Action and Assessment Plan

Rationale:

During my literature review I discovered many studies that supported my inquiry.
Therefore, for this project I will be investigating the ways student-created Depth of Knowledge
(DOK) questions and responses affect levels of student thinking, and ultimately comprehension,
in reading instruction. This study responds to student needs observed in my classroom because
prior to its implementation, I observed that my students mainly use surface level thinking during
our reading instruction lessons and activities. Although recall questions have their own
importance in reading instruction, I observed that the students would benefit from finding deeper
meaning throughout our reading instruction to fully learn and comprehend the meanings within a
piece of literature.

Intervention:

During this project, students in my classroom will be reading three books by Chris Van
Allsburg which are Jumanji, Zathura, and The Stranger. Prior to the beginning of students
reading these three books, I will ask students to voluntarily give me their feelings about deeper
meaning questions and answers on a feedback form which can be found on my blog. This
feedback form is attached within my data collection section below. Phase One of my inquiry will
be driven by the question, In what ways do student-created Depth of Knowledge (DOK)
questions affect levels of student thinking in reading instruction?
Phase one will begin with the book Jumanji which my students will be reading in two
smaller group rotations. During this first week, I will discuss with the students that deeper
meaning questions require answers that cannot be simply found in the book. Because I want this
to be my basis for students ability to think beyond the surface/recall level, I will not include any
more instruction. Students will write their best deeper meaning question under the following
prompt on my blog titled Jumanji DOK Questions (see data below for full prompt).The
following day I will have students responding to a peers DOK question on my blog so that
students are able to identify different levels of thinking in their peers questions based on
answers that require deeper thinking or can be found straight from the book.
In the second week of Phase One, I will be discussing the progression of a Jumanji DOK
question from Level 1 (surface level thinking/recall) to Level 2 and Level 3 in which comparing,
contrasting, making connections, or elaborating within the question will bring it from a surface
level question to a deeper meaning question. Then, I will be reading the book Zathura to my
students in two small groups evenly and heterogeneously divided. Since I have 31 students in my
class, two small groups is the more effective way for my students to successfully focus and learn
during a read aloud. The book Zathura begins with the ending of Jumanji; therefore, the
sequential way these books flow together will be exciting and interesting for my students to read.
Also, the students will have opportunities to make many meaningful connections, predictions,
and elaborations based on the two stories which are essentials for depth of knowledge
questioning. By the middle of this second week, students will write their own deeper meaning
question again based on the following prompt: Zathura DOK Questions (see data below for full
prompt). At the end of this week, I will have the students respond to one of their peers deeper
meaning questions based on the book Zathura.
Ideally, the student-created Zathura questions will be of higher level thinking quality as
we begin to conference a second time. This conference will take place the third week of Phase
One in which I will conference with the students in two small groups. The students will identify
the DOK level of each of their Zathura questions and discuss why that level fits the question.

Data Collection
For the assessment plan I will triangulate the student data using the following: (1) a student DOK
inquiry feedback form, (2) sample student writing prompts, and, (3) teacher observation. Each of
these will be described below:
First, I will gather data from students to better understand their feelings about being asked to
create higher-order thinking questions and answers. I will do this before instituting direct
instruction using the Depth of Knowledge model. I will gather student feedback through this
form at the start of Phase 1, and then have students complete this feedback form, again, after the
Phase 1 and Phase 2 interventions. This information will provide me with information regarding
the effectiveness of the intervention and also students knowledge of and comfort with engaging
with deeper meaning thinking processes.

Student DOK Inquiry: Feedback Form
How comfortable do you feel creating deeper meaning questions about literature?

1 2 3 4

Not comfortable at all

Extremely comfortable

How comfortable do you feel answering deeper meaning questions about literature?

1 2 3 4

Not comfortable at all

Extremely comfortable

How often do you ask yourself or others the following types of questions about a
piece of literature?

All the time Sometimes Never
Questions you can find
right in a text (Recall)

All the time Sometimes Never
Questions that make
connections within a
text
(Compare/Contrast)

Questions that relate to
something outside of
the text
(Relate/Predict)

Questions that require
extended thinking,
brainstorming, and
using the text for
another purpose?


How often do you respond to questions with these types of responses in literature?

All the time Sometimes Never
Answers you can find
right in a text (Recall)
Answers that make
connections within a
text
(Compare/Contrast)

Answers that relate to
something outside of
the text
(Relate/Predict)

Answers that require
extended thinking,
brainstorming, and
using the text for
another purpose?


Secondly, I will use my class blog in order to cultivate students deeper thinking questions
throughout Phase 1. On my class blog, students will be required to write a deeper meaning
question that they have created based on each literature piece. Discussions about information
becoming public once posted on my blog will be discussed in order to ensure my students
understand their audience is no longer just within our classroom, but in fact it has grown to the
larger internet community. The following are sample prompts that I will use as directions for my
students to post their deeper meaning questions on my blog for Phase 1.

Sample Student Writing Prompts:
Zathura DOK Questions: Please write your deeper meaning question based on our
reading of Zathura. Once your question has been approved by me, another person from
your group will be responding to it. Remember, a deeper meaning question requires a
multiple sentence response and usually creates different opinions. A deeper meaning
question makes you think, compare/contrast, predict, elaborate, or make connections
within a reading and/or outside of the story itself.

Jumanji DOK Questions: Please post a deeper meaning question for the book,
Jumanji. Once your question has been approved by me, another person from your
group will be responding to it. Remember, a deeper meaning question cannot be
answered with just a few words or the same answer from everyone. A deeper meaning
question makes you think within the reading and/or makes connections outside of the
story itself.

Lastly, I will use this observation guide with my students to track their progression in depth of
knowledge thinking when creating literature questions. I will evaluate student growth through
this chart by using Phase Ones identified DOK leveled questions each week for each student. At
the end of my first intervention, I want to be able to visually see the growth of my students
comprehension and deeper level thinking based on specific literature selections from Jumanji
and Zathura.
Sample Observation Guide:

*The scale 0-4 represents the Depth of Knowledge (DOK) Levels of
student-created questions from DOK Level 1-DOK Level 4.

0
1
2
3
4
Student 1 Student 2 Student 3 Student 4
Jumanji
Zathura
The Stranger


Timeline
Beginning of Week 1:
Students complete Student Feedback Form. Then, students read Jumanji.
Middle of Week 1:
Students create Jumanji DOK Questions.
Collect student work data on Miss Hendersons blog.
End of Week 1:
Students respond to Jumanji DOK Questions.
Collect student work data on Miss Hendersons blog.
Beginning of Week 2:
Student-teacher conference in small groups developing Jumanji DOK Level 1
questions into DOK Level 2 and 3 questions.
Middle of Week 2:
Read aloud of the book Zathura begins, creating DOK Level 3 questions in small groups
based on the beginning of Zathura.
Record individual student-created questions DOK Level data on teacher observation
graph.
End of Week 2:
Read aloud Zathura is completed.
Students create their DOK Zathura questions.
Students answer their own DOK Zathura questions.
Collect student work data on Miss Hendersons blog.
All of Week 3:
Record individual student-created questions DOK Level data on teacher observation
graph.
Students read teacher feedback on their DOK Zathura questions and responses.
Students work with teacher in small groups to respond to her feedback and discuss the
DOK Levels of their Zathura questions.
Students complete Student Feedback Form.