Data Analysis: Finding Your Findings

Name: AngieDate: 2-1-13

Analyze your data. What happened? As you carried out your interventions how did your student respond in reference to your inquiry question? What specific indications suggest that the actions taken were effective/ineffective and to what extent? What data supports your findings? Through exploring your data, the goal is to come up with at least three discoveries or learning statements.

  1. Please begin by restating your wondering.

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My wondering was, "What happens when lesson study is incorporated into the clinical field experience of pre-interns at a PDS?"

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  1. Describing (p. 120)
  • Arrange your data chronologically
  • Read through the entire set 1 time-think of it as a “story”
  • Guiding question: What’s happening here (initial insights) over time?

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The first lesson plan lacked precision, the focus oscillated between asking students to define words and asking students to understand how to use the four square strategy to understand words.

The lesson included no student collaborative practice prior to completing independently.

The words students were asked to interact with were not chosen with intent, some were verbs, and some were adjectives. “Bared” the word chosen for modeling with the students had no clear synonym and the definition was not thought through by the interns. There was no text support or context clues to help students engage with the words. The lack of clear intent in word choice inhibited students from understanding how to use the strategy, what emerged as the real focus of the lesson.

By the final lesson, the words were all verbs with clear synonyms that were able to be acted out for the first graders (ie: charge, jostle). The strategy itself became the focus by the third lesson. The order students were asked to complete the square changed (the picture came before the sentence so students could write a sentence about their picture), the labels changed to more student friendly terms (ie: A word that means the same instead of synonym). The collaborative piece allowed for students to practice on an actual chart in groups of four, mimicking how the teacher modeled the strategy on a chart.

Student questions were noticed (ie: “what do I do” versus “Can you look at my sentence?” and led to discussion on how to give students autonomy in assessing their own work.

What pieces of data will address the question most directly? What happens if I read each pre-interns observation and debrief notes individually/chronologically? Are there pieces of understanding that are better understood as individual growth which contributes to the whole as opposed to observing changes in the whole? Were the ‘aha’ moments from lesson observation or facilitated debrief?

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  1. Sense Making (p 120-121, see examples of organizing units on p. 121)
  • Read the entire data set again, in any order.
  • What sorts of things seem to be happening in my data? What do I notice?
  • Guiding Question: What pieces stand out from the rest? What pieces seem to fit together?

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I read through in chronological order the preinterns observation notes and debrief notes.

Initially I noticed student engagement was a focus throughout all four lessons. What does engagement mean? Why do they think it is important?

By the fourth lesson preinterns were judging the effectiveness of the lesson by asking questions of each other and the mentor teachers about student achievement (ie:

Now I am wondering…Do the pre-interns noticings about student engagement change in some qualitative way?

The way in which the lesson plan was changed, somehow the preservice teachers understanding of the intent of lesson planning was transformed.

All 4 quoted Emery saying “student engagement= student achievement” and “Good teaching is good teaching, and (paraphrased) “it doesn’t matter who the students are if the lesson is focused they will be engaged” What does this suggest about a well -planned lesson, teaching and student learning? The preinterns now see these three components lesson plans, teaching behaviors and student learning fitting together to equal student achievement.

I want to look again at WHAT modifications they deem important for the teacher

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  1. Interpreting (p. 121-122, see table 5.3 strategies for interpreting)
  • Place your wondering in front of you
  • Read your entire data set again. Mark any pieces that relate to your wondering
  • Start generating patterns/themes. Code these with your own system.
  • Guiding Question: What story seems to be unfolding relative to my wondering?
    Or does another wondering seem to be coming up? What statements can I construct, which express what was learned and what that learning means?

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As I read through the data again I will sort data focusing on the following codes: lesson planning/effectiveness, teaching behaviors/actions and student learning/engagement and memoing under the chart to provide my insights and descriptions of meaning. I will also mark which codes come from each of the four lessons. Codes in italics are from the lesson debrief led by the assistant principal, others are from the lesson observation sheets during the lesson.

* stated more than once Red for teacher focus, procedures, appearances

Orange for transition from teacher to student focus, no clear plan or reason, student need implied

