Running head: Action Research Project: Classroom Management

Davis 1

Action Research Project: Classroom Management Mindi Davis Azusa Pacific University Master of Arts in Digital Teaching and Learning EDUC 526 January 13, 2014

Action Research: Classroom ManagementDavis 2 Abstract This paper discusses an action plan, which improved on classroom management. It explains the loss of instructional minutes due to staff talking and being disruptive. However by implementing small group instruction all staff was kept busy, which led to less talking between staff and an improvement in less disruptive instruction time for students. Implementing small group instruction also provided an opportunity for more classroom organization. Keywords: classroom management, small group instruction

Action Research: Classroom ManagementDavis 3 Introduction I am a Special Education teacher in a class with students with moderate to severe disabilities. In my classroom there are six adults and fifteen students. I am the classroom teacher; there is one classroom assistant, and four assistants who are assigned as one-on-one aides to four students. I have been in the class for a little over two months. When I first began in the class I would conduct whole group lessons and staff would help their assigned students as well as help other students who needed assistance. This form of instruction was not conducive to an effective learning environment for my students. With so many people in one classroom there tends to be an immense amount of talking between adults as well as the students during instructional time. Thus came my idea to utilize the adult support in the class and create small group instruction. I developed a weekly plan and created workspaces for each group. I explained to the staff and students how the groups would work. The idea was on Mondays I would give whole group instruction to the class. This would consist of me instructing the students and explain the lessons for the week. On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday the class would work in small groups of three with one staff per table. There would be five different activities occurring then after a fifteen minute work time the staff would take there instructional materials and move to the next group to work. My overall goal is to ensure the students are engaged in learning during the day with as

Action Research: Classroom ManagementDavis 4 little disruptions as possible. However even with the staff leading instructional groups there is still an immense amount of talking between staff and not enough instruction to the students. In a seven-hour workday the staff spends about two and a half hours a day talking or even on occasion they will toss a tennis ball back and forth. This is throughout the day, however it is two and a half hours of commotion, which draws the students away from instruction. With the distraction of the staff talking or throwing a tennis ball, the students have a very difficult time focusing; therefore there is a loss of valuable instructional minutes. I would like to see my staff talking less during instructional time and focus on keeping the students on task to complete their assignments. Implementation After seeing how much time the staff in the room continued to talk even during the instructional groups I decided to give the staff a little more instruction on what they need to be doing during group time. I took several steps to get the staff on board with using instructional time more effectively. Step 1: Created a lesson plan for each class period which explained the activity for each group as well as the rotation of the staff

Action Research: Classroom ManagementDavis 5 Example of lesson: Tasks Edmark Tasks Draw and write worksheet - Explain directions - Assign worksheet Edmark Tasks Sight Word Activity - Build and Cut words Tasks Following directions worksheet - Explain directions - Assign worksheet Sight Word Activity - Build and Cut words

Group #1

Group #2

Attainment Reading: -Review definitions -Read story Following directions worksheet - Explain directions - Assign worksheet Sight Word Activity - Build and Cut words

Group #3

Attainment Reading: -Review definitions -Read story Following directions worksheet - Explain directions - Assign worksheet Sight Word Activity - Build and Cut words

Draw and write worksheet - Explain directions - Assign worksheet Edmark

Group #4

Attainment Reading: -Review definitions -Read story Following directions worksheet - Explain directions - Assign worksheet

Draw and write worksheet - Explain directions - Assign worksheet Edmark

Group #5

Draw and write worksheet - Explain directions - Assign worksheet

Attainment Reading: -Review definitions -Read story

Step 2: Posted the schedule for everyone in the class to easily view Step 3: Assigned each staff a task to be in charge of, as well as what group they would start with

Action Research: Classroom ManagementDavis 6 Step 4: Provided all necessary materials to the staff for their activity (for example: scissors, glue, ensuring computers are on and ready to be used) Step 5: Provided all work in a nice, easy to transport folder Step 6: Set timer to begin work Step 7: When timer dinged, informed staff it was time to rotate I provided the lesson plan of each class period of the day. In addition to providing step-by-step instruction to the staff I also tried to exhibit the kind of behavior I would like to see occur in the class. My most important goal is to utilize the maximum amount of instructional time to ensure my students are receiving a meaningful education. Example of a lesson plan:

