What I learned
Throughout my research, I have realized that data is the key to student success. By tracking student growth, analyzing data, and creating meaningful visuals out of the data I collected, I have been able to better aid my students' learning. Collecting and analyzing data was never something I was fond of because I did not find it meaningful. The problem was that I was not doing anything valuable with the data. Collecting student data and turning it into visual charts and graphs allowed me to see exactly where my students were at and allowed me to compare them to their peers. Analyzing this data also helped me determine students who need additional support as well as students who need extension activities.
I have also learned the importance of incorporating activities that meet the needs of students with different learning styles. Offering a variety of learning activities that meet individual student needs helped increase student motivation, engagement, and retainment of sight word instruction. I enjoyed seeing students excel in kinesthetic, linguistic, musical, and technological activities related to sight words.
Not only did I watch my students grow academically throughout this journey, but I also saw them develop critical 21st Century skills. While I was working with a small group, students were engaged in individual activities which allowed them to develop their independence. Building independence is a critical skill and typically a skill students are not exposed to until they enter kindergarten. Because my students have developed skills to work independently, this will allow them to be successful in future grade levels and throughout life. Students were also exposed to technology which reinforced sight word instruction. For some students, this was their first time holding an iPad or laptop, and for others, it was something they had experience with at home. Each and every student had the opportunity to engage with technology and learned fundamental technological skills. Students will carry these skills with them into future grade levels as well as into their personal lives or future careers.
Lastly, I was able to relate my learnings to national educational councils such as the National Council of Teachers of English and the National Board's Five Core Propositions of teaching. These established councils have been around for decades and are trusted and valued by many educators. I was able to meet the mission of the National Council of Teachers of English by promoting literacy through the learning of English to achieve participation in society, as well as to construct personal and public ideals. The National Board's Five Core Propositions of teaching created a vision of what accomplished teaching should include. Below are the propositions:
1. Teachers Are Committed to Students and Their Learning
2. Teachers Know the Subjects They Teach and How to Teach Those
Subjects to Students
3. Teachers Are Responsible for Managing and Monitoring Student Learning
4. Teachers Think Systematically About Their Practice and Learn from Experience
5. Teachers Are Members of Learning Communities
I believe I successfully accomplished each of the Five Core Propositions of teaching throughout this study. I was committed to the learning of each and every student and showed that through my extensive differentiation. I was an expert on these sight words and learned ways to teach them to my students from my research. I was able to apply my research into practice and teach successful sight word instruction. I managed and monitored student learning through both formative and summative assessments and kept data to observe student growth or areas that needed improvement. Throughout this entire process, I constantly reflected on what was going well or what I could do differently to make my students successful. This systematic thinking allowed me to learn from my experiences and better meet the needs of my students. Lastly, I was involved in a learning community through my CADRE cohort. My peers and CADRE associates provided me with constant feedback, support, ideas, and suggestions. Being a part of a learning community helped me better reflect on my teaching practices and offered me valuable experiences I may not have had before.
Challenges & Successes
One of the biggest challenges I faced during my research was time. We have thirty minutes each day dedicated to our literacy stations which is where most of our sight word instruction takes place. This time never felt like enough. There were so many activities and I wanted to implement but I had to really think through which ones we would have time to do and which activities would be the most valuable for students.
Another challenge I faced at the beginning of my research was resources. In my small reading groups, students were practicing reading books from our school book room that did not align with our sight word instruction and reading curriculum. This caused students to struggle with reading since so many books included sight words that were not introduced in our curriculum. Therefore, they could not be easily decoded. The reason for using these books was because they were appropriately labeled with reading levels. The books that came from our reading curriculum were not labeled with a reading level making it unclear to determine which books were appropriate for students. I decided I needed to make the switch to the books that came with our reading curriculum because they included sight words that my students already knew and were practicing. Since these books do not have specific reading levels assigned to them, it took time for me to determine which books would be suitable for which students. Fortunately, after making this switch, students felt much more confident reading and were able to read more fluently.
One of the biggest joys of conducting this research was seeing the end results. I could not believe how much my students had grown in just a few short months! Every single student in my class had improved their sight word recognition and reading level. By the time my research concluded, we still had sight words that needed to be formally introduced and practiced in the classroom. However, over 80% of my students were on track to meet our kindergarten goal of having 80% of students know all 47 sight words.
Lastly, one of my major successes was seeing how engaging literacy stations were for students. Before my research started in January, I operated literacy stations in an entirely different way. I was fortunate to have visited classrooms in the metropolitan area with my CADRE Associate and created a vision of how I wanted my literacy stations to be. In early January I worked tirelessly to prepare my literacy stations the way I envisioned and made numerous significant changes. By the time my research started, my new and improved literacy stations were up and running. Students enjoyed having choice at each station while learning through multiple intelligences that meet the needs of each student. Students would constantly ask when we're having literacy stations and we even made extra literacy station time a reward for a classroom behavior goal! The fact that we could make sight word instruction both educational and fun was very rewarding as a classroom teacher.
Next Year
After reflecting on my first year of teaching and my CADRE research, there are many things I'd like to add and strengthen in my classroom. At the beginning of the year, I would like to give students a book interest survey to determine what kinds of topics are interesting to them. From here, I would like to create book boxes that are at appropriate levels for them. Students would be able to take these book boxes home and practice reading books with sight words that we have learned.
I would like to organize my literacy stations in the same manner and introduce them to students in September. I will continue to seek out engaging activities that meet the needs of all types of learners.
For years to come, I would like to use data I have collected on students' sight word automaticity to create graphs and visuals for me to analyze. Creating something meaningful out of data really helped me see the importance of collecting it and allowed me to easily see where my students are at when it comes to sight word instruction.