Running Head: Hogwarts Inquiry 1

Miekal Morris
Hogwarts Inquiry
EDE4942
3/25/2016

Background
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My focus students come from a low income community at a title 1 choice school, which I

will be referring to its alias name of Hogwarts. Hogwarts didnt become a title 1 school till

almost 3 years ago and is culturally diverse. I will be creating alias names for all three students.

Hermione, is an above level reading student. She is 8yrs old and in the 2nd grade. She loves to

read fiction books about adventures and is very quiet and organized. She is usually always ready

to learn and starts her work without being asked. Hermione is very sweet and polite and likes My

Little Ponies. She is also a table captain and works well with partners. Hermione has a tendency

to observe her peers behavior with observant eyes but rarely vocalizes her thoughts. Overall, she

does very good in all subjects with math being her weaker subjects. Harry is also 8 years old and

in the second grade. He is an on level reading student who loves to read fiction books, especially

silly stories. He is a very likable individual, who is friends to all and loves super heroes. Harry

has two dogs and recently just had a new addition to his family, a new baby cousin. Harry also

seems to be very fidgety and cannot seem to sit still or sit proper at his desk for long. He is a

team captain in his science group, however he has lacks motivation to problem solve. His

strongest subject is math and science seems to be his weakest subject. Ron is a lower level

reading student who is also 8yrs old and in the 2nd grade. He says he likes to read fiction books,

however, I usually always see him with nonfiction books. Ron is very outdoorsy and loves to talk

about cub scouts or video games. His family is also very outdoorsy and takes him on several trips

to go camping. Ron seems small for his age and loves shows like the Walking Dead or video

games like Minecraft. Although Ron tends to be a follower he is also a table captain and just like

Harry, he is also fidgety. He seems to do pretty good with math and sometimes science however,

he struggles with reading.

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The three focus students that I selected to use as my focus group, were based on their

spelling inventory results. I had to selected an above level, on level, and a lower level student for

another class and chose to use those same three students as my inquiry students. I selected Harry

as my on level focus student because of his enthusiasm to learn and discuss in almost every

situation or subject, however he quickly loses his motivation to continue his work after starting it

or seeing tasks through. I chose Hermione to be my on level focus students because not only is

she very smart but she is also very observant of what is going on around her. Also, although she

pays attention in class and scores good on her homework and tests, she seems bored all the time.

It is very rare that I see her eyes light up about what she is learning or engaging in. I chose Ron

to be my lower level focus student because my collaborating teacher mentioned that he was at

risk for being retained in the 2nd grade next year, plus he is really smart and engages in

classroom activities and discussions. With this purpose I wonder how can I motivate my focus

students?

Literature Connections
To learn more about my wondering, I consulted the literature of three different

practitioner articles on how can I motivate my focus students. To find literature for my

wondering, I went to both my school library website and Google Scholar to look for peer

reviewed practitioner articles contained useful key word searches. The key words that I searched

for was motivation for elementary students

Courageous Reading Instruction: The Effects of an Elementary Motivation Intervention

This article influenced the reader to nurture intrinsically motivated reading and in return

motivation will turn into courage. Motivational instruction contains several different key

elements such as choice, collaboration, challenge and authenticity that help foster or support
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intrinsic reading motivation. The article suggests that motivation is most engaging in daily

classroom tasks. Open tasks tend to be more motivating than closed tasks and that girls tend to

read more for leisure than boys.

Learners' developing knowledge of strategies for regulating motivation

This article goes into detail about how learners cope with motivational obstacles and that

is important to regulate task engagement to face these challenges. Key things to consider when

facing these obstacles are the classroom environment, self-administering rewards, self-talk, and

transforming tasks into something more engaging. The article goes into detail the significance:

environmental structuring, self-consequating, interest enhancement, performance self-talk, and

mastery self-talk. By doing so it will foster positive behaviors, self-efficacy, persistence,

cognitive strategy use, and effort.

Increasing students' achievement and interest in reading.

