My Action Research entitled “Will Reading Strategies Increase Math Scores”. I strongly agree with what research said. Reading is synonymous with language. Hyde (2006) suggests, when using what you know in reading, language arts, and writing to teach mathematics, you will get some good results. According to Thorton (2007), Math is a language that tells the reader how to solve the mathematical problem. Math is also a language unto itself, and it is a language where students need to become fluent. I did include some strategies that was not mentioned in my research that really helped with stimulating learning. My students showed gains by a large margin. The benchmark testing showed growth from 29% to 48%. The most innovative part of my work was allowing students the opportunity to use their talents to create. They created raps, students illustrated to show understanding of what they learned. Some of my students took part in the county technology fair creating PowerPoint is to demonstrate what they learned in math. Some of the trends in this process with students were how one strategy took on to another. Hands on activities became power point presentation. Multiplication Rap became a daily theme song for the class. Small group and homework buddy’s increased students ability to grow in areas of weakness because of the support provided from their peers. Trends show that students that live in poverty have lower test scores than students that do not live in poverty. My school is a low performing school in a very low poverty area with 99% reduced lunch.
My Learning Management Class would have been very helpful eight months ago when I started my action research process. Using Learning management systems are the wave of the future to increase students learning. I could have sat developed my LMS system to work for my specific needs in compiling data, tracking data with different groups of students.
Hyde, Arthur. (2006). Comprehending Math. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. An excellent book that uses reading strategies to teach math.
http://www.heinemann.com/products/E00949.aspx
