EETT AR Mentors: Getting Started

1. EETT AR Mentors:Getting Started August 2008

2. Review of AR’s Purpose in EETT • To document the effects of EETT funding on student learning • To include teachers’ voices in statewide report to legislature • To support teachers as they systematically & intentionally study their laptop use

3. AR Process • Identify the AR Inquiry • AR Context • Data Collection • Data Analysis • Implications & Actions

4. Identify the AR Inquiry • Keep student achievement at the forefront • Participants (i.e. 5th graders, low achieving 3rd graders, etc.) • Knowledge, skill or ability to be measured (i.e. science content, phonemic awareness, social skills, etc.) • Intervention (i.e. collaborative learning strategies, reading buddies, lab simulations, etc.)

5. Identify the AR inquiry • Examples • How does the use of simulations within a 1:1 environment influence low achieving 5th grade students’ mathematics learning during a unit on fractions ?

6. AR Context • Content area • Grade level • Goals for inquiry • Targeted students • Type of school • Etc

7. Data Collection • Possible strategies; use multiple when possible -Test scores -Rubrics -Student artifacts -Journals -Anecdotal records -Informal interviews -Focus groups -Reflective journals -Fieldnotes -Literature

8. Data Collection • Should be a part of rather than apart from classroom practices • Create a time line to help keep the inquiry on track and ensure feasibility

9. Data Analysis • Most challenging part of process • Need to mesh data & gut reactions • Individual teacher decisions

10. Data Analysis • Read and reread data to get an idea of what’s there • Organize data in a logical way • Chronologically, by student, by strategies, by class, etc. • Interpret data; support findings with artifact

11. Example finding 1 • Audio recording software and laptop use improved my two lowest achieving students’ test scores on weather and simple machine between 39 and 55 points.

13. Example finding 2 • Audio recording software and laptop use improved my two lowest achieving students’ behavior during tests on weather and simple machine.

15. Example finding 3 • After starting with an average of 23.3 wpm, three of the four students achieved 115 words per minute, the 5th grade word per minute standard, on their DIBELS fluency tests.

17. Implications and Actions • Action in classroom • Action in district • Professional dissemination via conferences & publications • Grant writing

20. Where should you be right now? • Determine how many AR mentors you will need and whether you want us to provide them. • Make a plan for running AR in your district (consider running 2 phases)

21. Where should you be right now? • Make initial contact with teachers at your earliest convenience • Be encouraging; the process is pretty straightforward but the majority of teachers end up really enjoying it

22. What are we doing right now? • Working with FCIT to get the online tool on a stable and secure server. • Collecting information from each district regarding EETT participants.

23. Contact us • Please do not hesitate to contact us: Kara: dawson@coe.ufl.edu Cathy: cathycavanaugh@coe.ufl.edu