Peggy+McNash

toc
 * http://img-ipad.lisisoft.com/imgmic/1/8/1853-1-breathing-training.jpg

About Me
From a non-dysfunctional family, I am a preacher's daughter with one husband (celebrating 30 years in June 2013), two married children, and two sisters. Born in Anniston, Alabama, I moved to southwest Atlanta before age 2. I attended Atlanta Public Schools (K to 9); Woodward Academy (10 to 12), Milligan College (BA in History and English; NCATE Certificate); Georgia State (MAT in English). Completing year 36 in English at WA, I shop, read, swim, befriend, write, cook, rock babies, pray. Contact me at Woodward Academy in College Park at this email address. I teach at a private school, and I knew I wanted to teach in high school. . . I hear I am a rare bird.

[[image:PeggyMcN Sentence.jpg width="240" height="180"]]
http://www.flickr.com/photos/churl/250235218/

Takeaways / Big Ideas

 * NUMBER ONE: Implementing Primacy-recency Effect in all Classes' Daily Design **

Sousa's work speaks of the first learning chunk of 20 minutes being the best for new learning (not shouting out wrong answers). Down time, the next fifteen, allow students to move, to share, to apply, to rehearse recently learned materials (collaboration, movement key here). Last few minutes of class, return to presenting new material. Today, in tenth grade American literature honors class we had a mini-lesson on some term paper issues and learned about 3 poems. Then for 12 minutes, students worked in groups on a particular critical approach to "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening." Last minutes, students presented.

https://devongeography.files.wordpress.com/2012...-27.gif%20


 * NUMBER TWO: Turning Responsibility over to the Learner **

Who should be practicing and doing all the work? Students, after modelling. If your students did not learn something, which of these steps was missing or not given enough time?

http://dpcdsb-ssc.wikispaces.com/file/view/Fish..._Works.JPG

Creative Assignments are not "freebies." Often we are worried about how to grade creative projects, but creating a great rubric should help us and encourage to include creative choices in our assessments. Source: http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/ahold/revised_taxonomy.jpg
 * NUMBER THREE: Revamping Bloom's Taxonomy: Moving Creativity to Even More Prominence **

AR Overview
I have taught a support class for our struggling writers for over 25 years; the struggle level does seem to be cyclical, some groups of 5 years students' needing more support and focus than others. The groups in my junior writing class for the last 3 years seem to be a bit more needy than usual, have fewer strategies engrained to help them with their LD, ADHD issues. While I have always pulled lots of strategies out to move these students forward, I was a bit frustrated the first weeks of school with the one class I have of this group this year. There were lots of reasons: 17 students in a class that meets 3 days a week right after lunch, 2 days a week at the second class of the day. Seventeen are too many for my classroom Harkness table, and yet in the lab, they are often even too many for a bay. They tend to be boisterous or daydreamers or internet surfers who do not want to use time to work on papers for this class nor papers for their English and history teachers.

I quickly decided this class would be my focus group (although I am using many of the Sousa ideas in my honors American Literature course). I decided first to use teaching of benefits and practice of guided breathing exercises after Anna led us through an exercise when the Brain Cohort met after a long day of teaching; I later added direct instruction and reminders about the growth-fixed mindset. I had used guided breathing and visualization exercises with students of this course over 20 years ago, but for some reason I had dropped it from the curriculum. Personally, I have continued to use guided breathing as a stress-reduction method, usually as a sleep aid. I had also read Dweck's //Mindset// as part of my school's Mission-Vision book group.

This group needed the knowledge of this breathing strategy and of the benefits and truth of the growth mindset.

AR Question
Will direct teaching on and practice of guided breathing and fixed-growth mindset beliefs increase time on task, focus, and completion rates of essays for students in Writers Workshop CP, Period E?

