Tanya+Dwellingham

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About Me
tdwellingham@atlanta.k12.ga.us Mrs. Tanya Dwellingham is a math teacher at The New Crim Open Campus High School. She has been an educator for 15 years. Mrs. Dwellingham earned her B.A. degree from Baruch University, where she majored in pure mathematics. She earned her M.S.Ed. in secondary education from Mercy College and her Ed.S in leadership and administrative supervision from Lincoln Memorial University. She is currently a doctoral student in the department of Teaching and Learning in Math Education at Georgia State University. Mrs. Dwellingham encourages students to engage in self reflection as they will begin to form an understanding of how they learn and where they are deficient, and as a result they will be able to set goals for improvement.

=Abstract= The effect of self-assessment techniques on student motivation. Research has shown that student motivation wanes after the first year of middle school and is paramount to student achievement in mathematics. It is important to move students from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset to help them realize the role they play in their own success in mathematics. For this project I taught students self assessment techniques to help them increase their motivation.

Takeaways / Big Ideas
The EE Ford experience has helped me to become an agent of change in a system that can sometimes feel bigger than life by conducting action research. I am a 4th year doctoral student at Georgia State University and my research focus has changed numerous times. Part of the problem I had with solidifying a research topic was my desire to make a change. Every time I saw another problem my interests would change. This experience has helped me to narrow my focus on student motivation.

AR Overview
President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) on February 17, 2009. This law spurred the Race to the Top (RTT) initiative, which was a way to invest in the nation's education system in an effort to reform schools. RTT focuses on more rigorous standards and closer evaluation of teachers. Teachers can no longer rely on traditional pedagogical methods of instruction. Teachers are working with students who often come to school unmotivated and without an interest to learn. If we are to increase academic progress we must engage our students and increase their intrinsic motivation to learn. Friedman(2006) stated the following: “To learn how to learn, you have to enjoy it because so much learning is about being motivated to teach yourself. While it seems some people are just born with that motivation, many others can develop it or have it implanted by the right teacher. Curious, passionate kids are self-motivators.” (p.302) Research has suggested that motivation of adolescents decline as they progress through junior and senior high school (Eccles, Midgley, et al., 1993; Gonzalez, 2002; Hidi & Harackiewicz, 2000; Williams & Stockdale, 2004). Additionally, the value children place on many academic activities and their beliefs about the usefulness of school decline as they get older (Wigfield, Eccles, Rodriquez, 1998). Wigfield, Eccles, and Rodriquez (1998) found this to be especially true in mathematics and the natural sciences. Mathematics is a gatekeeper, keeping students from higher level, rigorous mathematics classes, diploma tracks, and the job market (Stinson, 2004; U. S. Department of Education, 1997). Therefore it is necessary to further research pedagogical methods to help students be engaged and regain their intrinsic motivation to learn. Many aspects of motivation have been researched quantitatively using student surveys and self-report scales, but there is a need to provide an in-depth description of how teachers can begin to adjust pedagogical methods to actively engage all students on a daily basis. Today students can be described as “physically present but psychologically absent”, they are harder to motivate and it is more difficult to hold their attention than in the past. Steinberg, L., Brown, B. B., & Dornbusch, S. M (1996) argued that the lack of student engagement was a persistent problem and potentially more harmful to the future well-being of American society than other social problems involving youth.

AR Question
How will teaching students self assessment techniques affect their motivation?

AR Process
Students were given a survey to determine if they had a fixed or growth mindset. One of the keys to quality student assessment is student involvement so it was important to move them from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset. I utilized a tool called "You Be George" to help students self assess themselves weekly in order to begin to understand that they were capable of affecting their success in mathematics. After 4 assessments they were given the survey again to determine if there was a shift in their mindset. March 18th - Growth Mindset Survey/ Motivation Survey [] March 25th - Assessment #1 April 1st - Assessment #2 April 15th - Assessment #3 <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">April 22nd - Assessment#4 <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">April 29th - Growth Mindset Survey/ Motivation Survey

AR Data Samples




AR Data Analysis
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">I was pleased to see that all students shifted from a fixed to a growth mindset. Although it was not apparent from their actual performance on the assessments I did notice that they were more willing to participate in class and from daily discussions it was apparent to me that their confidence improved.

AR Conclusions
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">As a result I will deliberately teach students how to assess their performance on tests and reflect on steps to take to improve upon their errors.

Lit Review & Resources
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Bandura, A. (1993). Perceived self-efficacy in cognitive development and functioning. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Educational Psychologist, 28(2), 117-148.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Bosser, U.(2012). Race to the Top: What Have We Learned from the States So Far? A <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">State-by-State Evaluation of Race to the Top Performance. Center for American <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Progress. Retrieved December 5, 2012, from[|http://www.americanprogress] <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">.org/wpcontent/uploads/issues/2012/03/pdf/rtt_states_execsumm.pdf

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Covington, M. (2000). Goal theory, motivation, and school achievement: An integrated review. Annual Review of Psychology, 51, 171–200.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Eccles, J., Midgley, C., Wigfield, A., Buchanan, C., Reuman, D., Flanagan, C., et al. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">(1993). Development during adolescence: The impact of stage-environment fit <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">on young adolescents’ experiences in schools and in families. American Psychologist, 48, 90–101.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Eccles, J., & Wigfield, A. (2002). Motivational beliefs, values, and goals. Annual <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Review of Psychology, 53, 109–132.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Erwin, J. (2003). Giving students what they need. Educational Leadership, 61, 19–23.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Gonzalez, A. (2002). Parental involvement: Its contribution to high school students’ <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">motivation. The Clearing House, 75, 132–135. Retrieved February 16, 2005 <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">from Periodical Abtracts on-line database.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Hidi, S., & Harackiewicz, J. M. (2000). Motivating the academically unmotivated: A <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">critical issue for the 21st century. Review of Educational Research, 70, 151– <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">179. Retrieved February 15, 2005 from ProQuest on-line database.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Linnenbrink, E., & Pintrich, P. (2002). Motivation as an enabler for academic <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">success. School Psychology Review, 31, 313–327.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Petri, H.L. (2010). Motivation. Encyclopedia Britannica. (Retrieved from[|http://www.britannica]. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">.com/EBchecked/topic/394212/motivation)

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Stinson, D. W. (2004). Mathematics as “gatekeeper” (?): Three theoretical perspectives <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">that aim toward empowering all children with a key to the gate. The Mathematics <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Educator, 14(1), 8-18.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Thompson, B., & Thornton, H. (2002). The transition from extrinsic to intrinsic <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">motivation in the classroom: A first year experience. Education, 122, 785–792. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">U. S. Department of Education. (October, 1997). Mathematics equals opportunity. White <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Paper prepared for U. S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley. Retrieved May <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">14, 2007, from[]

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Weiner, B. (1985). An attributional theory of achievement motivation and emotion. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Psychological Review, 92(4), 548-573.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Wigfield, A., Eccles, J., & Rodriquez, D. (1998). The development of children’s <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">motivation in school contexts. In P. D. Pearson & A. Iran-Nejad (Eds.), Review <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">of research in education (pp. 73–118). Washington, DC: American Educational <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Research Association.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Williams, R., & Stockdale, S. (2004). Classroom motivation strategies for prospective <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">teachers. The Teacher Education, 39, 212–230.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Yair, G. (2000). Reforming motivation: how the structure of instruction affects <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">students’ learning experiences. British Educational Research Journal, 26, 191– <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Georgia,serif; vertical-align: baseline;">210.

Reflections
This experience has helped me to become a better educator as it helped me to focus on things that I can change. It helped me to see assessment as an ongoing process as opposed to an end product.