A Change in Direction.

Now that the school year is in full swing, I have been incorporating DESCA into our daily routine.  I'll add an attachment of the activities I used soon.  I've been tracking them paper and pencil...still old school, I know.  :)  I think the students are really starting to become more aware of their actions.  Our environment is very caring and comfortable.  There are a few students that have a desire to bully from time to time, so there is still come work to do.  

However, as a implement the activities and begin thinking about specific data collection, I feel very overwhelmed.  I feel like I am trying to do too much with my action research question.  I feel there is so much going on in the implementation plan that I can't keep up with all the observing and such.  

I am thinking I may narrow my question to something like..How will the implementation of guided math stations affect students' academic performance?  I think all of the DESCA framework building that we have been doing will still be part of my plan, but I will not collect data for it.  I think that the themes of DESCA provide a great foundation for the students while working in small learning communities.  I will include activities I used and keep the research I found on DESCA as part of my RoL.  But, the main focus of my data collection will be on the implementation of guided math groups.  I will measure academic performance based on these four main components: engagement, homework completion, end of unit assessments, NWEA assessment.  I have been teaching unit one in math whole group instruction style.  I am learning a lot about the students abilities and work habits, have been writing observations on each student, and will be using the information to aid in forming student learning groups for unit two.  

I'm hoping that I'm not too late in refocusing my plan, but I really feel like this will be a good direction for me.  I feel more confident in the plan and look forward to exploring this new learning.