WPP - PART D - Findings and Implications

After setting out to concur a wicked problem within my classroom and devised a plan to incorporate a type of technology to tackle that problem, I have been able to implement the first portion of my plan.  If you recall, I wanted a way that I could get more students involved in my lecures/note-taking and also wanted a better way to monitor student progress throughout a lesson.  I decided that the tool that best fit my problem was incorporating a Student Response System (SRS) into my lessons and units.  My original plan was to incorporate the SRS into at least two lectures/note-taking and give two pre and post tests.  I was not able to stick to this plan completely strictly because of timing issues.  When I made the plan, I hadn't really taken a minute to look at a calender and think of how long each unit would take me to get through.   I was able to incorporate the SRS into multiple note-taking sessions but have not been able to move into the next unit and therefore will only have given one pre-test and one post-test at the conclusion of this class.The unit I due to the great data I received from my SRS.

When I looked at my dismal results from the pre-test I gave my 7th graders regarding their up-coming sexual education unit, my first thought was, "WOW!  These kids know VERY little about their own bodies!".  It was a great starting point for both the students and myself.  This provided each student with their own starting knowledge platform on this topic.

Throughout each note-taking session within the sexual education unit, I was able to ask every student at least 5 questions within a 15 minute session by using the SRS in comparison to my note-taking sessions without the SRS where I asked an average of 10-12 students one question each.  I say "at least" because I still asked specific students individual questions in-between the SRS questions.  The information that I gathered from the SRS questions was helpful in guiding my next few minutes in my note-taking session.  Some questions were answered in ways that told me that a majority of the class knew the material and were ready to move on and other questions were answered in ways that told me I needed to reiterate something before moving on to the next topic.  I may have missed needing to reiterate something without the SRS.  Because I was able to get quick accurate results in seconds, I was able to tailor my lesson to the students needs which is ideal.

My post test results showed improvement in every student.  Below is a screen shot of the pre/post test comparison

This pre/post test comparison serves two purposes for me as a teacher.  It allows me to monitor progress very easily and efficiently throughout the unit plus is also allow me to see how effective my SRS questions were in my note-taking process.  Based on these results I concluded that the questions I embedded into the notes were very successful at guiding my notes to be more congruent with what the students needs were and therefore all students were able to achieve to their potential and beyond.

Having addressed and implemented a plan to tackle a wicked problem in my classroom I would have to say that the process was very simple and somewhat straight forward.  I felt that the extensive preparation to start helped guide me it the best direction.  I also feel that the collaboration among my peers helped guide me in the best direction as well.  If I were to do this again, I would most definitely talk with my peers to see if I could hone in on a problem that I share with other teachers so that I may help more than just myself.  I feel that all three aspects (planning. implementing, and reflecting) are equally important and I would make sure to complete all three thoroughly.  So often the reflection piece get pushed aside and that, in most cases, is one of the most crucial pieces to the puzzle.  Without reflection, how does one get better?

Throughout this process I have taken many things away.  One lesson I've learned is to plan "small".  By that I mean don't bite off more than you can chew.  You can always go back and complete the same process again after tweaking a few things.  I would also make sure that you have a pretty good understand of the technology you will be using otherwise when a student has a question, you won't be able to answer it and you start to hit a "wall".  I remember numerous questions arising the first time we used the SRS and if I hadn't of spent time learning the SRS and it's software, my day would have been much harder.  I would definitely suggest using a SRS for all types of lessons, but they particularly boast very will with sensitive material where students may feel uncomfortable sharing out-load or in-front of the class such as sexual education.

If I am fortunate enough to be able to do this project again, I would alter my pre/post test a bit.  The pre/post test that I made was 100% multiple choice, true/false, or matching.  After making the test and having the students take it, I later found out that the SRS affords you the ability to create open ended (short answer) questions as well as multiple answer questions.  The open ended questions would not be graded instantly, but would allow me a different perspective into a students knowledge on a specific topic.  Knowing that some kids just don't do very well on multiple choice tests, I need to differentiate.   I feel that the SRS that I used met and exceeded my expectations as a teacher and am hopeful in receiving a grant to purchase my own SRS.  It fulfilled my need of both progress monitoring and more student involvement in lectures with better understanding of student comprehension.