Coral Cliffs ElementarySchool Name Coral Cliffs Elementary SchoolAddress 2040 W 2000 N, Saint George, UT 84770Phone Number Phone: (435) 652-4712School District Washington County School DistrictPrincipal Amy WilcoxMentor Teacher Franz Stucki

Coral Cliff Elementary Enrollment

Grade level

Total in GradeBoys/Girls

Asian

African American

Caucasian

Hispanic

Native American

Pacific Islander

Unclassified

0 11255/57

22/0

22/0

9144/47

82/6

86/2

21/1

01 90

40/5000/0

00/0

7331/42

137/6

31/ 2

11/0

02 112

56/5621/1

41/3

8543/42

129/3

71/6

21/1

03 100

49/5110/1

00/0

8141/40

115/6

52/3

21/1

04 112

54/5820/2

10/1

8642/44

137/6

64/2

41/3

05 93

45/4800/0

22/0

7233/39

147/7

53/2

00/0

0total 619

299/32061/5

95/4

488234/254

7137/34

3417

115/6

0

For the Enrollment of Coral Cliffs Elementary it can be seen that the school is mostly dominated by Caucasian and there are more boys than girls in the school. Also they have gained more student since September that was said on the Washington School District Enrollment. Coral Cliffs Elementary is located in St. George, Utah, is a public elementary school in the Washington District. It can be located when going towards Veyo. The school consists of about 526 students and 29 teachers.

( https://psa.washk12.org/admin/reports/ethnicitybreakdown.html)

Coral Cliffs Elementary School Enrollment by ethnicity

Kindergarten

1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade0

10203040

5060

708090

100

Coral Cliffs Elementary Enrollment by Ethnic-ity

AsianAfrican American CaucasianNative American Pacific IslanderHispanic

In this graph is better represents what was showed above that Coral Cliffs has more Caucasians than any other race in the school. Hispanics come in second by Caucasian students dominate by a long shot.

CRT Scores

Language ArtsCoral Cliffs E.S.

2009  73.0

Utah 2009  79.0Math

Coral Cliffs E.S. 2009  73.0

Utah 2009  66.0Science

Coral Cliffs E.S. 2009  63.0

Utah 2009  66.0

Mrs. Stucki

Mrs. Stucki graduated from S.U.U. in 2001 and later received her Masters Degree in 2006.She has taught first, and third grades at Red Mountain Elementary, where she was also a Math Staff Developer. She is currently teaching fifth grade at Coral Cliffs Elementary.  She is the Fifth Grade Teacher Team Leader. She is married to Wayne. They are the parents of five children, five grandchildren, and two grand puppies. She enjoys drawing, sewing, teaching, and serving others. Her favorite activity is spending time with her family in Pine Valley.

The Students in the Class Gender

DanaeToddDaisyAubreyAustinKyleSeligAdriannaMallory BaileyKadenDaymond DredenZaneRamiroJalenColeEmilyElle James VivianParkerMakaylaDakotaKylerKasia

are more boys than girls. There are 15 boys and 12 girls.

Mrs. Stucki’s Classroom

Boys 15Girls 12

Hispanic 6Caucasian 21American

Indian 1

Special Education

Learning disability and IEP: 6 Physical disability: Seizures, turrets Behavioral Problems : 2

Free/ reduced

lunch

7

ESL 6Homeless 1 Parents in PTA 20

In Mrs. Stucki’s Classroom she has one of the lower fifth grade classes. She has a big class of twenty-eight students. Also most of the parents in the class are involved in the PTA.

