Analyze
Instructional Problem
The researcher teaches a self-contained, eighth grade special education class. Over the years, the researcher has observed that students lack the social skills necessary to control themselves and settle down to work during instructional time. Students seem to lack the flexibility of knowing when to play and when to work. The researcher also noted that if students are participating in the lesson, one or two students would then try to disrupt the lesson. There are a number of issues going on inside and outside of the classroom.
Most of the researchers students are approximately two or more years below their peers in English Language Arts, (ELA). During the writing component of ELA, students are more likely to act out and disrupt the lesson, therefore, researcher believes that using music during the period would calm and soothe students enabling them to become more productive. Homework is a school-wide mandate. The researcher has also found that only half of the students turn in their written homework assignments. In order to increase the quantity and quality of the homework, the action researcher will allow the students to make oral-musical presentations. Students find the writing component of ELA difficult.
This is also evident in the quantity and quality of homework turned in. The researcher wants students to understand and enjoy doing ELA homework. Research has shown that, incorporating music successfully, “enlivens the learning process itself and helps create engaged learners” (Moore, H., 2004). Homework will be given in the usual format; students will copy it in notebooks or receive a handout. Instead of giving it back to researcher on paper, students will either Rap, sing, rhyme it to the class during homework correction time. At the most basic physiological level, research is revealing that long-term involvement with music significantly changes neurological structure in the brain and brain function. Musical activities activate not only the auditory cortex (as would be expected) but also regions of the brain primarily associated with temporal processing and memory (Hornbacher, 2008).
According to Crncec, Wilson and Prior (2006), over the past decade there has been increasing speculation about the potential cognitive and academic benefits of music for children’s development. This speculation has stirred interest among parents, educators, and politicians alike, and as such, this researcher presents the following proposal regarding target audience, issues which may arise and expected outcomes
Target Audience
The target audience will be the incoming eighth grade students. There are four students on the roster so far. One of the students, a female, is over the age limit for the class. Two students roamed the hallways last year. One of the female students has a history of mental illness. Students are all functioning at approximately two grades below grade level in reading, writing and mathematics. As an educator, researcher is interested in having a captive audience, students who are absorbed and participating in the lesson, if all students are positively participating in the lesson, listen, ask questions, give positive feedback, then researcher will be on the road to becoming a better educator. The researcher’s past students have taken the position, stated directly or indirectly, that they have not been successful and cannot or will not be successful academically, so why bother. Special education students are labeled. Although this label has a negative impact and students would rather not have it, students are unable to shake it. Teachers often expect students with behavior disorders to suppress their disability and "behave" when they enter the classroom. These students, like most students with disabilities, require instructional interventions to manage their disability and to assist them in becoming educated and sociable adults (Darrow, A., 2006). Therefore, the special education students could benefit from such an effort, as they will realise that they can achieve success through academics. This researcher hopes also that students will begin to understand that the different areas of their lives do not have to kept separate. It should not be kept separate, rather, students will begin to understand the connectedness of every aspect of their lives.
The researcher will share the results of the project with co-workers, especially the cluster teachers who also have a difficult time teaching the special education students. It is hoped that the project could be replicated in the teacher’s classroom in order to gain the same results, thereby increasing the students’ success rate in the other classes. In the long run, the school will benefit from such a project, as it would lead to special education students receiving higher test scores on state exams.
Researcher will speak with the principal to allay her fears concerning the video and audio taping of the students and putting that information on the Internet. Once permission is given, pre-made consent forms will be sent out to the parents. The students will be given one week in order to have the signed consents back in. Parents will have the choice of consenting to have child audio and not videotaped. Researcher will issue pre-surveys to students to find out about musical tastes, students’ opinions about homework. At the end of the 6 weeks, the post survey will be given, asking similar questions and opinions on going through the project. Based on students’ feedback and the success of the project, researcher may continue it for some time. Researcher will commence the video and audio taping after collecting all the consent forms. If there is no consent form for students to be video taped, then student’s presentations will be captured orally.
Design
Instructional Design Constraints
Time
The projected time for the research to be completed is six weeks. Instructional and modeling is included in the time. The actual experiment will last for five weeks, analyzing the results will take one week. Keeping in mind all that is going on in the school, the projected six weeks may turn into longer time. During the last week of September, students will be given consent forms for parents to sign. The students will give a week to bring in the forms. The action researcher will use grade book to record the amount of Writing Workshop homework turned and grade the content of work. This will be used as evidence to compare students before and after treatment is given. After all forms have been collected, researcher will begin the experiment. Students will be told beforehand what will take place.
