Reflections and Projections

My definitions worked well because I was able to follow the same step-by-step, replicable steps each day of my observations and my data was mostly consistent for all 10 observations. While there were a few instances where my definitions did not fully represent the behaviors of the students, I found that this method was most specific as can be.

My hopes in doing this project were that aspiring teachers working with low-income, minority students or educators and researchers hoping to bridge the achievement gap would implement or know of the successful teaching methods that work in getting students to be engaged so that they are able to prosper academically. The conclusions provided would allow educators to use these successful methods in their classrooms in hopes of bridging the achievement gap by impacting student engagement in the classroom.

As previously stated, I came to notice that my definitions and methodology could have gone further in differentiating between students that were engaged and listening to the teacher and those that were passionate and eager learners. This could have been investigated by conducting student surveys and anecdotes about moments and times during which students are most excited in the classroom and activity. If I had more time, I would have liked to hear from students themselves and go further in my research on student engagement. This would have allowed me to turn my method from more of a  quantitative one to a mixed study.