Using Action Research To Empower North Carolina Educators A Race to the Top Initiative NC Department of Public Instruction Educator Effectiveness Division Decoding Webs: Using Neuroscience to Improve Early Literacy Skills Karen S. Lambert Randolph County School System Southmont Elementary School Not Again! Have you ever taught a skill to students then suddenly realized they could not apply it? I have! Yes Again!! Have you ever taught a skill to students again only to realize they still could not apply it? I have! Students Know When You Hit the Wall What is M ss ng? What is wrong? Is something missing? Is it connected to the way I teach?...the research begins What is Action Research? Systematic inquiry conducted by teachers and other educators to find solutions for critical, challenging, relevant issues in their classrooms and schools. Mills, Geoffrey E, Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher, 2014 What is Action Research? Main Goals Include: Positively impact student outcomes Identify and promote effective instructional practices Create opportunities for teachers to become reflective practitioners Share research results with other educators Mills, Geoffrey E, Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher, 2014 What is Action Research? A systematic research process to: Identify an area of focus (critical, challenging issue) Develop an action research plan Implement action research plan in classroom/school Collect, analyze, and interpret data Share findings to inform practice Mills, Geoffrey E, Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher, 2014 Action Research Begins Decoding Webs: Using Neuroscience to Improve Early Literacy Skills Transfer Even though learning is reciprocal across ELA activities, automatic transfer of learning is not. Rowdy Doesnt Transfer Learning Occurs Students successfully complete skill-based activities: magnetic letter work analogy charts sound boxes Learning is not Transferred Students cannot decode these same words when they are embedded in stories. Wilson, Charlot (2009). The Big Storm. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, p. 10. Problem Many students who correctly identify words during skill-based activities fail to transfer this knowledge to text reading. Important Instructional time is precious! Constant reteaching hinders pace. Student and teacher stress increases. Automaticity is delayed. Working memory is exhausted. Who Needs to Know? K-3 Classroom Teachers Reading Specialists English Second Language Teachers Exceptional Children Teachers RtI Facilitators Lead Teachers Benefits for Students Builds Self-confidence Builds Independence Prepares Visual System to Read Speeds Decoding Accelerates Automaticity Frees Working Memory Benefits for Teachers Less Reteaching Less Remediation Shifts Workload to Students Less Student Stress Less Teacher Stress Research Beginning Story Brainstorming Activity Think of a student who... asked for help stared at your face gave you the puppy eyes...when he saw an unknown word. Turn and Talkhow you solved the problem! Time to Think Stare or Dream Story What Does Peer-Reviewed Research say About my Focus Area? Research Says the brain searches for patterns These results show evidence of a neurobiological basis for a purely structural morphemic segmentation mechanism operating at early stages of visual word recognition. Gold, B. T., & Rastle, K. (2007) Neural Correlates of Morphological Decomposition during Visual Word Recognition. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 19(12), Research Says the brain breaks words into chunks There is now considerable agreement that morphologically complex words are somehow decomposed in visual word recognition and analyzed in terms of the constituent morphemes. Gold, B. T., & Rastle, K. (2007) Neural Correlates of Morphological Decomposition during Visual Word Recognition. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 19(12), Research Says priming speeds the brain process Words are recognized more quickly when they are preceded by a morphological or an orthographic related word than preceded by an unrelated word. Casalis, S., Dusautoir, M., Cole, P., & Ducrot, S. (2009). Morphological effects in children word reading: A priming study in fourth graders. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 27, Research Says modality is important ...information from an auditory stimulus to activate orthographic representations... ...stronger priming from visual to auditory than vice versa... Grainger, J., Diependaele, K., Spinelli, E., & Ferrand, L. (2003) Masked Repetition and Phonological Priming Within and Across Modalities. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 29(6), How do we Process Words? Brain imaging shows: The initial input pathway differs depending on whether we hear or read a word Dehaene, S. (2009). Reading in the Brain: The Science and Evolution of a Human Invention. New York: Viking, p. 163. Brain Pathway Dehaene, S. (2009). Reading in the Brain: The Science and Evolution of a Human Invention. New York: Viking, p. 103. How do we Learn to Read? ...brains scanned show selective activation to written words, with no trace of activation (in the same region) for the oral presentation of the same words. Dehaene, S. (2009). Reading in the Brain: The Science and Evolution of a Human Invention. New York: Viking, p. 72. Do I Teach in the Modality I Expect my Students to Use? Auditory Input-Visual Input- Sound boxesoral reading analogy chartssilent reading magnetic letters Initial Processing Neural Connection Do I foster a disconnect between ELA activities? Can a modality connection improve transfer of learning across ELA domains? Neural Connection In 2011, I read French, cognitive neuroscientist, Stanislas Dehaenes brain research. That year I applied a combination of brain research findings in a "decoding web" (which is what my students and I thought it looked like) to guided reading. Believing this visual aid positively impacted my former students, I chose to study it for my action research. Feels Like Something is Missing Story Make Knowledge Public Analyze/Interpret Data Collect Data Innovation/Intervention Action Research Plan Focus Group At-risk, early readers who had not achieved automaticity Action Research Plan Purpose of the Study The purpose of this action research was to describe the effects of a brain research-based, top-down visual that connects modalities across ELA domains. Action Research Plan Study Participants Title 1 School Rural Setting High English Second Language Population High Economically Disadvantaged Population Small Group, Pull-Out Program for At-risk Readers Daily Guided Reading (instruction of students with similar needs on similar levels in small groups) Action Research Plan Study Variables Focused on 3 at-risk students: English Language Learner Attention Deficit Disorder Special Needs Collected intensive data over 3 months for 31 days Beginning reading level G/12 Ending reading level I/16 Action Research Plan Research Questions 1. Do instructional practices support student transfer of learning between ELA domains? (transfer) 2. Is there is a missing connection between an early readers ability to use decoding skills in phonological activities and an early readers ability to see decoding patterns in text-embedded words? (connection) Action Research Plan Research Questions 3. Will a strategy that emphasizes the ability to see spelling patterns improve decoding? (patterns) 4. Will visual priming improve application of word decoding transfer from phonological activities (auditory input) to continuous text reading (visual input)? (priming) Action Research Plan Research Questions 5. Will enhanced visual inputs improve student application of reciprocal learning? (visual) (transfer) (connection) (patterns) (priming) (visual) Action Research Plan Too Many Questions Story Make Knowledge Public Analyze/Interpret Data Collect Data Innovation/Intervention Action Research Plan Innovation Intervention Innovation/Intervention Used a Decoding Web to Support New Book Instruction in Guided Reading Innovation/Intervention Top-down Visual with Priming After using traditional phonological activities (magnetic letters, picture sorts and sound boxes) to teach decoding skills, I modeled a visual decoding strategy to connect and transfer phonological learning to text-embedded words prior to and during continuous text reading at appropriate levels of early reading. Dehaenes Word Tree Dehaene, S. (2009). Reading in the Brain: The Science and Evolution of a Human Invention. New York: Viking, p. 25. Innovation/Intervention Dahaenes Word Tree Continued Every written word is probably encoded by a hierarchical tree in which letters are grouped into larger-sized units, which are themselves grouped into syllables and words Dehaene, S. (2009). Reading in the Brain: The Science and Evolution of a Human Invention. New York: Viking, p. 22. Innovation/Intervention Look at the Letters Story Innovation/Intervention Implementation in the Classroom What my Students Taught me in 2011 Innovation/Intervention Implementation in the Classroom Share photos, anecdotal notes, video clips, student work samples Innovation/Intervention Implementation in the Classroom Psychologists speak of a priming effect--the reading of a word primes the recognition of related words, much as one primes a pump. Dehaene, S. (2009). Reading in the Brain: The Science and Evolution of a Human Invention. New York: Viking, p. 23. Innovation/Intervention Decoding Web Share photos, anecdotal notes, video clips, student work samples Innovation/Intervention Decoding Web Innovation/Intervention Implementation - Student 1 Innovation/Intervention Implementation - Student 2 Innovation/Intervention Implementation - Student 3 Make Knowledge Public Analyze/Interpret Data Innovation/Intervention Action Research Plan Data Collected Increase Decoding Accuracy - 10% Increase Transfer of Reciprocal