Journal of Teacher Initiated Research (JTIR)

Our eighth issue finds us welcoming two new editors to our journal. Thank you, Kristin Reninger and Carrie Scheckelhoff! Our authors for this edition tackle a variety of questions: How can the preschool classroom nurture authentic writing? How can video clips improve the teaching of calculus? While those two examples illustrate the age range of students our authors teach, there continues to be that common thread: good teachers constantly seek ways to improve their practice. Read and learn with this year's featured authors, as they incorporated Readers' Theater, listened to families' literacy stories, employed technology in mathematics instruction, and asked critical questions about kindergarten screening procedures. We hope this issue gives you something new to explore!

Dee Knoblauch, Karen Robinson, Kristin Reninger, and Carrie Scheckelhoff, Editors

Parent Stories of Struggling Readers 
Sandra J. Benton

Dusting Off the Writing Center: Creative Writing in the Preschool Classroom 
Betsi Byers-Spurlock

Does Reader's Theater Influence the Reading Attitudes and Fluency of Fourth- and Fifth-Grade Students in a Special Education Class? 
Christine Grant

iTouches in the Classroom, Do They Contribute to Student Achievement in Math Fluency?
Daphne Irby

How Does Video Clip Technology Affect Student Motivation and Learning?
Valerie Sharritts

Kindergarten Screening: What Results Are We Getting?
Rebekah N. Springer

Welcome to our 7th issue! Our teacher authors for this issue represent a great deal of variety, in their methodologies, areas of teaching, as well as the questions they have pursued. Nevertheless, we continue to honor the asking of classroom questions: those deceptively simple issues with which good teachers struggle: How best to get the point across? How to engage students more? What do they already know? How can I do it better? Please enjoy our authors’ good efforts!

Dee Knoblauch and Karen Robinson, Editors

Going From "I Can" to "I Can and Here's How!": Writing About Math in a 3rd and 4th Grade Mathematics Classroom
Emily Garner and Jennifer Duncan

Can Modified Reciprocal Teaching Strategies Improve Kindergarten English Language Learners’ Comprehension and Enjoyment of Read Aloud Books?
Ann Englehart

How Do Clickers Affect Student Engagement and Test Performance?
Andrea Arner

Promoting a Healthy Breakfast Composition Among Kindergarten Students
Jennifer Krites

Will Reciprocal Teaching and Double Entry Journals Increase the Comprehension of My Struggling Seventh Grade Students?
Toni Roltgen

How can we assist our English language learners to be more fluent readers?

In central Ohio, this question is being asked frequently by our teachers as our classrooms become increasingly more diverse. This sixth issue of JTIR is our largest ever! In addition to 3 articles addressing the needs of English language learners, this issue also focuses on children with special needs and their parents, the teaching of vocabulary and other literacy practices, and the transition from a student athlete to college coach. The array of topics in this issue reflects our teacher authors' varied interests and challenges. Enjoy!

Dee Knoblauch and Karen Robinson, Co-Editors

Increased Communication with Parents of Special Needs Children and Its Effect on Special Needs Children's GPA
Sarah Ealy Cashin

Strange Sensations: Dealing Effectively with Sensory Issues in the Early Childhood Classroom
Elizabeth English

English Language Learners and Fluency Strategies
Joan Klemek

Can Vocabulary Study for High Schools Students Be Fun?
Janet Pickens

Transitioning from Player to Coach: A Self-Study
Brett Neiderman

A Fluency & Technology Learning Center for Struggling Readers
Karen Small

"I Forgot That Quotient Meant to Divide so I Added Instead and Got the Wrong Answer": The Link Between Math Vocabulary and Problem Solving
Kelli Sprosty

Digital Storytelling Closes the Gap Between Schools and Immigrant Parents
Mirka Visnjic

Making the Standards Fit the Kids, Rather Than the Kids Fit the Standards
Kiley Wilkins

How Can I Get the Answer If I Don't Understand the Question?: Teaching Mathematics to English Language Learners
Betsy Wood

Welcome to our fifth issue!

Second grader Ben’s self-portrait and illustrated goals for the year are just a sample of the innovative efforts that our teacher authors share with you in this 2008 Journal of Teacher Initiated Research. Our mission continues to be to showcase the action research of professional educators. Our authors have critically examined their teaching and made the systematic effort to improve their classroom practice. We hope that you can learn from these educators and as you do, take an idea for yourself!

