The Beginning

I began my action research in my 6th-7th grade classroom in Fall 2007. I had eight students for the 2007-2008 school year; four were sixth graders and four were seventh graders. It was my first year at the school and I was a first year public school teacher with a history as an environmental/outdoor educator.

My research began with informal discussions with my principal and the other two teachers at our very small school. I questioned my colleagues to determine what areas of academics were most in need of change or scrutiny. These discussions led directly to the academic area of mathematics. The students in my class had not performed well on the State Standardized tests the previous school year. Their in class test scores were also low if taken as a class average. These informal discussions and the previous year's State Standardized test results gave me my focus area: Mathematics.