Subject or Content.
Special Education students are at least two years below grade level in their writing abilities. Students complain about not being able to write or not knowing what to write. Students have a difficult time with spelling and oftentimes refuse to go back and edit their work or even make the necessary corrections to their work. Researcher will address the area of writing especially as it relates to homework. The researcher wants to see an increase in the quantity of homework turned in and an increase in the quality as well.
Content Type.
The project being proposed is directly related to the researcher’s Action Research Project. Researcher is planning to use music as a way of changing the dynamic of the classroom culture and create an increase in quantity and quality of Writing Workshop homework received. But by incorporating different means through which creativity can flow, students can present their work in a way that allows them more ownership of their education. Students will be allowed the opportunity to use an art form they enjoy in an academic setting. The output the researcher is looking for is entirely generative as students are in charge of the musical genre they will use. The only stipulation the researcher will make is that there is to be no cursing. Students will have to have an understanding of the content and then put that understanding to music. The input is supplantive in that researcher will give instructional lessons, teaching and modeling the necessary strategies to complete the task. Researcher will dedicate a lesson to modeling the expected outcome.
Instructional Theory or Outcome.
According to Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction (2001), there are five areas of concern that needs to be addressed in order for a student to feel successful at a given task, to feel that he/she has the ability to learn something new. A real-world issue or problem is identified, this problem has to be meaningful to students, how do I make homework more meaningful to my life and a joy to complete. Students then activate prior knowledge to aid in understanding this new knowledge being presented. Students are constantly listening to MP3 players, iPods, phones; this will constitute the old knowledge they will use to activate the new knowledge. Researcher believes that music is a tool they understand and communicate through. So in choosing to use music as the medium, researcher hopes that students will be enthusiastic about completing and handing in homework. The new knowledge being presented has to be delivered to the student in such a way that they understand it, through modeling and direct instructions. The student will then apply what he/she has learned. The students will have ample practice through the pen and paper approach and discussions in the classroom. The student is then given the opportunity to integrate the new knowledge with the old. At home they will pair their understanding of the new knowledge with their prior knowledge. M. David Merrill’s approach to learning posits that the student be actively engaged in all processes of this instructional approach in order for it to be successful (2001). By first giving detailed instructions and modeling, students will then have the opportunity to practice in the classroom and at home.
Although Lucille Foran (2009) is reporting on children who have been through severe trauma and the therapeutic benefits of music, by allowing students to represent their writing homework through music, this researcher is hoping that overtime; it will also soothe and calm producing even greater quantities of writing homework and also improvement in the quality as well. As it is “believed that, music has a special relationship to memory. He argues that music embeds and activates sequences of knowledge and action when other forms of information fail (Lucille Foran, 2009)
Gagne’s Learning Domains.
Robert M. Gagne’s learning domain that deals with attitudes best fits this action researcher’s observations of the students. The attitude of the Special Education students directly impact their learning abilities. The behaviours exhibited during instructional time, the feelings of helplessness and hopelessness are all a part of the attitudes these students carry around.
Goal and Objectives
Goal or Outcome.
The goal of this research is: 1) to have students hand in more homework and 2) to have improved the quality of the homework handed in. Allowing students the opportunity to sing, Rap, mime their Writing Workshop homework will increase the quantity and quality of homework handed in. Students need to feel that they can be successful and this researcher believes that using a medium that they enjoy is a practical and real-life way of helping them to achieve that success. Furthermore, Judy Hornbacher (2008) states that ‘....meta-analysis of the effects of music on social-personal development suggests an overwhelmingly positive impact on student behavior in the classroom, student conduct on school buses, and performance on math and reading achievement tests. Studies of emotionally disturbed or otherwise disadvantaged children reveal improvement in self-concept in at-risk youth.’
Specific Objectives.
Students listen to rap, hip-hop, Reggae, Reggae-ton and researcher believes that using this medium to do homework will increase quantity and quality of work. Music soothes and researcher wants students to use something that they already love to enhance their writing productivity. As students become successful in quantity and quality of work generated, this success will lead to increase in class grades, quizzes and tests and eventually state tests scores. I hope also to notice a positive change in their ‘handing’ in of homework assignments, especially as it relates to ELA. Also, being able to stand in front of an audience can be a scary thing and I am hoping that this endeavor will put those fears to rest and prepare them for classes in high school, college and presentations in the workplace.
