Action Research: Poor Reading and Writing Among Students

Moat argues that learning to read is in fact not a natural process and students need explicit phonics instruction. Furthermore, the English alphabetic writing system cannot be learned simply from print exposure: students need to be taught how to develop phonological awareness to sound words out to help them learn how to read and without the support of context-based word recognition. Whole language’s legacy is still embedded in educational practices despite being disproven by scholars, thus Moat advocates for updating state language-arts standards, assessments, and textbooks to reflect direct, explicit phonics-based instruction as the best approach in teaching literacy. She also notes that teacher licensing requirements and preparation programs also need to be informed of effective literacy instructions that is supported by

he most fundamental responsibility of schools is teaching students to read. Indeed, the future success of all students hinges upon their ability to become proficient readers. Recent scientific studies have allowed us to understand more than ever before how literacy develops, why some children have difficulty, and what constitutes best instructional practice. Scientists now estimate that fully 95 percent of all children can be taught to read. Yet, in spite of all our knowledge, statistics reveal an alarming prevalence of struggling and poor readers that is not limited to any one segment of society:

Writing Is a kind of typing symbols, letters and other writing tools to help the writer communicate with the reader or connect his ideas. It is the fourth skill in language skills and the most one that needs creation and imagination. In this essay, I am going to write about the importance of developing writing.

I plan to use the input and assistance of my principal, administration, and other colleagues to assist me with necessary portions of my action research project. I will develop a written plan of action further in the project, monitor the project reflective, and prepare a research summary research report of the results of my action research project addressing the effectiveness of the implementation of the PBIS program at Otter Creek Middle School. My plans are for my research to be implemented further along with my principal internship after I have completed the course as well.

Amanda talked about how she used the action research to develop and increase professionalism of both early childhood researchers and practitioners by using the teaching techniques and strategies to support the implement of the research project, using the cycle of reflection and analysing the data, communicating with early childhood teachers to reflect and build skills in their teaching. She developed a scale where she could analyse children’s interests,

There are a million adults who cannot read, one in six Londoners is functionally illiterate and people who cannot read or write are excluded from opportunities and may eventually become alienated and turn to crime (Johnson 2010, cited by Gross 2010). Gross (2010) expresses her concern and believes it is not where the children live, it is how they were taught to read and how they were properly motivated to learn to read. She endorses the synthetic systematic phonics approach as opposed to that of the whole word approach and believes we must place our focus on reading as it is indispensable.

Based on my prior knowledge and this week’s resource, I see a little clear why action research can help me address the needs of my students better. This week I have learned the difference between action research/teacher inquiry and education traditional research. Also, I have learned the relationship between action research and teacher professional growth and decision making. Last, I have been able to see what teacher inquiry/action research look like, how they are similar and different.

Teacher education is enhanced by using teachers as researchers. Teachers, who do research, can provide information on student interaction and classroom environments, and have a broad sampling field due to the amount of time spent in scholastic settings. This kind of action research allows a teacher to share with others what she/he has learned. It also offers to them, foundations for decisions regarding appropriate interventions and outcomes for improving students’ education or literacy within their classroom or school. When a teacher/researcher collects data for the purpose of research, they will mostly likely use a qualitative method (Johnson, 2008). Within this research, data is collected through observations and the answering of questions that relate to the data. Using this method, questions are more open ended and less defined, so there is more room for researchers to collect a variety of data. There are many ways that data can be collected for research purposes such as, the use of rubrics, student profiles, logs, and observation records that may consist of anecdotal records, checklists, reflections, conferences, interviews, and surveys. During my CIRG 621 my action research was based around Math. Although these courses are geared toward Reading Language arts I wanted to improve my student’s math scores and my ability to

In chapter 9, Writing Across the Curriculum, the process of reading and writing was investigated and explained in comparison to one another. The reading-writing connection focuses on drawing from students’ prior knowledge and cognitive processes in order to build learning. The authors mentioned that the writing process is a strong tool for exploring and clarifying meaning and the two major instructional components used are writing to learn (WTL) and writing in disciplines (WID). The chapter also focused on the subareas of academic journals and writing disciplines.

Despite the fact that we are largely a literate society, too many adults in our country struggle with reading and writing. In fact, one out of five adults is considered functionally illiterate.

Since literacy evolves with changes in cultural communicative practices and technological developments, so too do definitions of what literacy is. There is some agreement on what literacy involves, and most definitions include reading, writing, speaking and listening, and sometimes viewing or visual literacy. The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia [EYLF] (DEEWR, 2009, p.38) defines literacy as “a students’ capacity to access, manage, interpret and reflect on written texts in order to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate effectively in society”. But why is literacy so important? Research shows that people with good literacy skills are more likely to have greater self-esteem, improved health, better jobs and higher wages than those with poor literacy skills. They are more able to take advantage of the opportunities that life may offer them. In order to acquire and share an important text, teachers need to consider a number of variables relating to students’, as according to Larson and Marsh in Making Literacy Real (2014) “literacy is grounded in social, cultural, historical and political practices”. In addition to appropriate literature, the NRP (National Reading Panel, 2000) noted that phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension are crucial for effective reading instruction. The recommendations were that all students be explicitly and systematically taught these five key components.

This book gives a deep and wide explanation about how to create and develop a good journal step by step. The author Wendy Laura Belcher diversifies into 12 weeks the outline of a publishable journal. From the beginning, we can be close to some students and teachers’ feelings about writing. So, at this point we can say that the first author’s purpose is to analyze the variety of opinions about writing. Consecutively, we can start thinking about the type of journal we want to design. Then, the author gave us step by step each one of the aspects and features to take into account to start developing our journals. The book is more than a guide to fulfill academic success during our writing process.

Creswell, J.W. (2012). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

For a child who is just starting to learn to read, they need sufficient practice in reading a variety of different books to achieve fluency. Reading can be complex and has many different aspects (Burns,1999). It is suggested that children who have problems reading and writing at a young age will find it hard to catch up as they get older and will not reach their full potential as adults, many will withdraw from school or society and some becoming involved with crime (MacBlain,2014). 40 percent of children find learning to read a challenge but with early help, most reading problems can be prevented (Reading Rockets, n.d.).

“It is not enough to simply teach children to read; we have to give them something worth reading. Something that will stretch their imaginations-something that will help them make sense of their own lives and encourage them to reach out toward people whose lives are quite different from their own.” - Katherine Patterson. Literacy is a right. It is implicit in the right to education. It is recognized as a right, explicitly for both children and adults, in certain international conventions. Literacy is the ability to read and write, and also refers to having enough reading and writing ability to function in society. People who cannot read and write are called illiterate. People are called functionally illiterate if they cannot read or write well enough to do activities that are common in social settings they encounter. Such activities may include employment, schoolwork, voting, or worship. The power of literacy is something that can change the world. How far has literacy come since the beginning and what is its history; what are the causes of a lower literacy rate; what effects can lower literacy rates have; what about higher rates; what are some ways to improve the literacy rates and; what are some of the benefits to a higher literacy rate?