Spring Ridge Middle School

Katie McDermott, Laura Swann, Brent Tomchik, Lindsay Myers, Joanne

Buchbinder

Collaborative ActionResearch Project:Empathetic Signs

Justification We have found that preparation is a constant

difficulty for many of the students. Underprepared students forget to bring important supplies to class and disrupt other students when they leave to gather supplies.

Being prepared for class is essential in order to fulfill all SIP standards.

They constantly forget necessary items such as: Sharpened pencils Pens Books Completed assignments

Problem and PopulationStudents are constantly underprepared for

class which creates constant disruptions for all students. We hope to increase the number of students who are prepared for class by using empathetic signs to remind students to bring supplies to class.

We hope to serve all students with this intervention. The under-prepared students, and those who are distracted by students who are leaving to get supplies from their locker.

Humorous SignsMany students have plenty of time in between classes to

gather their supplies, but need a reminder.We propose to use signs, which will be posted on the doors

of our classrooms.These will remind the students (in gentle yet humorous

ways) to return to their locker and collect appropriate supplies prior to the beginning of class.

Hopefully this will improve student’s preparation and decrease interruptions and distractions during class.

Many of our signs will include pop-culture references to shows such as Jersey Shore. Interest surveys collected at the beginning of the year suggest that that more than half of students watch this show.

This strategy is relatively easy to put into place and the humor will connect to the students’ lives.

Research Questions

Did students bring their supplies to class?

For what reasons are students usually unprepared?

Do they notice the posters?

Data Collection Plan  Pre-post Parent calls/

Reported InstancesObservations/Disruptions

Did students bring their supplies to class?

 Yes Yes Yes

For what reasons are students usually unprepared?

Yes Not applicable Yes

Do they notice the posters?

ORDo you feel more prepared?

 Yes  Not applicable Yes

Pre/Post Assessment Items2. Circle the main reason why you do not bring materials to class:

(A) I accidentally leave my materials at home.(B) I accidentally leave my materials in my locker.(C) I am not concerned about being prepared for class.(D) I know I can borrow from someone or share with my friends.

(E) I do not own the materials.(F) Other: ______________________

3. How do you feel when you are unprepared for class?

(A) I feel embarrassed.(B) I feel like I let the teacher down.(C) I feel happy with myself.(D) I do not feel concerned.(E) I am always prepared.

Observation GuidelinesInterns will observe, initially, how many

students notice the signs and stop to read the message on their way into the classroom

Interns will observe the number of students unprepared, especially those who cause a disruption (leaving class to go to lockers or being unable to complete assignments) as a result of being unprepared

Interns will keep a small journal with field notes based on what they observe, taking note of both numbers of unprepared students and which specific students are consistent cases

Lack of supplies leads to disruptionsIn the classrooms, students who lack supplies

must return to their locker to retrieve them.Many teachers will not send students back to

their lockers to retrieve the necessary supplies. This causes the student to disengage from class

material

This also creates disruptions: For the students, who miss class material For their classmates For students in other classes that they must walk

through in order to get to their lockers

Detailed Description InterventionInterns will place humorous posters to the

outside of classroom doors as reminders for students to come prepared. They will be placed at eye level so students can view them easily. Some posters include pop culture references from shows which many students have admitted to watching to connect to student interest. Ideally, students will read the sign because they can relate to the message or characters and return to their lockers if they don’t have all required materials.

TimelineFirst Tuesday: Pretest to each classSecond Tuesday: Implement first round of

signsThird Tuesday: Switch to different signFourth Tuesday: Switch to 3rd signLast Day: Administer Post-test

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Class Materials Survey Data

 1. How often are you prepared for class?

(A) I am always prepared for class.

(B) I am usually prepared for class,

but sometimes I forget something.

(C) I am prepared about half of the time.

(D) I am rarely prepared for class.

(E) I am almost never prepared for class.

T-Test for Question 1

P-value = 3.111The p-value from our data indicates that

there was no statistically significant change in class preparedness behaviors from pre- to post-test

2. Circle the main reason why you do not bring materials to class:

Pre-test: 57% of students answered “B”– I accidentally leave materials in my locker.

Post-test: 53.8% of students answered “B”-- I accidentally leave materials in my locker.

Interpretation: Most students leave their materials in their locker. There was no significant change between pre- and post- test results.

3. How do you feel when you are unprepared for class?

Pre-test: 34.63% responded with “B”– I feel like I let the teacher down.

Post-test: 27.74% responded with “D”– I do not care.

Interpretation: This was a significant finding. We speculate that this might be a product of either students having to take the test again, or students realizing that this won’t be graded.

4. What do you think about the most when you are walking to class?

Pre-test: Most students answered “A”– I think about my next class.

Post-test: Most students answered “A”– I think about my next class.

Interpretation: Most students were thinking about their next class, but we could speculate that they weren’t thinking about how prepared they were for it.

Findings from ObservationsThe number of students bringing supplies to

class did not significantly decrease.However, in many cases, the same student

forgot their supplies. We speculate that this could be an issue from their home lives.

Many students did notice and stop to read the signs. On a few occasions, this resulted in students going back to their locker. However, this change was insignificant.

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Other Findings

Homeroom classes and classes of students who are cross-teamers seem to forget their supplies most often.

It is too difficult to discern whether our findings represent a preparation issue, organization issue, or a completion issue.Many students claimed that they left their

assignment at home, but there was a question as to whether they actually completed the assignment.

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Answers to Research QuestionsQuestion 1: Did students bring their supplies to

class?There wasn’t a significant decrease in students

who came prepared to class. However, in many cases, the same student frequently forgot their supplies.

There is a correlation between students who are frequently absent and those who forget their supplies.

Students who were allowed to leave all their materials (worksheets) in the classroom were much more prepared.

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Answers to Research QuestionsQuestion 2: For what reasons are students

usually unprepared?Over half of all our students surveyed

answered that they accidentally leave their supplies in their locker. The next most frequent answer was that students leave their supplies at home.

Upon asking students why they forget their supplies, many said they “just forgot” and a few said that they didn’t own the materials.

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Answers to Research QuestionsQuestion 3: Did they notice the posters?

Yes, the students were excited about the posters. They commented and discussed the pop culture references on the posters.

In a few cases (less than 5), students turned around and went back to their locker.

However, many students were confused as to why the signs were present in the school. Many of them didn’t understand the connection between the signs and being prepared.

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Next StepsWe need to explicitly teach organizational

skills to students and discuss the importance of such skills.

Students who could bring their backpack with them to class would probably be more prepared.

Future Applications of this strategy:The strategy should be implemented over a

longer period of time. The posters should be bigger and they should be

placed by the lockers.

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Big PictureWhile our project helped students to stop and

read signs about preparation, it was implemented over a very short period of time in poorly organized pods.

The culmination of our research indicates that there are deeper motivational and organizational issues that need to be addressed.

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