2. Research question
Is
there any change in students‟
thoughts and focus in class when
concrete pictorial examples of
physical behavior are presented?
3. Purpose of the study
The
purpose of this study was to discover how
to increase student engagement in my fourth
grade language arts classroom. More
specifically, the goal was to identify variables
in my classroom that prohibit students from
being fully engaged, attempt to reverse
those variables by modeling, and evaluate
student engagement from there by
measuring students‟ success or failure
according to teacher expectations.
4. Why this research?
Simply stated, Peters noted in his study on
student engagement that making good grades
and actively engaged learners were directly
connected.
Peters stated that there is a difference between
students being engaged in school and being
engaged at school, further explaining that even
if students are at school they may be there to
socialize and learning may not be the primary
focus.
5. Literature Review
Kadakia
separated the act of
learning into two different categories
that pertain to school.
Teachers‟
oral strategies and
Perceptions
and both teacher‟ and
students‟ body language.
6. Know your students
Research compiled by (Oliveria, 2010) states that
common oral strategies include the use of
metaphors, rhetorical questions, colloquial
language, humorous comments and oral queries
describe how secondary and post-secondary
students tend to be more engaged when these
strategies are used. On the other hand, it was found
that using these methods in the elementary
classroom often confused students and they weren‟t
clear on how they were supposed to act or respond
to such „loose‟ instruction.
7. Type of study
Data
collection for this study was based
on qualitative methodology. Qualitative
research involves mostly observation, and
observation was my main component for
data collection. I also used ethnographic
research.
8. Tools used in Study
Components which I implemented during the study
were:
Data was collected from rubrics completed by the students and
rubrics completed by myself, both of which were based on
observation.
A field diary was kept based on the researcher‟s observations
from the day.
An interview was conducted upon conclusion of the
observation period with each student allowing them to express
what they thought about the rubric, Also, how the first week
compared to the second week in which had pictorial examples
for modeling exact expectations.
9. Measurement
For
this study, I used the triangulation
technique correlating student selfobservation checklists, to teacherobservation checklists, to field diary
notes.
10. Results: Posture
In week one, the students rated themselves toward the
high (3‟s and 4‟s) end of the spectrum with an average
score on day one of 4. In contrast, the researcher rated
them much lower (1‟s and 2‟s) with an average score of
2.1.
In week two pictorial examples of appropriate behaviors
were provided, and the scores started out lower in the
beginning of the week for students self-rating but
increased as the week continued. Likewise, the
researcher‟s results could be mirrored to the student
results with an average of 2.1 at the beginning of the
week and 3.5 by the end. (Appendix G)
11. Results: Participation
In week one, students again rated themselves toward
the high end of the spectrum with an average of 3.5 of
day one. (Appendix G)
Similarly, in week two they rated themselves toward the
lower end of the spectrum (showing an average of 2.6
week 2 day 1) but increased as the week continued
(week 2 day 4 with an average of 3.6.)
The researcher‟s results were much the same with this
category as well, as noted on week two day two when
the student and researcher data proved to be identical
with an average of 2.83.
12. Results: Field Notes
In reference to numerical data collected from the field
diary, assertions were made that students were rating
themselves higher in the first week, without pictorial
modeling, than in the first part of the second week
where pictures were presented and students rated from
the example.
In week one, day three the researcher indicated that
while the students had more than adequate time to fill
out the rubric, and the teacher observed real thought
being taken by students to carefully choose the right
rating, the results were still much higher than the
researcher had given for that day. (See appendix F)
13. Results: Interview
Students also indicated that they saw an increase in
accuracy of rating themselves on the rubric after being
provided with pictorial examples, when conducting
interviews.
When asked what it looks like to be successful in class, Student 3
reported “Sitting up straight, tracking the speaker, and being able to
answer the exit slip correctly.” After students 3 reported this, I
elaborated with “You have been told to do those things in class
about a million times, what has changed?” She said, “I sometimes
don‟t listen in class or don‟t think the teacher is talking to me
because I‟m mostly good.”
