RESEARCH

EQ: Why do some students in my classroom recall certain principles more quickly and easily than others?
It is typical for some students to excel in school. Some are just naturally gifted; however, this natural born ability can only take a student so far. Other students can excel just as highly as a "gifted student" would through hard work and dedication. In my research, I needed to know if my students actually worked on school assignments at home. I needed to know if they had self confidence. I needed to identify whether or not my students actually had the drive and motivation to come to school everyday. I already knew that school is stressful for students. Being a student myself, I understood that school can be exhausting and challenging. I also knew that self confidence plays such an integral part in success in school. If a student has confidence, they will feel that they are smart, capable, and will be prepared to take on any assignment. I knew that parental involvement is incredibly important in the learning process. If a child's parent is not living at home with them, it can take a toll on them intellectually. If a child's parent or guardian does not consistently work on school work with them at home, especially in core subjects, they can fall behind. In my search for research articles (to read a summary of the articles that I used, click on the 'annotative bibliographies' tab), I was determined to find research articles that dealt with issues involving self confidence and parental involvement. Much like my initial assumptions, I discovered that when children have lower self esteem, they do not do as well as they could in school . I discovered that when a student works with a parent on school work at home, their abilites in school can drastically improve. When a parent or guardian does not work on school work with their child at home, a child's intellectual growth often remains stagnant. It is so important for parents and teachers to actively encourage and verbally praise students. Without an uplifting word, a child can feel discouraged and inadequate. It is also important that parents work with their child at home. Without at-home practice and parental intervention, a student's ability to flourish can be hindered.
I found all of the information that I needed to know through my annotative bibliographies, these surveys, and an interview that I conducted with some of the students in my class. The survey and interview results are listed below. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Surveys

For this capstone project assignment, I surveyed 21 students in my class. I asked them these questions:

Do you do homework at home every night?
Is there someone that works on homework with you every night?
Is learning fun for you?
Do you practice reading/ sight words at home when you do your homework?

These are the answers that I received:

Only 7 students in my classroom said that they do homework every night. The other 14 students said that they did homework sometimes, but most of them could not tell me how many times a week they actually work on something at home (which shows me that they probably do not do homework at home very often).
16 students in my classroom said that someone works on homework with them when they do their homework, 3 students work on their homework independently, and the other 2 students do homework both independently and with an adult. I personally think that each child should have someone work on their homework with them, because as young as my students are, they need guidance; they don’t always know how to do everything 100% accurately.
3 students in my class said that learning was not fun for them, 1 said that learning was fun sometimes when in wasn’t hard, and 17 said that learning was fun for them.
9 students in my class said that they practice reading and sight words, 5 said that they do not practice reading and sight words at home, 6 said that they practice reading more than they practice sight words, and 1 said that they practice sight words more than they practice reading. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Interview
For an assignment for my capstone project, I conducted an interview with several students in my class. I will be posting one of the interviews here (the questions and answers are not very complicated, since I do work with a group of first graders)!
Q: Are you confident? Do you think that you are smart? A: Sometimes (said this with hesitation)
Q: Does anyone ever tell you that you are smart? A: Yes; my mom does but my dad doesn’t.
Q: Is it important to you that you do well in school? Is it important to your parents that you do well in school? A. Yes
Q: Did your parents/guardians work with you on reading practice before you started school? A: I learned how to spell my name.
Q: Do you feel safe and comfortable learning at school? A: I don’t know; I get scared sometimes.
Q: Do you ever feel frustrated when trying to complete school work? A: Yes; I don’t want to do my homework!
Q: Do you feel that you can ask someone questions and receive the help that you need? A: Yes; I can ask my mom and the teacher at school.
Q: Is a parent/guardian there with you when you get home from school to work on reading with you? A: Yes
Q: Do you enjoy coming to school every day to learn something new? A: I’d rather stay home and sleep in!
Q: Do your parents/guardians ever tell you to do your best in school? A: No
This student is one that I work with on a pretty regular basis. She tends to struggle a bit, especially when it comes to reading and writing. I have realized that a lot of this struggle comes from a lack of self-confidence. This student is very capable of succeeding, and she wants to do well, but she does not believe in herself. This interview definitely revealed to me that self-confidence is a huge part of reaching your full intellectual capacity.
This interview showed me that motivation is a key element in influencing a child to want to learn as well.

RESEARCH

EQ: Why do some students in my classroom recall certain principles more quickly and easily than others?

Surveys