This article informs that teachers should be encouraged to help their students become

better readers and to help motivate their desire to read. The article suggests the importance of

silent reading time and the motivation that develops when a student is able to select their own

type of reading material. Modeling reading and allowing the students to share material can also

help inspire students to want to read. Reading rates, comprehension, and vocabulary will

continue to grow the more students read. Teachers should provide a new collection of reading

materials from time to time to increased excitement towards reading. Peer will also increase

motivation and comprehension.

Trends found within these articles

While reading these three articles I noticed that not only is motivation importance for

student success but that there are several different elements that contribute to motivation. I
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noticed that at some point in each article the classroom environment was a contributing factor to

motivation. There should be a designated quite time or quiet area available for students to read in

peace along with a variety of different types of reading material. Another trend I noticed that

influenced motivation were the classroom tasks. Open ended tasks were brought up multiple

times throughout the articles. I can see how these types of tasks could not only encourage

motivation but also appeal to the different types of learners as well. Lastly I some sort of peer

reading, caring or collaboration was also brought up multiple times to encourage motivation and

comprehension.

How these articles influence my inquiry

After reading these articles I feel that I have gain a better understanding of how I can

motivate my focus students. There is already a cozy designated reading area in my interning

classroom along with a variety of reading materials. Every day there is time set aside for

independent reading. After reading these three articles, I would like to rotate the reading material

in the classroom each week, to keep the students interested and motivated to read new material. I

would also like to set up student book club so that the students can engage in peer reading and

collaboration. Lastly I would like to incorporate more open ended tasks to appeal to a different

learning styles and create motivation.

Methods/ Procedures

To gain insight into my wondering on how I can motivate my focus students, I created an

action plan that included a book club with open ended tasks with my focus students. I also took

field notes and conducted observations during class and even included peer observation notes

from two other interns.

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I originally started the book club amongst my focus students with the intention of

meeting every week. However, I found that it was difficult to do so since one of my focus

students was working with my CT during MTSS and it was vital for him to be there. Therefore,

book club was usually cut a little short, plus I ran in to some scheduling problems with testing

and Dr. Seuss day. To make up for missing a few book clubs, I would try to incorporate a short

activity that would be engaging or interesting to spark motivation in a lesson. One week after

lunch, I did a quick game of eye spy and another week I incorporated either a kinesthetic game to

create motivation during a lesson. New seat assignments were introduced at least twice within

the last month to create a calming learning environment. The first new seat assignment was

working out pretty well, however, One of the focus students was partnered with a more

controlling personality that seemed to clash with one another and lowered their self-confidence.

With the second new seating arrangement, that issue was corrected.

Some of the ways that I collected data to better understand my focus students was to

create a field not journal about my observations I made during class. I color coordinated my

notes by organizing my data by each focus student. I also either collect or took pictures of

student work or practice. I made observations during class and administering running records.

During lessons that I teach, I have them write down reflective notes in their journals. I also had

two other interns provide field notes based on their observations during their time in my

interning classroom.

Some of the ways that I analyzed my data, was by color coordination, date and by each

focus student. While I was collecting my field notes, I had my data separated on a different page

by date. I then coded my focus students individually. Harry was always F1, Ron was F2 and

Hermione was F3. By having the students coded that way, I was able to quickly write down my
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observations on that particular student without having to repeatedly write their names down each

time, plus it kept my information more private from little wondering eyes. I would then color

coordinate the data by student with a colored highlighter as well, Harry was blue, Ron was green

and Hermione was purple. By having each student data coded by color, makes it easier for me to

find information on just one student. Each week I would write down in my inquiry action plan

something that I noticed, what I was looking for, strategies and next step. By keeping that chart

up to date and organized, I am able to quickly look back at each week to see what type of trends

and data that I collected or noticed.

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References
Cooper, C. A., & Corpus, J. H. (2009). Learners' developing knowledge of strategies for
regulating motivation. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 30525-536.
Marinak, Barbara A. 2013. "Courageous Reading Instruction: The Effects of an Elementary
Motivation Intervention." Journal of Educational Research 106, no. 1: 39-48.
Moser, G. P., & Morrison, T. G. (1998). Increasing students' achievement and interest in reading.
Reading Horizons, 38(4), 233-245.