ACTION RESEARCH

Action Research
Emily Lavender Meet my Student: Student I ELL learner From Yemin; family speaks native language at home and very little English Student I meets with ELL coach during the week. Reading Intervention Program Student I loves math. Student I loves the color red. Student I is very shy and quiet. Grade Level/Teacher: 2nd grade Mrs. Houston Essential Question: What does does research say are the best strategies for vowel recognition? What can I do to improve this students vowel recognition? Initial Meeting with Cooperating Teacher: Mrs. Houston and I met on October 3, 2013 to discuss our focus area and student. We discussed this student and a little about his needs. Mrs. Houston decided the best way to go was: vowel recognition. Mrs. Houston and I thought that this would be very important in order to help Student I improve in reading. Duration: Initial meeting with Student I was on October 10, 2013. We completed an initial assessment and reading interest survey. Throughout the semester we would meet and work on vowel recognition. We used many different strategies throughout this process. Our last meeting was December 5, 2013. Assessment: Spelling Inventory (Bear)

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Data Collection: On the initial assessment, Student I spelled 1 out of 8 words correctly. I was hoping to complete 10 words, but Student I was pulled for Intervention time while I was giving the assessment. For our fist initial meeting, I also used a Reading Interest Inventory test to see how Student I felt about reading. Student I: Assessment Data

0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 Initial Assessment

Final Assessment

Reading Interest Survey

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Initial Teacher Documentation:

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Timeline of Implementation: Date October 10, 2013 What was done today? Today the initial assessment and a reading interest inventory was given. Today, was also about getting to know Student I. We talked about his interests and family. Today, we learned a vowel song. I found this song from YouTube. This song is called Vowel Bat. Student I enjoyed the song. Today, we reviewed the vowel bat song. I also played another song. We then talked about the short vowel songs. Did not meet today. Did not meet today. But I was able to read with Student I during reading time. Today, we played a vowel game. We used vowel picture cards to play this game. Today, we read a book. I focused on pointing out the words with the short vowel sounds. I used phoneme isolation to do this. After we read this book, we played a vowel game on the computer. Today, we worked with picture cards. This seems to be a great strategy for Student I. I also made him his own set of flashcards to take home with him. Did not meet today. Did not meet today. Today, was the final assessment. I assessed Student I again using the Spelling Inventory test.

October 17, 2013

October 24, 2013 October 31, 2013 November 7, 2013 November 12, 2013 November 13, 2013

November 14, 2013

November 21, 2013 November 28, 2013 December 5, 2013

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Student Is Progress Monitoring Chart

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Progress Monitoring Chart: This is the progress monitoring chart that I created for Student I to take ownership.

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Baseline Data: Student I spelled 1/8 words correctly. When asked which letters are vowels, Student I responded, G, I, C, N.\

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Strategies Used: Vowel Picture Cards- These were used to focus on vowel sounds. Vowel Flash Cards- these were used to enforce the strategy repetition. I made a set of flashcards for Student I to take home with him for additional practice. Magnetic Letter Game- All 26 letters were mixed up. I had Student I choose which letters were vowels. Vowel Game- this was done on the computer. Songs- These songs were used to introduce vowels and reenforce vowels. Vowel Bat www.youtube.com/watch?v=g43EfOXvpG8 Short Vowel Song www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnVhx3vk1Jg

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Vowel Flashcards: These are the flashcards I used when practicing with Student I. I also made a set for Student I to take home and practice.

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Final Results: How did Student I do? Student I enjoyed vowel picture cards, the vowel songs, and practicing with vowel flashcards Student I moved from a F reading level to a G reading level. When asked on December 5, 2013 which letters were vowels, Student I responded, A, E, I, O, U. Student I knows his vowels! Final Assessment: Student I spelled 8/10 words correctly on his final assessment.

Media Release Form Signed by Parents.

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Action Research: Vowel Recognition Emily Lavender Samford University Orlean Bullard Beeson School of Education

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Abstract: The following literature review provides a variety of strategies and practices that are proven to improve vowel recognition. Vowel recognition and instruction is crucial in teaching students to read. This research helps to support the necessity and importance of vowel recognition and knowledge.

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Literature Review: For my action research project I used a textbook, an online source, two online articles, and a scholarly article to find evidence based strategies to help improve vowel instruction. These sources were the following: Teaching Children to Read: The Teacher Makes the Difference, National Institute for Literacy: Put Reading First, Reading Manipulatives, and Learning Through Early Years. These sources all agreed that teaching vowel recognition takes explicit teaching and that vowel recognition was vital in order to further teach reading instruction. According to Teaching Children to Read, vowel recognition is the most reliable starting point for phonics instruction (Reutzel 2012). Vowel recognition must be taught explicitly. When teaching vowels, it is important to make sure not to overload students with too much information. Simplifying terminology is important for students to be able to understand and master this concept. For example, when teaching vowel sounds explaining that vowel letters usually represent a sound (short) and the name (long) of the vowel letters. This puts teaching vowels into simple, kid-friendly language. Using patterns to determine vowel sounds is another effective strategy. Teaching children consonant, vowel, consonant and consonant vowel patterns. Helping students recognize word patterns, will help read and spell correctly (Reutzel 2012). In order to teach letter name recognition and reading instruction, students must master their vowels. The National Reading Panel (2000) found that the two best predictors of early reading achievement are letter name knowledge and phonemic awareness. When teaching letter name recognition, teachers should select one to three vowels along with some high-frequency consonants to teach initially, moving through the remaining letters of the alphabet in order of their frequency (Reutzel 2012).