CRT Scores From the Year Before

Language Arts

Name Grade UPASS ScoreAnderson, Austin

4 3 162

Barney, Todd 4 3 167Bench, Kyler 4 2a 156Boatright, Kyle 4 4 168Bonzo, Emily 4 4 177Cole, Dakota 4 1b 148Crosgrove, Selig

4 3 162

Esplin, Makayla

4 3 161

Esplin, Parker 4 1b 152Garcia, Alex 4 3 161Garcia, Daisy 4 1b 152Garnett, Aubry 2a 154Guerra, Vivian 4 3 164Heath, Kasia 4 3 161Ivie,Kaden 4 2a 153Kallao, Elleiana

4 3 166

Lewis, Bailey 4 3 164Lopez, Daymond

4 1b 150

McFadden, Cole

4 3 160

Ortega, Ramiro 4 2b 158Pendelton, Zane

4 3 167

Pineda, Adrianna

4 4 170

Rasmussen, James

4 2a 153

Richey, Mallory

4 4 177

Twitchell, Danae

4 4 168

Versluis, Dreden

4 3 163

Waggoner, Jalen

4 3 161

CRT Scores From the Year Before

Math

Name Grade UPASS ScoreAnderson, Austin

4 3 161

Barney, Todd 4 4 171Bench, Kyler 4 1b 153Boatright, Kyle 4 4 174Bonzo, Emily 4 4 172Cole, Dakota 4 1b 148Crosgrove, Selig

4 4 169

Esplin, Makayla

4 2a 155

Esplin, Parker 4 2a 154Garcia, Alex 4 2b 159Garcia, Daisy 4 1b 154Garnett, Aubry 1a 139Guerra, Vivian 4 3 165Heath, Kasia 4 2b 158Ivie,Kaden 4 3 162Kallao, Elleiana

4 3 161

Lewis, Bailey 4 3 160Lopez, Daymond

4 1b 151

McFadden, Cole

4 4 162

Ortega, Ramiro 4 2b 159Pendelton, Zane

4 4 172

Pineda, Adrianna

4 3 164

Rasmussen, James

4 3 163

Richey, Mallory

4 4 170

Twitchell, 4 4 169

DanaeVersluis, Dreden

4 4 169

Waggoner, Jalen

4 3 164

CRT Scores From the Year Before

Science

Name Grade UPASS ScoreAnderson, Austin

4 3 162

Barney, Todd 4 4 169Bench, Kyler 4 2a 155Boatright, Kyle 4 3 164Bonzo, Emily 4 4 167Cole, Dakota 4 2a 154Crosgrove, Selig

4 3 161

Esplin, Makayla

4 2b 158

Esplin, Parker 4 1b 149Garcia, Alex 4 2a 152Garcia, Daisy 4 1a 134Garnett, Aubry 1b 148Guerra, Vivian 4 2a 155Heath, Kasia 4 2b 151Ivie,Kaden 4 2a 156Kallao, Elleiana

4 2b 158

Lewis, Bailey 4 2a 153Lopez, Daymond

4 2b 149

McFadden, Cole

4 3 162

Ortega, Ramiro 4 2a 153Pendelton, Zane

4 3 162

Pineda, Adrianna

4 2a 152

Rasmussen, James

4 3 165

Richey, Mallory

4 3 161

Twitchell, Danae

4 3 166

Versluis, Dreden

4 3 163

Waggoner, Jalen

4 3 162

Action Research Question and Rationalization

Question: How can I help Dakota be motivated in math?

The reason I chose to do the question that I did for my research question was because it

intrigued me to see how this little boy hated math so much. He would say some awful things

about math and when it comes to math time in class, he does not even try. My partner or I will

have given a lesson and then passed out the assessment and when I go to look at Dakota

assessment he will just have written anything down. He just does not care. My mentor teacher

has not given me a lot of insight on the situation with Dakota, but I am going to make sure that I

involve her and ask her if she has tried anything to help motivate Dakota in Math. I wonder if she

has even noticed how much Dakota loves to read and how much he dislikes doing math. Possibly

she can give me some things that can help me with my research.

One thing I did notice about Dakota though is that he loves to read. Whenever the

students have spare time or when he thinks that they teacher is not looking he will take out a

book and read. He is just fascinated with reading. I know that he would rather read then do any

other subject, especially math. I can see it when the class has literacy. The teacher will be going

through a story as a class and he will be involved in answering the questions about the story and

know exactly what is happening. When I saw this about Dakota, I wanted to see if there was

anything way that I could use reading to motivate Dakota to do better and to like math.

