Oakland Mills High School

1. Oakland Mills High School Action Research by: Alden Bird

2. School Description • School • Oakland Mills High School • 1,240 Students • Community Context • Suburban School in a mixed community • Academic Achievement (2008) • Met AYP in all areas • Graduation Rate: 91.3% • Average SAT Scores: 516 (Reading), 523 (Math), 514 (Writing)

3. Important School Characteristics • Multiple AP courses offered in all core academic departments • Jr. ROTC offered • Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBIS) program • Involved PTSA • Diverse array of extracurricular clubs/activities

4. Student Population Oakland Mills High School • Special Needs: • Students with IEP / 504: 12% • Students who are ELLs: 1.2% • Students receiving FARMs: 26%

5. Target Students • 11th Grade American Literature classes: • 2 Advanced Placement (AP) (periods 2, 5) • 2 Honors classes (periods 4, 6) • This is in the context of a four-track system: AP, Honors, Regular, Review

6. Class Demographics: Gender

7. Class Demographics: Ethnicity

8. Demographics: Ethnicities School-wide Versus My Classes (percentages)

9. Needs Assessment: Target Students • Academic Area of Need: Vocabulary • Students at Greatest Need: Honors classes, both. • Evidence: After Units 1 and 2 vocabulary test, Honors class averages were significantly lower than AP classes’.

10. Needs Assessment: Context • Quizzes were given roughly every eight days in two Honors and two AP classes. • Quizzes were based on words in Sadler-Oxford Vocabulary Workshop (2005) • AP classes used level G, Honors used level F • Quizzes were 12-15 questions long, word bank given, sentences with blanks given, words had to be filled in. • Sentences were taken from book sections. • The classes (AP and Honors both) were very text-based, no technology, no images or visuals.

11. Vocabulary, Context for Intervention • Pre-intervention strategy: students assigned vocabulary sections for homework to keep up with. Work is not checked until end, right before quiz. • Students not supposed to write in books. • Observation: student completion of and accuracy in vocabulary HW in Honors classes was inconsistent. • Student pronunciation was inconsistent. • Direct Instruction was used: recitation of words. • Students also had a high volume of reading and writing for HW during year.

12. Alignment with key school goals Relevant School Improvement Plan Goals • Empowerment is the process of providing people the tools they need for continued growth and development. • Students, staff, parents, and the community all have a shared responsibility for student success in school. • It is crucial that we spend some time EMPOWERING our students and teachers to ensure learning is occurring in a manner that equips our students to meet or exceed rigorous performance standards.

13. Question and Hypothesis • Question: Will the use of visual vocabulary strategies incorporating the use of technology, undertaken in addition to the normal assignments in class promote higher vocabulary retention and performance on fill-in-the-blank vocabulary sentences? • Hypothesis: The use of technology-based and visual vocabulary building strategies during class will correlate with increased test scores on vocabulary examinations.

14. Rationale • The school’s improvement plan specifically emphasizes offering a learning experience to empower students to compete in an increasingly global and technological world. The school also emphasizes instilling responsibility, while collaboratively empowering our students toward achievement. • Students in a predominantly text-based class would benefit from a visual approach. • Both the use of technology and the use of the visual medium would provide needed motivation. • Honors-level students would benefit from a more guided approach to vocabulary acquisition.

15. Methodology • Unit Test Design: Majority of students in both classes had already taken units 1-4 vocabulary tests as baseline assessment. • A visual review process of content vocabulary during class will enhance student memory for examination. • The content of review is student derived.

16. Baseline Analysis: Vocabulary Quiz Scores (Average Percentages)

17. Baseline Analysis: 11th Grade AP Vocabulary Scores • Unit 4 scores increased for two related reasons: 1) realizing sentences came from book, and 2) the sentences were in the same order as in the book. • (No racial/gender gap exists significantly in the Honors classes alone – this is a class-wide Honors problem.)

18. Motivation Assessment Sheet Rationale • It was obvious that Honors level students were quite less motivated (visible because of in-class behavior and daily preparedness). • It also seemed as though AP class students had better at-home studying skills, organization (example: note cards being studied in AP class before quiz; AP class would always have vocabulary HW ready, completed.) • Therefore an assessment sheet was given to all students, in both AP and Honors level, all four classes.

19. Motivation Assessment Sheet (Example Question) • I am very well organized. • Less True - 1 2 3 4 5 - More True

20. Motivation Assessment Sheet List of Questions • I am very well organized. • I have good work habits and study habits. • I am self-motivated to do school work. • I feel I am working up to my full potential. • I always do my homework without my parents or teachers having to remind me. • I like to put a lot of thought and effort into my work. • I work hard in school even when I don't like the teacher. • English class last year was much easier than this year. • I always do a good job on my homework.

