RATIONALE
HISTORY
My capstone project was focused on my 4th grade class that was comprised of 26 students, 13 girls and 13 boys. During the 2016-2017 school year, there were 416 total students in the school. 91.1% of students were Caucasian, 3.1% of students were Hispanic, and 2.9% of students were Asian. 9.1% of students received free and reduced lunch. Within my class, out of the 26 students, 22 were Caucasian, two were Asian and two were African American. I had six students who were on the “watch list” for one or more of the core subjects. This meant that there were concerns for these students in regards to their performance in certain subjects. Data was collected on these students to decide whether or not they needed more support. The school was within a neighborhood where parents were very supportive of their students and the school. Parents were extremely active in their children’s education. For fall conferences, only one parent could not attend because of an emergency. Parents expected greatness out of their children when it came to schooling. Multiple students in my class participated in extracurricular activities. Due to the time commitment after school, students were typically unmotivated to review schoolwork at home. When there was homework, the majority of my students completed it. There were three students who consistently did not complete assignments. Two of these students did not complete assignments due to lack of organization. One of the students did not complete assignments because she was unmotivated when it came to school. Knowing this, I made sure to check in with her throughout class to encourage her. Students within my classroom received 50 minutes of social studies instruction per day.
NEED
The data I collected from my students showed a need for improved organization of information and preparation for formative and summative assessments. My students were engaged during instruction. Therefore, they were typically able to answer questions and explain concepts at the point in time that we were learning about them. When it came to testing, a large portion of my students tended to draw blanks and ended up failing the tests, especially in social studies instruction. In my class, we always had a review day before the test and went over the study guide together. The study guide was always very reflective of the test. Seven students failed the first social studies test. Eight students failed the second social studies test. There were a few students who were always the ones who failed, but there were occasions where students who did not pass were not the typical students who struggled with the test. Based on the number of students who had been failing these tests, I decided that the students might benefit from being taught different ways of organizing the information they were learning such as ways to take notes and use graphic organizers. Students who are in 4th grade have most likely never been shown how to effectively take notes and prepare for a summative assessment. Apart from the students who failed those tests, social studies was one of two subjects that reflected the lowest overall scores for the class. 13 of my 26 students had below a one in social studies. Having below a one was not poor; however, the number of grades lower than a one in social studies were greater than most of the other subjects. The grade in social studies was mainly based on test grades. I found that during parent-teacher conferences, my number one recommendation was to have students study more for those social studies exams. If I was going to expect students to study more, they needed to have ways to organize the information they were learning. The majority of students in my class participated in extracurricular activities which affected their attitudes concerning school work. At home, students were more focused on their extracurricular activities than preparing for tests. If I provided my students with an opportunity to deepen their understanding during class using note taking and graphic organizers, their understanding would not have been as reliant on studying at home. Everyone in my class could have improved from learning information organization strategies as it is a vital part of being successful in the transition from elementary to middle school.
IMPORTANCE
This study was important as it allowed me to provide my students with practical ways to better prepare for tests and, more importantly, to instill lifelong learning skills. As students continue throughout their lives, they will be expected to take tests. This might be an academic test, a driving test, or a test in their career. No matter the test type, my students needed to know how to be accurately prepared to be successful. Note taking strategies and graphic organizers helped my students be able to organize information and also provided them with opportunities to go back and look at the information. This allowed them to hold on to the information for longer periods of time. As I was considering what topic to cover in my capstone, I wanted to focus on an area that stood out to me over the first few months of school. As mentioned before, the science and social studies grades were the focus of multiple parent-teacher conferences. When considering this topic as my focus, I wanted to ensure that I was not only wanting to teach these strategies so that students would get a higher grade. I wanted my capstone focus to go much deeper and assist the students far past fourth grade. Teaching note taking strategies and effective ways to use graphic organizers deepened understanding and not only helped my students be successful this year, but it provided them with tools to be successful in the future as well.