I believe that this is going to be a good action research question, because there are many students

like Dakota that are out there. They are just not motivated in one subject but in another they are.

I see it all the time in the same class that Dakota is in, there are many students in there that love

to draw and they rather being doing that then learning. I want to go through with research to

really help Dakota because I really want him to succeed. Math is going to be so important to his

life and I want him to be able to see that. I want him to know that reading is also important and

that you can incorporate those two subjects together. In my own classroom I know that I am

going to have students like Dakota and this research is going to better prepare me to handle

situations like this because I want all my students to succeed and I know that Dakota can if I can

only find a way.

Data Collection

Before

Above shows assignments that Dakota has done in the first couple weeks of my visits it

can be seen that he does finish his assignments and that also he just scribbles the answer as to

just write something down so that the teacher will think that he knows what he is doing.

During

In the data above it can be seen that Dakota has improved in his math assignments. In the

graph assignment he was given a specific graph to do in his group and he did it very well as can

be seen above. Also, when doing his math assignment where he had to put the them decimal

numbers from least to greatest he did not protest he did it all by himself and got them all correct.

After

In going through this action research process with Dakota he has shown great progress.

When it comes to do math in the afternoon, I do not hear any negative comments come out of his

mouth. He is willing to do the assignments and he participates more than he did in the beginning

of the year.

Participation(before) Participation(After)0123456789

Dakota's Participation

Before

Math time is never Dakota’s favorite time of the day. If he had a choose to skip math he

would do it in a heartbeat. He hates when it comes to math time. I have heard him say that he

wish math never existed and that he wanted a nuclear bomb to drop on it. When I heard this I

could see that he was serious about not liking the subject.

After I found out about how Dakota felt about math, I observed him for the first couple of

weeks to see how he was act in math time and how he would perform. When it came to math

time his face would turn into a face of disgust. When the teacher was teaching the lesson he

would not participate or when he did participate it would be to talk about something that was

totally off subject.

I also looked though his math notebook and I noticed that a lot of his math assignments

were not completed. In the two math assignments that I decided to collect I could see that he did

not put forth all of his effort to finish them or even care about what he was learning about. When

I would teach lessons and I gave him an assessment after the lesson I would notice that he would

always be the first one done with the assignment. I would look at his assessment and he would

just scribble everywhere and write whatever he wanted.

In looking at how Dakota was in math I knew that I had to find some ways of helping

him enjoy math and do better in it. In just looking at the two assignments and how he acted at

math time I knew something had to done with Dakota. I need to find techniques or incorporate a

subject that he did like with math. I found that he had a love of reading and I did just that. I used

reading to help Dakota do better in math.

During

The data that I obtained during my action research I could see that Dakota was improving

little by little he was participating more and more and he was taking responsibility when he had

to do a group project. I think that he was afraid of showing the other kids that he was not that

good in math but once I told him that not everyone was good in math it made him more

comfortable.

In the graph assignment he was given a certain task to do he completed it very well. He

included everything that I told him the graph needed which was the title, graph, and what it was

graphing. He also worked well with his group and did not get distracted during the group work.

It helped him a lot in having a certain part to do. In giving him a certain job it gave him

responsibility and he knew that his group was counting on him to do it right. Also to add into this

assignment I told them that whoever did their graph project the best that they would get fifteen

minutes of free time. I told them that I had some books that I had brought that I would let them

look at. In hearing this Dakota became excited and i had brought them just for that purpose. I

knew that he loved to read.

When doing the least to greatest assignment I was so impressed when he did this

assignment. Before he was given the worksheet, the mentor teacher had given a lesson on what

the worksheet would be about. He was very attentive when she was giving the lesson and he

asked me questions if he had any. Then the teacher went on to play a game with the students

dealing with decimals and he would ask me if the answer was correct and if he was he would

shoot up his hand in the air ready to answer. After the game it was time to do the worksheet. I

worked one-on-one with him and he did so well. I guided him through the first question and after

that he did the whole assignment on his own. It was great to see him get his assignment done and

do it correctly, not like before when he did not care what he wrote on his paper. I could see now

that he was proud of himself and that he was happy that math was making sense to him.

