EDU 6526- Implementation of Strategy 2: QAR

QAR has many uses and can be used across subjects and levels. I will focus in on a 5^th grade resource room lesson on character traits. The first lesson in this unit was defining character and physical traits. We spent time sorting traits into categories and then came up with a definition for each. Physical traits are what someone looks like- what you can see when looking at them. Character traits are what their personality is like or what they act like. The student also began filling in a miniature picture of a human body and on the outside she put physical traits describing her and on the inside she put character traits describing her. We added to this at the end of each of the four lessons in the unit to help tie each lesson to a concrete example.

For the second lesson in this unit I had the student read a story on Thomas Edison. She was to place sticky notes at places in the biography that either explicitly stated a trait, or on sentences that alluded to a trait. On the sticky notes she was to write what the character trait was that the sentence referred to or the physical traits. Here is an example of what that looks like- this example is using a different book than the one I used in the lesson, but it shows how the sticky notes can be used.    

The following website, http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/question_answer_relationship/, as mentioned in my previous post on this strategy, goes into some detail about the QAR and different types of questions. This type of exercise and interaction with the text would be, “Right There Questions: Literal questions whose answers can be found in the text. Often the words used in the question are the same words found in the text” (Reading Rockets, 2013).  The student is being asked to find something specific in the text and identify it.

In my experience as a teacher (11 years) I have found that students gain more comprehension when they are asked to interact with the text. The QAR provides them with different types of question that force student to interact with the text in a way that increases comprehension.

 

There is research to support the use of this strategy as well, according to the article entitled Question answer relationships (QAR) in the primary grades: Laying the foundation for reading

comprehension, it is important to start this strategy in the primary grades to increase reading comprehension in students as they move onto upper grade levels.  “’I have read the chapter three times and still can’t find the answer to this question!’ Third, fourth and fifth grade teachers continue to hear this statement from their students as the students look through the text expecting to find the answer written in one sentence. Students continue to become frustrated searching for answers to questions, in both narrative and expository text selections. Question Answer Relationships (QARs) might be one solution to student frustration in upper grades if primary grade teachers introduced this strategy early in students’ education.

The authors’ belief that Question Answer Relationships (QARs) can be effectively taught to students in grades K-2 was explored when early elementary teachers implemented the QAR strategy in their instruction. The outcome confirmed the effectiveness of using QARs with primary grade students” (Kinniburgh & Prew, 2010).

What I like most about this strategy is it also lends itself to both differentiation and integration of several subjects. For example, in the situation I used it in above, I am teaching reading comprehension strategies while the student is also learning about Thomas Edison- Social Studies. This could also easily be used in science as well. As for differentiation, a teacher could provide different questions for different levels. The teacher could either group students in pairs or students can work individually. The teacher could hand out questions according to level. This way each student is working at the level appropriate for him/her and the students can still be reading the same text, so everyone can participate in turn and talk or full class discussions.

The following standards relate both to the QAR and to identification of character and physical traits when reading.

 

GLE:

2.1.6 Apply comprehension monitoring strategies to understand fiction, nonfiction, informational text, and task-oriented text: monitor for meaning, create mental images, and generate and answer questions: Organize information in a graphic organizer that is appropriate to the text and purpose for reading in order to organize information and comprehend text.

 

2.2.3 Understand and analyze story Elements: Use knowledge of the situation, characters’ actions, motivations, feelings, and physical attributes to determine characters’ traits.

 

CCC:

The following standards offer a focus for instruction each year and help ensure that students gain adequate exposure to a range of texts and tasks. Rigor is also infused through the requirement that students read increasingly complex texts through the grades. Students advancing through the grades are expected to meet each year’s grade-specific standards and retain or further develop skills and understandings mastered in preceding grades.

Reading Standard for informational text 1.Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

 

Reading Standards for literature 1. Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

 

References:

Dell’Olio, J., Donk, T. (2007). Models of teaching: Connecting student learning with standards. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

Kinniburgh, L., Prew, S. (2010). International Journal of Early Childhood Special Education (INT-JECSE), June 2010, 2: 1.

Reading Rockets. Question Answer Relationship, 2013. Retrieved from http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/question_answer_relationship/

P3 – Practice standards-based assessment

P3 – Practice standards-based assessment

This is a standard that I struggle with each year. Do I teach to the test? How am I not teaching to the test if I am preparing my kids for a standardized test? I have been teaching a long time and each year these questions arise. I think what it comes down to is that the standards are written as topics we should cover in our teaching. The idea is that if we are teaching the standards then we will be preparing our students for the test, without that being the purpose of our teaching.

I also sometimes have to make decisions about topics I won’t be covering because I do not have enough time or it is more important to make sure my students truly understand each topic rather than are just exposed to each topic. For example, this year I taught a section of 6^th grade math. I started working with my students on fractions going at the speed my teaching partner was with her 6^th grade math class. It was not working for my students. They were not passing daily assessments or quizzes. I had to make a decision and slow down. What this meant when I it came time for my kids to take the MSP was that we had not gotten to all the topics that would be on the test, but the topics we did cover, my students know. This will benefit them in the long run and will benefit their “long-term math careers” each coming year.

