During the months of November and December, I learned that I
needed to allow more class time to effectively observe if my action research
plan was successful or not. I decided to
allow more time on two assignments that I wanted to grade in my General English
2 course. One assignment was a unit
test; the other assignment was a three-paragraph essay. I did allow nearly an entire class period
(little over an hour) to complete the Nonfiction Unit Test. I allowed about a quarter of a class period
(around 30 minutes) to work on the three-paragraph essay.
During these two months, I discovered that the more class
time I allowed on these two assignments, the more submissions I received from
the students. Although I did extend the
due date of the Nonfiction Unit Test due to our calendar, I did obtain about
75% of the assignment. Out of the 36
students in my General English 2 course, nine of the students did not complete
it. Two of those students were exempt
from the assignment due to laptop issues, increasing the completion rate to
81%. I had the same exact rate for the
three-paragraph essay assignment.
I also decided to compare and contrast the number of
submissions for an assignment for which I did not allow class time to
complete. Seventy-four percent of the
students completed this assignment.
Since it was an assignment given near the last part of the semester, I
am hoping they completed it independently because they were in the habit of
completing assignments and enjoyed reaping the benefits of their hard
work.
I also discovered that allowing class time to complete
assignments has not affected my attendance.
I maintain the same number of students (compliant) whether I allow class
time for assignments or not, ranging from 25-29 students. I also discovered that I give most class time
for assignments on a Wednesday. I did
allow class time on a Tuesday; however, I did not see much a difference in
attendance on this particular day. I
will continue to track the number of submissions on different days of the week
to observe if more students (compliant and non-compliant) attend on certain
days than others and if this increases their assignment completion/submission.
Again, the challenge that I experienced during these months
was time. It is difficult to dedicate an
entire or nearly an entire class period to assignment completion when other
material needs to be covered. In
addition to class time, finding extra time during the months of November and
December is extremely difficult due to the holidays and additional days off
from school. Another challenge is
getting more students to attend class. I
thought that freeing up class time for assignments would bring more students to
class. However, I have the same students
showing up on a consistent basis.
A few ways I can address the time challenge is to determine
what material is crucial to cover or what material can require less time to
cover in order to provide more class time for assignment completion. Also, it would be important to examine the
assignments given to determine if all of them are necessary. Both of these issues will free up time in the
classroom for the completion of the assignments that are essential for the
successful progression through the course.
A way I can address the attendance challenge is maybe by offering points
for attending which might encourage the non-compliant students to attend, plus
use their class time wisely when given for assignment completion.
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