Does The Use Of Pre-designed Graphic Organizers In Reading .

Does The Use Of Pre-designed GraphicOrganizers In Reading Instruction IncreaseBoys’ Engagement And Level ofComprehension?An Action Research ProjectIBSC Conference 2006Johannesburg, South AfricaSusan DrokePresbyterian Day School, Memphis, TN, USAJulie HaasSt. Albans School, Washington DC, USAMaddy RossThe Ridge School, Johannesburg, South Africa

The Adventure Begins In February, 2005 the IBSC Board of Trusteeslaunched an action research initiative as anexpression of its mission to promote the professionalgrowth and collaboration of teachers and staff in itsmember schools. Boys and Reading was chosen as the area of inquiryfor the first year of the initiative. On-line applications were submitted and twointernational teams were selected in April, 20052

Action Research TeamsAction Research CoordinatorMary Gauthier, Upper Canada CollegeToronto, CanadaTeam 1Boys and Reading Grades 3-4 Julie HaasFourth grade teacher,St. Albans SchoolWashington DC, USA Di LaycockBarker CollegeSydney, Australia Alan ThompsonSt. John’s CollegeJohannesburg, South AfricaSusan DrokeHead of Lower SchoolPresbyterian Day SchoolMemphis, TN, USAAnita HeriotHaverford SchoolPhiladelphia, PA, USAMaddy Ross,Third grade teacherThe Ridge School,Johannesburg, South Africa Team 2Boys and Reading Grades 8-9 Peter WilesBrighton Grammar SchoolMelbourne, Australia3

The Adventure Begins Under the direction of ActionResearch Coordinator MaryGauthier, the teams beganto communicate throughemail. The teams finally met inperson June 25, 2005 priorto the IBSC Conference inWashington DC. Action Research plans foreach team were developed.4

What is Action Research?“Action research is any systematic inquiry conductedby teacher researchers, principals, schoolcounselors, or other stakeholders in theteaching/learning environment to gather informationabout how their particular schools operate, how theyteach, and how well their students learn. Thisinformation is gathered with the goals of gaininginsight, developing reflective practice, effectingpositive changes in the school environment (and oneducational practice in general), and improvingstudent outcomes and the lives of those involved.Action research is done by teachers for themselves.”(Mills, 2003, p.26)5

Why Action Research ForTeachers? Every teacher needs professional growthopportunities Professionals should be significant agents inorganizational learning Collaboration enriches professional development(Osterman and Kottkamp, 1993)6

Why Action Research ForSchools? To document boys’ learning in the context ofclassrooms To make more informed decisions about how weteach boys To include the professional work of teachers inschool planning To sustain improvement in schools(North Central Educational Laboratory)7

Engaging In Action ResearchStep OneIdentify an area ofinquiry Met in Washington DCas a team to discussthe project and focus onboys and readingStep TwoDevelop a preciseresearch question Does the use of predesigned graphicorganizers in readinginstruction increaseboys’ engagement andlevel ofcomprehension?(June 2005)8

Boys And ReadingMichael W. Smith and Jeffrey D. Wilhelm in Reading Don’tFix No Chevys: Literacy in the Lives of Young Men identifythe following gender differences that affect literacyinstruction: Boys take longer to learn to read than girls do. Boys read less than girls. Girls tend to comprehend narrative texts and most expositorytexts significantly better than boys do. Boys tend to be better at information retrieval and work-relatedliteracy tasks than girls are.9

Boys And Reading Boys generally provide lower estimations of their readingabilities than girls do.Boys value reading as an activity less than girls do. Boys have much less interest in leisure reading than girls do,and are far more likely to read for utilitarian purposes than girlsare. Significantly more boys than girls declare themselves to be nonreaders. Boys . . . express less enthusiasm for reading than girls do.(Smith and Wilhelm, 2002)10

The Process In ActionStep Three Review relevantliterature andpublications(July-September 2005) Formed on-linediscussion groupsShared resourcesand providedresearch summariesReceived supportfrom the ResearchCoordinator11

Literature ReviewsResearch on Graphic Organizers “In general, beginning in early childhood and continuingthroughout the human life span, males tend to prefer symbolictexts – diagrams, symbols, emblems, graphs, charts-more thanfemales ”(Gurian, 1998,p.184) “A graphic organizer is a visual representation of knowledge. Itis a way of structuring information, of arranging importantaspects of a concept or topic into a pattern using labels. Agraphic organizer promotes active learning”(Bromley, 1995, p.6)12

Literature ReviewsResearch on Graphic Organizers In the book Classroom Instruction That Works, Robert Marzanoidentifies the use of graphic organizers as one of nine researchbased strategies that can increase student achievement. “Graphic organizers are perhaps the most common way to helpstudents generalize nonlinguistic representations Actually,graphic organizers combine the linguistic mode in that they usewords and phrases, and the nonlinguistic mode in that they usesymbols and arrows to represent relationships.”(Marzano, 2001, p. 75)13

Literature ReviewsResearch on Graphic OrganizersMarzano also identifies six types of graphicorganizers that can be of use in the classroom Descriptive PatternsTime-Sequence PatternsProcess/Cause-Effect PatternsEpisode PatternsGeneralization/Principle PatternsConcept Patterns(Marzano, 2001)14

Literature ReviewsResearch on Graphic Organizers The National Reading Panel (2000) cites graphicorganizers as one of seven categories of instructionthat are the most effective in the improvement ofreading comprehension. The report states that “therationale for the explicit teaching of comprehensionskills is that comprehension can be improved byteaching students to use specific cognitive strategiesor to reason strategically when they encounterbarriers to understanding what they are reading”(NRPR, 2000)15

