What I learned from the data

What I learned from the data:

Through triangulating the data from three collection methods, I was able to analyze and draw conclusions from the study to implement in future years. The study showed that students benefited from precisely worded guided and framing questions with a graphic organizer. The questions allowed students to have multiple areas to focus their attention while reading. They also helped students when transitioning to writing about the text because they had prepared through focusing on the framing questions. I collaborated with the speech and language pathologist to use wording that was accessible to all students. The students writing benefited as a part of this process because they were able to write more. They began to consider how they worded different parts to answer the question and considered how the author of texts wrote.

In addition to looking at how the author wrote, students enjoyed being able to choose their own text to read and then answer questions that led them to predict and make conclusions based on text evidence. They read their chosen texts independently, which allowed for me to conference with students about their reading and writing. The independent work helped students feel more confident in their own ability as they continued. Although, they felt anxious and had many questions at first. Similarly, the literature circles got more students involved in reading and helped students to focus their learning through the guiding questions. The guiding questions helped them to focus but having a choice in what they read kept them engaged.

Lastly, increasing the amount of conversations about texts increased their understanding of texts, but also increased their communication with each other. Their conversation skills improved as a result. Students enjoyed the opportunity to talk with each other. A lot of structure was required to make this effective, which took a while to implement. However, once the routine was in place, students efficiently discussed and began academic conversations. If the conversations were started at the beginning of the year, students could develop their academic conversation skills and create an positive classroom environment