Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Welcome to the blog for the fall student teaching seminar. You are expected to contribute your ideas to the topics posted each week. Everyone appreciates reading the thoughts of their classmates as well as sharing their own. Please post your questions as well as your comments on your classmate’s questions.
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Student Interest Survey - (Mary)
ReplyDeleteQ: What is your favorite after school activity?
Q: What do you do for fun on the weekends?
Q: What is your favorite subject in school?
Q: What is your favorite special in school (i.e. P.E., music, art etc.)
Q: What sports if any do you like/play?
Q: Do you play a musical instrument. If so, which one?
Q: What books do you like to read? Name as many titles as you want.
Q: What is your favorite part of school?
Q: What is your least favorite part of school?
Q: Do you like how the classroom is set up? Would you change anything?
Q: What makes school interesting and fun for you?
Q: What can we do to help you have a successful school year?
Q: If your parents asked you what you wanted for your birthday, what would you ask for?
Q: What is your favorite TV show?
Q: Tell me one other thing about yourself that I should know that I haven’t asked yet.
These 15 questions were the questions I asked the 22 students in my second grade classroom during snack time over the last four days. Each student took the time to talk with me to answer these questions. I chose to ask the students these questions individually instead of having them write out their answers through a worksheet because I wanted to take the time to try and get to know/build connections with each of the students so they would feel more comfortable with having me in the classroom which in turn will hopefully make the two take over weeks that much easier because they would be familiar with me and trust me.
Here are some results for some of the questions. Keep in mind similar answers were given for many of the questions on the survey. As predicted an overwhelming amount of students loved P.E. as their favorite special while only a handful liked art. The second highest special was the computer lab. The class also loves books. Each student provided several book titles that they liked. Many popular books were the Knights of the Lunch Table series, The Magic Tree House, the Judy Bloom books and the Bone graphic novel books. The top three favorite school subjects were science, social studies and math.
After reviewing the data collected from the surveys, my teacher practitioner and I could try and tailor our curriculum around many of their answers. Since the class really enjoys science, social studies, math and the computer lab, we could incorporate a trip to the computer lab each week into the schedule to work on an assignment that relates to their three favorite subjects. For example, students could each select a math strategy that the unit was focusing on and have to find an online game for that particular concept. They could then play the game (become an expert of it) and on another day highlight the games to the class in a sharing presentation focusing on why they chose these games, why they are good and how they could help students in the class with the concept. Some of the items they would ask for, for their birthdays could be incorporated with choice time activities such as legos.
I think that student interest surveys are an activity to help ease students back into the academic mind set, especially if done at the beginning of the year. These surveys will help us get to know our students better while also activating the students mind to self reflect on the things they like, don’t like, want to learn, etc. The most beneficial uses of these surveys are just like what the Fenton article highlights. They can be used to “differentiate instruction based on student interest…differentiate instruction based on ways in which students like to work…, to involve family members… and to push students to know themselves better by reflecting on their learning.” Regardless of which reason you might want to create and execute a student interest survey there is no denying the results and how much more we are able to do with our classroom and our curriculum based on the student answers.
Great idea to talk separately to each student and wonderful ideas for using the survey. I'd like to know if the class follows through with your suggestions.
DeleteWritten Survey:
ReplyDeleteWhat is your favorite thing to do after school?
Do you play a musical instrument, which one?
What sports if any do you like/play?
What is your favorite TV show?
What is your favorite subject in school?
What is your favorite special in school?
What books (type, series, author, etc) do you like to read?
What is your favorite part of school?
What is your least favorite part of school?
What makes school interesting and fun for you?
What are you hoping to learn about this year?
In Person:
What did you do this summer?
Do you have any brothers or sisters? How many?
What do you want to be when you are older?
What is your goal for this year?
Parent Survey:
How was your child’s experience in 2nd grade?
What are your child’s strengths/weaknesses?
What is your goal for your child this year? Concerns?
Anything else you want me to know?
I had many common answers from the students in the questions I asked via written survey. Of the 23 students, ten of them responded that playing with friends is their favorite thing to do after school. Seven of them said playing sports is their favorite thing to do; the sport varied and included hockey, soccer, gymnastics, and baseball. Ten students listed playing on the computer as something they like to do in their free time. Six had mixed answers from reading a book to cooking dinner with my mom. Only three students play an instrument (piano). Hockey is the big sport in this class, eleven students listed that they play hockey. Four of the girls listed gymnastics or dance as their favorite sport. The rest listed baseball or soccer; 1 student selected golf as their favorite sport to play and lastly 2 listed they don’t play a sport but like to watch Red Sox or Boston Sports Teams.