Dee Knoblauch and Karen Robinson, Co-Editors

Academic Outcomes for Students with Learning Disabilities in an Inclusive Mathematics Classroom
Susan Casto

Does Oral Storytelling Help First Graders Become Better Writers?
Kim Cody and Teresa Wagner

How Do Spanish-Speaking Youngsters Respond to Culturally Relevant Read-Alouds When Paired with Imaging Techniques?
Jackie Crews

Audience Impact on Standard Spelling: Second Graders’ Daily Journal Entries vs. Authentic Books for Kindergarteners
Andrea Hayson

Word Boxes: Helping Students Spell
Christine Jajack

Tools for Writing: Strategies to Help Students with Special Needs
Jennifer D. McCord

Finding Identity in Text for Sexual Minority Youth: A Critical Analysis of Middle School Health Texts
Kara Putinsky-McCoy

Shared Ownership of Assessment: Student Portfolios in a Second Grade Classroom
Jacqueline K. Ryan

Welcome to our fourth issue!

Start with a simple question. Isn’t there something in your classroom that you would like to change? Think about aspects of your teaching day that may not be going exactly as you wish…How can we frame that challenge into a question that can be addressed in some systematic way?

As advisors for our graduate students’ capstone projects, we often say these words. We work carefully to help our teachers find the questions that will yield a workable action research study. This issue continues to celebrate the inquiry that drives good teachers to explore their practice. In this, our fourth issue of JTIR, we share our most diverse group of articles: from preschool to high school settings, from vocabulary instruction, to parental involvement, to problem-solving in mathematics. Each of our eight authors has tackled a problem that mattered. Two of our authors, Bre Cady and Michelle Mason, stated, “we are always looking for valid, authentic, and meaningful activities to enhance our teaching.” Good teachers everywhere are involved in that same search. We hope that you find food for thought in this issue. Enjoy!

Karen Robinson, Ph.D., and Dee Knoblauch, Ph.D., co-editors

Discovery Bags: Home-School Connections for Preschoolers
Bre Cady and Michelle Mason

CGI: A New Way to Teach Fractions to Middle Schoolers
Trish English and Scott Von Almen

Got a Context Clue? Vocabulary Development in Middle School
Jill Hotchkiss

Using Literature Circles in a Scripted Reading Program: A Self-Study
Cheryl L. Kanuckle

Focused Reading for English Language Learners
Denise Mundy

Promoting High School Girls' Interest in Math-Related Careers
Deborah Rosensteel

Welcome to our third issue!

Our four authors all happen, coincidentally, to be middle school teachers. We hope you will appreciate how each of them started their action research with the kind of challenge that all teachers face. In each case, the teacher was not satisfied with some aspect of his or her classroom practice - there was a real problem….something was not working as it should.

Vivian Dodson struggled with a common problem of the middle school language arts teacher - getting her students started with ideas down on paper and peer editing their writings. She shares how she broke the tasks of writing and assessment down into small steps. Focusing on traits of good writing, Ms. Dodson showed students the difference between plain “rice cake” and more descriptive “salsa” words. Another language arts teacher, Tawnya Schroeder wrote, “I struggled with how to get students to develop an appreciation of the world they would come to know.” Ms. Schroeder tackled the factual inaccuracies and stereotypical thinking of her reading students through a multicultural literature approach. We find interesting Ms. Schroeder’s use of concept maps as a tool for documenting her students’ thinking about migrant cultures. A music teacher, Nicole Williams, was unhappy with the results of traditional assessment at the beginning of her music classes. Her results with reflective journal writing as an alternative to tests and quizzes are impressive. Finally, science teacher John McCoy wondered “whether there was anything I could do to have a positive influence on my students’ attitudes toward science and school.” In his article, he shares his efforts to encourage his students to use reading strategies as they read news articles of science.

As seasoned educators, we have come to appreciate that reflecting on one’s practice and systematically attempting an intervention are marks of a good teacher. Furthermore, that kind of dissatisfaction, coupled with decisive action, is needed for sustained change in education. We are pleased to offer you the accounts and stories of the problems these teacher-researchers encountered and the solutions they attempted!

Patti Albaugh, Karen Robinson, Dee Knoblauch

Blending Writing Traits and Brush Strokes for Successful Writers
Vivian Dodson

Creating Multicultural Understanding in a Monocultural Setting
Tawnya Schroeder

Reflective Journal Writing as an Alternative Assessment
Nicole Williams

Improving Middle School Students' Attitudes Toward Science
John McCoy

Welcome to the second volume of the Journal of Teacher Initiated Research!

Seven classroom teachers share their classroom research and stories. This volume's articles, incorporating more graphics and even some video, cover a wide range of classrooms and topics.

Collaboration is a recurring theme for four of our teacher-authors. Heather Uncapher trained fifth grade students to help her first grade students with their writing skills. The first graders' writing skills improved as did their attitudes towards writing. Read this article for Heather’s tips on managing a Buddy Program with another class. Sonja Johnson and Staci McCafferty, urban second grade teachers, collaborated to improve their high achieving students’ work in math. They found that their teaming and resulting techniques helped students learn independently of the teacher and that the students were also able to actively assist each other. Heather VanAlstine found that using literature circles increased her 6th grade students' participation and personal responsibility for their learning. One can sense Ms. VanAlstine's enthusiasm for literature circles when she writes, "My students are visibly confident in their reading and discussion skills." Collectively these four teachers found that collaboration empowers both learning and teaching.