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The National Institute for Literacy found in their article, Put Reading First, that relating sounds to letters, is of course, the heart of phonics instruction (Armbruster, Lehr, Osborn, Adler & Noonis , 2000). Phonemic awareness helps students to be able to read. Being able to recognize vowels and their sounds is the heart of being able to further reading instruction. When teaching vowels, it is important to start basic and move to more complex concepts. When teaching vowels, the teacher should start with linking letters to sounds, then move to consonant sounds. After students have mastered this, the teacher should move to short vowel sounds, vowel diagraphs, and blends. Once they have mastered all of this, the student should be able to master long vowel sounds (Armbruster, Lehr, Osborn, Adler & Noonis , 2000). Reading Manipulatives suggested some great strategies for teaching vowel sounds and vowel recognition. Making sure students can identify and produce vowel phonemes should be one of the first steps in teaching vowels. A great strategy to use when introducing vowels, is phoneme isolation. Phoneme isolation is being able to recognize individual sounds in a word. Using phoneme isolation to teach letter recognition and vowel recognition helps students to improve on remembering sounds. Once, the individual sounds have been mastered, vowel patterns should be introduced. Teaching the basic vowel pattern rule in a kid-friendly language is very important. When there is one vowel in the word, the vowel is short. When there are two vowels, the first vowel is short and the second is silent (Short/Long Vowel Patterns). Flip strips are an effective strategy to use when teaching vowel patterns (Short/Long Vowel Patterns). An online article on Reading Rockets states that, not knowing letter names is related to childrens difficulty in learning letter sounds and recognizing words. Children cannot understand and apply the alphabetic principle until they can recognize and name a number of letters (Texas

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Education Agency, 2002). When teaching letter-sound relationships, it is important to know that isolation is a great strategy to use. Also, making sure that the teaching is explicit. Teachers should provide students with opportunities to practice letter-sound relationships daily (Texas Education Agency, 2002) Learning Through Early Years explains that repetition is a great strategy to teach young learners. The more something is repeated, the more likely children are to remember it (). Repetition is important for learning and students of all learning styles. When children are able to duplicate activities, the task become easier (). Vowel flashcards is one strategy that enforces repetition. Songs are another great way for students to practice a concept that they are learning. These four sources were very useful in helping me to understand what best evidencebased practices are best for vowel sounds and recognition. Students need to be taught vowel recognition explicitly and intentionally. Reinforcing these strategies consistently when teaching vowels will encourage higher level thinking and student achievement.

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Works Cited Armbruster, B., Lehr, F., Osborn, F., Adler, R., & Noonis , L. (2000). Put reading first . 3rd Edition. Learning through early years: The benefits of repetition and variation. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.kbyutv.org/kidsandfamily/readytolearn/file.axd?file=2011/3/10 Learning Through the Early Years.pdf Short/long vowel patterns. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.readskill.com/resources/ literacyskills/pdf/SLVPatternsTips.pdf Texas Education Agency. (2002). The Alphabetic Principle, Retrieved from http:// www.readingrockets.org/article/3408/

Reutzel, R., & Cooter, R. (2012). Teaching Children to Read. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.

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Reflection: I loved working with Student I. It was so neat to see how Student Is confidence grew over the semester. Student is was so shy at first, but opened up a little more each week. This was my favorite part of the entire process. My favorite moment throughout the semester, was when Student I came up to me and told me he had moved up reading levels. This made my heart so happy! And the best part was, his heart was just as happy! I learned that there are so many great strategies and resources out there to help students with vowel and letter recognition. It is so important to research and find strategies that work for students. Researching evidenced based strategies is so beneficial in order to be a highly-effective teacher. Research takes time, but the outcome and growth is so well worth it. I learned that students learn differently. While I thought I knew that, I actually got to experience it. Planning for our sessions was very important, and in order for me to plan effectively, I had to know Student I and how he learned best. Knowing and caring for your students is crucial. There are some things I wish I had done differently through the process. I wish I would have been more organized with time. Student I was pulled out for intervention sometimes during our time together. This was sometimes frustrating. I wish I have gone to Mrs. Houston and tried to find a better time to meet with Student I. I think the biggest thing I took away from this experience was how important it is to have accountability. Mrs. Houston and I met throughout this entire process. She would tell me what they had been working on together and I would tell her what I had been working on with Student I. This was so helpful for us both. Mrs. Houston kept me accountable this semester, and especially with working with Student I. Soon, I will have a classroom of my own. I will have

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good days and bad days. I will know what to do sometimes and sometimes I will not. I want to have someone to go to during all of these time. I want to be able to share my good days, bad days, awesome lesson, not so awesome lessons. I want to have someone to encourage me and to challenge me. I found throughout this process, having Mrs. Houston by my side, was the most encouraging thing I have taken away from Trace Crossings. I am thankful for my time with Student I and I am thankful for my time with Mrs. Houston.