What strategies can I implement for my 7th grade class to keep them engaged in the English class without having to be punitive?

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(1)1. ALBERTO HURTADO UNIVERSITY. ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT What strategies can I implement for my 7th grade class to keep them engaged in the English class without having to be punitive? By Chandra Kripalani Araya. Tutors: Carola Pinto & Claudio Jaramillo Santiago, Chile November, 2016.

(2) 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract …………………………………………………………………………………….3 Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………..4 Context ……………………………………………………………………………………..6 School context ……………………………………………………………………...6 The group …………………………………………………………………………..7 Rationale …………………………………………………………………………………10 Literature review ………………………………………………………………………...12 Behaviorism ………………………………………………………………………12 Operant conditioning ……………………………………………………………..13 Teaching teenagers ……………………………………………………………….14 Engagement ………………………………………………………………………15 Engagement strategies ……………………………………………………………19 Research methodology …………………………………………………………………..23 Data collection methods …………………………………………………………..23 Procedures for data collection……………………………………………………..28 Action plan timeline ……………………………………………………………....29 Action plan: interventions ………………………………………………………...30 Data analysis ……………………………………………………………………………..36 Pre stage instruments ……………………………………………………………...36 While stage instruments and analysis of interventions ………………………...….43 Interpretation of the data ………………………………………………………….50 Final reflections …………………………………………………………………………..53 Limitations and future improvements ……………………………………………..54 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………...56 References ………………………………………………………………………………....58 Annexes …………………………………………………………………………………....60 Appendix A………………………………………………………………………....60 Appendix B………………………………………………………………………....62 Appendix C………………………………………………………………………....63 Appendix D………………………………………………………………………....63 Appendix E……………………………………………………………………….....64 Appendix F……………………………………………………………………….....65 Appendix G………………………………………………………………………....67 Appendix H………………………………………………………………………....68 Appendix I………………………………………………………………………......69 Appendix J…………………………………………………………………………..70 Appendix K…………………………………………………………………...…….72 Appendix L……………………………………………………………………. .73-74.

(3) 3. ABSTRACT. Action Research is a process whose final aim is to reflect upon the own teaching practice. In this project I looked for changing a teaching practice related to engaging students without having to be punitive, thus, I decided to implement strategies in which punishment could not be used for engaging students. A group of students from 7th grade were the ones chosen for this project, which was developed during four months and where the processes of problematizing, gathering, analyzing and interpreting data were relevant in order to get to implement interventions that would help me to solve the problem that, then, would lead me to reflect and report the findings in a conclusion..

(4) 4. INTRODUCTION. Operant conditioning is a word that embraces both concepts of reward and punishment (Skinner 1953). And these concepts have a huge impact on human behavior as they allow to whether repeat or weaken a certain behavior (Skinner, 1953). In this case, and, specifically, my context, teachers make use of rewards or reinforcers and punishers to engage students. Certainly, this is a behaviorist method that has become very famous within the classrooms of my practicum school. Thus, I wonder, why students have to be punished and/or threatened to engage them? Or, why do these teachers still have to make use of behaviorist methods for making students behave inside the classroom? Is there any other way in which one may keep students engaged in the English class? Certainly, teachers see themselves facing a challenge: to keep students engaged and, thus, do not lose students’ attention on the class. Therefore, according to my observations and experience, teachers appeal to punishments and positive reinforcements as a way to engage learners. Undoubtedly, and as I have stated before, during my experience teaching in the school, I have faced the problem of keeping students’ focused on the class too. This issue has become into a big trouble as punishing students has become the only way in which I could keep my students focused on the class. And by punishment I refer to using strategies, such as writing negative notes and reducing the time students have for their break for keeping them focused and on task. Therefore, in this Action Research project I would like to mention, describe and make use of some strategies in which students can keep their attention and interest on the whole English class, but without having to punish them. This Action Research project was carried out in a private school from Peñalolen in a seventh grade, where the problem previously mentioned was identified. The relevance of.

(5) 5. this problem relies on the importance of changing a teaching practice that has become very common in my classes. Consequently, implementing new strategies to maintain students’ attention and engagement on the class without having to use punishments and/or rewards would be a right place to start. In this Action Research project there will be named the different important authors that helped me to develop my theoretical framework and implement my interventions. Also there will be explained the different steps, such as tools and instruments that were followed in order to achieve the change on my teaching practice..

(6) 6. CONTEXT. School context This Action Research Project was based on the school I attended to for my practicum: Notre Dame School. This is a private and Catholic school which is located in Peñalolén. There is a total number of 715 students in the school approximately, who are distributed into 24 students per classroom. The students that attend to this school are from “Medio mayor” to 12th grade, and every grade has two levels: A and B (1°A and 1°B). In this school, the socio-economical level is high as parents must pay, according to MINEDUC webpage, more than one hundred Chilean pesos per month. . Furthermore, the school has a program for students with special needs, thus, in every classroom there are 4 students with special needs approximately, but not all of them are necessarily diagnosed. These students are always accompanied by their take carers who can be an educational psychologist, a social worker or any person that the parent of the child with special needs would hire. Notre Dame school portrays the necessity of educating people from an innovative perspective, that is to say, the school looks for an innovative way in which students learn the contents taught by their teachers, this innovative way is directly related to teaching using “visible learning” techniques and ULD (Universal Learning Design). By implementing these two types of teaching and learning approaches and/or strategies within the class, students would be aware of their own learning process. (Notre Dame’s webpage, 2016). In regard to Notre Dame’s school facilities, students’ learning process is facilitated by: the use of data projectors as there are in all and every classroom, a library, a photocopy.

(7) 7. room where students can ask the person in charge to photocopy a or some papers and pay for it/them, there is also a computer lab, where students can go whenever they need to. Regarding the English department, it is located on the second floor of the school, and it is a room for the language and English teachers only. There are six English teachers, who some of them teach from “medio mayor” to fifth grade, others from 6th grade to 9th grade and others from 8th grade to 12th grade. The group In this Action Research, it was decided to work with a seventh grade. This group is constituted by a number of 29 students which age range is from 12 and 13 years old. 5 of them are students with special needs. In this group (7th grade A) there are 9 girls and the rest are boys. Based on my observations as a researcher, this group and the class are described as follows: 1. In the English lessons, the type of activities that students have are merely based on grammar and in every class, students must work on their textbooks, where lots of grammar exercises are contained in it. 2. Students’ attitude towards the English class is described as barely paying attention to what the teacher is explaining and not finishing the activities the teacher asks them to do unless they are punished. Once they receive this punishment, students start working on their activities. This type of punishment is directly related to reduce the time students have in their break. For instance, their first break is from 10.00 am to 10.15, therefore, if students are misbehaving in the classroom, the teacher will let students go out 5 minutes after the break starts. One situation of this type can be shown in the following paragraphs taken from the Journal of the researcher:.