AR Process
> >
 * First, in October the eleventh grade counselor, Lynn Robinson, who knew the students well did an observation and noted the off-task behaviors of my students in one 45 minute period. She used a roll sheet with divisions between the 3 time slots of the class and this code guide. [[file:Peggy on and off task data collection instructions.pdf]]
 * I researched more about guided breathing. I read dissertations like this one.
 * I also learned much about the Action Research process from this shared pamphlet from Shelley.
 * Also in October I surveyed the students asking about their perceptions of their completion rates and of what may have kept them from completing assignments; I also asked about strategies to keep them task on using this survey.
 * Beginning in November I taught the students about guided breathing. We practiced on several days.
 * My mini-project, I used guided breathing to help students focus on test days (test 3 and final exam objective section).
 * Early semester 2, I taught students about the fixed and growth mindsets. Students completed a survey on their own mindsets. Many had heard this material through Carrie Carver's class (although they had forgotten ever hearing it from the grade-level counselor).
 * I continued to use reminders about the growth mindset (on weekly plans, verbally).
 * We continued to practice guided breathing exercises. Thanks to Nneka Robinson who videotaped us during an April class period.
 * On March 11th I presented my mini-project and take-aways from the Brain Cohort work to Woodward's Mentor-Intern program; I agreed to present an adaptation of my work with the Brain Cohort in July at the Delta Kappa Gamma International Society Southeast Regional Conference in Orlando.
 * On March I2th I started keeping a journal account including completion rates on key days of writing assignment completions.
 * On March 23th, I collected 2 data pieces on student completion rates for 4 SAT-prompt responses (single class assignments; determined the average of each and the number of 17 students who scored below 70% which normally meant non-completion of four-paragraph minimum).
 * On March 25th, the eleventh grade counselor Lynn Robinson returned to observe and note off-task behavior again.
 * On March 26th, students took the survey again with the only changes on the form being their perceptions of the efficacy of guided breathing and focus exercises.

AR Data Samples
MINI PROJECT: Intervention: Guided Breathing Only Related to improving scores on students' objective testing.
 * The blue column shows steady improvement through tests 1, 2, 3 with great improvement on the final exam. Before test 3 and exam, student practiced guided breathing. Several class days, teaching for the combining test or when drafting in lab, students also practiced guided breathing.
 * I presented the mini action research project in February to the E.E.Ford Brain group and in March to Woodward's Mentors and Interns. Here is the two-page take-away handout from the February presentation.
 * [[file:Peggy mini action research 2 pager take away.pdf]]
 * In December 2012, students improved 8 points on the average between test 3 and the final exam. The previous year, the average of the two sections on the final was the same as the average of the two sections on the final exam. The two-pager above has most of my reflections on the mini-project.




 * CAPSTONE-ACTION RESEARCH DATA: Intervention: Guided Breathing, Growth Mindset Instruction **
 * Related to time on task, focus, and project completion. **
 * The observer noted 7% fewer off task behaviors on the March observation. Anecdotal comments from observer Lynn Robinson, 11th grade counselor, was that the class seemed more focused; several students struck her as being much more mature and more productive that the fall observation.
 * Here is the pre (October) and post (March) student survey data:
 * In March 8% more students said all work for other teachers was submitted on time. (63% to 71%)
 * In March 7% percent fewer students said that 1 or 2 papers were late during the grading period in question. (25% to 18%)
 * In March 1% percent fewer students reported that 25% of their papers were late (13% preintervention to 12%)
 * In March 9 of 17 reported breathing exercises helped them focus and improve their time on task and completion rates. Here media type="file" key="positive student voice.mp3" width="240" height="20" is a sample short response from a positively impacted student.
 * In March 8 of 17 reported breathing exercises did not improve their focus, their time on task, or their completion rates. Here media type="file" key="negative student voice.mp3" width="240" height="20" is a sample short response from a student who felt guided breathing did not produce a positive result.
 * Here is the compilation of scores on four different one-class writing assessments (averages as well as the number of students who scored below 70%--those below 70% had poor completion rates on the four-paragraph essay).





AR Data Analysis

 * ​Mini Project Analysis**

>
 * The 2012 Writers Workshop section has many more behavior problems than either of my sections last year. Yet this research project reveals that the 2012 class is stronger generally on objective testing. The same tests (sentence combining) were used both years with only minor wording changes.
 * I have used only slightly more brain-friendly instruction since August with this group as we learned the sentence patterns; I had always revised and edited the course using all the instructional techniques and strategies I knew with this group of reluctant writers (many of whom who have many learning differences).
 * The tests are cumulative, requiring students to combine sentences using 3 patterns to using 10 patterns (Test 3 and final).
 * There was gradual improvement from Test 1 through Test 3 for 2012 while 2011 averages fluctuated.
 * Whereas there was no improvement from Test 3 to Exam Objective portion in year 2011, there was an 8-point increase in average from Test 3 to Exam for 2012.