21. Motivation Assessment Results

22. Motivational Assessment Findings vs. Average Quiz Score pre-intervention

23. Credibility of Sources • Search of Johns Hopkins University online Libraries yielded research articles based on keywords “daily” and “vocabulary” and “review” in conjunction. • Current content area reading course textbook provided alternate source. • Sources were selected based on: • Being recent (2001 sources or more recent) • Content relevance (daily vocabulary practice, visualization vocabulary practice) • Professional credibility of the sources

24. Sources for Intervention • Alvermann, D. Phelps S., Ridgeway, V. (2007). Content Area Reading and Literacy. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc Addresses role of visual associations in the importance of acquiring content vocabulary. Research-based teaching textbook. • Beacon Lesson Plan Library (2005). Vocabulary Drawing. Retrieved October 2, 2009, from http://www.beaconlearningcenter.com/Lessons/404.htm A teacher support website promoting visual depictions of vocabulary words. Not necessarily research based.

25. Sources for Intervention Continued • Glowacki, D. , & Pietrus, D. (2001). Improving Vocabulary Acquisition Through Direct and Indirect Teaching. Research-based article that reviews selected strategies and importance of direct and indirect intervention in vocabulary instruction.

26. Implementation into Instruction • Based on students’ vocabulary abilities, vocabulary cards were implemented in 11th Grade Honors classes starting with Unit 5. • Vocabulary cards included four sections: the word displayed itself, the word defined, the word used in an original sentence, and a visual depiction of the word.

27. Implementation into Instruction Continued • This was only done in Honors classes, not AP classes. • Each student was assigned one word from the unit. • After vocabulary squares were made, students displayed them for the class on the document camera.

28. Vocabulary Square: Example

29. Rationale for Intervention • Introduction of visual learning component into otherwise text-based classroom. • Motivational exercise to increase student engagement in vocabulary homework. • Incorporation of technology into classroom.

30. Formative Data Collection • Data was also collected in two 11th grade Advanced Placement (AP) classes as a control, for vocabulary intervention was not undertaken in these classes. • Motivational data was collected from all four Honors and AP classes in form of a survey as to students’ motivation. • AP classes’ vocabulary abilities were also assessed just as frequently as the Honors class.

31. Student Work, Round 1

32. Formative Data Collection • Student work was inconsistent in quality (notebook paper, drawn by hand). • Only used document camera in one class to display cards. • Still, did not have the memorable, visual appeal I had hoped for – most illustrations too small.

33. Formative Data – Part II • This time, the assignment was different: • Same paper size (8 ½” x 11”)as last time. • Do not need a definition or an original sentence. • Make your picture large this time. Your picture should fill up most of the page. • The picture should NOT be hand drawn. The image needs to be something from the Internet, or a cut-out of a magazine/newspaper, or something along those lines.   • Please also write your word in LARGE font. It needs to be prominent. • I will show you some examples. • Students are allowed to choose their own words from the Unit.

34. Examples Given of Vocabulary Card – II

35. Student Vocabulary Cards - II

36. Presentation of Vocab Cards, part II • Student vocabulary cards were of much higher quality this time – more creative, more fitting pictures for the words, more visual. • Still, many students choose the easiest words (“bizarre”) and many words were not covered, especially in Honors 4. • Use of technology to display in Honors 6, but not Honors 4. • Students seemed even more engaged this time in the unit.

37. Summative Data: Did Intervention Work?

38. Percent Increase, Vocabulary Test Percentages Post Intervention

39. Percent Score, AP and Honors

40. Percent Score, Vocabulary Tests

41. Interpretation, Next Steps • For visualization to be meaningful, a better displaying of words is needed (time and visibility). Possible idea: doing vocabulary cards early in the unit, then displaying them around the classroom. • While the AP students could be trusted to complete vocabulary activities and to study on their own, the Honors students could not. • Evidence: It took many of the Honors students 3-4 weeks to realize quiz sentences were right out of the book. • Visual association of words with images is only one tool, and not a straight-shot to being able to fit the word into a difficult contextual sentence. • Students found the assignment motivating, and not hard or time-consuming. • Next step: building in an oral component (students frequently have trouble pronouncing the words).

42. Interpretation, Next Steps • Context for this unit – in the future, I may use it as the first step once words are introduced – just to get into students’ heads, and allow time to post around classroom (or online?) and let images sink in. • The idea of having word pictures posted around the classroom is a good one. • Build in student choice – to a degree (perhaps groups of five from which certain students can choose?) • Have after-school detention to study words. Low grades not a motivator. • Technology was cumbersome to use in our classroom – must be seamless, easily incorporated. • Overall – this vocabulary card can be an effective, singular tool for future use.

43. Duration of Intervention • Duration of intervention was too short – only for two vocabulary units, and not carried out on a daily basis. • Scope of activity is too limited to be much more than a small part of vocabulary instruction.

44. Professional Collaboration • Mentor teacher Peter Foy at Oakland Mills High School gave freedom to carry out this project during class, stepping outside his normal routine to allow this, and providing invaluable advice during the course of the project.