Weekly Reflection 10

As part of my Internship Observation Assessment I was asked to fill out section 6.3 of the long form. This section asked me to look at three works samples from my lesson and answer a few question pertaining to them. Below are my answers and some screenshots of student work. The lesson was on finding the Least Common Multiple, using a certain method we learned in class involving prime factorization. Then they were to apply this to putting fractions in order.

Three work samples:

1- M- She is the strongest student in the class. She tends to work quickly so she sometimes misses directions or may make simple mistakes. However, she demonstrates understanding of concepts quickly and sometimes seems bored in class- this can make teaching her challenging. I am currently working on some enrichment projects for her.

M did meet the Learning Target of the lesson. She successfully demonstrated understanding of ordering fractions by finding the LCM of a given set of fractions and making the denominators the same.

In the above example it is clear she knows how to find LCM and use that to order fractions. She did have to be told to make sure to show all of her work and that her work is clear so that I could follow her train of thought. The assessment was appropriate because one goal she is working on is showing all of her work in a way that is organized and neat. She had to practice this a lot on this particular assignment.

2-E- She is not quite at grade level. She struggles with concepts, and works very slowly. This means that she does not often make it through all the practice that she really needs to solidify her understanding of topics. She is a slow starter, for example, one thing she did after I assigned the assignment, was to write out all the problem numbers.

This is a problem, because it is a way for E to pass time without actually doing any work. In addition to that, she does not really leave herself any room to do that work, and she forces herself to write in a small space. I had her start again on a fresh sheet of paper and just jump into the work, no writing out all the problem numbers first. Although she was able to demonstrate that she understood the overall concept, of making the denominators the same so that the fractions could be put in order, she did not go through all the steps to find the LCM that she was taught to do. And although she got the problems correct. I am concerned about her not showing all of her work because of her history of struggling when concepts become more challenging. She did meet the Learning Target of the lesson, but I will be watching her work carefully in review material of this topic.
3-S- This students has struggled with math for years, but in the last 1.5 years has begun to show more enthusiasm and less nervousness towards math. This in turn has led to more success for her. She is very hesitant to ask for help though or show when she does not understand something; unless I really push her to open up to me, which can take a lot of time. I do feel like I have made some headway though and that she has begun to be more open to asking for help, or at least taking it. S does NOT like to show her work. She will often work through problems in her head and then go back and show her work; this sort of defeats the purpose! At the beginning I made it clear that I needed to see her work along the way since one of our goals was to show how to find LCM and then use that to order fractions. She did that through the first ten problems or so, but did not on the last ten or so. In the following picture you can see how she was showing her work and then she stopped. She demonstrated understanding of the Learning Target, but it concerns me that she stopped showing her thinking. I will be watching her work carefully in review material of this topic.

Technology: Meta-reflection

I have truly enjoyed this technology class. I feel like each of the assignments have led me to be able to “practice the integration of appropriate technology with instruction”, which is one of the Principles of HOPE at SPU. At the beginning of this course my feelings toward technology, were accepting, but cautious. Too cautious. For this class we read two books, The Shallows by Nicholas Carr and Brain Gain by Marc Prensky. When I first started reading these books, I thought, “how was I going to get through reading these two books, on a topic that can’t possibly be that interesting, and to top it off I would be reading it on my computer?! At the very least, couldn’t I just go buy the book? Then we were asked to join G+, which is similar to Facebook, in that it is a social networking site, but we were going to use it as a way to share websites and resources about current technology. I was wary of this medium of sharing information as well, but as time went on I began to see the value in each of the class’ assignments. The books even began to grow on me. In fact I learned to like reading a text book on the computer because I was able to so easily highlight my work, take screenshots and put them directly into my blog. Using G+, learning about hash tags, and becoming better at searching the web for resources has also been valuable to me. All of these skills lead back to the standards stated above, “practice the integration of appropriate technology with instruction” .

Becoming more comfortable myself with technology and being shown so many resources by my classmates has made me more familiar with the technology that is available for me to integrate into my classroom. The books we read also have really enlightened me. I feel like they were a perfect balance of the different feelings or arguments people may have when struggling with the idea of technology. It seems to me that we are really not given any time to process the technology; it is happening so fast! It is reasonable for people to be wary. This class has helped me past the hump of wariness.

I, in fact, thought I was incorporating a lot of technology in my classes over the years. I have used websites to show videos, websites for students to do HW on; I have made web search assignments. But somehow, I realize now that there is SO much more I can be doing to incorporate technology into my classroom. I may have even realized this before, but I was never quite comfortable enough with technology to really delve into it.

