Participants and Data

For my action research project, I am focusing on improving Small Group Reading instruction for ELLs. I will be focusing this research on six ELL students: three girls, and three boys. My students are Jessica, Karen, Michelle, Kevin, Brian, and Anthony. During my Small Group reading block, I am working with an interventionist and we have divided my class into two groups based on MAP Reading data taken at the beginning of September. The chart below shows the MAP scores of the six students in my group:

Jessica	190
Karen	202
Michelle	204
Brian	204
Anthony	186
Kevin	188

Although some of these students are the highest performing readers based on MAP data, it is my hope to continue to develop their reading comprehension and motivation, while improving my reading instruction to encourage further growth on the MAP assessment. A mid-year MAP check will be administered in December. Through that assessment, I will be able to determine if growth in reading performance has been made. However, another goal of this project is to improve students’ attitudes and interest in reading.

Garfield Survey Results

As previously described, I asked my students to complete the Garfield Reading Attitude Survey. The purpose for giving this assessment was to gain a better understanding of my students’ attitudes and feelings about reading. This assessment is comprised of 20 questions, and students are asked to choose the Garfield picture that best represents their feelings toward reading, from very happy, to very upset.

When asked “How do you feel when you read a book in school during free time?” one of my students, Kevin, chose the happiest Garfield, Karen, Jessica, Anthony, and Michelle chose the upset Garfield, and Brian chose the most upset Garfield. From this data, I can conclude that 5 of these 6 students are not excited about reading independently. However, when asked “How do you feel about starting a new book?” Michelle, Jessica, and Brian chose the happiest Garfield, Karen chose the “slightly smiling” Garfield and Kevin and Anthony chose the “mildly upset” Garfield. Based on this question, half of the group is excited about starting a new book, and the other half is neutral about it. This information encourages me to implement Literature Circles with this group, in hope to boost their motivation and excitement about reading. Five students chose the mildly upset Garfield, and one chose the very upset Garfield when asked “How do you feel about reading workbook pages and worksheets?” This information describes the students’ desire for more meaningful lessons/ activities, versus reading a worksheet and responding to the questions. This is the response I anticipated from my students, which is why I am incorporating hands-on materials, and variety in my small group instruction.

Motivational Reading Survey

The second reading survey is one that I created consisting of eighteen multiple-choice questions and ten “Yes, Sometimes, No” questions. The purpose of this survey was to gain further insight into my students’ reading behaviors, perceptions, and self-awareness as a reader.  When asked, “My friends think I am…” all six of the students selected the choice “An OK reader.” This was surprising to me because each one of these students is a very strong reader; they read fluently and comprehend most of what they read. When asked if they want their teacher to read out loud, all of them selected “Everyday.” Based on this information, I will attempt to read aloud during small group three times a week. Three students responded that reading is an “OK way to spend time,” while the other three believe reading is a “boring way to spend time.” Since this group does not look forward to reading, it is my goal to improve their outlook on reading for fun, and I hope to do this by engaging in exciting/ interesting reading activities.

Narrow reading is an instructional method I chose to incorporate during Small Group time. Through narrow reading, students are exposed to a variety of texts that align with content studied in other areas. For example, I will incorporate Science topics into our Small Group reading time. My purpose for choosing the narrow reading method is to introduce students to meaningful text, while improving various aspects of reading (comprehension, vocabulary, etc). I wanted to know how students felt about this narrow reading approach, so I added the question to the survey: “I like the stories we read in school to be about what we are studying.” In response to this question, all six students checked the Yes column. I was excited to see this, because narrow reading is a huge component to my project, and it also illustrates how these students are motivated to read about topics they are studying.