Two other teachers focused their research on reading skills and literature. Gretchen Dougherty, a high school reading teacher, was able to create an SSR (Silent Sustained Reading) program for her 11th and 12th grade English students. Ms. Dougherty found that her approach reduced off-task behavior and increased literary engagement among her students. Michelle Fraley used the software program KidPix to increase meaning-based reading strategies of her 1st grade ELL (English Language Learners). Ms. Fraley's article contains techniques as well as many wonderful student products.

Finally, Jenger Schmersal tackled a timely topic for today's teachers: testing. Her study focused on the effects of teaching test taking strategies to 3rd graders. In this article one can both read and watch videos of Ms. Schmersal's productive and successful study.

We hope you enjoy reading the research results of these talented and committed teachers. We did!

Patti R. Albaugh, Ph.D. and Karen S. Robinson, Ph.D., Editors

Creating a Successful SSR Program in a High School Classroom
Gretchen Dougherty

Literature Circles: Effective Practices That Promote Participation
Heather VanAlstine

The Rules of Engagement: Teaching Test Taking Skills to Urban Third Graders
Jenger Ann Schmersal

Using Kid Pix to Help ELL Student Respond to Literature
Michelle R. Fraley

Why Work Together? Collaborative Conversations Lead to Student Success
Sonja Johnson and Staci McCafferty

Writing with Study Buddies 
Heather Uncapher

Our first issue of JTIR showcases action research conducted as capstone projects for the MAE Curriculum and Instruction and the MAE Reading degrees at Otterbein University. The featured articles and the portrait of classroom practice demonstrate teachers' efforts to help their students interact with curriculum in meaningful ways.

All the teachers in this volume of JTIR address the challenges of working with special populations. In an effort to make her curriculum available to all her students, Patty Randall developed a unique “collection box” system that emphasized focus points for her seventh grade writers. She wondered if limiting the feedback and making concrete the students’ writing tasks would be successful. Kelly Wood helps to answer the question that all teachers ask: Does this program do what it purports to do? She wanted to know if the district-adopted math program worked for her learning disabled students. Eileen Tamasavich asked about her high school vocational education students, “What role does intrinsic motivation play in a reading program?” Her results are thought-provoking. Amanda Solether practiced the art of reflective practitioner; she probed into the results of a standards-based, assess-teach-assess model for reading instruction for her fourth grades.

Enjoy learning from these thoughtful teachers, as we did.

Patti R. Albaugh, Ph.D. and Karen S. Robinson, Ph.D., Editors

Digging for Gold
Patty Randall

Motivating High School Special Needs Students with Significant Reading Problems
Eileen Tamasovich

Effects of SuccessMaker Math on Students with Learning Disabilities in Inclusive and Special Education Classrooms
Kelly Wood

Testing Out the Ohio Assess-Teach-Assess Model for Fourth Grade Problem Readers
Amanda Solether

Leslie Ortquist-Ahrens, Ph.D., Otterbein University

Daniel Cho, Ph.D., Otterbein University

Roland Sintos Coloma, Ph.D., University of Toronto

Sue Constable, Ph.D., Otterbein University

Marlene Deringer, Ph.D., Otterbein University

Mary Donovan, Columbus City Schools

Michelle Erklenz-Watts, Ph.D., St. John Fisher University

Harriet Fayne, Ph.D., Lehman College

Wendy Gardiner, Ph.D., National Louis University

Brian Harper, Ph.D., Cleveland State University

Susan Hersh, Ph.D., retired educator

Sunhwa Jung, Ph.D., Otterbein University

Kelly Kidder, Ph.D., Lipscomb University

Clare Kilbane, Ph.D., Otterbein University

Dee Knoblauch, Ph.D., Otterbein University (Co-Editor)

David Levine, Ph.D., Otterbein University

Grace McDaniel, Otterbein University

Kristen Reninger, Ph.D., Otterbein University (Co-Editor)

Karen S. Robinson, Ph.D., Otterbein University (Co-Editor)

Diane Ross, Ph.D., Otterbein University

Patty Ryan, Ph.D., Otterbein University

Carrie Scheckelhoff, Ph.D., Otterbein University (Co-Editor)

Wendy Sherman Heckler, Ph.D., Otterbein University

Jeff Smith, Ph.D., Otterbein University

Susan Thompson, Ph.D., Otterbein University

Adele Weiss, Ph.D., Otterbein University