• Objective: There will be an increase in the number of students who hand in Writing Workshop homework when allowed to use lyrical presentations as compared to the number of students who handed in homework before the treatment began.
• Students will be able to make oral presentations of the Writing Workshop homework with an eighty percent accuracy rate as compared to the number of correct answers on their homework before the treatment began.
• Students’ scores during Writing Workshop homework presentations will increase by three points as compared to the homework handed in before the treatment began. This will show an increase in the quality of work handed in.
Develop
Required Resources
Students will bring in their own music. Researcher will collaborate with student if having a hard time finding the music. Students will also have the option of free styling. Researcher’s Mac laptop will be used as the video and audio taping device. Homework correction time will be extended so students will receive ample opportunity to present. The Smart board in the room will also be incorporated into the lesson.
Activities
Researcher will begin by explaining to the students the problems that need to be addressed and also what is believed may be a solution to the problem. Homework will be given in the usual format, either copy it from the SMARTBoard or a handout will be given. The difference will be in how the homework is done. Researcher will model an example of how the homework will be presented, and also what is expected from presenter and audience. Students will use the answers for the homework to create music. The questions can be a part of the lyrics, but it is the answers that the researcher is looking for. For the purpose of this experiment, there will be no more than ten questions given. Students will have to answer all the questions. The paraprofessional will be asked to be the timekeeper and will inform the researcher when it is fifteen minutes before the end of the period. An alarm will also be used to indicate when there are fifteen minutes left in the period. The equipment will already have been set up. Students will then be told to clear their desks. Students will know the order in which they are going to make their oral presentations. Lyrical presentations will be approximately three to four minutes long. Researcher will remind students of what is expected of them. Researcher will ask the paraprofessional to operate the Mac laptop for video and audio taping presentations and also queuing the CDs. Researcher will then record grades according to quality of work. The grade being recorded will also be used as a way of recording the amount of homework received from each student. A letter grade will be given for the students’ presentations. This grade will have no effect on the grading of the quality or content of the homework.
In the past, there have been shy students who are reluctant to go in front of their classmates and then there are those who like to go up and clown around. Researcher is hoping that the shy students will be influenced to present once they see their classmates presentations. As there are only four students, this researcher is hoping that there will be no clowning around as students will understand that their grades are being affected and because ‘students with problem behaviors generally perform better when they are ... actively engaged in a desirable activity’ (Darrow, A. 2006).
Students will bring in CDs, which will be preloaded into the computer in the order in which they will be presenting. As students make their way to the front of the room, the music will be queued. Students will be graded on contents and how well they showed knowledge of the subject. Students will receive one point for each correct answer provided. Students will also receive a letter grade for presentation.
Researcher has decided to include Digital Storytelling as a way to showcase students’ presentation, not only for professional use, but a copy will be given to students so that they may have as a reminder. Although capturing students’ presentations is not directly what Digital Storytelling is about, this medium will be a useful tool at capturing students at one point during their historical journey. According to Jessica Fries-Gaither (2010), “For much of human existence, … education and history have been transmitted via oral tradition…[the spoken word] has remained a powerful gift … to inspire, educate, entertain and challenge.” Therefore, Digital Storytelling will be used in capturing students’ musical homework presentations.
Implement
Permissions
First, researcher will need the Principal's permission, as she is very hesitant any time she hears the combination students and Internet together. As this researcher teaches in a middle school and all students are considered minors, researcher would need consent from parents or guardians to have their child audio and videotaped. Parents will have the option of choosing that their child be audio taped only.
