Caryn Asherson
SED 600
Dr. Rivas
March 31, 2007
Review #3
Action Research Presentations
The idea of completing an action research project seems daunting and on
occasion overwhelming. I have worried about picking a topic that will interest me
enough that I will want to pursue it for a year. However, seeing the end products
from the action research projects of the students from the last cohort made the
task seem attainable. It gave me a clearer idea of what my project will look like
in the end. Recognizing what is expected in the end helps give me an idea of
where to begin. It was beneficial to hear about the obstacles the presenters
faced and how they coped with the limitations of their study. Seeing
presentations in real time reminded me that I need to be well-organized and
concise when I present my action research. I felt that the presenters did a very
good job of highlighting the salient points of their research. They provided details
where necessary, but managed to remain succinct. They clearly demonstrated
the relevance of their projects and how their new found knowledge would
influence their teaching in the future.
One of my biggest challenges as a teacher is attempting to respond to an
increasingly broad spectrum of student needs, backgrounds, and learning styles.
In my last review I declared that I wanted to do my action research on the
following: How can I meet the needs of the high-ability students within my regular
education classroom? However, while I was researching differentiated
instruction for my panel presentation, I started to ask myself why I should be only
focusing on the advanced students in my classroom? Aren’t the low achieving
students just as important? How can I make my classroom a good fit for
students who either struggle to learn or learn with ease? A piece of advice that
all three presenters offered was to keep the action research project simple. I
thought that by concentrating on one group of students in my classroom, I would
be simplifying my study. Yet, I realize now that it plausible for me to focus on all
of the differing student ability levels in my classroom.
In addition to researching more about differentiation, I am considering
including Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, as well as Benjamin
Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives in my literature review.
Furthermore, differentiated instruction promotes the use of continuous
assessment to identify students’ readiness levels. Because of this, I want to
work on creating authentic assessments that will enable me to respond
instructionally to the differences among my students. At the moment, my main
form of assessment remains tests and quizzes. I feel pressured to give tests and
quizzes in order to have concrete and quantifiable grades to show parents.
Nevertheless, these grades only show me what my students have learned at the
end of a unit. Moreover, performance on tests does not necessarily give me
accurate information on student understanding. ELL students may be answering
questions incorrectly because of the language barrier rather than because they
do not know the information. I want to know what students understand during the
unit so that I can see where I need to differentiate and adjust my instructional
plans. My ultimate goal is to provide a learning environment that is safe and
challenging for each student. I want to focus on diagnosing my students’
learning needs accurately and practically. Eventually, I want to become an
expert at providing learning opportunities that will increase the likelihood of
success for all my students.