Learning Across ELA Domains Decrease Reteaching Learning Targets Data Collected Step 1-Check Baseline Words Step 2-Check Baseline Words using Decoding Web Step 3- Formal Book Introduction, Instruction of Baseline Words using Decoding Web, Check Text-Embedded Baseline Words, Story Discussion Step 4-Exit Ticket Step 5-Day 2 Independent Rereading of Story, Check Independent Read of Text-Embedded Baseline Words Innovation/Intervention Data Collected Data Collection Data Collected Diverse At-risk Students Student 1-ESL Student 2-ADD Student 3-Special Needs Data Collected Baseline Words Book: Perfect Picnic Level: G Step 1 Baseline Control Words __________ 1. bright 6. choose 2. boat 7. leave 3. scooter 8. would 4. other 9. shouted 5. please 10. blanket Robinson, Fay (2009). Perfect Picnic. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Data Collected How Baseline Improved Over Time Data Collected Visual Strategy Internalized as Baseline Improved Over Time Data Collected Hmmmm - Story Data Collected Baseline Words in Decoding Web Book: Perfect Picnic Level: G Step 2 Control Words with a Top-Down Visual Aid Connection and Priming Support Prior to Instruction __________ 1. bright 6. choose br ight ch oo se ( night ) ( zoo) 2. boat 7. leave b oat l ea ve (goat ) (eat ) Robinson, (2009) Data Collected Comparison of Baseline Words to Webbed Words No Instruction - Top-Down Visual Only Data Collected Top-Down Visual or Decoding Web Format Data Collected Comparison of Baseline Words to Webbed Words to Text-Embedded Words with Formal Instruction Data Collected Transfer Across ELA Domains From Isolated Decoding Web to Text-Embedded Data Collected Maintaining Learning Independent Read Book: The Missing Cat Level I Step 5 Day 2 - Text Embedded Control Words with No Visual Support_______ 1.turnedp freezer p chicken p since p turkey p thaw p leaves p closets p meatballs p curtains p. 10 McCloskey, Susan (2009). The Missing Cat. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Data Collected Maintaining Learning Compare Text-Embedded Words to Day 2 Independent Read Data Collected Comparison of Baseline to Independent Read Day 2 Data Collected Decoding Accuracy Increase Data Collected Self-Confidence Increased Exit Ticket: Consistent response Thumbs Up Interview Responses Evolved: Student 1 - I remember like pl-en-ty. I see it in my brain and I know it. Student 2 - Give me hard books. I like to do hard books. Student 3 - Make more of the chart things. Make Knowledge Public Analyze/Interpret Data Innovation/Intervention Action Research Plan Collect Data Findings Analyze/Interpret Data Findings Builds Self-confidence Shifts Decoding Responsibility to Student Increases Student Reading Independence Increases Student Accuracy and Transfer Seems to Free-up Neural Resources Seems to Increase Student and Teacher Stamina Also Increases Decoding Accuracy in Isolation Analyze/Interpret Data Revisit Learning Targets Increase Decoding Accuracy - 10% Exceeded-106% Increase Learning Transfer of Reciprocal Learning Across ELA Domains Met Decrease Reteaching Time Limited - No Data Analyze/Interpret Data Outside Issues Influencing Data Findings Student 1 made ESL verb tense errors Student 2 had multiple absences and focus issues Time constraints limited number and type of research participants Instructional balance driven by data collection Make Knowledge Public Analyze/Interpret Data Innovation/Intervention Action Research Plan Collect Data Recommendations Make Knowledge Public Recommendations Begin use at Level F Not for use with Sight Words Discontinue at Automaticity Use Chart for Visual Support Web on Back of Lesson Plan Familiar Trumps Rules Daily 5 Read to Self/Someone/WW Prime with Known Words Chart for Each Reading Level Make Knowledge Public Word Work - Story Activity Web these words: 1.fast 2.click 3.planter (prime) 4.crawling (prime) 5.enjoyed (prime) Time to Work Activity Choose 5 words from a book to use in a Decoding Web Wilson, Charlot (2009). The Big Storm. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, p. 4. Time to Plan Discussion & Questions Share your thoughts Share a Success Story References Casalis, S., Dusautoir, M., Cole, P., & Ducrot, S. (2009). Morphological effects in children word reading: A priming study in fourth graders. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 27, Dehaene, Stanislas (2009). Reading in the Brain: the Science and Evolution of a Human Invention. New York: Viking. Gold, B. T., & Rastle, K. (2007) Neural Correlates of Morphological Decomposition during Visual Word Recognition. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 19(12), Grainger, J., Diependaele, K., Spinelli, E., & Ferrand, L. (2003) Masked Repetition and Phonological Priming Within and Across Modalities. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 29(6), Feedback Conclusion of Presentation Contact Information: Randolph County School System Asheboro, North Carolina Southmont Elementary Karen S. Lambert