Action research: letter recognition Lauren Fowler Mrs. Underwood Kindergarten

Background information (names have been changed for confidentiality) Andres – An ELL student that is very friendly and eager to learn. He does not speak up much in large class settings, but is very talkative in small group and one-on-one encounters. He began by only knowing a few letters of the alphabet, and struggles to do various other activities in class because he can not identify a majority of the alphabet. Jared – A little boy that Mrs. Underwood believes should have qualified for speech, but did not. He benefits greatly from verbal encouragement and works best when it is one-on-one. He began by knowing a small percentage of the alphabet and was easily frustrated and unmotivated when he doesn’t understand something.

Research question What strategies can I use that will increase the student’s ability to recognize the letters of the alphabet?

Why is letter recognition important? It is the building block for developing their oral language skills, cognitive skills, symbolic representation, and early literacy. Children’s knowledge of letter names and sounds is the best predictor for their future reading abilities and skills. Children that struggle identifying names and sounds of letters are more likely to struggle with learning to read and potentially be classified with a reading disability. This will eventually lead to these children falling behind fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and cause reading gaps. (Piasta & Wagner, 2010)

Best Practices for letter recognition Alphabet Matching Matching Upper and Lower Case letters Matching a letter with a picture that the word starts with Create an engaging and motivating environment Letter Bingo Alphabet Flash Cards Children’s literature that focus on the alphabet Repetitive practice (Reading Rockets)

Baseline data I used an assessment that gave a randomized order of the alphabet and the student had to say what he thought the letter was. Andres – On the initial assessment he got 8 out of the 26 letters correct and could not even identify all of the letters in his name. His percentage of accuracy of letter recognition was 31%. Jared – On the initial assessment he got 13 out of the 26 letters correct. He had a 50% accuracy rate with identifying letters.

Initial assessment data

Strategies used Alphabet Flash Cards Alphabet Matching Game Only focused on the Upper Case letters Alphabet Matching Game Students would match a letter with a picture that represented the letter Repetitive Practice Writing letters and saying letter names multiple times in a row iPad Games Finding the letter they are asked to show, tracing different letters Letter Magnets Writing the letter on the white board and the student had to find that letter magnet and stick it next to the written letter

Ending data I used the same exact assessment of a randomized list of the alphabet and asking students to identify each letter. Andres – On the final assessment of Andres’ letter recognition, he was able to identify 17 out of the 26 letters. His percentage of accuracy was 65%, which was a 34% increase from his initial assessment. Jared – On the final assessment of Jared’s letter recognition, he was able to identify 23 out of the 26 letters. His percentage of accuracy was 88%, which was a 35% increase from his initial assessment.

Beginning vs. ending improvements

reflections I have learned that as a teacher, it is so important to differentiate your instruction to each individual child’s needs. It is crucial to do research on what strategies and methods work best when trying to improve a student’s performance in a certain area. Take the time to individually meet with your students that need it and don’t ever think a student can not learn or improve. If I could do it again, I would be more proactive in getting evidence based strategies together and more proactive in my research and collection of data.

references Piasta, S. B., & Wagner, R. K. (2010, July 28).Developing early literacy skills: A meta-analysis of alphabet learning and instruction. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2910925/ Reading rockets: Alphabetic matching. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/alphabet_matching/