After

In looking at all the data that I collected throughout the semester I saw a great deal of

improvement with Dakota. His participation at the beginning of the year I would rate at a 1. He

did not care to participate because he hated what he was doing and most of all because he did not

understand. Now his participation has gone up to an 8. He is willing to participate and ask

questions. I can see that the things that I did for him helped him in his math and if his teacher

keeps doing things like this for Dakota he can improve even more.

Synthesis of Data

In determining if my action plan for this student worked or not I would say that

everything that I did for him was a success. I know that there are more things that I could have

done for him but since I only had a limited time in the classroom I can say that it went very well.

The strategies that I choose to do for him helped him a lot. My whole purpose of my action

research plan was to help Dakota in math and I know that I have. Now that I see what works for

Dakota I would move on to what I could do to help him be even better at math.

The things that I would do for Dakota is give him some one-on-one time with him in

math. He needs this time because it hard for him to understand what he is learning when they are

teaching the lesson in class. It would be really great if he could stay after school and spend more

time on what they had just learned that day. When I sat down with him and worked with him

one-on-one with Dakota he really benefited from it. I know that it is a lot of extra work but he

needs it and should be done for him. I know that there is an after school program that he could go

to where they could help him with his math. I would let the parents know what is available for

him.

Another thing that I would do with Dakota is put him closer to the front of the room. I see

that he is always at the back of the room and that is not a good place to have a student’s that

struggles in math. It was be helpful for him to be in the front where he can pay more attention.

Also, when doing group projects in math it would be very helpful to give him a specific job to

do. It helps him be responsible and it makes him do is task correctly because does not want

disappoint his classmates.

Incorporating reading is also something that I know that would help Dakota in math. I

know that Growing With Math is scripted but a picture book or any book can be incorporated

with it. Dakota loves to read and I know that he would become more interested in math if there

was more reading involved. When he reads he is so engaged in what he is reading. I could ask

him what the book was about and he will give me extensive details on what he just read.

Many things can be done to help Dakota but teachers must be willing to do it. It is extra

work for the teacher, but to help a student be successful is worth it.

Self-Reflection

In doing this process of the action research plan, I have learned a great deal. In having an

action research plan for students, it helps you be a better teacher and helps the student who is the

most important. When students have problems sometimes teachers do not know all the options

that they have to help their students and doing action research can be one of those options. It is a

long process but it really benefits the students in the end. Also, you learn so much about one

student. I learned so much about Dakota that I would have never learned if I would have just sat

and talked with him. In doing action research you have to analyze almost everything about how

that student learns and in the end you become so familiar with that one student.

I would definitely do this process again when I become a teacher. Action research plans

would be so helpful to ESL students especially. Sometimes some teachers just do not know how

to help ESL student and in using this process it helps you analyze exactly what they need. When

I was told that I had to do action research plan I thought that it was going to be it was going to be

something very hard to do but it was the complete opposite. An action research plan is very

simple to do when you have the correct question and know where to go after that. This plan is

something that will be very beneficial to me and to the students. It let me see what I am capable

of doing as an educator and that I can make children learn when it seems to be most difficult. I

know that in my future when I teach I am going to have students that have trouble with learning

or that just do not want to and doing an action research plan is going to be something that is

going to help me out so that I can help the student.

When I teach I am there for the students and my job is to make sure that they succeed. I

am glad that I was introduced to this subject because it is just one more thing that I will have

under my teacher belt. I need everything that I can get to help my students be successful, whether

it be plans, observations, or staying after school every day with students that need help. Just like

the title said teachers need to spring into action in order to fulfill their duties as an educator and it

just let me see what I’m going to need to do to make sure that I do just that and be the teacher I

need to be.