Other Constraints
Technology can be very temperamental and so can human subjects. So, there is need to make sure that everything is done prior to the start of the presentations. Homework correction is usually in the beginning of the class period, but for this purpose, corrections would be done ten minutes or so before the period ends. This would ensure that the students’ music is queued correctly and to allay any fears the students may have about presenting. If a student does not have permission to be videotaped, care would have to be taken to make sure that student is not in any of the video taping, so seating is important in this case. There are students who are very shy and will not be reluctant to participate in this kind of activity, protesting that they cannot sing/rap, rhyme. The researcher is hoping that after seeing their classmate’s presentation and enjoying themselves they will be inveigled to participate as well. In the past, there has always been issue with respect or the lack thereof going in both directions, presenter and audience. Researcher will model for students what is expected of them and this area will be directly addressed. The school is up for a quality review. Administration as well as staff is being prepared for this and so may hinder the projected start date or the project itself from getting started at the projected time. The principal may be skeptical about a class deviating from what is considered routine. Researcher would explain how such a deviation falls under the category of differentiated instruction, making the research within the boundaries of classroom instructions.
This researcher is involved in a project that concerns video taping her instructions during certain periods and content areas.
Some students are shy when it comes to making oral presentations. Researcher will not force students to participate, but if a student is adamant about not singing, or rapping then the student will be allowed to speak answers while an instrumental is playing in the background. Students may also tire of the constant videotaping and may act out or refuse to be video taped.
Further, research has suggested that, ‘calming music’ can make a difference for students with behavioral and emotional deficits (Hallam & Price, 1998). Based on this and other research, researcher has decided to evaluate how allowing students to choose their own music for use in their presentations will affect their turning in homework and also the quality of that homework.
Evaluate
Validity & Evaluation Data
Students will be given a questionnaire with a 5-point scale. A one on the scale would represent a strong dislike, while a five would represent a strong like. Students will be asked their opinions on homework, Writing Workshop, music, oral presentations and whether being allowed to present their homework orally will make a difference in their doing the homework. Results of the questionnaire will be analyzed and used as a comparison between student responses and their overall grades during the experiment. Pre and post questionnaires will also be analysed and compared.
Researcher is very interested in comparing students’ answers before and after the experiment to analyze the effect the experiment had on students opinions. Also, researcher is interested in seeing how the experiment has affected the students overall attitude to Writing Workshop homework, the quantity and quality of homework turned in even after the experiment is over.
Quantitative data will be collected before the experiment begins as researcher will be keeping a grade log of the number of homework each student turns in and the number of correct answers they have. The questionnaire responses will be analysed quantitatively, but because of the small sample of students, data analysis may not prove adequate.
Responses will be analyzed before and after treatment has been administered for the specified number of weeks. another questionnaire would be given out asking much of the same questions as before, but would include a short answer response in which students could explain how they felt about the experiment. With the success of the experiment, I would continue this as a way for students to present their ELA homework and maybe could broaden the scope to include Social Studies.
Formative Data.
Researcher will use the grade book to record student scores and the frequency in which they hand in homework. This will be done before and during treatment. The data collected before the treatment will be used to make comparisons to the data collected during the treatment. The comparison will be made at the conclusion of the experiment. Data will be analysed quantitatively to determine whether there was an increase in quality and quantity of homework turned in. The letter grade given for presentation will reflect students enthusiasm and will be used as a supplement to a log the researcher will keep to record anything unusual seen or heard from students during the experiment. This data will be qualitative in nature, as it will reflect the mood of the participants during the experiment. The video and audio taped presentations will be a real-life record along with the grade book as to the quantity and quality of work submitted.
Summative Data.
The data will be more quantitative in nature. This researcher is looking for an increase in correct responses to questions asked which will equate to a higher grade for homework assignments. There is also a small portion of qualitative information expected. Researcher is also looking for a change in students’ attitude toward completing and turning in the Writing Workshop homework assignments. Researcher is hoping an increase in the quality of homework will lead to an increase on the State test scores as well. Researcher will also look at students’ opinions about the project, as this will directly impact how successful the project will be. Such an experiment would probably work for colleagues as well, as they have similar issues.
The questionnaire responses will be analyzed quantitatively but because of the small sample of students data analysis may not prove adequate.
Reliability
Research has shown that there is higher academic achievement when music is involved in a child’s learning
The students’ ages, temperament and classroom and school culture is a definite factor, but results could be similar. If the experiment does not prove successful, then researcher will have to give careful consideration as to all that took place and will have to retest the original hypothesis as anyone of the restraints mentioned earlier could be the reason for the failed experiment. Almost everyone loves music, teenagers today, have iPods, MP3 players, cell phones and all kind of gadgets that allow them to constantly listen to music. Students are constantly rapping, singing, or humming, so this experiment should be enjoyable to most and should prove successful if implemented correctly.
References
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