Reflection
Impact on Student Learning
Students successfully increased their number sense. Which in turn, increased their confidence as mathematicians. They had more practice and exposure with numbers. I saw them answering more questions during the whole group because they were understanding what we were learning. I encouraged students to talk with one another and explain their thinking. This improved students' social and communication skills as well. We played a matching game with number cards and dot cards where students had to get along with one another and take turns. Students were excited to come to the group. They would often ask if it was their group's turn yet. I saw students' love of learning and mathematics grow throughout the six weeks of intervention. They enjoyed coming to the group to work with numbers by playing math games and working together. They often got excited when they explained their thinking with myself and each other. I could see the light bulbs going off in their heads as they started to understand concepts better by growing their number sense.
What I learned & Implications for Future Learning & Teaching
I have learned an extensive amount from conducting this research study. I learned how to use assessment to inform my next instructional decisions by finding students strengths and weaknesses. Then building on their strengths and weaknesses by using research based instructional strategies to support students' learning. During the intervention I learned how to differentiate instuction by working with students in a small group and individual setting. While working with students, I had to consider their background and prior experiences. Each student has had different experiences that have shaped them into the mathematician that they are today. My job was to help students build on what they already knew to grow their number sense. Progress monitoring assessments helped me evaluate student learning during the process and will be something I continue to do and collect data on. Lastly, I learned how to effectively examine data and my teaching practice. I got to look for themes throughout my notes and data which helped me learn which concepts students were understanding and which concepts I could have taught differently. I feel I am prepared to continue conducting small groups interventions with my future students.
I will use this process when conducting intervention groups in the future and when implementing other research based practices such as skills groups for teaching phonics. The intervention group was successful by increasing students' number sense. The data I collected supports the purpose of this study. I know in the future I can find concepts I want to target and implement research based practices to improve students' success with that certain concept. In other words, I know I can plan accordingly for my students instructional strengths and needs. I will continue to use data to inform my decision making and instructional decisions. In the future, I will start intervention earlier on in the year and implement it for subjects other than math as well.
Impact on Professional Development & Growth
Teachers are constantly growing and learning. Professional development is a crucial part of that process to reach professional growth. I have learned new skills and gained new experiences that has led to my growth professionally from conducting this research study in my classroom. I was constantly evolving my teaching to maximize student learning. Collaboration with my grade level team, math coach, mentor, and cadre cohort was another key component to my professional development and growth. My grade level team and I work together continuously. We are always communicating and working together. They support me by explaining lessons/concepts and answering any questions I have. My math coach provided ongoing support and guidance by answering questions I had along the way. My cohort and mentor helped by examining my intervention process throughout the six weeks and offering guidance and support. I have created relationships with other professionals and colleagues who I can continue to work and better myself with in the future.
Challenges & Questions That Still Remain
There were some challenges along the way while conducting this research study. I originally had six students in my intervention group, but I lost one along the way. He had to leave the general classroom for a short time and would not return before the six weeks was over. I conducted his Pre-Test and he received about three weeks of the intervention before leaving. I did not get to give him the Progress Monitoring Assessment or the Post-Test. During the time he was present he participated and contributed thoughtful ideas to the group. I think he would have been successful if he had gotten to complete the intervention. Another challenge for me was time. I often ran over time when pulling groups. By the end of the intervention my pace was quicker and I know it will continue to improve as I gain more experience with the curriculum.
Students who were pulled for intervention also received whole group instuction each day. This included 30 minutes for number corner (similar to calendar) and 30-45 minutes for the math lesson. This is about an hour of math instruction each day. I am wondering how much of my students success was due to the math intervention group and how much was due to whole group instruction each day? This question would not be possible to test as we would never pull students out of whole group instruction. Intervention is maximized when paired with what students are learning in whole group. The five students showed improvements during whole group math after receiving small group instruction. Small group instuction is not something that is going to stop in my classroom because the study has concluded. I will continue to pull small groups and plan for targeted instruction in the future.