After class tonight, I have an easier feeling of where I need to go with my research. I realize now that I am heading in the right direction, I just need to tweak a few things. For example, I had the idea that I needed to stick to the plan that I had devised in my previous classes which to tell the truth, was a pretty lofty goal. I wanted to observe students from a third, fourth and fifth grade classroom because of the way the classes were structured and the way the students were grouped. I now realize that this is just impossible under the current circumstances. I have decided to reduce my sample size to only fifth grade students and specifically two class periods. From these two class periods I am going to choose a focus group. This focus group I will observe and interview to gather further data.
My focus question has kind of shifted as well. I will still focus on ability grouping and the achievement of students but I also want to look at student perception. I plan to gather this data on the smaller sample size of students whose responses I found interesting based on survey results and on my prior knowledge of the students performance in reading.
After looking at MAP data, I am starting to look for trends of student improvement. Are they really benefiting from the types of instruction that they are receiving being ability grouped? I know that MAP data can't completely answer this question for me but I think this data can help me decide why students aren't achieving the desired level of performance.
I feel a lot more confident about where I need to go and my passion for this project has finally been restored!
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