Running head: CHANGING THE CLASSROOM WITH MORNING MEETINGS

Rebecka Runyon

Action Research Introduction

Changing the Classroom One Morning Meeting at a Time

Project Conceptualization and Rationale

Being a teacher is not something that I always wanted to do, but rather something that

was naturally integrated step by step through each chapter of my life. That being said, I did

always know that I wanted to work with children some day in some capacity even when I was a

child myself. Though I wasn​’​t exactly sure what this would entail, I have always had a passion

for working with children, more specifically those in need or at risk. Prior to the program, I had

the opportunity to work in the juvenile court system, specifically in advocacy for foster youth.

This experience, coupled with reflecting on my own school experience, really prompted the

research topic that I have chosen for this project. I thought critically on both the wonderful and

hard times that I faced during these years growing up. I reflected on the factors that helped me

through those challenging times. I realized the things that especially stood out to me when

thinking back to my schooling experience all surrounded strong and supportive relationships.

These relationships were in the form of caring teachers, a good group of friends, and a supportive

family that I was very fortunate to have. Reflecting on these experiences really prompted the

thought of what happens to the students that do not have supportive friends, teachers, or family

members. Even further, what happens to these students when they fall victim to bullying,

harassment, and shaming?

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In my student teaching classroom, my cooperating teacher and I have both observed a

severe lack of empathy, social awareness, and respect in our sixth graders. This has resulted in a

disruption of both the emotional and academic environment. As our world continues to change

and evolve, children today are undoubtedly exposed to so much more than they were in the past.

These issues seem to be especially prevalent in the pre-teenage years which has proved true in

our sixth grade classroom. Knowing that this age tends to be an emotionally and socially

challenging time for students, I chose to focus on this issue for my research project. Through

research, observations, and past careers, I have learned the importance of the ​“​spill the cup, fill it

up​” ​philosophy. One of these past careers included working for a non-profit organization that

worked in the Juvenile Court System providing advocacy to foster youth. This career enabled me

to have an entirely different perspective on behavioral management as the majority of these

children had significant behavioral issues. This philosophy revolves around the concept that a

student is unable to productively learn in school if they are occupied with life outside of school.

The practices of this philosophy was especially powerful for these students as it provided them a

safe place to voice their concerns, stressors, and worries to a caring and trusting adult. These

experiences and observations guided me towards my research question, ​“​How does the

implementation of Morning Meetings affect peer interactions within a sixth grade classroom?​”

By implementing Morning Meetings, we are hoping to give students the opportunity to have a

voice to share their thoughts, feelings, and emotions without judgement or fear. This will also

allow us as teachers to support all students needs, academically, as well as emotionally creating a

more well-rounded person. This research project will thus focus on building empathy to

encourage the students to support and lift each other up, rather than bring them down.

 
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Furthermore, I hope to better understand and support all students in my class by fostering a

stronger and more welcoming community. By teaching and connecting with them on a social

emotional level, I hope to identify what this specific age group needs in order to fully develop

these traits. I hope to encourage and support them in this way so that they will be able to carry

these skills with them through their school experience and life itself.

Context

I am currently placed in a sixth grade classroom at Paul Ecke Central School. Paul Ecke

is a public elementary school located in the middle of a residential neighborhood of Encinitas,

California. Paul Ecke was founded in 1927 and includes grades K-6th. It is one of nine of the

elementary schools within the Encinitas Unified School District, with a total of 5,400 students

(Encinitas Unified School District website, 2016). All of the district​’​s school have been

recognized as California Distinguished Schools, and three of the elementary schools have been

recognized as National Blue Ribbon Schools. The district is ranked highly statewide and serves a

diverse population of students. According to the Encinitas Unified School District website, the

student population demographics are approximately 22% Hispanic, 4% Asian, 68% Caucasian,

and 6% other minorities (2016). The demographic makeup of the community surrounding the

school is predominantly caucasian and hispanic families. According to the U.S. Census Bureau

of 2018, about 7.6% of the Encinitas population are living in poverty. According to the staff,

Paul Ecke is known for being the most socioeconomically diverse student population in the

district. The school has a dual language immersion (DLI) program which half of the student

population participates in. To participate in this program, the students enter a lottery. The dual

language immersion program follows a 90/10 model and primarily does their instruction in

 
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Spanish from grades K-6th. The lower grades have 24 students in each classroom, while the sixth

grade classrooms can have up to 31.

