(Following is the first page of Erica's action research. For the complete
paper, click on the red button on the right.)
Research Question:
What makes students attend afterschool for math?
More specifically, how can I effectively structure
my time with my students in an afterschool program
so that they attend and reap the greatest educational
benefits?
Rationale and Background:
I teach at East Side Community High School, a small
high school on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
It serves 500 students in grades 7 – 12. The student
body is approximately 60% Latino, 35% African American
and 5% Asian, White or Other. Nearly all of East
Side students qualify for the federal free lunch
program. I currently teach a Math Analysis course
to all 55 12th grade students at East Side. According
to its mission statement, the school strives to
provide, “personal attention, a safe and respectful
environment, a strong sense of community, and curricula
that is both challenging and engaging.”
True to its mission, East Side is a school with
a strong culture of supporting students, both academically
through small class sizes and emotionally through
a strong advisory program. The result of these twin
goals is that teachers develop strong relationships
with their students and are committed to their students’
success. To this end, all teachers devote one afternoon
each week to work with students after the school
day ends at 3:00pm. Teachers are paid to stay afterschool
to work with students. There is at least one teacher
from each grade available Tuesdays, Wednesdays and
Thursdays from 3:00pm – 4:30pm, although most teachers
stay until 5:00pm or later.
The idea behind the afterschool program at East
Side is to allow time for students to receive extra
help from their teachers. Helping students to understand
the material presented in class, reviewing material
and studying for classroom tests, providing extra
time to work on projects, helping students with
homework, providing extended time to complete owed
work, and holding review sessions for standardized
tests are some ways in which teachers utilize that
time. In some cases, students are mandated to attend
because they are falling behind academically. The
time is usually unstructured and informal and is
a further opportunity for teachers to develop strong
relationships with their students.
I have noticed in the three years that I have taught
at East Side, that attendance for my afterschool
sessions is fairly high. I began to wonder who comes
to afterschool? Why do they attend? Perhaps more
significantly, who does not attend and why not?
Finally, I began to wonder whether I was using the
time afterschool in a way that most benefited my
students. For the students who do attend, what are
they getting out of it? What are the implications
for my own teaching and for my school in terms of
how we structure our afterschool sessions? How can
we best help our students?
To
the full paper.
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