The class as a whole seems to really enjoy reading as their favorite school subject. An overwhelming sixteen students listed this. Only one student listed math as their favorite subject, I hope I can change this! I love math so I hope that I can use the information on their favorite sports, etc and bring it into math to make it more exciting perhaps and change some minds on the subject. A few students listed social studies or science and two students listed writing. Favorite specials were all over the map; there was not one that was an overwhelming favorite. When asked about favorite books, it was very divided by gender, the girls seems to be into a few series and autobiographies and the boys seem to be into different series. Questions about their favorite and least favorite parts of school were very different and I hope to make their least favorite parts more enjoyable and can incorporate sports or their outside interests into these areas and make connections for them so that the subjects can apply to their life or interests.
The first questions I asked in person were more icebreaker questions. When I asked about goals it got a bit trickier, I had to explain it a bit and give an example for them. There were many long pauses of silence while they thought. They ranged from not talking in line, never using a homework pass, reading over 100 books, getting better at math, to making the school a better place. I thought they made great goals and I even asked most of them how could you achieve this goal. I wrote down each student’s goal and I think it will be fun at the end of the year to go back and look at their goal and see if they achieved them.
Lastly, I reviewed the parent survey. These were extremely helpful because it was much more realistic for us to read about as many parents wanted their child to improve in reading, which I found interesting since so many students listed reading as their favorite subject.
These surveys I conducted were very beneficial. It will allow me and my SP to tailor the curriculum to their likes and make things more interesting as well as give us a feel for who may need a bit more help in some content areas or some extension work in some areas.
Seems like you really learned a great deal from the surveys. See how much of the information you can use, but don't get frustrated!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteStudent Survey
ReplyDeleteKristen Himmelberger
Through the reading and many conversations with my supervising teacher, Alicia, I had
developed two different types of surveys. I conducted a fun, interactive survey to begin the
school year and a few days later, I had the students complete a more academic survey. My goals
for the surveys were to get to know the class, enjoy the process, and find out information about
each student that would allow me to better cater to their needs.
I had met with Alicia to plan the first few days of school. She had told me about the
school-wide initiative to incorporate more movement into the students’ day. Alicia knew I had a
dance background and asked me to lead the ‘3H movement’ for our class. In order for the
students to become comfortable with moving, I had created an ‘interest survey’. I imagined
many students not being entirely open to movement and unsure of themselves. I usually work
best with imagery and therefore, I thought I would try it with the class. I gave them a survey
asking them about their ‘favorites’. For example, ‘favorite food’, ‘favorite color’, ‘favorite
subject’, etc. The survey had boxes for each item where the students could draw the idea and
write one word describing it. This survey served as a way for the class to get to know each other
better; to find commonalities and differences. When the students completed the survey, they
could find a partner they did not know as well and share their favorites. I scaffolded the
movement part by beginning with walking and freezing and continuing to walk. Walking is the
simplest way to get children up and moving in a comfortable, safe way. It gives all types of
learners an entry into movement. We then talked about low, medium, and high level shapes they
could make with their bodies. This is when the surveys came into play. Most students were
unsure of how to make a shape with their bodies. We talked about our favorite color. I asked
them to think about what they wrote down on their survey under ‘favorite color’. I asked for a
volunteer to share their answer. One of the boys shouted and jumped, “yellow!” It was a
wonderful example of how a color can help a student think of a movement or a shape. Colors
evoke feelings and feelings can be turned into movement. A few other students shared different
colors: blue, hot pink, red. With help from the class, we decided if the color was happy, strong,
light. Then I asked the individuals to think of his or her own picture and word they drew on their
surveys under ‘favorite color’. I ask them to show me the color with their bodies. I was very
impressed! Every student, even the students who can be challenging to teach at times were
engaged and making shapes and movements. The survey allowed the students to make a visual
and verbal clue and turn it into a movement. I then tried to guess each student’s color. If I
guessed correctly, the student lined up for music. If I did not guess correctly, the student
changed his or her shape to better reflect the color. We have done a different ‘favorite’ each day.
The students seem to enjoy it and ask for the ‘favorite’ game.
Kristen continued:
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I conducted a more academic survey. Asking the students, ‘do you like to work
with a partner or by yourself?’; ‘what is your favorite subject?’; ‘do you like to read?’. This
survey was more for me, as a teacher. Most of the students loved to read because it was relaxing,
interesting, or because they love Harry Potter. By learning this information through a survey, I
can better address their individual preferences and learning styles to create a better environment.
The idea of the survey also relieves any pressure for the student to be ‘right’ or nervous about
answering questions. The survey proved to be an excellent source of information and they
enjoyed the process. Harry Potter was no surprise to me, but I was shocked most students
wished to work alone, rather than with a partner. Some of their reasons were very well thought
out. One student said it was too distracting, another only wanted to write her own ideas and not
have to listen to someone else and yet another doesn’t like to be paired up with someone she
doesn’t want to work with. Hopefully, I will continue to build the class community to ensure all
students can and enjoy collaboration with each other.
