Data Collection Methods
Data Collection Methods #1: Pre/Mid/Post Test
In order to see if my students grew in their alphabetic knowledge, a pre, mid and posttest was given. The pre and posttest consisted of showing the students all the uppercase and lowercase letters, while asking them to name them. They also were asked to name the letter sound. The mid-check test was used during week 5 where only the letters we have reviewed thus far were shown. These three tests helped me see where my students were at, and helped me create and adjust student goals/ learning for where I wanted them to be at the end of this project.
Data Collection Methods #2: Anecdotal notes
Anecdotal notes were chosen as I wanted to track specific behaviors of engagement. On the sheet I tracked levels of engagement by giving a student a score of 1, 2, or 3. Scoring a score of 1 meant that the student was not engaged in the activity and did not complete the activity, scoring a 2 meant that the child was slightly engaged in the activity; they may have started the activity, but did not finish it. Scoring a 3 meant that the child was engaged in the activity and completed it fully. Levels of support was also tracked by giving the students a score of 1, 2, 3 or 4. Scoring a 1 meant that the child did not attempt the activity, even with physical support like hand over hand assistance. Scoring a 2 meant that the child needed physical support to complete the activity. Scoring a 3 meant that the child needed gestures, such as pointing, modeling or verbal prompts to help them complete the activity and scoring a 4 meant that the child completed the activity independently. On the sheet there was also room to write how long the child engaged in the activity as well as how many letters/sounds the child identified. One last part included on the anecdotal notes was a comments section where I wrote down any verbiage the student used that was beneficial to my study. All of these areas were picked with the intent of tracking student progress and allowing me to see where the students needed more or less support.
Data Collection Methods #3: Weekly Quiz
Favorite activity of the week:
At the end of the week, the students were asked what activity for the week they liked best. I told the students what activities we did for the week and then asked them to name their favorite. This was helpful as it allowed me to see if there were any specific activities they liked best. If there was a specific favorite, I changed future plans to incorporate more of the students favorite activities so they would be more willing to participate and learn from them moving forward.
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Weekly quiz:
At the end of each week, I quizzed the students on the letters we reviewed for the week. This was done by holding up the letter (both uppercase and lowercase) and asking the child the letter name and sound. If students were unsure of letters I put a 0 in the column to signify that they were not able to recognize any letters.
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At week six and seven, instruction was changed for students B and D to ensure progress was made. Since these two students did not show any progress from weeks one to five, the letters were changed to help set up the students for more success to make progress. Student B focused on letters: E, O, L and I. Student D focused on letters: E, O, T, L and I. These students were then quizzed on these letters to see if any progress was made moving forward.
