Timeline

Week	Activities
Week 1 Apr 20-26	Create research journal Await IRB approval Talk with homeroom teachers about sending out consent forms and scheduling.
Week 2 Apr 27-May 2	With IRB approval – send out consent forms and await their return.
Week 3 May 3-9	Collect any outstanding consent forms. Finalize scheduling with homeroom teachers.
Week 4 May 10-16	Collect data – video tape lessons and surveys KPREP Testing will interfere with the Specials schedule May 13-20th. Will try to start lessons before or ask teachers to allow me to use the extra 30 minutes for weather makeup days at the end of the day for “extra” Spanish.**
Week 5 May 17-23	Possibly finishing up lessons depending on scheduling. Analyze quantitative data – watch videos and score student behaviors.
Week 6 May 24-30	Possibly finishing up lessons depending on scheduling. Continue to analyze data – qualitative data with constant comparative coding.
Week 7 May 31-June 5	Writing and presenting to colleagues.

** This option might be best since I could potentially take only the students who have signed consent forms. It would depend on if the homeroom teachers agreed to let me take just some of their students for that time, but since it was added onto the school day and they have no set plans, if I ask early enough I believe this could work out well.

Overview of my Action Research Project

Overview

Topic

I'm investigating how storytelling in the foreign language in the elementary school (FLES) classroom affects behavioral engagement versus other teaching methods.

Motivation 

I don't get as much time with my students as I would like so I need to make every minute count. I'm looking for teaching methods that are engaging and motivate students to participate in Spanish class. There also exists a gap in the literature regarding how different methods affect student engagement in the World Language classroom at the elementary school level.

Research Question(s)

What is the level of student behavioral engagement during a storytelling lesson as opposed to a lesson using Total Physical Response (TPR) and songs? 

Method

Research Design

I have designed a mixed-methods research project, using descriptive statistics and constant comparative coding. 

Population

This study will include participants from a third grade class from an elementary school in an urban area in Kentucky with a diverse population.

Data Collection 

I will video tape two lessons using the different teaching methods and score the students' responses using a behavioral engagement rubric. Students will also fill out a short survey with Lickert items.

Data Analysis 

I will code my observations from the video taped lessons using constant comparative coding. I will use descriptive statistics to analyze the data scored from the behavioral engagement rubric and the student survey. 

Bienvenidos

Welcome to my research journal. In this space I will be documenting my action research project as part of my Teacher Leader Master of Arts program.

Before getting certified, I also worked as an Associate Account Manager at a Fortune 500 company and taught English in France and Japan. Now I teach 600+ students Spanish at an elementary school in Kentucky. I see them twice a week (well in a 6 day rotation actually) for 25 minutes. I wish I saw them more but I try to do as much as I can with the little time I get.

This space will show my progress as I work my way through this study. You can find other musings about my teaching at http://senoraspeedy.blogspot.com/.