Now not only do I have so many more resources from my classmates and teachers, but I am more comfortable being authoritative about technology. This has given me more confidence to not only integrate it more into my classroom (I am doing a flip class with Khan Academy for my 6^th grade math!), but with other teachers as well!

Weekly Reflection 3: MSP

Mid- September is the time of year that we, at school and parents, at home, are eagerly awaiting the results of the MSP test (Measurement of Student Progress), that the students took in the spring. I always have conflicting feelings over the MSP test. Both when the students are taking it and while waiting and reviewing the results. I do not like to take standardized tests, and I imagine most people feel the same. However, it is a part of what all students have to do to get into college and/or graduate school. It is the way the system is set up. Maybe one day in the future it will change or look different, but for now this is it. Knowing that, even though I don’t like putting students through the stress of it, it is an important skill for them to have. Test taking strategies and stress management can benefit students not only in preparation for the MSP, but for any standardized tests. That being said, it can be particularly difficult for students with learning differences to take these tests. At our school we accommodate these students based on IEP’s or 504’s, but it is still extremely challenging for them. It can be hard for me to watch them struggle through the test while I am proctoring them.

Then comes the fall. Many parents put A LOT of weight on the results of the test. There are even some who judge the quality of the child’s previous teacher based on the results of this test. I like to think that I am immune to this way of thinking, and although I do not take it to the extreme as these parents, sometimes I wonder if I too put too much weight on the results as well.

Once our school receives the results, our principal brings them to the Learning Center (L.C.) where we spend considerable time reviewing every students results (whether they are served by the L.C. or not). We look at how the students did last year and how it compares to this year. Did a student pass last year and not this year? Did they not pass last year and pass this year? Are there any surprises? I have found that when a student passes we are excited and we feel a sense of accomplishment in having helped that student succeed. But when a student does not pass, although there may be some sense of responsibility that I feel (these feelings were magnified when I was a classroom teacher), I also think to myself, well it is just one test, they were probably having a bad day.

I think the bottom line is. It is a snapshot of the student. It could be they were just having a bad day. Or maybe they really did their best, but taking tests is incredibly stressful for them. Maybe they had a headache while taking the test. Or on the other hand, maybe they like tests as a way to demonstrate their knowledge; maybe they had a really great morning at home, so their mood was light. Whatever the case, it is just one piece of the child’s learning, and although we and the parents have to consider the results of this test, we also need to remember that there is so much more to what the child knows than just the results of this test.

Once we have reviewed the results with the Principal my mentor teacher and I go through each child who did not pass and write up a plan for each student for the year. A part of the plan writing entails a discussion of why we think the student did not pass. The results of this discussion help us to decide what kind of support we need to put in place for each child. Sometimes it may be as simple as teaching the child test taking and stress management strategies, or it may be as complex as in-class support combined with pull-out support. Typically the students who need the more complex support are students who we are already serving in the L.C. or were on our radar as ones who may need L.C support. Once these reports are complete, we send home the report with the results of the test. We also call each parent to let them know if their child did not pass and that a plan for their child’s learning will be included with the results of the test. This assures the parents that not only are we aware that their child did not pass, but that we already have a plan in place to help them succeed next time.

Week 2 Reflection: A New School Year…

The first few weeks at school are filled with sitting in classrooms observing, meeting with teachers, administering assessments and creating my schedule. I come in each year knowing a few of the students I will be working with, but the students always start in their classrooms so that the new teachers have a chance to get to know the students and so the students get a feel of being part of their class.  As my schedule has slowly been coming together I have been spending more time with students and less time on paperwork and teacher meetings. Finally! I love spending time with my students. This year I will be working with some students with whom I have been working for several years and with some new students as well.

It is always challenging setting up how to best spend my time with my students. We (the teachers and I) spend a lot of time deciding if it is best to work with the students in their classrooms or to pull the students out for small group or one-on-one work time. We try to keep students in their classrooms as much as possible. We try make accommodations and to employ inclusion in our classrooms. However, this is not always the best model for all students. We are lucky in our school to have three Learning Center teachers, so we are able to make individual plans for each of our students and we are able to individualize the type of time spent with each student. Usually, by the fourth week of school we have it all figured out and our schedules are set. This should be happening in the next week or so! Once I know my schedule I am able to plan accordingly for each child. This might mean working with teachers to help them with accommodations and differentiation or to plan my own lessons. The biggest struggle I have is that I wish I could spend all day with some of my students and it is so hard to figure out how to spend my time so I am serving each child as much as they truly need. It is something I am constantly working with my mentor teacher to figure out. I have also found that the needs of students change throughout the year so to my schedule changes as time goes on. I have also found that the needs of students change throughout the year so to my schedule changes as time goes on.

Helping children find success in school is important to me. It can be very discouraging for students who struggle and anything I can do to help them, I will. I support my students both on an academic and personal level. I have found that fostering relationships with my students and showing interest in my students helps in their academic success as well.  To a new year!