Action Research Project Sped 5033 Davidson

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Southeastern Oklahoma State University *

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5033

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Sociology

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Feb 20, 2024

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docx

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1 Action Research Project Tiffany Davidson SPED 5033 Research, Inquiry, and Evidence Dr. Kathleen Boothe December 8, 2023

2 Abstract In this paper, I will be discussing the importance of learning and understanding phonological awareness and phonemic awareness to a student learning how to read. There are three evidence-based practices I will be looking at that will help students that struggling to read. These strategies will help students with letter recognition, letter sounds and relations, and linking letter-sound relations with phonemes. These are crucial steps a student needs to have mastered to learn to read fluently. There are some high-leverage practices that we will integrate with the evidence-based practices including collaboration with families, explicit instruction, and providing scaffolding support during instruction. Research has shown that using these practices has helped students who struggle with reading become better readers. Using action research has helped establish and meet the needs of students in my classroom. It has helped me determine the best method and strategies that help my students the best. This topic interested me because I had trouble reading in the third grade. It made me feel as though I was not as smart as my peers because I had to go to a reading lab during class. The thing is going to that reading lad helped me master the skills I need to become a better reader. I was able to get back into the regular class after I met the goals I needed to meet. I want to be able to help a student who is struggling the way I was helped. It could be the simplest intervention that can make the most difference for a student. Background / Review of Literature Phonological and phonemic awareness is the understanding that the sounds of language spoken can work together to make words. Often this is confused with phonics. Phonics happens to be a different skill that refers to the connection between what is printed and sound. Teachers use phonics to print-sound connections according to Reading Rockets. Rhyming, counting the number of syllables, segmenting sentences into words, and alliteration are crucial steps that are needed in learning to read. The National

3 Reading Panel, (2000) identified five key areas for effective reading instruction. Phonemic Awareness, Phonics instruction through alphabetic principle, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. There are 26 letters in the alphabet and from those 26 letters there are more than 40 phonemes and sound units. Reading becomes much easier for students when they understand and learn how sounds work. Phonemic awareness plays a crucial role in a student's ability to learn to read. Phonemic awareness is the advanced level of phonological awareness. Phonemic awareness is the awareness of speech, and sounds, such as rhyming, alliteration, the number of words in a sentence, and the number of syllables in a word. When a student does not have these basic skills, they will struggle with learning to read. One of the most important skills needed to learn to read is alphabet knowledge. This is the ability to identify letters, sounds, and write letters. Children who cannot recognize at least 10 letters will face a greater challenge and have lower literacy achievement (Instructional Strategies to Enhance Alphabet Knowledge in Kindergarten, n.d.). Alphabet knowledge may be considered one of the strongest indicators of reading ability. When a student has these basic skills, they have a better chance of breaking down words and learning how to read. For a student to learn to read efficiently, three main skills are needed. They need to be able to identify individual sounds, or phonemes that make up words that are often heard, they must be able to name the letters of the alphabet when seen in print, and they need to know the sound that each letter makes. When a student is behind and does not have these skills mastered, they become more at risk for failure. When this happens, the teacher may need to implement an intervention for the student. For a teacher to determine who in her class is at risk, she needs to collect baseline data from the class. This will give her the information needed to determine who needs the extra help and who is on task. Most teachers will take the bottom 25% of the students in the class. Remember, teachers will have students who have diverse backgrounds, and disabilities, and students who already have the skill mastered in their class together. To gather the most information about the students, a teacher can send home surveys. This will give the teacher better knowledge about the student she is teaching. Giving a

