Butterfield - EDU 501: Teacher as Researcher by Kevin Butterfield

Improving Student Motivation

buttersgk — 2013-01-24 03:21:53 UTC

This article describes, in detail, five ingredients for raising student motivation. In particular, I am interested in the fifth one, dealing with fostering a positive, safe learning environment in the classroom. This entails creating a classroom where students are allowed to make mistakes and learn from them.

Self-Efficacy

buttersgk — 2013-01-24 03:25:53 UTC

This article provides some simple and practical strategies for teachers to do, as well as what not to do, in order to improve student self-efficacy. Specifically, encouraging students to try without fear of making mistakes, and that if they fail, it's not because they are dumb. Rather, it is a direct result of not following directions or spending enough time on the task.

Motivation

buttersgk — 2013-01-24 03:29:04 UTC

Out of the six reasons this article explains for lack of motivation in the classroom, I am especially interested in the fifth one. It addresses the fact that students may lack motivation as a result of low confidence that they can successfully complete the assigned work.

Motivation, Engagement, and Achievement

buttersgk — 2013-01-24 03:32:29 UTC

This article does a nice job of weaving together these three concepts and showing how they are all linked together. It also explains some strategies to increase student engagement. As the article explains, I believe it is important as the teacher to help break the cycle of failure, especially being a math teacher. Many students tend to shut down when it comes to math, I have found. So to be able to help them change their "mindset" about math and how they learn would drastically improve their performance.

Book: Mindset

buttersgk — 2013-01-24 03:34:43 UTC

This book explains the difference between a growth mindset and a fixed mindset. A student with a fixed mindset will shut down and give up when he or she runs into a problem or receives a low grade on an assignment. A student with a growth mindset, on the other hand, will see the same situation as an opportunity to grow and not make the same mistakes again. See the included book review to get the general idea of the difference between the two mindsets. This concept will play a large role in my action research project.

Overview of Resolved

buttersgk — 2013-01-24 03:49:39 UTC

This is a brief overview of the book, Resolved, by Orrin Woodward. Chapter 6 (page 131-144) deals with "keeping score in the game of life," and he explains a concept called, "PDCA." It is an acronym that stands for Plan-Do-Check-Adjust. This concept, along with the book Mindset, will also play a big role in my action research project. I have attached the review.

Book: Resolved

buttersgk — 2013-01-24 03:51:33 UTC

Here is what the book looks like.

10 Activities

buttersgk — 2013-01-24 03:56:13 UTC

This webpage contains ten different activities that you could do to help students have a better self concept. The journal entry idea is one that stood out to me as I read through the activities. I believe this self-analysis could prove to be helpful in promoting a more positive self-image and confidence level.

In-Depth Study

buttersgk — 2013-01-24 03:58:09 UTC

This PDF file explains in great detail an experiment that was done to analyze self-efficacy beliefs of high school students toward math literacy. This will be especially helpful because I teach Geometry to a population of at-risk students. I find great value in this article because it is an actual study that was performed in a classroom. The data collected and analyzed will be very helpful and informative as I progress through my own action research project.

Introduction to Self-Efficacy

buttersgk — 2013-01-24 04:00:54 UTC

This multiple-page article does a great job of explaining what self-efficacy is, what can cause poor self-efficacy, and what we as educators can do to help struggling students. Section 8 and 9 of the article explain the value and importance of students setting goals for themselves and then tracking their progress along the way to acheiving the goal. This ties perfectly into the PDCA process from Orrin Woodward's book, Resolved.

Dissertation on Self-Efficacy for Math

buttersgk — 2013-01-26 12:03:49 UTC

Below is an actual dissertation by an individual who explored the relationship between mathematical anxiety, efficacy, and performance in the classroom. Again, this provides another concrete study with data and results that will aid in my research project. I am interested in reading more of her literary review from chapter 2.

Homework

buttersgk — 2013-01-26 12:27:47 UTC

This article is an in-depth study of how math students' motivation plays into doing their homework and their perfomance on the assignments. The author of the article also measured performance in subgroups of different races. This may be helpful, especially because my at-risk population has a wide range of ethnicities and backgrounds.