The Process In ActionStep FourDevelop a researchplan and a methodfor collecting data (September 2005-March 2006) Developed andshared ideas for ourresearch planthrough emailDeveloped methodsfor gathering dataAgreed to timelinefor sharing progressImplemented plan16

Our Research Plan Each class will read four novels.Two novels will be taught with graphic organizers.At the beginning of these two novels each boy will receive a predesigned “big picture” graphic organizer to use throughout thebook.Two novels will be taught without the “big picture” graphicorganizer.At the end of each novel comprehension will be assessed in twoways:a teacher-created end-of-book testa written summary of the book assessed with a common rubric.Boys will also be asked to reflect on the use of graphicorganizers.17

Pre-designed GraphicOrganizer18

The Process in ActionStep FiveCollect and analyzedata Learned about waysto analyze data Discussed datagathering tools Analyzed data(April-May 2006)19

The Process In Action Step SixDevelop an action plan(May-June 2006) Shared dataanalysis throughemailPlannedpresentationReflectionBased on what Ihave learned, whatshould I do now?20

Our Research ProjectsPresbyterian Day SchoolMemphis, TN The 17 boys in ShelleyClifford’s third grade classread the following books:Stone FoxMr. Popper’s PenguinsA Cricket in Times SquareThe Whipping Boy The first and last books weretaught without graphicorganizers The second and third novelswere taught with graphicorganizersBook pictures found atwww.barnesandnoble.com21

Our Research ProjectsPresbyterian Day SchoolMemphis, TN90888684828078767472 TestAveragew/o G.O.SummaryAveragewith G.O. The average test score for thebooks taught without graphicorganizers was 78%.The average test score forbooks taught with graphicorganizers was 86%.The average score on thesummaries of the books taughtwithout graphic organizers was84%.The average score on thesummaries of the books taughtwith graphic organizers was88%.22

Our Research ProjectsPresbyterian Day SchoolMemphis, TN100.0 90.080.070.0 60.050.040.0 30.020.010.0 0.0Higher Levelw/o G.O.Lower Levelwith G.O.Students answered 85.5% ofthe higher level test questionscorrectly on books taughtwithout graphic organizers.Students answered 91.5%of thehigher level test questionscorrectly on books taught withgraphic organizers.Students answered 64.5% ofthe lower level test questionscorrectly on books taughtwithout graphic organizersStudents answered 75.7% ofthe lower level questionscorrectly on the books taughtwith graphic organizers.23

Our Research ProjectsPresbyterian Day SchoolMemphis, TNAdditional Findings 12 out of 17 boys’ averages onthe end of book tests increasedwhen using graphic organizers. 10 out of 17 boys’ scores on thesummaries increased whenusing graphic organizers. In reading response journals 16out of 17 students indicated thatusing graphic organizers washelpful during the novel studies.24

Our Research ProjectsThe Ridge SchoolJohannesburg, South Africa 15 boys participated 4 novels read:– There’s a Pharaoh in ourBath- Akimbo- Julius Caesar’s Goat- The Marble Crusher- The Marble Crusher- Colly’s Barn- ConkersThe MarbleCrusherand otherStoriesThe MarbleCrusherColly’s BarnConkerswith GOno GOwith GO25

Our Research ProjectsThe Ridge SchoolJohannesburg, South AfricaImplementation of Graphic Organizers Novels Without Graphic Organizers– There’s a Pharaoh in our Bath– Akimbo– Colly’s Barn Novels With Graphic Organizers– Julius Caesar’s Goat– The Marble Crusher– ConkersPictures from www.barnesandnoble.com26

Our Research ProjectsThe Ridge SchoolJohannesburg, South AfricaComparing Results ofImplementation1210With the Graphic Organizer8 9 boys out of 15 increased theirsummary score, 1 remained the same, 5were down.9 increased their test scores, 6 weremarginally down.642 11 increased their total score, 4 weredown.*The 4 that attained lower scores, areextremely strong readers.0Summaries withGOTest with GO Total rise with GO27

Our Research ProjectsThe Ridge SchoolJohannesburg, South Africa28

Our Research ProjectsThe Ridge SchoolJohannesburg, South AfricaJournal Responses “It definitely helped me to remember more of the story.”“When there were too many things to think of, ithelped.”“Yes, I think it made me remember more.”“I didn’t like the summary, but I thought of thesentences in the diagram. So it must have helped.”29

Our Research ProjectsSt. Albans SchoolWashington DC Twelve boys participatedFour novels read:– There’s a Boy in the Girl’sBathroom– The Whipping Boy– The Lion, the Witch, and theWardrobe– In the Year of the Boar andJackie Robinson First and fourth novels did notuse a graphic organizerThe second and third novels diduse a graphic organizer.Book pictures found at www.barnesandnoble.com30

Our Research ProjectsSt. Albans SchoolWashington DCResults The overall average testscore for books taught witha graphic organizer was89.34% The average test scorefor books taught without agraphic organizer was84.71%9088868482807876TABITGBWBLWWYOTBTest Averages31

Our Research ProjectsSt. Albans SchoolWashington DCResults The average summary scorefor books taught with graphicorganizers was 83.06% Summary score for the finalbook was 84.02%90888684828078 This data is not accurate dueto the fact that students didnot write a summary for thefirst book.76747270TABITGBWBLWWYOTBSummary Averages32

Benefits of Action Research Encourages teachers to move from intuitive tointentional practices in teaching Allows teachers to play a meaningful role inadvancing their profession Values the experience and expertise of teachersPromotes shared vision and work with other schoolsand institutions33