When students were asked if they noticed a difference between
week one and week two they unanimously reported “yes.” When
asked to explain further, Student 2 said ”The first week I didn‟t think
about what I was doing in class but the second week, I had pictures
and was reminded so I did better.”
14. Conclusions
The results gathered from correlating data taken
from student self-observation checklists, to
teacher-observation checklists, to field diary
notes were:
When pictures were displayed, everyone
involved had the same expectation.
The data indicates that when pictures were
posted as a model students were more actively
engaged learners.
15. Future Studies
Possibly in the future, some studies could be
done in making a connection between using
pictures in successful and unsuccessful behavior
modification plans. Additionally, studies could
be done to directly link unsuccessful behavior
with plans that don‟t contain pictures to students
who don‟t read at grade level or understand the
spoken language of a region well.
16. Works Cited
Srofe, T. (2009). Freshman academy: Making the high school transition. Retrieved from
http://digitaldu.coalliance.org/fedora/repository/codu:62930/ETD_Srofe_denver_006 1D_10177.pdf0/master
Kadakia, M. (2005). Increasing student engagment by using morrowind to analyze choices and
consequences. TechTrends, 49(5), 29-32. Retrieved from
http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.waterfield.murraystate.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=bd50f1b9392f-45bd-82d3-08fdb7a8be3a@sessionmgr15&vid=4&hid=102
Oliveria, A. W. (2010). Engaging students in guided science inquiry discussions: Elementary teachers' oral
strategies. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 21(7), 747-765. doi: 10.1007/s10972
West, T. (2007). Multilayered analysis of teacher-student interactions: Concepts and perspectives guiding
video analysis with tattoo, the analytic transcription tool. Pedagogies, 2(3), 139-150. doi:
10.1080/15544800701366290
Fink-Jensen, K. (2007). Attunement and bodily dialogues in music education. Philosophy of Music Education
Review, 15(1), 53-68. Retrieved from
http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.waterfield.murraystate.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=1899941bdf17-4be9-83e2-54a6b0e82b54@sessionmgr15&vid=7&hid=16
Peters, E. E. (2010). Shifting to a student-centered science classroom: An exploration of teacher and student
changes in perceptions and practices. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 21(3), 329-349. doi:
10.1007/s10972-009-9178-z
Schaaf, R. (2012). Does digital game-based learning improve student time-on-task behavior and
engagement in comparison to alternative instructional strategies? Canadian Journal of Action
17. Works Cited Continued
Schaaf, R. (2012). Does digital game-based learning improve student time-on-task behavior and
engagement in comparison to alternative instructional strategies? Canadian Journal of Action
Research, 13(1), 50-64. Retrieved from
http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.waterfield.murraystate.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=1899941bdf17-4be9-83e2-54a6b0e82b54@sessionmgr15&vid=11&hid=5
Abushihab, I. M. (2012). A semiotic-based approach as an effective tool for teaching verbal and nonverbal aspects of language. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 3(6), 1150-1156. doi:
10.4304/jltr.3.6.1150-1156
Engagement. (n.d.). In Google online. Retrieved from
https://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF8&rlz=1T4ADRA_enUS460US473&q=define+engagement&safe=active
Learning. (n.d). In Google online. Retrieved from
https://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF8&rlz=1T4ADRA_enUS460US473&q=define+engagement&safe=active#q=define+learning&safe=active
Finn, J., & Pannozzo, G. (2004). Classroom organization and student behavior in kindergarten. Journal of
Educational Research, 98(2), 79-92. Retrieved from
http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.waterfield.murraystate.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=1899941bdf17-4be9-83e2-54a6b0e82b54@sessionmgr15&vid=19&hid=5
Fraenkel, J., Wallen, N., & Hyun, H. (2011). How to design and evaluate research in education. (8 ed., pp.
425-428, 507-520). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Companies.