(8) 8. “Today I started reading the book the secret garden with my 7th grade students. At the beginning, they were engaged with the reading even though most of learners did not bring the book. After 20 minutes of reading, I had to stop and tell them off. [...] They would not stop talking and only a few of students would follow the reading, so I had to threaten them with reducing the time they would have for their break (5 minutes less), and as soon as I told them that, students started behaving” (Journal). Another kind of punishment that students might receive is that if they do not work they get a negative note on the “class book” (libro the clases), and once students have noticed they have received that negative note, they start working. The same phenomenon occurs if they receive a positive reinforcement as it is getting a positive note for their work or behavior. This can be shown in the following quote from the journal notes:. “Today I had classes with my 7th grade. The topic was about the members of the family. At the beginning of the class, the students were paying complete attention and no one interrupted the flow of the class, nevertheless after 30 minutes that the class started, learners commence to talk and interrupt the class by standing up and not paying attention. I must argue here that there was one student, who is commonly known as the one that misbehaves the most in the class, today paid complete attention and participated actively in the whole class, so I was very glad with him. Nonetheless, at the end of the lesson the student asked me if I had written a positive note in the class book for participating and paying attention in my.

(9) 9. class. I only looked at him and told him that the next day I would do it. Certainly I felt very bad and concerned about this request” (journal, 2016).. As a consequence, students are used to this kind of behavior in which they will not work or participate if they are punished or positively reinforced with something. In this context, punishment is the only way in which students would work and would be engaged with the activities and lessons that the teacher is delivering. At the beginning, it was thought that this problem was only occurring in the English class, nevertheless, when I investigated a little bit more about the issue, I realized that this also occurred in other classes such as Language classes (see appendix A). Thus, in this Action Research, the main focus would be on trying to remove this strategy, trying to keep students engaged in the English class and, therefore, to complete the activities without having to punish them. To try to accomplish this objective, I made use of some strategies that might help me to answer the research question chosen for this Action Research project: What strategies can I implement for my 7th grade class to keep them engaged in the English class without having to be punitive?.

(10) 10. RATIONALE. One of the reasons for undertaking this Action Research project relays on the importance of keeping students engaged with the class as it enhances students’ knowledge about the topic and content that is being taught (Marzano, 2007). Consequently, if students are not fully engaged with the tasks and/or activities that the teacher offers, learners would not be able to fully understand and incorporate that new knowledge. Particularly, in this context, students are not fully engaged in the classroom, and whenever this happens they would start doing something else such as talking and interrupting the class. Therefore, it is important to make use of some strategies that might help students keep focused on the class so they can understand and incorporate that new knowledge into the tasks and activities. In this context, and as it was previously mentioned, students do not work unless they are punished and/or rewarded with something. Therefore, students would be focused on the class only for the sake of obtaining or not losing some privileges and not on learning the content. Certainly, the use of positive rewards and punishment have become into the most used strategies to keep students engaged in this class, therefore, students shape their behavior according to these strategies and they get used to receive and not lose something they consider is important for them (time break). This Action research explores, explains and looks for some other views and strategies that might help to reduce or remove completely the use of punishment within the classroom as, even though punishments work as a resource that produces an immediate result as it is obedience, the use of them does not guarantee that obedience behavior is going to be constant. (Farag Elbla, 2012). Additionally, “Skinner does not advise the use of punishment as a technique of.

(11) 11. controlling/correcting unwanted behaviors as it causes harm on the person being punished and produces negative emotions and future behavioral problems”. (Farag Elbla, 2012 p. 1657). Thus, I consider it is urgent to change the teaching practice related to punishing students. In regard to the personal and professional advantages of undertaking this Action Research, it would help me to learn on how to incorporate new insights and strategies to “combat” the so called behaviorist ways in which engagement is presented in this context. Certainly, I have immersed into a role of researcher where I can explore and reflect on my own teaching practices and, specifically, on my own teaching strategies for engaging students. This researcher role would lead me to incorporate those new strategies and reflect once more about their effectiveness in the class. Furthermore, one of the relevancies of this Action Research is that no other Research has argued about the use of punishments and their impact in the English classroom and on students. Assuredly, looking for other ways and strategies to tackle the problem would be helpful for teachers that are or will be facing this problem in the future and that will like to change it..

(12) 12. LITERATURE REVIEW. In order to understand and have a clearer view about the precepts that construct this Action Research project, it is necessary to look for literature about the key and principal concepts that construct this Action Research project which is based on the following question: What strategies can I implement for my 7th grade class to keep them engaged in the English class without having to be punitive? Behaviorism Firstly, it is relevant to start with the definition of this concept as in the school I attended to and regarding my observations, it is highly observed and practiced a behaviorist approach. Moreover, it helps to understand accurately the precepts behind the use of punishment within my context. Pavlov and Watson established the first definitions about behaviorism. Nevertheless, it was until 1953 when Skinner argued about behaviorism in a more specific way. This is how the researcher and teacher in EAFIT University in Colombia Ana Patricia Muñoz Restrepo, refers about Skinner, Pavlov and Watson’s behaviorism: Firstly, they consider that the object that psychology must study is human behavior, since what happens within the brain cannot be measured nor can be observed (Muñoz, 2010). Additionally, she states that:. “La mente es considerada como una caja negra porque las respuestas a estímulos se pueden observar cuantitativamente y se ignora totalmente la posibilidad de todo proceso que pueda darse en la mente. Los conductistas consideran que la persona funciona a partir de estímulos y de respuestas. Los primeros introducen la información.