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4 beginning-of-the-year assessment such as DIBELS will give her the information she is looking for as well. 3 The teacher can also collect work samples, do observations, and conduct interviews to gather more information about the student. There may be other assessments the teacher can choose from that would better fit the student such as Early Diagnostic Assessment, Phonological Awareness Test, and the Texas Primary Reading Inventory. Each of these assessments can be given at the beginning of the year, middle of the year, and end of the year for progress monitoring. They will provide the proper feedback on whether the student has reached or will reach the benchmark or if intervention is needed. A reminder that not all assessments will work the same for each student, so the teacher must use multiple assessments to ensure she is collecting the best data. Collecting work samples and observing the students in the classroom at centers or during small group activities will also give the teacher feedback on the students and she will be able to determine if they are struggling to complete the activities and tasks properly. When the teacher has collected enough data to know what student or students are struggling with and may need the extra intervention, they can then determine which evidence-based practices and what high-leverage practices can be used in intervention for the student. There is a list of evidence-based practices and high-leverage practices that the teacher can use for the intervention with the student or students. The teacher will do research and determine which will fit her needs the best. In my action research project, I have chosen to use the EBPs that will help with letter recognition, letter sounds and relations, and linking letter-sound relations with phonemes. The high-level practices I have chosen to integrate these skills are, collaborating with families to support student learning and secure student needs, explicit instruction, and providing scaffolding supports during instruction. Using evidence- based practices has shown that they affect important outcomes for participants when done correctly (Regional Educational Laboratory Program (REL), n.d.). When the teacher decides to implement an evidence-based practice they should first research to ensure it is the best fit for the needs they have. The research should be conducted and the decision based on that research by the teacher. 4 During this

5 review, I found that the importance of early intervention is crucial to the success of a student in learning how to read. When students have been identified as struggling the sooner the intervention can start the faster results can happen. Most of the time students can make progress within 4 weeks. Children from at-risk backgrounds were more likely to struggle to identify alphabet letters than their mainstream peers (J. J. Heilmann, n.d.). When students who are struggling start to identify letters and sounds, they quickly can start identifying other letters and sounds. Early intervention is the key to providing a student with the interventions they need. This allows the teacher to provide the support needed to the students who are at risk for possible failure. Using explicit instruction along with the other HLPs and EBPs will build the skills the students need to master phonemic awareness and learn to read efficiently. Description of Research Context This action research project was conducted and data was gathered in my 1 st grade classroom. I chose a student who was in the bottom 25% of the class when I did the beginning-of-the-year assessment of the Starr Early Literacy Test. This was an easy assessment to administer that graphs the data according to the baseline goals. My class is in a small elementary school; therefore, I only have 14 students in class. This makes it easy to conduct small groups for more one-on-one instruction. I used my whole class as part of my research but chose one student who seemed to be struggling more than the others. The reading curriculum that we use is Wonders. With Wonders, it includes leveled readers and has different tiers of instruction for struggling readers. I added different evidence-based activities in my small group setting that helped with phonemic awareness. I had my principal sign the permission form for me to complete the action research in my class. No students were harmed or exposed to any risks during this action research. The evidence-based practices that I did in class were syllable elision with pictures and rhyme concentration and reading the Rockets program. Data collected included work samples and

6 observations. Phonological worksheets were practiced and I observed during small group instruction. The timeline of data collected and assessments was about 7 weeks. Intervention Plans Syllable Elision with Pictures 1. I will select pictures of syllable words and cut them in half vertically. 2. Each piece will be placed face up on the table for students to select 3. Teacher and student will say the word together: for example, say the word tiger and pick the syllables for the word and put them together sounding out each part 4. Complete the same steps for all pictures on the table 5. If a student only gets one syllable correct, they only keep that piece. 6. Can do this in small groups as well as one on one. 7. At the end of the intervention the teacher will verbally tell students whether they met the expectations or not. Explain why or why not the student met expectations. 8. Each week teacher will evaluate progress and determine if the intervention is working or if changes need to be made. Rhyme Concentration 1. I will create pairs of simple rhyming picture cards that students would easily recognize and could say 2. Cards will be placed face down on the table 3. Student will turn one card over say the name then pick one more card and then determine if the two cards rhyme. 4. If a student thinks cards in fact rhyme, they will be placed together and kept.

