What happens when writing is incorporated into the science curriculum?
Limitations
One hurdle to overcome in my Action Research was having to take on the role of researcher and practitioner at the same time. Being in the classroom was great to be in the flow of the class teaching writing in science but having at the same time to record, research, and collect data on students was a hurdle to overcome. Especially, when expository/opinion writing is so complex in that students have never been exposed to this type of writing before. It was a hurdle but I feel I did a great job in overcoming this by just working that much harder in the classroom to promote student understanding of expository/opinion writing.
How I overcame the limitation in being both a researcher and a teacher was in the way I collected/researched data, framed questions for my students, analyzing student work, and triangulated data in such a way to minimize my bias as a teacher to ensure I was able to make claims that were objective as possible. I collected data in my action and assessment, phase one, and phase two by being a third party observer in the classroom with a running record, exit slips, and journal writing. I would just write down what I saw without teaching at the same time to ensure objectivity. I would frame questions, for example, in my surveys that were open-ended and unbiased as a teacher and analyzed student work by looking through my researcher eyes only. An example of this is how I triangulated data in my action and assessment, phase one, and phase two. I did this using surveys, journaling, rubrics, and exit slips to limit my bias as a teacher and make claims objectively as a researcher. These are specific examples of how I overcame the limitation of being both a researcher and a teacher.
It would have been great to just get to teach expository writing and put every ounce of determination in teaching the skills needed. I was also in the classroom collecting data, and researching with students what they were interested in with writing in science. I could have been assessing students, scaffolding skills, and modeling writing because I had a very short window in which to accomplish my Action Research design.
Another hurdle to overcome was time in the classroom teaching expository writing. I did not realize how complex expository/opinion writing and writing in general is to teach students. Time was an obstacle that was difficult to overcome. Expository/opinion writing is complex to students because they have not been exposed to this type of writing before and I did not have time to go as deep into expository writing as I would have liked. I would have liked to be able to assess where students are at first before teaching any expository writing. I did not have time to properly assess with exit slips and surveys at what starting point I would need to teach from. The fact that students have not been exposed to expository writing up until this point I would have liked to be able to assess my students over a longer period of time to better tailor my teaching. I was able to learn, grow, and help students succeed in expository/opinion writing however, in the future I can see myself taking more time to teach writing in general.
A hurdle that I overcame was being in one classroom only throughout my Action Research. I would have loved to have the opportunity to teach writing in science to all the other fifth grade classes or even to the whole school! I would have a larger pool of student work to examine the success of students in writing in science. At the time I had other classes rotate through my class for science time, and I would have loved to be able to do the same Action Research with the other fifth grade classes. I feel this would allow, as with any experiment, a more ideal pool of data to examine. The results might have shown something else to me with a larger group to complete Action Research with. Many more students could have had the opportunities my class did, and I might have been able to see different results. This was by no means a barrier to my success just a hurdle that in the future I might be able to reach a larger amount of students.
Limitations
One hurdle to overcome in my Action Research was having to take on the role of researcher and practitioner at the same time. Being in the classroom was great to be in the flow of the class teaching writing in science but having at the same time to record, research, and collect data on students was a hurdle to overcome. Especially, when expository/opinion writing is so complex in that students have never been exposed to this type of writing before. It was a hurdle but I feel I did a great job in overcoming this by just working that much harder in the classroom to promote student understanding of expository/opinion writing.
How I overcame the limitation in being both a researcher and a teacher was in the way I collected/researched data, framed questions for my students, analyzing student work, and triangulated data in such a way to minimize my bias as a teacher to ensure I was able to make claims that were objective as possible. I collected data in my action and assessment, phase one, and phase two by being a third party observer in the classroom with a running record, exit slips, and journal writing. I would just write down what I saw without teaching at the same time to ensure objectivity. I would frame questions, for example, in my surveys that were open-ended and unbiased as a teacher and analyzed student work by looking through my researcher eyes only. An example of this is how I triangulated data in my action and assessment, phase one, and phase two. I did this using surveys, journaling, rubrics, and exit slips to limit my bias as a teacher and make claims objectively as a researcher. These are specific examples of how I overcame the limitation of being both a researcher and a teacher.
It would have been great to just get to teach expository writing and put every ounce of determination in teaching the skills needed. I was also in the classroom collecting data, and researching with students what they were interested in with writing in science. I could have been assessing students, scaffolding skills, and modeling writing because I had a very short window in which to accomplish my Action Research design.
Another hurdle to overcome was time in the classroom teaching expository writing. I did not realize how complex expository/opinion writing and writing in general is to teach students. Time was an obstacle that was difficult to overcome. Expository/opinion writing is complex to students because they have not been exposed to this type of writing before and I did not have time to go as deep into expository writing as I would have liked. I would have liked to be able to assess where students are at first before teaching any expository writing. I did not have time to properly assess with exit slips and surveys at what starting point I would need to teach from. The fact that students have not been exposed to expository writing up until this point I would have liked to be able to assess my students over a longer period of time to better tailor my teaching. I was able to learn, grow, and help students succeed in expository/opinion writing however, in the future I can see myself taking more time to teach writing in general.
A hurdle that I overcame was being in one classroom only throughout my Action Research. I would have loved to have the opportunity to teach writing in science to all the other fifth grade classes or even to the whole school! I would have a larger pool of student work to examine the success of students in writing in science. At the time I had other classes rotate through my class for science time, and I would have loved to be able to do the same Action Research with the other fifth grade classes. I feel this would allow, as with any experiment, a more ideal pool of data to examine. The results might have shown something else to me with a larger group to complete Action Research with. Many more students could have had the opportunities my class did, and I might have been able to see different results. This was by no means a barrier to my success just a hurdle that in the future I might be able to reach a larger amount of students.