(13) 13. al cerebro y las segundas son las conductas desarrolladas como reacción al estímulo [...] En un modelo pedagógico basado en teorías conductistas, el alumno es visto como un ser pasivo, receptivo, a quien hay que transmitirle conocimientos. Se fomenta un conocimiento memorista, verbalista y repetitivo, manejado y controlado por el profesor. [...] La educación es, entonces, la acción que el maestro ejerce sobre el estudiante y está sujeta al control, al condicionamiento y al refuerzo. El refuerzo del aprendizaje puede ser negativo (castigos, notas bajas, llamado a los padres, etc.) o positivo (notas altas, estímulos verbales, caritas felices, etc.)” (Muñoz, 2010 p. 72-73) Therefore, the definition that she offers regarding the concept of behaviorism is pretty accurate for my context, as she also states the use of positives reinforcers (rewards) and negative reinforcers (punishment).. Concepts that were highly. observed in my practicum.. Operant conditioning: Punishment and reward. The concept of operant conditioning embraces the precepts of punishment and reward and in here, punishment will be pointed out as a negative reinforcer and the reward would be labeled as positive reinforcer (Muñoz, 2010). Furthermore, in Brown words about Skinner’s behaviorism (2007), he establishes that people are directed by the consequences of their behavior, and in order to, if we wish, control that behavior, we as teachers must attend to reinforcers. These reinforcers act as stimulus which create a response and that attend to strengthen and/or increase the probability to repeat that behavior (Brown, 2007). In this way students would be shaping the behavior that the teacher desires. Additionally,.

(14) 14. Brown refers to punishment and positive reinforcement as stimulus that must be balanced:. “Punishment can be either the withdrawal of a positive reinforcer or the presentation of an aversive stimulus. More commonly we think of punishment as the latter- a spanking, a harsh reprimand - but the removal of certain positive reinforcers, such as privilege, can also be considered a form of punishment. Skinner felt that in the long run, punishment does not actually eliminate behavior, but that mild punishment may be necessary for temporary suppression of an undesired response, although no punishment of such a kind should be meted out without positively reinforcing alternate responses”. (Brown, 2007 p. 90).. The main participants in this Action Research project were my 7th grade students, hence, teaching teenagers is another factor that influences on students’ performance and level of engagement within a given activity or task. In this part, teenagers are considered the ones that are aged from 12 to 18 years old (Brown, 2000) and as people who go through “an age of transition, confusion, selfconsciousness, growth, and changing bodies and minds” (Brown, 2000, p. 106). In addition, according to Piaget (1950), adolescents from this age are in the formal operational stage, where abstract thinking is being developed. Brown (2000) also states that there are some things that teachers need to take into consideration when teaching teenagers: Students’ intellectual capacity is placed on the abstract operational thought. Therefore, abstract thinking can possibly be implemented within the activities in.

(15) 15. the class. He also states: “the success of any intellectual endeavor will be a factor of the attention a learner places on the task, therefore, if a learner is attending to self, to appearance, to being accepted, to sexual thoughts, to a weekend party, or whatever, the intellectual task at hand may suffer” (Brown, 2000 p. 92). Thus, attention spans also suffer some inconveniences as “are lengthening as a result of intellectual maturation, but once again, with many diversions present in a teenager’s life, those potential attention spans can easily be shortened” (Brown, 2000, p. 92). These are facts that can be easily observed in my 7th grade students as they are most of the time thinking about other things that are not related to the class and the content; therefore, they lose the attention on the class and start misbehaving. As a consequence, I have to think of how can students keep the focus on the class and strengthen their attention span. This fact can be solved by attending to some engagement strategies. Nonetheless, firstly, it is relevant to define the concept of engagement.. Engagement Another important concept to consider in this Action Research is engagement, and according to the educational and developmental psychologist Jennifer Fredricks, with other colleagues, they referred to the construct of engagement as “a metaconstruct encompassing multiple dimensions of attraction to or involvement in school” (Fredricks et al., 2004 on Skinner et al. 2008 p. 766). But, Fredricks also relies on the importance of engagement as “a way to ameliorate low levels of academic achievement, high levels of student boredom and disaffection, and high dropout rates in urban areas” (Fredricks et al. 2004 p. 59)..

(16) 16. The multiple dimensions previously mentioned, regard to the type of engagement that can occur inside the classroom: These can be emotional, behavioral and cognitive. The author addresses behavioral engagement on the idea of participation which includes involvement in academic and social or extracurricular activities and it also refers to students’ conduct and on-task behavior (Karweit, 1989; Peterson, Swing, Stark, &Wass, 1984 on Fredricks et al. 2004). Additionally, emotional engagement embraces “positive and negative reactions to teachers, classmates, academics, and school and is presumed to create ties to an institution and influence willingness to do the work” (Fredricks et al. 2004 p. 63). She also declares that some research has been made about emotional engagement and that it was concluded that it is also related to student attitudes, interest and values (Epstein &McPartland, 1976; Yamamoto, Thomas, &Karns, 1969; Eccles et al., 1983 on Fredricks et al. 2004). Finally, regarding cognitive engagement, the idea of investment is important here as it “incorporates thoughtfulness and willingness to exert the effort necessary to comprehend complex ideas and master difficult skills” (Friedricks et al. 2004 p. 64) and it is related to motivational goals and self- regulated learning too. (Boekarts, Pintrich, &Zeidner, 2000; Zimmerman, 1990 on Friedricks et al. 2004). Furthermore, Robert J. Marzano, on his book “the art and science of teaching”, refers to the same concept of engagement where all dimensions are interconnected and, thus, the process of learning occurs more effectively: “Engagement includes on-task behavior, but it further highlights the central role of students’ emotion, cognition, and voice [...] When engagement is characterized by the full range of on-task behavior, positive emotions, invested cognition, and personal voice, it functions as the engine for learning and development” (Reeve, 2006 on Marzano, 2007) ..

(17) 17. Once the types of engagement have been described, it is relevant for this Action Research project to mention the different ways in which these types of engagement are measured within the classroom. Especially, because some instruments used in this Action Research were based on measuring, mainly, emotional and behavioral types of engagement. According to Fredricks, emotional engagement is measured through self-reports that include survey items were students are asked about how they feel regarding school, schoolwork, the people at school and the teacher (Fredricks et al, 2004). Moreover, she states that these emotions might be positive or negative and they surround between being happy, interested, sad, bored, frustrated and angry. (Connell & Wellborn, 1991; Skinner & Belmont, 1993 on Fredricks et al, 2004). In regard to cognitive engagement, also conceptualized as a psychological investment in learning (Fredricks et al, 2004), this type of engagement is measured also through surveys, but the items asked in this questionnaire are more based on asking about “flexible problem solving, preference for hard work, independent work styles, and ways of coping with perceived failure”. (Fredricks et al, 2004 p.67). Moreover, according to Fredricks (2004), cognitive engagement can also be oriented to measuring through the goal theory, “although a variety of terms have been used, such as learning, mastery, and taskfocus, the measurement of goals tends to be very consistent. The measurement scales include items such as being committed to understanding the work, in contrast to wanting to get a good grade or wanting to look smart” (Fredricks et al, 2004 p. 67). Thus, this leads to understand why students make use of different strategies to learn contents. These strategies can be exemplified as elaborating or organizing. (Fredricks et al, 2004). Finally, behavioral engagement can be measured following different types of instruments such as the so called self-report surveys and/or questionnaires. In here, indicators of conduct, work involvement, persistence and participation are being measured (Fredricks et.

