sentence, "The purpose of this study was to..." (two to three sentences).
The purpose of this study was to show how having a safe learning environment can positively affect a classroom. This study took factors such as biases, demographic, and teacher influence and showed how each part plays a role in keeping the environment safe. This was also an opportunity to share adjustments that need to be made in the classroom in order to create a safe environment.
Post the research question(s) - Include definitions of key technical terms, if necessary (one to three sentences).
How do teachers create a safe learning environment?
What factors contribute to a safe learning environment?
Outcomes/Results or the "so what?" of the study - Answers to the research questions. (three to four sentences)
For teachers, characteristics such as being approachable, having a nonjudgmental demeanor, and being supportive were qualities that the students in this study highly valued. It gave teachers a chance to reflect on their previous practices and interactions with their students. How a teacher chooses to respond can affect whether the classroom environment gets better or worse.
Assuming you would conduct another cycle of this study, what specific modifications or adjustments would you make, and why? (three to four sentences)
For this study I would add two modifications. The first one would be including how peer to peer interactions affect the learning environment. I would also discuss how this has led to deeper tragedies in the classroom over the years. I would also highlight some examples of positive change due to peer interactions.
Explain why this study is important for teachers and other educational practitioners to read about. (two to three sentences)
This study is important because unfortunately, many students have been affected by negative influences both in and outside of the classroom. It is important to recognize the signs of a classroom that is suffering emotionally in order to make changes. Through self-reflection and observations, teachers will be able to better serve where there is a need for change.