LTCY 444G

LTCY 444G - 421G

Reading Instruction in Middle/Secondary Schools

Teacher Action Research Paper Requirements

Each middle/secondary school content area has particular issues and needs related to the support of students' literacy development within that content area. The purpose of this research paper is to:

deepen your understanding of the types of literacy skills and strategies your students need to be able to comprehend your content
provide you with a venue to share with other teachers of your content area strategies and instructional practices related to middle and secondary school reading instruction

This assignment presents you with an opportunity to:

identify the challenges learners have with print in your specific content area (math, science, social studies, cultural studies, history, music, art, etc.)
- this includes the types of reading, writing, listening, viewing, and technology use typically performed within your content area
perform a survey of the literature that exists related to research on literacy issues within your content area (or specific to your age/population of students)
provide a list of instructional practices or strategies that address the problems identified as barriers to students' literacy development within your content area
- ideas for these instructional practices and strategies must come from published sources
at least one example of how you have incorporated an instructional practice or strategy and a reflection of how that incorporation affected student learning

Following are specific requirements for this research paper.

Content:

Your paper should:

Have a main focus related to a middle/secondary school literacy issue that is apparent throughout the paper (the Problem)
Include accurate research-based information (Survey of Literature)
Be based on information that comes from a variety of sources (at least 10 different sources).
Include concrete instructional practices or strategies related to the issue that teachers of your content area could easily incorporate into their classrooms.
Explain step-by-step what you implemented, how you implemented it, what your objectives were, what print materials were used, and how you measured student learning (Action Research Design).
Results of what you implemented - your observation of students, student assessment data, and a personal reflection of how you judged the effectiveness of the strategy/instructional practice. (Results)
Implications and recommendations for other middle/secondary school teachers of your content area. (Implications for other Middle/Secondary (content area goes here) Teachers)

Format and Style:

Your paper should:

Be approximately 8 to 10 double-spaced pages in length, not including bibliography.
Include a bibliography of references following APA sytle (5th ed).
- APA Citation Machine - http://landmark-project.com/citation_machine/cm_book.php3 (only as good as what you enter)
- APA Publication Manual Crib Sheet
- http://www.apastyle.org/elecgeneral.html
- http://www.apastyle.org/elecsource.html
- http://www.vanguard.edu/faculty/ddegelman/index.cfm?doc_id=796
- Sources may be print or electronic, but must be from highly reputable authors/resources. (In other words, peer-reviewed journals ONLY.)
Have a clear organization with appropriate headings for each section of the paper:
- Problem
- Survey of Literature
- Action Research Design
- Results
- Implications for other Middle/Secondary (content area goes here) Teachers
  - List of recommended strategies and instructional practices go here. These should be concise and point teachers in the direction of where they can find additional information (books, journals, websites).
Include no grammar/spelling errors.

Rubric

	Excellent (45-50)	Good (39-44)	Satisfactory (33-38)	Needs Improvement (<32)
CONTENT
Statement of Problem	Clear statement of the types of literacy challenges faced by students in a particular content area. Topic is clearly related to a middle/ secondary school literacy issue.	Somewhat clear statement of the types of literacy challenges faced by students in a particular content area. Topic is somewhat related to a middle/secondary school literacy issue.	Vague statement of the types of literacy challenges faced by students in a particular content area. Topic not directly related to a middle/secondary school literacy issue.	Lack of statement of the types of literacy challenges faced by students in a particular content area. Topic does not fit criteria for this paper.
Survey of Literature: Quality and Reliability of Sources	Excellent review of literature from 10 or more reliable and professional sources.	Quality review of literature from at least 8 reliable and professional sources.	Quality review of literature from at least 5 reliable and professional sources.	Fewer than 5 reliable and professional sources.
Action Research Design	Clear step-by-step description of what was implemented, how it was implemented, the learning objectives, materials used, and how student learning was measured.	Somewhat clear description of what was implemented, how it was implemented, the learning objectives, materials used, and how student learning was measured.	Poor or lack of description of what was implemented, how it was implemented, the learning objectives, materials used, and how student learning was measured.	Serious lack of description of what was implemented, how it was implemented, the learning objectives, materials used, and how student learning was measured.
Results	Results are communicated clearly. Data is included to support findings.	Results are somewhat clearly communicated. Data is included to support findings.	Results are not clearly reported. It appears that some action research took place, but it is not clear what the outcomes were.	There is no clear link between the action research and the results presented. Confusion or mis-interpretation/ representation of results.
Implications for other Middle/Secondary (content area goes here) Teachers: Instructional Practices/ Strategies	Inclusion of excellent instructional practices/strategies for content area teachers. Practices/strategies are clearly related to results of action research.	Inclusion of fair instructional practices/strategies for content area teachers. Some practices/strategies may not be clearly related to results of action research.	Inclusion of poor instructional strategies for content area teachers. Many practices/strategies are not clearly related to results of action research.	Lack of instructional strategies for content area teachers. No connection between the instructional practices/strategies and results of action research.
FORMAT AND STYLE
Bibliography/ Citations within paper	Excellent use of APA (5th ed) style.	Good use of APA (5th ed) style - 1-2 errors.	Poor use of APA (5th ed) style - more than 2 errors.	Very poor use or NO use of APA (5th) style.
Organization	Excellent organization of paper. Excellent use of graphs/charts to display action research results.	Good organization of paper. Good use of graphs/charts to display action research results.
Spelling/Grammar	Paper has no spelling/grammatical errors.	Paper has 2 spelling/grammatical errors.	Paper has amore than 3 spelling/grammatical errors.	Unacceptable amount of spelling/grammatical errors.