(18) 18. al, 2004). Moreover, the author stated that when referring conduct, we are measuring both positive and negative behavior where the first one refers to completing homework and respecting school rules and the latter concerns both the classroom and school levels. The characteristic of this negative conduct refers to as the frequency of absences and tardiness, fighting or getting into trouble, and interfering with others' work. Thus, negative conduct is an indicative of disengagement. (Fredricks et al, 2004). Furthermore, when assessing work-related behaviors, “some scales include effort, attention, and persistence. For example, teachers are asked to rate the extent to which a particular student "is persistent when confronted with difficult problems" and "approaches new assignments with sincere effort" (Finn et al., 1995 on Fredricks et al, 2004 p 66). When measuring participatory behavior in the classroom, teacher and students are the main participants as “teachers are asked to rate students' level of participation with items such as Student participates actively in class discussions and Student is withdrawn and uncommunicative. In addition, students are asked to report on their level of initiative with survey items such as I ask questions to get more information" (Fredricks et al, 2004 p. 66). Besides, surveys are not the only instrument used here, observations techniques are also employed when measuring this type of engagement. This can be done by rating students’ engagement through the use of ranging scales that surround from off-task to deeply involved. And the types of behavior measured here are student attentiveness, doing the assigned work, and showing enthusiasm. (Fredricks et al, 2004)..

(19) 19. Engagement strategies Engagement strategies are the core of this Action Research project, therefore, it is important to include them in this theoretical framework. Some techniques and strategies are mentioned in Marzano's book “the Art and Science of Teaching” about how to engage students within the classroom. In the chapter “What will I do to engage students?” Marzano refers to engagement as when students are attending to the instructional activities that are taking place in the class (Marzano, 2007). He defines five areas in which teacher might increase students’ engagement. Each area has different strategies and activities that can be used for enhancing engagement. Thus, there will be mentioned only the ones that I consider are most appropriate for using in my context: 1. High energy as a stimulus for engagement: In here, three strategies are needed to be considered in order to gain and keep students’ attention in the class and that are related to energy: Marzano states that “paying attention requires students to have a certain energy level” (Marzano, 2007 p. 100) therefore the best way to boost energy is by doing some physical activity in certain parts of the class. Secondly, pacing is important to consider too as “the teacher needs to keep the activity moving and avoid interruptions to the activity flow by using good pacing” (Emmer &Gerwels, 2006 on Marzano, 2007). This pacing is highly related to the logics between the content and the activity. In this case, the post-activity cannot be different from the content (Marzano, 2007). For instance, if students are reading about animals, the teacher cannot do an activity about insects. Finally, another strategy to keep students engaged in the classroom is highly related to teacher enthusiasm as it affects students levels of energy and increases engagement (Marzano, 2007), in this case “teacher enthusiasm facilitates student achievement.

(20) 20. because animated behavior arouses the attending behavior of pupils” (Rosenshine, 1970 on Marzano, 2007 p. 101). Activities/strategies: Using physical movement: stand up and stretch; body representations (students acting out important content); “vote with your feet” (Marzano, 2007). Also, although it cannot be measured, demonstrating intensity and enthusiasm for the content helps to increase students’ attention and engagement (Marzano, 2007).. 2 Missing information as a stimulus for engagement: In this part, Marzano (2007) states that human beings are commonly attracted to what are called puzzles and games because they give a sense of curiosity and anticipation and “human beings are always trying to lessen the discrepancy between what they predict will occur and what is actually occurring” (Weiner, 1967 on Marzano, 2007 p. 101). Therefore, applying these types of tasks in my 7th grade would help to increase students’ engagement on the task. Activities/strategies: Games that focus on academic content: these stimulate attention as they involve information that is missed. Using games such as: What is the question? And Name that category. (Marzano. 2007).Also, providing unusual information about a topic: “teachers can provide interesting facts related to topics being addressed in a unit of instruction” (Marzano, 2007 p. 115).. 3 The self as a stimulus for engagement: The self is divided into the “me” self and the “I” self. The first is more regarded to specific situations, but the “I” self is argued to be “a more generalized construct that includes all those elements considered important, interesting and valuable to an individual” (Marzano, 2007 p. 102). Therefore,.

(21) 21. acknowledging activities that rely on the “I” self would be helpful for teachers in order to keep students engaged. Activities/strategies: Providing students some opportunities to talk about themselves: relating academic content to their interests. In here, applying activities where students talk about themselves would be helpful for enhancing students’ attention and engagement on the task.. 4. Mild pressure as a stimulus for engagement: This type of strategies relies on the topic of stressful events that can have an impact on students’ learning process. Marzano (2007) states that: “Under the right circumstances mild pressure can have a positive influence on learning. The reason is that mild pressure forces attention on the source of the pressure [...] appropriate pressure can be generated during questioning. Specifically, if students realize that there is a moderate chance of being called on to answer a question, it will likely raise their level of attention” (Marzano, 2007 p. 102- 103).. Activities/strategies: Manage questions and response rates: This strategy engages in two different ways: it gives a sense of missing information and mild pressure, thus students would be highly engaged. In here, students answer questions from the teacher and at the same time, and to keep students focus, give some time to student respond. This gives the sense of spontaneity and suspense (Marzano, 2007). There are aspects of effective questioning for helping focus students’ attention and that would work in this context: wait time (the teacher waits students’ response) and response cards (students respond using a small whiteboard). (Marzano, 2007)..