 * Capstone Project Analysis **
 * Quantitative: Reflecting completion rate as well as skill progression, the averages on the four SAT-prompt exercises improved significantly (from 66.9 to 81.2 over five months of instruction and 4 months of breathing and focus intervention). The number of students scoring below 70% which corresponds to incomplete or inadequate response in a 50-minute period decreased from 11 to 3 (17 students in class). There are other reasons for this improvement (generally improved skills), but the completion rate jump of 14 percentage points is significant.
 * Quantitative: When Lynn Robinson, eleventh grade counselor, observed a second time, she noted 7 percent fewer occurrences of off-task behavior. Both of us would have called the behavior during her second observation as more focused than the 7 percent drop in off-task behavior registered. Lynn commented specifically about self-monitoring and focus on two of the most unfocused students during the first observation.
 * Qualitative: Students reported a higher percentage of work completed, but the gains were not as great as I would have hoped.
 * Qualitative: Students had had equally divided opinions (9 positive, 8 negative) on the efficacy of guided breathing on their focus levels.
 * Two-page take away for presentation: [[file:Peggy capstone 2 page take away.pub revised.pdf]]
 * Here is the powerpoint for the Capstone Presentation Night.[[file:Capstone Research Presentation McNash finalized.pptx]]
 * ere is a pdf file for the Capstone Presentation Night. [[file:Capstone Research Presentation McNash Final.pdf]]

AR Conclusions
>
 * Areas to Celebrate and New Questions to Explore and Areas to Improve: **
 * Collecting and analyzing data are not difficult for a woman whose last math course was in 1977 (particularly with facilitators who talk through choices with you).
 * Teaching the growth mindset and using guided breathing are not time-intensive interventions yet do provide some benefits to challenged writing students.
 * My pre-teaching of the benefit of these strategies and my reinforcing of these lessons I must review and improve.
 * Would adding primacy-recency strategies, forcing students to reset themselves (toe touches, move to peer edit with another student) at the 20 minute marker benefit student success in terms of completion and quality?
 * "Two are better than one for they have good return for their labor." Ecclesiastes 4:9. Read at my wedding, this verse came alive again as members of the Brain and Assessment cohorts helped me make every presentation better, rethink every data-collection technique, focus on what was the most important to do and share.
 * Beginning on day 1 and continuing a brief teacher-reflective daily journal would have been beneficial. I will keep such an on-line journal next year for all my preparations.
 * I will continue to use both of these methods with this group of challenged writers. I will start earlier, and I will investigate whether a particular script works best to focus the students during our lab times.
 * Being more aware of data and viewing current year's student data compared to previous years of data do help an instructor refine methods and learn the truth about the group you have. I will give time to doing such collection/reflection.
 * It might have been possible to collect data on the four SAT averages from students in two sections I taught in 2011. Getting that material from archives might have provided more data that I could have compared to improvement I saw on objective tests for my mini-project.

Lit Review & Resources
Mindful Breathing Dissertation

Mindful Breathing at Schools

Breathing and Stress Reduction for ADHD

Guided Breathing Script One

Guided Breathing Script Two

Reflections

 * I feel honored to have been allowed to participate in the E.E. Ford Cohort.
 * I feel thankful for all who helped me (Bob, the inimitable Brandi and Anna and Shelly and Keisha--facilitators extraordinaire, Lynn who collected much data for me, Nneka who videotaped us, Carrie S who was a fantastic Varied Brain Rally partner, Pam H and Carrie S who were gracious hosts as I observed at Carver and at Lovett, all the other Brain cohort members who encouraged and inspired and informed me at every meeting, my students in period E Writers Workshop, and all the subs--Carolyn, Helen, Matt--who covered my classes so that I could be off campus).
 * I feel challenged by what I learned, by what I had affirmed, by what I have been able to share so far.
 * I feel excited to share some more (already scheduled to present at DKG SE Regional Conference in Orlando this July), to practice even more brain-friendly teaching strategies, to select other action research projects (the collection of data and then reflection is much more important than I could imagine).

QR Code for this page for one-pager: f