Action Research: Classroom ManagementDavis 7 Results: After completion of the new plan of action I was very pleased with the results. The instructional time in the classroom increased by between ten and twenty minutes in each class period. When the action research began the staff was asked to work with a small group on a task provided to them by myself. The staff responded well seeing a classroom schedule posted so they knew exactly what the plan was for each class period. According to the Youtube video posted by subcuda1, when entering the classroom in the morning a schedule of the day helps students know what to expect throughout the day. I noticed the posted schedule was not only helpful to my students, but to the staff as well. I also found it helpful to simply assign the tasks to the staff members rather than asking them what they wanted to teach. David Bill made a great point about organizing and managing a classroom in his Edutopia article by saying the key to such a process is

ensuring that it's easy to identify and know who is handling each task and responsibility. In addition I ensured the amount of work assigned would keep
the students busy for the entire fifteen minutes of group time. By keeping the students and staff busy there was much more instructional time and much less talking between staff members during instructional time. While implementing the new plan in my classroom I was surprised at how fast the staff and students were able to adjust to the new schedule and the instructional time improved. Unfortunately, the staff member who did

Action Research: Classroom ManagementDavis 8 not like the change and was not as helpful during instructional group time also surprised me. Luckily there are enough staff members in the class to cover instruction for each group. Ultimately, by having a posted schedule and assigning work to staff there is a much better use of instructional time and less down time for the staff. Below is a graph of how the instructional time improved:

35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Period 1 Period 2 Period 4 Period 5 Period 6 Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4

Conclusions: After completing the action research I have learned a few very helpful tips to make the most out of instructional time in the classroom. One helpful tip I have learned is to ensure everyone in the classroom knows the schedule for the day and what will be worked on in the class. I also have learned to make sure the staff in the classroom knows what is expected of

Action Research: Classroom ManagementDavis 9 them. The more organized I am in the classroom the more it helps the staff and students stayed organized as well as know what is expected of them. Although the group work and having instructions for staff and for students has created extra work for me, it really does make better use of instructional time, which was my ultimate goal. The only change or adjustment I would make would be to create a large schedule on the board rather than separate papers for each staff member. Following the success of the action research I have concluded that this is definitely something I will continue to do in my instructional practice. I was so pleased to see the talking between the staff lessen and more distraction free instructional time. For the most part staff was very responsive to their new duties and were very helpful in the class and during instructional time. There were a couple drawbacks to the new plan. One barrier was the staff member who was not as receptive to the new change. However I decided to give her other tasks to perform throughout the day in order to capitalize on every adult in the class. Another drawback I faced was having to instruct the staff following every activity where to rotate to, as well as ensuring the staff was adequately teaching the lessons and not rushing through the assignments. General Comments: Overall I am very satisfied with the results of my action research. The best part was the fact that instructional minutes increased because of the

Action Research: Classroom ManagementDavis 10 new action plan. When I began the plan I simply wanted the staff to do more work with the students and less talking and distracting the students. There are still improvements, which can be made. For instance I need to make certain I stay on top of my workload by making sure all lesson plans are ready to be put into action. I also need to make sure I exhibit the type of work behavior I would like the staff exhibit, such as staying on task and using instructional minutes wisely. I am very excited to keeping practicing the action plan and make improvements as needed and have the group instructional time run smoothly. Bottom line organization is the key to all of this and I need to make certain I stay organized and the rest should fall into place.

Action Research: Classroom ManagementDavis 11 Resources

Bill, David. (2013, August 6). 8 Tips and tricks to redesign your Classroom. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/8-tipsredesign-your-classroom-david-bill 11 January 2014. Subcuda21. (2009, December 6). Creating a positive learning Environment. Retrieved on November 17, 2013 from http://youtu.be/lisjQEhoZYc