(22) 22. 5. Mild controversy and competition as stimuli for engagement: The “controversy strategy includes eliciting divergent opinions on an issues and then inviting students to resolve their discrepancies through sustained discussion” (Good &Brophy, 2003 on Marzano, 2007 p. 103), this controversy must not be too strong, this is why is called “mild controversy”, as it can enhance students’ learning and engagement. (Marzano, 2007). The same phenomenon occurs with “mild competition”. This strategy is described as:. “The opportunity to compete can add excitement to classroom activities, whether the competition is for prizes or merely for the satisfaction of winning. Competition may be either individual (students compete against everyone else) or group (students are divided into teams that compete with one another)”. (Good &Borphy, 2003 on Marzano, 2007 p. 103).. Activities/ strategies: engaging students in friendly controversy: “engaging students in dialogue regarding topics about which they have different opinions” (Marzano, 2007 p. 113). Using inconsequential competition: referring to students competing, but in the spirit of fun (Marzano, 2007)..

(23) 23. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Data collection methods: The research methodology used for this Action research is based on mainly, analyzing qualitative data, nevertheless, there is some quantitative data that will also be added in this Action Research project which will be taken from the survey that was implemented. In this action Research, I decided to implement a survey as it is a very useful instrument when it comes to know the opinion and responses of several people and there is no time to interview one by one (Burns, 2009). The main objective of the survey was to measure students’ emotional engagement regarding the English class and what possible activities can be implemented within the class in order to make students feel more engaged. In here, students had to answer two types of questions: 4 multiple choice questions and 3 open-ended questions. In addition, when implementing this survey, I would like to know the feelings regarding the type of punishment that is implemented when students misbehave. This instrument will be implemented in the pre stage of the process. The objectives of the questions of the survey were: Question 1: When I am in the English class, I feel: a. happy b. interested in the topic c. sad d. bored e. frustrated f. angry Objective: To measure students’ emotional engagement regarding the English class. Question 2: The activities that my teacher does are: a. interesting b. boring c. frustrating d. other: ________________________________ Objective: To measure students’ emotional engagement regarding the activities and the teacher..

(24) 24. Question 3: In the English class, I would feel more engaged doing: a. Games b. Activities that include talking about me c. Activities that include talking about unusual information about a topic d. Activities in which I can compete with my classmates e. Activities that include body movements f. Activities that include debating about a topic. g. Activities in which I can answer questions at loud. Objective: to know what strategies to use in the activities so students be more engaged in the class. Question 4: How would you like to work? a. Individually b. In groups c. In pairs Objective: To acknowledge which would be the more suitable way in which students feel more confident working and, thus, engaged. Question 5: Name three topics or things you would like to talk about in the English class: a.____________________________________________ b.____________________________________________ c._____________________________________________ Objective: To acknowledge what topics would be more engaging for students. Question 6: When my teacher punishes me with a negative note, I feel: Objective: to measure students’ emotional perceptions when they are punished with a negative note and to demonstrate that this is a practice that affects students’ emotions. Question 7: What can you do to avoid your teacher punishing you with a negative note? Objective: To demonstrate and confirm that students are conscious about their misbehavior.. The Open Interview has as main purposes to evidence that the problem is a real problem and not only my perception, to collect information about what might be the reasons for students misbehaving and to evidence that misbehavior and being punitive does not only occur in my classes. Thus, I decided to use an open interview because, firstly, there were no pre-planned questions and because I wanted the interview be the more “natural” possible so I can bring out the issues that I would like to talk about with the interviewee (Burns, 2009)..

(25) 25. This open interview was done to the head-teacher of the class. This teacher is the language teacher and she has been with them from two years, so she knows them very well. This instrument was used only in the pre-stage of the project.. Journal entries were also a good source of information as they “allow you to record the events and happenings in your location, your reflections, your beliefs and teaching philosophies, your ideas and insights about your practice” (Burns, 2009 p. 89). Therefore, journal entries helped me to evidence the, in this case, problem and “behaviorist” events occurring within the classroom by quoting some paragraphs about some issues that I have experienced in the context. The journal became part of the pre stage of the process to, as I mentioned before, evidence the problem and reflect upon the issues.. In the pre stage of the project, the class discussion is a data collection method used to obtain information from the main participants in this Action Research: The 7th grade students. The type of information that I wanted to obtain was directly related to the interests, needs and feelings of the group regarding the English class. Additionally, it also helped me to have a general opinion of students about the problem and how to tackle it. This was a preintervention information. The questions asked in this class discussion were the following ones: 1. Do you feel motivated in the English class? Objective: To acknowledge students’ emotions regarding if they feel motivated in the class and to know the reasons behind that lack of motivation. 2. Do you feel English classes are meaningful for you? Objective: To recognize students’ feelings regarding the meaningfulness of the classes as well as recognizing how this meaningfulness affects students’ motivation..

(26) 26. 3. How can they be more meaningful for you? Objective: To identify students’ needs regarding what activities or things could be done so classes be more meaningful for them. 4. Do you feel are there any factors that are affecting your learning in English classes? (This question is more directed to behavior within the classroom). Objective: To discuss students’ perceptions and self-regulation regarding how their behavior is affecting students’ learning process inside the classroom.. Photographs are an important resource for this Action Research project since they give a visual element to it. They also work as a supplement of the observation notes (Burns, 2010), as well as they document what students were doing at that moment and how engaged or disengaged were students on the task. Additionally they also helped to evidence students’ attitudes and behavioral engagement towards the activities. Each photography was coded following the format of the number of the image plus the number of intervention. For instance, the photograph with the coding: imag1.int1 corresponds to the image number 1 from the intervention number 1. This instrument was used in the while stage of the project.. The Behavior checklist helped me to collect the information regarding the behavior that students were having in the classroom when interventions were being implemented. The information obtained from this checklist helps to acknowledge what or which types of behavior the student or some students repeat the most within the classroom. (Burns, 2009). Nevertheless, for this particular Action Research project, it was needed to modify the checklist as it would give a more detailed information about the type of behavioral engagement that students were having inside the classroom when doing the activities. This instrument led me to acknowledge if students were showing engagement.

