Blog problems....or operator error!

Last week I attempted to put my paper and my interest survey onto my blog. I was having difficulties and gave up. Due to the craziness of the weather and the craziness of life I completely forgot that it never got uploaded. I am putting my methods paper into this blog (it is far from perfect and needs a lot of work but it is a great start). I cannot get it to let me insert the picture of my interest survey. Any idea what might be my problem? It is locking up every time I try.

This study looked at the progression of first grade writers over the course of an eight week time frame. There were multiple measures that were used during the study and decisions for new measures were made based on the way students were performing throughout the study. The measures that were used to collect data in this sudy include fieldnotes and observations, an interest survey, interviews, and artifacts. Pappas and Tucker-Raymond (2011) identified all four of these as valid data collection strategies to be used during an action research study.

                The collection of artifacts was of grand importance during this study because it was the concrete way to look at changes in the students’ writing over time. Writing instruction occurred each day and students were continuously producing writing pieces. Each of these pieces was collected and one piece was chosen each week to score using the 5-Point Beginning Writer’s Rubric (2010).

Prior to collecting writing pieces fieldnotes and observations will be conducted. Marshal and Rossman discussed the importance of observation and how it is a “fundamental and highly important method” when conducting research (p.99). Pappas and Tucker-Raymond (2011) identified two types of fieldnotes: descriptive writing and interpretive writing. Descriptive writing fieldnotes were used throughout the course of this study. The simplicity of conducting a conference with students and having written field notes was invaluable to tracking their progression. These fieldnotes were strictly observations of what was going on in the classroom with the students who participated in the study.

                Interviews were another critical measure that was used throughout the course of the study. Rossman and Rallis (2003) devoted a large portion of “Chapter Seven: Gathering Data in the Field” to the discussion of interviews. They stated that “interviewing takes you into participants’ worlds, at least as far as they can (or choose to) verbally relate what is in their minds” (Rossman and Rallis, p.180). Through conducting these interviews I was able to determine how the students felt about the writing projects that they were producing and why they had the feelings they did. The section that spoke specifically about interviewing children was pertained particularly to the situation I was in with collecting data. Rossman and Rallis discussed how it was unrealistic to expect young students to participate in a long face-to-face dialogue about anything however, they encouraged talking during other activities such as lunch, snack time, or while they are playing with blocks or puzzles (p.193). Meeting my students in these sorts of settings allowed them to discuss topics in a more comfortable and honest way. Interviews were conducted in the beginning, middle, and end of the research study.

                At the beginning and the end of the study students participated in a Writing Interest Survey (Appendix A). This survey asked the students questions about their feelings about academic and leisurely writing it also asked them to list things they enjoy writing about. The reasoning for choosing this data collection method was because it was relatively easy to administer and it also provided a quick snapshot of their feelings toward writing and their survey results could easily be compared as the study progressed.