I just completed my final graduate class at Johnson State College. The class was titled Education Research. The guiding question for the course was: how can research improve my practice?
Throughout the course we read many different scholarly articles. We looked at these articles to compare, contrast, and learn more about educational research. We looked at not only the different forms of research but also how these can best be represented in a clear and professional way. Analyzing these articles was helpful when it came time to design and implement our own educational research.
The research project needed to be connected to our current jobs or placements. I currently work as a first grade teacher. I chose to focus my research on the implementation of Reading Workshop within my first grade class. This was an easy choice because it was a professional practice I was already doing within my classroom. The focus question I created was: what can I learn about my professional practice through the implementation of the Reading Workshop model?
I first created a proposal for my project. This was challenging because I had never written a proposal before. I rewrote the proposal three times before it seemed to accurately and professionally represent my plan in a way that was comprehensible for those who do not teach first grade or literacy.
Once my proposal was complete, I began to implement it within my classroom. I collected three forms of data on three specific students. I chose these students because of their end of year kindergarten reading assessments. I wanted to be able to compare and contrast the findings from students reading above grade level, on grade level, and below grade level. The three types of data
I collected were time studies of their engagement during independent reading time, their Developmental Reading Assessment scores, and student interviews.
This project was helpful to me as a first grade teacher of literacy because I was able to better understand the concepts within the Reading Workshop model. I was also able to see what pieces may be missing, so that I can make changes to better meet my students needs. I enjoyed doing the literature reviews because it gave me time to research other educator’s experiences with Reading Workshop. I could see what ideas helped their students become successful.
Through this research experience as a first grade teacher, I saw the importance of independent reading time, students requiring the freedom to choose books independently, and also the importance of thinking critically about literature in different ways. It is also a great teaching model because it allows for a lot of differentiation. “The workshop approach is not based on ability groups but provides a venue to focus on the strengths and needs of each student” (Towell, 2000, p. 1). It allows me to really get to know my students, so that I can help them to become successful, lifelong readers.This experience also helped me to see how I could implement other small research projects within my classroom to better meet my students needs.
As a graduate student, it was helpful to have the hands-on experience of creating, implementing, and reflecting on my own research project. This will be helpful as I read other scholarly articles so that I can better understand the process of a research project and what each section of writing represents.Towle, W. (2000). The art of the reading workshop. Educational Leadership, 58(1), 38-41.