(27) 27. depending on the behavior they are performing when doing the tasks or activities in the class. Thus, this behavioral engagement will be measured through the use of this instrument and the criteria for evaluating that behavior is based on Friedricks literature about how to measure behavioral engagement in the classroom. Now, I will describe very briefly what I am measuring in every descriptor. In the behavior checklist, the first descriptor is “active participation”, this refers to students participating in the activities that the teacher delivers and that deal with students writing on the board or answering teacher's questions regarding the activities and the contents. The second descriptor deals with “absence of disruptive behavior”, in here students do not interrupt the class by talking or standing up and they do not interrupt do their classmates’ work. “On-task/strategy” behavior means that students show effort, persistence, concentration and attention on the task by either contributing new information to the class or maintaining her or his attention only on doing the activities sitting on their desks and not interrupting others’ work, which means that students are engaged. The fourth descriptor concerns “positive conduct: following rules given by the teacher”, thus, in this aspect, positive conduct will be based on following any rule that the teacher has given, such as asking for permission, not talking unless they are told to do it, etc. Lastly, negative behavior was also measured in this instrument. This negative behavior led me to acknowledge that the student was disengaged with the activity, thus, it was measured by observing that some students were fighting, interfering other’s work and getting into trouble such as not following the teacher’s rules. As a consequence, students get a negative note, therefore this led me to know that the strategy used for engaging students did not work. Moreover, this behavior checklist looks for acknowledging the type of behavior that is having the whole class regarding the activities because the checklist does not only focus in one student. (See appendix B for further details). This instrument was used in the while stage of the project..

(28) 28. The events checklist allowed me to record the type of engagement strategies that I made use of in classes, so I can reflect about what time or stage of the lesson the activities and strategies worked or were more fruitful for engaging students (see appendix C for further information). This data collection method was used in the while stage of the project.. The Reflective observations worked as a complement for the others two checklists. In here, I described the three stages of the class with the type of strategy used in the activity for engaging students and I reflected upon the effectiveness or inefficiency of that strategy and activity. This instrument was also used in the while stage of the project. (See appendix D for further information).. Procedures for data collection: The first instruments used for collecting data and that helped me to evidence that the problem is a real problem and not only my perception were some of the ones used in the pre stage of the project. These instruments were an open interview and some journal entries. The procedure for collecting these data was firstly taking notes in my journal about students’ behavior in my classes before I problematize. After identifying the problem of “engagement” and “punishing for keeping students focused on the class”, it was decided to do an open interview to the head teacher of the class (7th grade). This teacher has been with them from two years, thus, she knows them very well. The objective was to, also, know and evidence that the problem of punishing was a real problem and that it was not only occurring in my classes. Next, it was needed to know students opinion regarding English classes and punishment and how they would feel more engaged in classes. Thus, there were implemented.

(29) 29. two instruments: a survey and a class discussion. The class discussion was implemented on September the 14th. Next, after knowing students opinion and realizing that engagement is a problem in the 7th grade. I started investigating about the topic and I came up with a survey which would help me to acknowledge what specific engagement strategies and ways of working would be more suitable and engaging for students, moreover, I wanted to know students’ opinion and feelings regarding punishment. The survey was implemented on October the 17th. After obtaining information about all these issues, I decided to implement a behavior and events checklists and some reflective observations in the while stage of the project, where my interventions were taking place. Additionally, I incorporated photographs in order to add visual data to this Action Research, as well as to evidence the different engagement strategies I was making use of in the class.. Action plan timeline: The action plan timeline was expected to be made on the following dates: First intervention: October the 18th. Second intervention: October the 25th. Third intervention: November the 15th. Fourth intervention: November the 16th. Fifth intervention: November the 21st..

(30) 30. ACTION PLAN: interventions My action plan was based on the decisions I made after analyzing the data collected in the pre stage of this project. Hence, as the use of engagement strategies is the core of this Action Research project, the strategies, provided by the theoretical framework section, were chosen taking into consideration three aspects and instruments: the context (class:7°A); the analysis of the open interview, class discussion and surveys (see data analysis heading for further information). In addition, it was also decided in what modality students will work in my interventions. By modality I mean if they are going to work individually, in pairs or in groups, information taken from the survey too. The number of interventions planned was 5 and the engagement strategies used in the interventions were: games; talking about myself; body movement; missing and unusual information; mild pressure and mild controversy and competition. First intervention. My first intervention was developed on October the 18th. In this intervention, the objective of the lesson was that students draw and write characteristics of their families. Thus, I decided to make use of some strategies to engage students, which were “mild pressure” (in the while stage of the class) and “talking about myself” (in the pre, while and post stages of the class). In this case, students had to work individually as this was more personal work since it was related to their families. As I stated before, in the pre stage of the class I used the “talking about myself” strategy, in here the activity was based on watching a video and answering questions regarding the video and about if students’ families had the same characteristics than the ones described in the video. Then, in the while stage students wrote the answers of the questions about the video as well as the characteristics of their families on the copybook. Next, I used the “mild pressure”.

(31) 31. strategy by asking students some questions regarding their families, not only about their characteristics but also about the members of their families and how those relationships were. The answers to these questions had to be as faster as they could because they were given 10 seconds to answer those questions. After this, they read a text where I described my family with the vocabulary learned in the video. In the post stage of the class (see imag1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 from int1), I used the “talking about myself” strategy once more by making students describe their families by using the vocabulary learned in the class. In general terms, students paid attention the whole class, thus engagement process was shown in the whole class. The class worked well the 90 minutes of the lesson, thus I did not have to be punitive as the strategies used in this intervention were very successful for engaging students in the class. Nevertheless, in this intervention, it has to be added a “reward” for students participate in the post stage of the class which was reading the description of their families. This reward was students getting a grade for class participation. Therefore, the objective engaging students in the whole class was not 100% successful, but still the class worked well the 90 minutes of the lesson. Second intervention. The second intervention was held on October the 25th. In this intervention, the objective of the lesson was to recall content from unit 4 in order to review for their test, therefore, it was decided to implement the following engagement strategies in the class: games (while stage of the class); high energy: body movements (while stage); talking about myself (in the pre and while stage); mild pressure and mild controversy (in the while and post stages). Firstly, in the pre stage of the class, students reviewed the vocabulary related to feelings (depressed, happy, upset, angry, etc.). Then, students answered some questions regarding.