My classroom is a sixth grade classroom and consists of 30 students in the class full time,

19 boys and 12 girls. The demographics of the classroom are as follows: 5 Hispanic students, 1

African American student, and 24 caucasian students. However, the school itself is more

culturally and ethnically diverse than my own classroom as it is a Dual Language Immersion

school. The Spanish speaking classroom are therefore made up of half native Spanish speakers,

half native English speakers. However, the classroom I am student teaching in is not a part of

the Dual Language Immersion program. Four students have IEPs and five students are classified

as ELL students. There are four students that are on free and reduced lunch. My teacher reports

that he believes that at least three students are academically underserved in his classroom. Two

of these students do not have IEPs and he believes that they could definitely benefit from

academic support as they are really struggling. Both of these students immigrated from Mexico

within the past few years and are classified as ELL students. The third student has severe

behavioral issues and my cooperating teacher believes that there is much more to be done for

him. The teacher also does not believe that he himself is receiving support in order to support his

other students.

Many of the students have attended this school since the beginning of their educational

experience, growing up together. Over the years, the relationships and dynamics of the students

in our class have changed as they naturally do. As these children approach their teenage years,

there has been a significant change in behavior. In part, my teacher believes that they have begun

to out grow the elementary school model. Though many of the students are highly capable

 
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academically, there has a been a significant decrease in effort that seems to have become socially

acceptable and encouraged among the peers. Additionally, there has been an increased amount of

bullying, shaming, gossip, and overall negative attitudes among students towards their peers.

This has created somewhat of a challenging learning environment where students are unable to

participate in class as they are fearful of what their peers will say.

Needs Assessment

After spending time observing the interactions between peers and teacher in my

classroom, I came to the conclusion that there was a lack of of social emotional awareness that is

disrupting the class environment. My cooperating teacher and I agree that there is a lacking of

students lack empathy and respect for one another and this has resulted in negative peer

interactions such as bullying, shaming, and gossip. These interactions affect both the academic

learning and emotionally safety of our students. After several observations, I conducted an

anonymous survey asking students about how they were feeling about the emotional

environment of the classroom. Additionally, I kept track of the students​’ ​particular behaviors for

a week. These behaviors included incidents of bullying, shaming, attitude, physical, and gossip.

The data I collected from both the survey and tracking sheet, further cemented the need for

social emotional reform within the classroom (see Figures 1-4). The feedback from students

reinforced our observations and the need for a social emotional intervention in the form of

classroom meetings. Over the next semester, I will be implementing morning meetings on a

bi-weekly basis. Furthermore, these morning meetings will incorporate introducing the concept

of a compliment box, opportunity for the student​’​s to be self-reflective in the form of written

reflections, and to participate in classwide discussions.

 
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Figure 1: Student responses to reflective prompt: “​ ​Something I wish my teacher knew about me

is..”​ .

Figure 2: My classmates care about me graph.

 
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Figure 3: Survey Q: My classroom is a welcoming and accepting place where I can be myself.

Figure 4: Survey Q: My classroom is welcoming and accepting place where I can be myself.

Purpose of Action Research

The purpose of this action research project is to see whether or not peer interactions within a

sixth grade classroom could be positively affected by implementing Morning Meetings on a

weekly basis.

Research Questions

My research question is, ​“​Does the implementation of Morning Meetings impact peer

interactions within a sixth grade classroom?​”​.