¨ Overall methodology of study
o Open-ended questionnaire in the form of a reflective class assignment
§ Pre-assignment that is reflective in nature asks students about their attitudes toward reading (format open-ended questionnaire with one selective list question)
§ Post-assignment that is a similar to the pre-assignment to see how student attitudes have changed.
o Focus group discussion in the form of final class discussion
§ Post independent reading class discussion time to determine student feelings that are reluctant to written response.
¨ Data Collection Technique and Sources of Data
o Student responses to pre and post assignments
o Evaluate student responses by categorizing responses as positive, neutral, or negative toward reading.
o Teacher Reading Logs data with minutes read per day, percentage of students reading, and record of teacher reading habits (did teacher read with students?).
o Additional data sources – basic student information from school system database, including:
§ Gender
§ Grade Level
¨ Instruments & Materials
o Guidelines for independent reading teachers
o Student pre and post assignment
o Teacher Calendar Logs to record independent reading time and participation
o Post discussion questions for final class discussion about independent reading and student attitudes
¨ How will the data answer the research question?
o Schatz and Krashen have found that the most important question in determining student attitude toward reading is “Do you like to read?” (2006).
o The data will show the answer to this question which will determine student attitude.
o Also, one question will be about the students’ favorite book or type of book. If during the pre-assignment the student did not have a favorite book or type and in the post-assignment they do this would also show an increase in positive reading attitude.
¨ Participants
o Participants
§ Chestatee High School student sample
o Participant description
§ 59 students total
§ Three classes
· Study Skills Class
o 11 students
o Grade: All 9th grade
o Gender: 6 Males & 5 Females
· 9th Grade Literature/Composition Class
o 27 students
o Grade: All 9th grade
o Gender: 16 Males & 11 Females
· World Geography Class
o 21 Students
o Grade: All 9th grade
o Gender: 17 Males & 4 Femalesn
o Selection
§ Teachers volunteered their classes for the independent reading sample program
o Recruitment of selection
§ Media specialist presented program to teachers to see who would like to sample the program with their classes
¨ Procedures of study
o Pre-assignment that is reflective in nature asks students about their attitudes toward reading (format open-ended questionnaire with one selective list question)
o Conduct 6-weeks of 15-minute daily independent reading in the classroom with kickoff in the library for students to select their first book.
o Post-assignment that is similar to the pre-assignment to see how student attitudes have changed.
o Post independent reading class discussion time to determine student feelings that are reluctant to written response.
¨ Timeline
o Tuesday, August 28, 2007
§ Administer pre-assignment
§ Media Specialist discuss with students how to select a book you like
§ Students select and check-out books if necessary.
o Wednesday, August 29, 2007 – Tuesday, October 9, 2007
§ 15-minute daily in-class independent reading
o Wednesday, October 10, 2007
§ Administer post-assignment
§ Conduct class discussion about attitude toward reading
¨ Analyze Data
o Enter student responses into response database
o Categorizing student responses as positive, neutral, or negative toward reading
o Determine changes in students as overall positive, neutral, or negative.