Survey Data w/ Thick Descripion

I compiled all of my data from my reading survey.

My male students all answered the following survey. These 8th graders rarely complete surveys like this and some of them struggled to figure out what to do. I had three students ask me about question 3 that if they put disagree, does that mean they don't struggle? I stressed to them before passing the survey out that I wanted them to be as honest as possible. Based on their reactions when asked to read in my class, it was unexpected that only 2 said they disagree or strongly disagree with "really enjoy reading" and almost half of the males (5) said neither disagree or agree. It seems like a pretty straight forward statement that would received a clear cut answer not an "I don't know..." It may be that it was the first question of the survey because question 10 was the reverse question "I really dislike reading" and only 2 neither disagreed or agreed while 6 disagreed to varying degrees. The two questions that were most insightful to me, however, were #4, "If I don't understand something, I will reread it" and #7, "I get frustrated when I am given something for school that is too hard for me to read." The rereading question results surprised me because from early observations and past experiences, I rarely see students reread voluntarily and often balk when I suggest it when they don't know the answer but tell me they "already read it" The fact that 4 of the males in my study say they already reread may be beneficial to my findings. While the fact that 6 males agree about getting frustrated with material that is too difficult is not necessarily surprising, I think I often forget how that must feel for students, especially ones that are lower than most of the students. If I imagine what a day in their shoes must be like, to be given reading materials in most if not all classes that is above my level over and over again, it would be very frustrating and I would become discouraged and certainly would not enjoy reading.

Males	Strongly disagree	Disagree	Neither disagree or agree	agree	Strongly agree
1 I really enjoy reading	2		5	2	2
2 I like reading for pleasure but not for school	5	2	2		1
3 I struggle to understand what I read	6	2	2		1
4 If I read something and realize I didn’t understand it, I will reread it	3	1	1	3	3
5 I have many strategies to help me understand what I read for school	3	1	3	2	2
6 I like reading novels (fiction) but dislike reading articles or textbooks (nonfiction)	1		5	2	3
7 I get frustrated when I am given something for school that is too hard for me to read and understand	2		3	3	3
8 I wish I read more in school	5	3	1	1	1
9 I wish I had more time at home to read for fun	5	2	1	1	2
10 I really dislike reading	3	3	2		3

Again, like my males, a large number (6) of my females stated they didn't agree or disagree with enjoying reading yet by question 10, more of them said they disagree with the statement "I really dislike reading." Question 5 states "I have many strategies to help me understand what I read" and my females overwhelmingly said they disagree with that statement. I am curious to see if this is really the case or if they simply did not understand the statement or think about what strategies may be. As I watched them read for information in my class, several of them underlined/highlighted. That is a strategy but they may not have realized that while answering the survey. Similarily, 6 of them said they will reread a passge to help with comprehension. This again is a strategy they are using, possibly without knowing it. I hope to help them hone their strategies, especially rereading. I hope that when students retake this survey in the middle and at the end of the study, more will respond agree/strongly agree to that question.

Females	Strongly disagree	Disagree	Neither disagree or agree	Agree	Strongly agree
1 I really enjoy reading	1	2	6	3	2
2 I like reading for pleasure but not for school	1		7	3	3
3 I struggle to understand what I read	5	4		5
4 If I read something and realize I didn’t understand it, I will reread it	3	2	3	2	4
5 I have many strategies to help me understand what I read for school	3	6	4		1
6 I like reading novels (fiction) but dislike reading articles or textbooks (nonfiction)			5	5	4
7 I get frustrated when I am given something for school that is too hard for me to read and understand		2	1	8	3
8 I wish I read more in school	3	5	4	2
9 I wish I had more time at home to read for fun	5	3	3	1	2
10 I really dislike reading	4	4	4	1	1

Thick Description

The students were given a one page reading about how to add amendments to the Constitution. I gave directions to read with 2 specific “look-fors.” They were instructed to be on the lookout for ratified and proposed and to be able to give meaning from the context of the reading.  All of the students sat quietly and appeared to read. During this 7 minute time period, many of the students read through the one sided paper using different techniques. Some students underlined parts of the reading, others highlighted with their own markers, and one student covered his ears with his hands while reading.

From past reading assignments in class I have observed, the students are really good at sitting quietly and appearing to read. Some were reading, some were reading and not comprehending, and some were not reading but sitting quietly and trying to fly under the radar. As I walked around and wrote down notes, I saw six students underlining as they read. Out of these six, three were underlining minimally and in what appeared to be a meaningful way. The other three were underlining large chunks and paragraphs instead of just key phrases or sentences. The three students that were highlighting were in the same boat. Only one of those ladies was highlighting key phrases and sentences. As other students saw students underlining and highlighting, more than the original nine began to mark their papers as well. I also saw students finish the initial reading and then go back through the reading (scanning and reading) and make notes about the two words I asked them to define.

With about one minute left of reading time, one of my male African American students in the front row quietly turned to me and said “Wait, what are we supposed to be doing?” This is another clue that students are very used to using independent reading time by sitting quietly and waiting for others in the class to give information.

When the reading time was done, I asked the class who could try and tell me what ratified meant. I had eight students raise their hands and to tell me proposed, I had five students volunteer. This is a larger number of students volunteering than in the past when I have not given look-fors prior to reading and had just said “Read this.” It seems that using look-fors may possibly lead to self-directed repeated readings and a higher comprehension.

Reading survey questions and government quiz from classroom readings

Changed my mind...

My last post talked about how I was going to use my first hour students for my study because they seemed so well-behaved. That was based on one day of teaching. While they are still well-behaved and not a management concern, they are too quiet and I have trouble getting them to participate and feel like conducting interviews, surveys, and group discussion may be too difficult. I am afraid I would get very little feedback (which essentially is my data) and would have a hard time analyzing it. My third hour is who I will conduct my study with. They are a more chatty bunch but are not really a management issue either. I thought after day 1 they were a rougher bunch but as soon as I got them into a seating chart, things were much smoother. Today we were taking notes on the 3 branches and while doing so, so many great discussions happened. As a teacher, it was hard to stop the discussions to continue with notes because it was so great. I feel that this group will give me great feedback and honest answers that we can discuss, which help me with my data.

First day thinking...

Today was my first day in the classroom this year. Before today, I didn't know which class I wanted to use for my study. I think now after seeing all of my 4 classes, I will be working with my first period which is made up of 19 students, 10 males and 9 females. There are no IEPs in this class and behaviorally, they seem to be my easiest to manage. Again, this is just after 1 day so that part could change. They are a somewhat quiet class which makes me a little nervous that I could have a hard time getting feedback but I think the smaller class size and fewer behavior issues will make collecting data, talking one on one with them, and actually conducting repeated readings, especially in partners or small groups more manageable. I will be passing out the consent forms tomorrow and then begin collecting some baseline data by the end of this week. I hope to implement the different repeated reading activities 3 times next week, which follows my current proposal. Before beginning, students will take a survey regarding reading perceptions, attitudes, and strategies they think they currently use. We will also have an open classroom discussion about those topics to gauge their feelings. I am still nervous about being a first time researcher but now that I have at least met my students and know what class I want to work with, it is a little less abstract and scary.