(32) 32. how they felt in certain occasions when they were with their families, thus, in this stage, the “talking about myself strategy” was useful. Next, in the first part of the next stage of the class (while stage), I developed an activity in which students had to answer the question: “I feel…….when….”, in here they had to use the vocabulary about feelings learned in the pre stage of the class. Consequently, in order to do this activity, I made use of two engagement strategies: games and mild pressure, since they had only ten seconds to answer the question. After this, in the second part of the while stage, I made use of the strategies of mild controversy and games by asking students to complete a “family tree gap fill”. Certainly, in this part of the class, engagement strategies were not fruitful as students changed their seatings because I gave them the opportunity to do it, therefore, once they changed seatings, students started misbehaving and did not pay attention to the instructions of the “family tree gap fill” activity . Thus, I decided to ask students to come back to their regular seatings so they can continue with the activities. Then, the transition from the final while activity to the post activity was made by making use of the “high energy: body movements” strategy (see imag1,3,4,5,6,7,8 from int2) . In here, students stretched their arms and legs and did exercises that I did in front of the class. Finally, the post activity was to write about how they felt in the class that day (see imag3,9,10 from int2), this activity resulted well as once they stretched out, students were more motivated and focused on the task. In general terms, the first 45 minutes of the class, where I did the pre and first part of the while stage of the lesson, were very fruitful as I was able to prove that games and talking about myself strategies work very well for keeping students focused. Nevertheless, after students were permitted to change seatings, they started misbehaving and talking to the classmates they have changed with, thus, students lost the attention and engagement of the class, therefore I had to “punish” students so they keep the focus in the class. Certainly, the strategies used in this part did not work for engaging students so punishing them by asking.

(33) 33. them to come back to their regular seatings was the best option to keep them engaged. Consequently, making use of engagement strategies without having to be punitive did not work successfully in this intervention.. Third intervention. This intervention was developed on November the 15th. The topic of the lesson was to introduce unit number 5: “it feels like home”, and the objective was that students draw and write how their ideal house would be. In the pre stage of the class, I implemented both games and talking about myself strategies; in the while stage of the class I decided to work with the unusual information and high energy: body movements’ strategy; and in the post stage of the class the engagement strategy of talking about myself was used. Additionally, students worked in groups in the pre stage of the class and individually or in pairs in the post stage of the class. In the pre stage, the activity of naming the parts of the house and writing what actions can be done in that part in the board was done in groups, where every representative of it had to go to the board and write the name of one part of the house and write what action does he/she do when he is there (see imag1,2,3 from int3). It was a successful activity which helped me to prove, once more, that games and talking about myself strategies help to keep students focused on the class. Then, in the while stage of the lesson, I projected pictures and a video of houses that have different shapes and. In here, students had to watch and answer some questions regarding the video and a text they would be reading later on. The strategy of unusual information was used in this stage, and it was a complete success as students kept the focus on the video and pictures the whole segment that this activity lasted (see imag4,5,6,7,8 from int3). Next, I used the body movement strategy (see imag9,10,11,12,13,14 from int3) as a transition for students.

(34) 34. be more focused and motivated to do the post stage of the class. In the post stage of the lesson, students had to accomplish the objective of drawing and writing how their ideal house would be: shape, what rooms it has and what actions they would do in every part of their house (see imag15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22 from int3). Additionally, I decided to give students the option to work individually or in pairs. The talking about myself strategy was used in this part of the lesson. Fourth intervention. The fourth and last intervention was delivered on November the 16th. In this class the objective was students writing about a horrifying experience that had had in the past. Additionally, working in groups and individually was the working modality used in this intervention. In the pre stage of the class, there were used the games and mild controversy and competition strategies to keep students focused in the lesson. The activity delivered in this part of the class was called “the Pictionary game”, in here students had to pick a word (in this case it was a verb), and then they had to draw the action verb on the board and the group which the student belonged to had to guess what word was. In this stage of the class, the use of the strategies of games plus mild controversy and competition helped me to prove that they really work for engaging students. The while stage of the class was about watching clips of horror movies and, then, guessing and writing on the board what will and what happened in the scene and how they would feel if they were in that horrifying scene. Thus, the strategy used for engaging students was the unusual information strategy about a topic as every time I would play the clip, I would stop it at some point and ask students what will happen in the scene. This gave them a sense of curiosity that helped me to keep them engaged in the class. (see imag1,2,3 from int4). Finally, in the post activity of the lesson, students had to write about a horrifying experience.

(35) 35. they had lived in the past and state how they felt. Thus, the talking about myself strategy was implemented in this stage of the class. (see imag4,5,6,7 from int4)..

(36) 36. DATA ANALYSIS Pre stage instruments Before analyzing the data, it is important to clarify that the number of participants were 28 out of 29 students, since there is one student that does not participate in the English classes as her neurologist has gave the permission to excuse her from English classes. The consent forms (see appendix E) were sent to their parents and they agreed on letting learners participate of this Action Research project. Additionally, it was informed to the boss of the English department about this project in order to gain the institution’s consent and, therefore, do this project and interventions. Furthermore, confidentiality and anonymity were assured to the English department boss and the 7th grade students too. In this section, data collected by the use of the instruments will be analyzed instrument by instrument. The first instrument to be analyzed is the journal (see appendix F). This instrument ought to be analyzed following the categorization method, which is shown in the following chart: Description of the event. Categorization. Students’ behavior was based on interrupting my class during the 45 minutes that it lasts.. Interrupting the class. (misbehavior). Students behave very well when they see someone else observing them (first class observation from university).. Need of an external factor to not misbehave.. Difficulty to keep students engaged in the class. Telling students off almost the whole class. Maybe I have to change my methodology and activities.. Telling students off to behave. Engagement problem. Students reading the book “the secret garden”. They were engaged the first 20 minutes, then they started talking and misbehaving again. Therefore, I had to. Punishment for maintaining students’ attention..

(37) 37. punish them by letting them know that I would have to take 5 minutes extra of their break to keep doing my class, after this threat, they started behaving. Students engaged on the task for only 30 minutes. After that, students misbehave by talking and interrupting the class. One student who misbehaves the most, that day participated actively on the class. Nonetheless, at the end of the class he asked for a positive note for behaving well.. The need of an external factor to behave: in this case a positive note: reward. Engagement problem + reward or punishment to engage = Problematization.. The way in which the open interview was analyzed was based on making use of thematic coding, which is summarized in the following chart. (see complete interview in the appendix A). As the research question entails engaging students without having to punish them. The main ideas and themes that brought up from the open interview were the following ones: (note that the themes released in this open-interview were highly related to the repetition of those words in the interview). Main idea. Thematic category. “Los chiquillos no te van a trabajar en clases si tú no los anotas o no les das algún premio como una anotación positiva. Ellos trabajan en base a los premios, son super conductistas [...]” “Si trabaja dale una positiva, sino una negativa y te van a trabajar”.. Punishment. Reward. Behaviorism.. “El diálogo con ellos no funciona y por lo tanto tuve que hacer uso del método conductista para que ellos lograran avanzar en sus tareas y compromisos”.. Behaviorism to control and engage.. “Los chiquillos siempre buscan pretextos, nunca se hacen cargo de sus acciones, siempre se escudan en el resto [...] siempre buscan pretextos para culpar al profesor de. Excuses for misbehaving..