When you want to get students to work together who said they preferred to work alone, ask them first if they might like to try to work with X and if they say no, don't push them too hard!
DeleteI conducted a survey with 21 first graders. It was a "Getting To Know You Better" survey. I gave it to them mid day on the 5th day of school. After I read the questions to them as a class I walked around answering their questions and helping them read as some were able to read the questions with no problem and some had a few difficulties. I explained to them that I was there to help them if they were having trouble answering anything.
ReplyDeleteThe 8 questions I asked were:
1. When is your birthday and how old will you be?
I was surprised to know that about half of the class did not know their birthday. Some went to the birthday wall to figure it out and some just left it blank.
2. Do you have any pets at home? I then wrote YES or NO and had them circle their answer.
16 students have pets and 5 do not. They were happy to tell me what they had at home... the answers ranged from dog, cat, bunny, fish, and frog.
3. My next question was- What is your favorite animal? I loved reading these and expected to get a lot of dog and cat answers but instead got: unicorn, turtle, shark, dolphin, cheetah, elephant, pig, horse, hamster, bunny, lion, and of course some dogs and cats.
4. Would you rather read with a grown-up or by yourself? I had them circle either grown-up or yourself and my results were split down the middle with 10 preferring to read with an adult and 10 by themselves. One student circled both and wrote both underneath in the lines provided.
5. What kind of books do you like to read? I wrote animal, superhero, funny, and rhyming in parentheses. I also put some lines beneath where they could write a type of book if they didn't want to choose from my suggestions. Their answers were once again varied. Their responses were: Funny, Starwars, boy books, superhero, princess, scary, Eric Carle, rhyming, Dr. Suess, animal, and superhero. Some left this one blank and couldn't think of anything at the time of the survey.
6. What is your favorite food? I loved reading their answers to these! Sweets, dried mangos, pizza, lasagna, ice cream, mac and cheese, pasta with sauce, double scoop of vanilla ice cream with rainbow sprinkles, vegetables, sandwich, and corn. I had some pasta and pizza repeats so did not list them all.
7. I asked my first graders what they liked to do when they were at home?
I got a lot of play, a lot of play with legos, play with games, play video games, play board games, TV, play with my sister, build, movies, and play with friends.
8. My last question was what is your favorite special. I wrote in Art, P.E, Music, or Library, and they had to circle their favorite. I also left room for them to write underneath if they wanted to.
P.E was the winner coming in at 11. Art came in next with a total of 4. Library came in third with 3. Finally Music came in last with only 2. One student did circle all 4 as a tie between them all, and one wrote that she loves to sing under music.
After I gave the survey I thought of what I could have done differently and what I liked about it. I think the hardest part was having 21 little ones request that I re-read each question to them. Many of them are in a tough transition where they know the word they are spelling looks differently than what they are getting on paper, so instead of them sounding out what they know they like to have an adult sounding it out with them in order to spell what they want to write. This got a little difficult but they all were patient and happy to work on it with me.
Overall though I loved it. They were a lot of fun and seeing their unique answers made me happy we took the time to fill it out instead of just making it all multiple choice. I feel like a got a little bit of a deeper peak into their interests and it was also a fun way for them to reflect on themselves!
For Ruth
ReplyDeleteAlong with the article we read about creating student interest surveys, I also took some tips from my supervising teacher as to what types of questions I should include when surveying the students. Along with her help, I came up with 4 questions for my student interest survey. I was surveying a total of 24 kids from our second grade class in Revere. The 4 questions I asked were: 1. How many people live in your house? 2. What is one thing you love to learn about? 3. Where is your favorite place to go? 4. What is your favorite food? The article we read stressed the importance of having a purpose for conducting student interest surveys. The purpose of the first question is to get to know a little bit about what our students’ home lives are like. The purpose of the second question is to get ideas about what topics/subjects students are particularly interested, so we can emphasize such topics/subjects for them whenever possible. The last two questions provide interesting facts about the students that we may have not found out had we not conducted an interest survey. Young kids really seem to enjoy answering questions about themselves like these. For the first question, “How many people live in your family?” nobody had less than 3 people living in their home. Most students (8) had 4 people living in their house, with the second most likely amount being 5. The highest number of people reported living in a student’s home was 13. For the second question, “What is one thing you love to learn about?” the most popular answer was math, with 8 children providing this answer. The second most popular were answers related to reading or books. After that, the most popular answers tied for science, animals and religion. For the third question, “Where is your favorite place to go?” varied answers were given. Despite the fact that the students answers varied I was able to group many of their responses into categories. For example, many of the students in our class are from countries outside the United States and many classify as English language learners (about two thirds of students). So, it makes sense that many students’ responses to this question were the countries they visit when they go to see family like, Morocco, El Salvador and Portugal. Other popular answers had to with amusement parks such as Canobie Lake Park and Six Flags. Another frequent answer had to do with playing outdoors at parks or playgrounds. And, naturally because many of these students live a stone’s throw to Revere Beach, going to the beach was among their favorite places to go. The last question, “What is your favorite food?” generated many different responses as well. The top 2 answers however, were pizza and chicken. There was a three-way tie for the second most popular answer being salad, hot dogs and meatballs. Other answers included foods such as couscous, nachos, pie etc…
Mary HanleySeptember 12, 2012 5:11 PM
ReplyDeleteRuth, for the "what do you like to learn" your students responded with math. Math was also one of the top rated subjects with my second graders as well. To be honest, this surprised me. I'm not sure if it’s the times having changed or there are more strategies provided on how to do math, but I remember when I was younger in elementary school and we all hated math. UGH those worksheets were awful! Were you surprised when you got that result for that question too?