Green for student focus with a plan or reason tied to learning

Lesson Plans: Procedural Document to Empowerment Plan
Lesson revisions are needed to give students ownership of learning / Effective Teaching: Appearance to Meeting Needs
Teacher behaviors are connected to student responses to learning / Teacher: Knowledge Distributor to Learning Coach
Role of the teacher is tomake knowledge accessible/meaningful for students
L 1 / Tell them we are looking for words we don’t know
Change book so there are not as many words they don’t know
Clearer focus on what they are learning
Student assessment of strategy
Well planned lesson=less behavior issues *
“quality lesson = student achievement” *
Engaging lesson is good for all students
Make sure students know they know
Redistribute 4 squares, need more help / Pay attention to raised hands
She called on a variety of people
Walking around and helping (You-do)
Reminded students to raise hands, called them by tables
Make it more engaging (under classroom manage observations)
Restate focus
How do we teach this and keep their attention?
Overwhelmed with you-do*
Need to focus on individual students and whole class *
Tell them explicitly what they are going to learn and know at end / Give students an amount of time on the You-do
Consistency ask if students know or ‘do not know’ words
We stopped a lot for words, disconnect (pacing) to the story
Lost pace giving students pen in we-do
Be careful with synonyms (wasn’t thought out)
Sentences need to really reflect word meaning
Pick sentences, words, synonyms beforehand
“plan refine, plan refine, process”
Use student friendly terms
You-do should be more You-do
Word choice gave students a voice
Add collaborative piece to connect we-do to you-do **
L 4 / We do it together is much stronger
Make focus even stronger, kids need to know why the strategy will help them
Teachers have to know words and how they relate to focus
Why are definitions hardest for kids? How do we address this
Using check marks, asking kids to tell us what they know about words lets kids know they get it / Reminded students to raise hands ** but weren’t consistent
Took too long to glue word
Give more wait time
“Glue stick in the air” helps students focus
Stress the team aspect more
Watching time
Read story quickly/smoothly
“This is one of my favorite stories” hooks students interest
Provide more scaffolding on definition-confusing for students
Giving rules for supplies-prevents student distraction/playing
“give me 5” “eyes on me” consistent expectations
Students were engaged, telling what word means before the strategy
Let students tell you where to put the words
Explicit modeling maintained student focus / Would have helped to have parts of four square labeled
Liked how you related jostle to lining up, makes it relevant **
Use word in same tense, less confusing
Give specific feedback
Good think aloud
Acting out words w/students ***
Good job for defining words not appropriate for using strategy**
Preface focus lesson “listen for words we don’t know, returns to purpose, why we do this strategy
Emphasized word in sentence
Context clues-illustration
Scaffolding using picture clues, helping students decide word meaning
Letting students create word meaning
Letting them find words, point out, act out words
Re-read book at the end: makes learning authentic, real life, gives purpose for learning

L1 thoughts

Choices made including the focus of the lesson and materials help students succeed

Student understanding is tied to teacher actions

Generic observations of teacher behaviors with no real plan for improvement

How the new plan reflects their understanding:

Should consider word choice, how the words will be defined, synonyms provided and text support for definition. Students need to practice. Definite ideas about what to do, not seeing evidence concrete ideas of how to enact, assess, or provide student autonomy

Lesson strengths quote providing good directions, procedures, Teachers hold the knowledge and need to present it correctly so students will understand

Teacher behaviors noted were cosmetic, circulated room, responded to students, called them by tables and related to the appearance of learning. Teacher appeared to have the class was ‘in control’

Student learning was understood in terms of expected norms, did they raise their hands to speak, did they follow directions coming to the carpet, were they paying attention. Students were learning if they looked like they were on task

L4 thoughts

Differences in type of preinterns comments, one still “me” focused, others more “student” driven

Many statements in the green happen during observation, without being facilitated. To what extent does this imply more ownership of learning?

Student ownership of assessment is addressed in instruction and debrief but not during observations. Is it relevant that this is not present? Or not since it is addressed during discussion. Listen to tapes to see if Emery prompts these thoughts, but they are in plan doc

Look at and add types of revisions from lesson plan.

Should I include my notes?? Final debrief taping?? After ATE??

What statements can I construct which express what was learned and what that learning means?

  • What are Lesson Plans? From Procedural Document to Empowerment Plan
  • Who is the Teacher? From Knowledge Distributer to Learning Coach
  • What is Effective Teaching? From Keeping up Appearances to Meeting All Needs
  • Which areas are more transformational based on # of statements at each end of the ‘continuum’…Both teacher and teaching statements have many student driven observations. Lesson Plan is less, BUT they were not doing another lesson. Add final revisions to document??Then see if the pattern still holds
  • How can we differentiate the lesson study experience to meet pre-interns different learning needs?
  • How does the syllabus need to change to

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  1. Drawing implications (p. 122-123)
  • What have I learned?
  • What changes or actions do I need to make/take now?
  • What are the implications of what I have learned on my teaching?
  • What am I wondering now?

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The teacher candidates were given space from both the university and the elementary school to develop their own meaning of teaching and learning within the clinical setting. The setting itself is a mechanism for learning and has implications for educators designing clinical experiences

  • Learning needs emerge from the students and teachers within the local school. Communication between university and K-12 faculty is necessary to provide common expectations for teacher candidates.
  • Learning experiences which are more context-centered focus on the process of meaning making as opposed to pre-determined assignments and expectations
  • As teacher candidates focus on the meaning of effective teaching for all students, school and university teacher educators must adapt to provide differentiated support to meet preinterns individual needs.

As preinterns shifted from teacher-centered to student-centered understanding of teaching and learning, so must clinical practice shift to teacher-candidate centered learning.