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7 5. At the end of the intervention strategy, the student and teacher will determine if the student has correctly identified rhyming pairs. 6. The teacher will determine if a correct number of pairs was enough to meet the expectations needed. 7. If the student incorrectly paired together pictures that did not rhyme then she would go over those with the student 8. The teacher will keep monitoring progress weekly until the goal is met or until another intervention may be needed. Reading Rockets 1. I reviewed several EBPs and resources including the Reading Rockets Program to see if it will fit the needs of her students who are having trouble and struggling. 2. I decided to use Reading Rockets and will complete the online course modules where she will learn about the best practices that will support her students in Reading. These modules will also help her teach reading better. 3. My plan of action is in place and will adjust her intervention schedule to include Reading Rockets daily. She will set aside a 30-minute block for now and add more on days that she can each day of the week during her regular reading time. She knows that 30 minutes may not be enough, but this is all she can do at this time. 4. I will have the students who are using Reading Rockets follow the self-paced and add one block to the lesson plans for reading on Monday and Wednesday. On Tuesday and Thursday, she will have activities

8 that will go along with Reading Rockets. We go to school only four days a week, so she is trying to get it all in. Thursday will be the day she will do assessments and progress monitoring when needed. 5. On the day it is time to do a progress monitor, I chose the first-grade DIBELS assessment and Starr reading early literacy assessment that I will administer. This assessment is used by many. 6. Every week for 7 weeks I will look at the data that has been gathered and determine the slope, performance level, and rate of growth that has occurred. With this data, she will meet with the special education team at the end of the 8 weeks at her school and discuss whether we continue with the current intervention, move to another intervention, or be referred for testing. Discussion/Implications Completing this action research has taught me that every student learns the same and not every strategy works for each student the same. The student that I concentrated on the most showed some improvement on the Starr assessment, but not nearly as much as I would like. I want to make sure I am delivering the most effective high-quality instruction possible. I want to have another teacher come in and observe me for feedback. I believe that if my school district did RTI I would be moving this student that I observed into tier 3 instruction because they did not meet the benchmark goals. This action research was beneficial in my classroom because I feel every student benefited from the strategies that were put into place for phonemic awareness. I will continue these strategies in my classroom. Conclusion Completing this action research project, I have learned the importance of data collection and the different methods of collecting it. Realizing what the student's struggle is and making strategies and plans that help them succeed is a great feeling. I would like to be in a bigger district that possibly had

9 more resources available that could help more with things needed in the classroom to complete these research projects. I will be doing more action research plans in the future to help with the needs of the students in my class.

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10 References Explicit instruction as the essential tool for executing the science of reading . (2021, June 1). PubMed. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35419568/ Regional Educational Laboratory Program (REL). (n.d.). REL Resource | Using the Phonological Awareness and Phonics Instruction Rubric for Classroom observation: Springfield Public Schools . https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/rel/Products/Region/midwest/Resource/40039 Instructional strategies to Enhance Alphabet Knowledge in Kindergarten . (n.d.). Scribd. https://www.scribd.com/document/416314485/Instructional-Strategies-to-Enhance- Alphabet-Knowledge-in-Kindergarten Heilmann, J., Moyle, M., & Rueden, A. M. (2018). Using Alphabet knowledge to track the emergent literacy skills of children in head start. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education , 38 (2), 118–128. https://doi.org/10.1177/0271121418766636 Jones, C. D., Clark, S., & Reutzel, D. R. (2012). Enhancing Alphabet Knowledge Instruction: Research Implications and Practical Strategies for early childhood educators. Early Childhood Education Journal , 41 (2), 81–89. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-012-0534-9 Heilmann, J. J. (n.d.). Using Alphabet Knowledge to track the emergent literacy skills of children in head start. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1185518

11 Appendices Appendix A Permission Slip……………………………………………………12 Appendix B Assessment Graph………...………………………………………13

12 Appendix A

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13 Appendix B

Action Research Project Sped 5033 Davidson

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