Action Reseach - the beginning of my journey through the tunnel

Today I had a meeting with a sweet faculty here her at WVU, Joy Saab. She teaches my EDUC 414: Promoting Creative Expressions class. I love her passion for education and she has really encouraged me to study arts integration into early childhood curriculums. Finally something I am really passionate about!

I decided on my action research question:

Do the uses of integrated arts instructional activities affect comprehension detail use in stories used in the kindergarten literacy program at Rivesville Elementary School?

My Action Rearch Project is the final product of my 5 year program. I will design the research, use others research and data, and next semester, carry out my teaching strategies in the kindergarten classroom and document to see if this strategy is successful. I am pretty excited about it regardless of the amount of work.

Here is a picture of an arts integration activity I did with my students in 3rd grade:

They had to replicate one of the collages from the story in the book called: Hottest, Coldest, Highest, Deepest. This one is a replication of Sangay in Venezuela, the most active volcano in the world. They were encouraged to use many different collage techniques and many different textures and materials. This student did a great job!

So I am excited to have a start on this project. I will be presenting the findings in April 2009 to a panel of faculty and staff (and family).