Creating connections for students and parents using the new "mini-city" concept.
Good afternoon, colleagues as you know we are building the idea that the learning that happens here at school is knowledge that all of our students can use in everyday life. This in hopes that our highly mobile, transitional and special needs families will see the importance of sending their students to school daily and that our students will begin the process of using what they learn in ways that will help their families and communities. Our action research project is one that we can develop to show that education just doesn't stop here but continues into the daily lives of our students. Using some of basic theories of constructivism and interpretivism , we continue to engage our families in some simple facts that these theories uphold: " Learners build personal interpretation of the world based on experiences and interactions. Knowledge is embedded in the context in which it is used (authentic tasks in meaningful realistic settings)." and that "we need to create novel and situation-specific understandings by "assembling" knowledge from diverse sources appropriate to the problem at hand (flexible use of knowledge)" (
- Area
of focus statement
The area of focus of my project is to create a
connection between real life skills and the core curriculum for differently
abled students. Life skills are
important part of any special education program so the ability to marry core
building curriculum with those necessary skills to maintain a productive
existence. “The essence of successful life skills
acquisition cannot be weighed in terms of degrees, diplomas, or other documents; rather, it is
demonstrated in their level of independent
living, community
adjustment, and enhanced quality of life”
(Cronin, 1996).
We have also stared the important steps of collecting our data remember I will be asking for your help with this portion. As a friendly reminder here is the data collection chart that I will be using to gather the information..
- Table
Research Questions
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Data Collection Tool
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Why this tool? Justify its use in your
study.
How does it match with what you are attempting to find and to measure? |
Time Frame
How and When
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1. Can we convert the
concepts into easy to understand small steps that the student’s minds can
process?
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Teacher interview/focus groups
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Student observation and Ethnographic
Interview
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Archival documents
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The focus interview of additional educators
will allow a learning dialogue between knowledgeable educators and feedback
concerning student and their academic needs.
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March 2014 through
June 2015
Teacher interview
Parent Meeting/
response
Student observation
|
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2. Will the students be able to work on the
project productively and act appropriately in a collaborative effort with
their classmates?
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Student Observation and Ethnographic
Interview
|
Archival Documents
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Teacher Interview/focus group
|
By observing students in their natural
classroom setting and speaking with them in an environment that is within
their safety zone, we can find out their interest and how they team with
their peers.
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September 2014 to
June 2015
Student observation
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3. Will students with
behavioral/developmental challenges be able to focus on the curriculum?
|
Archival Documents
|
Student Observation and Ethnographic
Interview
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Teacher Interview/focus group
|
Looking for documents that pertain to the
student’s behavioral and educational goals allows the ability to be
proactively plan the focus instruction tailored to the individual students.
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September 2014 to
June 2015
Student observation
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Cronin, M. E. (1996). Life skills curricula for students
with learning disabilities:.. Journal Of Learning Disabilities, 29(1),
53