(38) 38. sus faltas [...] no se hacen cargo de sus faltas, por eso se escudan entre ellos”.. Therefore, it can be appreciated here that there is a correlation between the information obtained between the open-interview and the journal entries. Both instruments showed that students misbehave and in order to make them work, they need of an external factor, which might be a reward or a negative reinforcement, which in this case would be a negative note. The class discussion was implemented on September the 14th and it was based on answering four questions: (See appendix G) QUESTION. ANSWERS. Do you feel motivated in the English class?. -. No motivation Boring and too teacher centered classes.. Do you feel English classes are meaningful for you?. -. No because they are boring and topics are not meaningful.. How can they be more meaningful for you?. -. Having topics about something that helps for their life. Less written tests. Having study groups.. Do you feel are there any factors that are affecting your learning in English classes? (This question is more directed to behavior within the classroom).. -. -. -. Yes. Too many people talking in the classroom and people playing with their cell phones. My teaching style is very different from the one that students are used to (grammar-based classes). “Solution” to this problem: having a “helper”, who is going to be the one in charge of maintaining the order in the classroom..

(39) 39. In this chart, it can be appreciated that students felt unmotivated in the English classes as there are no topics that are meaningful for them, and this is when misbehavior occurs. Then, people start talking, which causes that students’ learning process in the classroom be affected. Thus, students offer some “solutions” to avoid this occurs: having a “helper” that will help to maintain the order in the class and to have topics that are helpful for their daily life, as well as having study groups. The survey was conducted on October the 17th and the number of students who answered this survey was 26, since 2 of them were absent that day and the student left was the one who is excused from English classes. This survey consisted of 4 multiple choice questions and 3 open-ended questions (see sample in the appendix H). These questions will be analyzed one by one in a graphical form. Note that these questions had to do with the classes I have made before the interventions, thus, the opinions of students are related to the way I conveyed the classes.. Figure 1: question 1: when I am in the English class, I feel:. In figure number 1, the objective of this question was to know how students felt before I intervene, thus emotional engagement is measured here. A 46% of students answered that they felt bored in the English class. The main reasons for having this feeling are described in the following question..

(40) 40. Figure 2: question 2: The activities that my teacher does are:. In figure number 2, is in this part of the survey where I could realize that students felt bored in English classes because activities were not completely engaging for them, therefore, the same percentage of students (46%) felt that activities were boring.. Figure 3: question 3: In the English class, I would feel more engaged doing:. Figure number 3 shows that I decided to ask students about what strategies would be more suitable for them in order to feel more engaged in the class and leave boredom behind. It is important to argue here that these strategies were taken from the information found about engagement strategies in the literature review. Thus, 36% of students answered that they.

(41) 41. would like to have more games in the English class in order to feel engaged. Furthermore, a 28% of students felt that activities in which they can talk about themselves would be engaging too.. Figure 4: question 4: How would you like to work?. In this graphic named as figure number 4, it is shown that more than the 50% of students prefer working in groups as they feel is more engaging for them (this was evidenced in the class discussion too). A less percentage of students felt that it would be more engaging to work in pairs, they represent a 30% of the students.. Question 5: Name three topics you would. Most repeated answers: games, sports and. like to talk about in the English class.. movies.. Figure 5. Figure number 5 was analyzed by acknowledging which were the most repeated answers. This question referred to name three topics or things you would like to talk about in the English class. In this question, the most repeated answers surrounded from games, sports and movies. The objective of this question was to know what topics would be more engaging for students, in this way, it would be easier for me to know what type of activities with these.

(42) 42. topics and engaging strategies would be more suitable for maintaining students’ attention on the class. It is important to mention here that 15 out of 26 students answered this part of the survey as the 11 remaining ones thought that there were no topics in which they felt interested to talk in the English class. .. Figure 6: question 6: when my teacher punishes me with a negative note...I feel… because... Figure number 6 shows the decision to ask students about their feelings regarding negative notes. This is the core of my Action Research project, therefore, acknowledging this opinion was very important for emit is important to clarify here that students were the ones who gave these answers as the questions was an open ended one. In this question, a 70% of students declared they felt between bad and angry and another 30% of students felt sad regarding me writing negative notes..

(43) 43. Figure 7: question 7: what can you do to avoid your teacher punishing you with a negative note?. Figure number 7 details that more of the half of students decided that do not misbehaving would be a good way to avoid teachers write negative notes, additionally, almost an 8% of students thought that being more responsible and respectful will lead them to not have negative notes. Following the same line, a 30% of the learners did not answer this part of the survey as they did not feel there was something they needed to do. The last percentage represents one student and he decided that trusting more in teachers would give him the answer to avoid having negative notes.. While stage instruments and Analysis of interventions The nature of the data that was analyzed in this part of the Action Research project was qualitative, since the instruments used for the while stage of this project were: an events checklist, a reflective observation and a behavior checklist. It is important to note here that the concepts released from the analysis of the reflective observations are related to some concepts taken from the Literature review, which were described under every analysis..

(44) 44. Intervention 1: Events checklist (see appendix I). The events checklist shows with a cross (X) what engagement strategies I used for engaging students in different parts of the lesson (pre, while and post). In this intervention, there were used two strategies: talking about myself and mild pressure. Reflective observations (see appendix I). As reflective observations allow the researcher to make comments regarding the events occurring in the classroom (Burns, 2010). I decided to make use of this instrument in the while stage of the project, since commenting and reflecting upon the activities and events in which I used engagement strategies is very important for this Action Research project. The reflective observation shows the description of the activity and what strategies were used in that activity. Moreover, the chart shows my comments and, in the third column, there were categorized the aspects that were more relevant in this particular intervention according to the instrument. Description of the strategy/activity and stage.. How did it work? General reflection.. Categorization. PRE: watching a video about kids describing their families. Using the vocabulary from the video to do next activities.. Students pay complete Attention attention to the video. The laugh and enjoy watching it. Active participation is shown when doing activities.. WHILE: Answering questions about the video and students’ families. Reading a text about the teacher’s family.. Students show an active participation when responding questions. When they do not know the answer, students ask the teacher to play the video again.. Active participation. POST: Students write their own description of their families using vocabulary from the video and family members vocabulary.. Students show interest on the task. They focus their attention on it and even ask the teacher about some definitions of some words.. Active participation Focus Reward for participating..