Jackie ZSeptember 13, 2012 5:19 PM
ReplyDeleteRuth and Mary,
I was thinking the same thing. I remember hating math as well. I think the Math MTEL is a struggle for many of us because we are so scared of math even as adults. Many of my students (this year and last) loved and love math. I agree with you, Mary. Math is now taught with so many different strategies and I feel like we reach out to the different intelligences by using manipulatives, videos, math centers, and we share strategies instead of just giving an answer without a clear understanding of how we got to it (like I remember). Great Survey!
STUDENT INTEREST SURVEY
ReplyDeleteI first posted this on the blackboard link which as I discovered the last time we met is not the blog for our class! My placement is in 5th Grade at the Mather School in Dorchester. The survey I distributed to them is below with some comments about their answers:
1. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO LEARN THIS YEAR? Math, science experiments, and reading interesting books appeared often.
2. WHAT HAVE BEEN YOUR FAVORITE SUBJECTS? WHY? Math, reading, music, and art were top at the list. The way the school day is structured students do not have social studies or science on a daily basis so it will be important to mesh these subject areas into reading, writing, and math.
3. WHAT HAVE BEEN YOUR LEAST FAVORITE SUBJECTS? EXPLAIN. Math (especially fractions), reading comprehension, and science appeared frequently with the
comments that “it’s sometimes boring” or “it’s hard.” With so much of the school day focused on math and reading it will be important to keep these lessons engaging and at an appropriate level.
4. HOW DO YOU LEARN BEST? The students were eager to share thoughts on their own learning which will be a great help as we build the classroom community and structure learning opportunities: in groups, with lots of explanation, learning things a few times with practice, using the computer, doing things, etc.
5. HOW DO YOU WORK BEST (SMALL GROUP, ALONE, PARTNER, WHOLE CLASS)? Most like to work in small groups or pairs of their choice which isn’t too surprising but may not always be the most effective. There were three students who identified that they prefer to work alone.
6. WHERE DO YOU READ OR DO HOMEWORK OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL? WHO HELPS YOU? A lot of the students do their work either at home or at a structured afterschool program. With so many students coming from families who speak languages other than English at home, this will be important to keep in mind as homework is assigned or parent communications are distributed.
7. WHAT ARE YOUR HOBBIES AND INTERESTS? Basketball, soccer, swimming, collecting things, drawing, video games, animals, and fashion were popular. Tapping into my students’ interests will be a great way to engage them in learning.
8. HOW DO YOU SPEND YOUR TIME AFTER SCHOOL? Some students attend a structured afterschool program but most go home and spend time with friends and family, do homework, and watch tv. Three students mentioned they take care of their younger siblings and do household cooking or other chores. Our classroom has a number of kids who are expected to contribute a lot to the running of their households at a young age.
9. WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE TYPES OF BOOKS? Humor, mystery, adventure, and scary stories were all repeated genre answers. I was interested to see that so many students also listed folktales and fairytales; these definitely are favorite choices during independent reading. By far the most repeated titles were Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Dork Diaries.
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE TV SHOW? I had to ask the kids about their favorite shows as I was unfamiliar. Many appear on Disney.
11. DESCRIBE WHAT A PERFECT WEEKEND LOOKS LIKE TO YOU. Playing video games, spending time with friends, and visiting local attractions were popular answers here.
12. WHAT SHOULD I KNOW ABOUT YOUR FAMILY? Here the students listed who was in their family our household (often extended family living under one roof) or a person they are particularly close to. The grandparents of many of my students are very involved in their daily lives.
13. IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE WITH ME? Kids used this question to tell me where they are from, what their fourth grade experience was like, and just to generally convey excitement for the new year. Three used this space to mention they didn’t like to talk in front of large groups, certainly a point to work on throughout the school
year.