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Research
Design Process
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Thank you Napa Learns for making this transformative process possible for me! It is difficult for me to fully express my gratitude for something that has so positively changed the course of my life. Teaching is my one true passion in life because of the difference I am able to make in the lives and futures of my students on a daily basis, and for Napa Learns to provide me with the resources necessary to improve my ability to become such an influential figure for ALL of my students is truly incredible. Not only do I appreciate the tools, skills, passion and knowledge this program has invested within me, but I am more than thankful for how they have shared such generosity with so many other teachers in the Napa Valley Unified School District. Your investment is not only appreciated, but I can promise you it will make a lasting difference in the lives of educators, students, parents, the community, and most importantly in the future.
I would also like to thank my incredibly loving, supportive, and encouraging boyfriend, and family. Just as they always have, and always will, they loved, supported, and cheered me on throughout every up and down of this process. Their devoted, and inspiring words, as well as, actions fueled my motivation, and helped to make this goal of mine a reality! In addition, I would like to extend my gratitude to the most reassuring, silly, accepting, and supportive group of cohort members. I am so thankful to call all of them my friends now, and I cannot wait to continue to become inspired by all that they will go on to do in their educational roles. How much I took away from the program and the extent to which my ability to meet the needs of all of my learners through technology, content, and pedagogy (especially in the TPACK "sweet spot") can be contributed to the incredibly knowledgeable and inspirational Touro professors.
This study aimed to fill the lack of research about the use of whole-class direct phonics instruction driven by the pacing of an adopted curriculum, in which PowerPoint is used as a tool to deliver the multimedia-enhanced content, as well as, the incorporation of sight words, and writing (both content and conventions) within the multimedia-enhanced phonics instruction. The PowerPoint presentation was composed of eight slides, each focused on a different early literacy skills (phonemic segmentation, letter identification, sight word identification, letter-sound relationships, sounding out and blending CVC words and letter formation, spelling, and basic sentence conventions) embedded with multimedia. Examples of the multimedia tools embedded in these slideshows were sight word songs for each sight word introduced, a YouTube video for both the focused letter and sound of the week, as well as, gestures and body movements associated with each sight word, letter and sound that correlate to the letter cards accompanied by the district-adopted Language Arts program.
I plan to conduct further research that addresses the limitations present in this study, which potentially produce more definitive conclusions in answering the research question. This study can be furthered, and other studies can be made that continue to address the same question, but with a different set of students, with a greater sample size, or with a different Language Arts adopted curriculum, all of which I intend to do. In addition, a beneficial future study could compare the pre and post tests of Kindergarten students following the same phonics content pacing, using a quasi-experimental design. Finally, the same type of study could also be implemented across different grade-levels, and according to the pacing of any adopted curriculum so as to further support the findings that imply the improvement in early literacy skills because of the implementation of a multimedia-enhanced phonics instruction. I plan on sharing what I have learned with the fellow educators at my site, by doing so in grade-level teams at PLCs or through professional development meetings. What I can promise you I will never do, is that I will never quit innovating by always researching, implementing, assessing, reevaluating new content, technology and pedagogy always in the TPACK frame of mind, as well as, repeating this process in order to continually improve my ability to meet the needs of every learner who walks through my classroom doors. From this moment on, I vow to be a forever learner.
I plan to conduct further research that addresses the limitations present in this study, which potentially produce more definitive conclusions in answering the research question. This study can be furthered, and other studies can be made that continue to address the same question, but with a different set of students, with a greater sample size, or with a different Language Arts adopted curriculum, all of which I intend to do. In addition, a beneficial future study could compare the pre and post tests of Kindergarten students following the same phonics content pacing, using a quasi-experimental design. Finally, the same type of study could also be implemented across different grade-levels, and according to the pacing of any adopted curriculum so as to further support the findings that imply the improvement in early literacy skills because of the implementation of a multimedia-enhanced phonics instruction. I plan on sharing what I have learned with the fellow educators at my site, by doing so in grade-level teams at PLCs or through professional development meetings. What I can promise you I will never do, is that I will never quit innovating by always researching, implementing, assessing, reevaluating new content, technology and pedagogy always in the TPACK frame of mind, as well as, repeating this process in order to continually improve my ability to meet the needs of every learner who walks through my classroom doors. From this moment on, I vow to be a forever learner.