Inquiry into Denver History

Our current work

    So many questions! Right now I am thinking about the difference between traditional research and inquiry.  It seems that  student choice of the research topic and the collaborative process are the key differences.  In a collective effort with my teammate, Brenna, our student teacher, Tori, and Roberts librarian, Suzi, we created an inquiry unit into Denver History.

     It was interesting to team in so many ways.  As we processed our roles for the best conditions of student learning, it began to take shape in the following way: Brenna taught students the habits of mind of researchers and social scientists,  Tori and Brenna Immersed students into the building of background knowledge, Suzi and I taught research and note taking for Investigation, Tori and I created the essential question of , "How did the people, places and events of Denver's' past influence (or affect or contribute to) Denver today?", students chose their own area of interest to pursue, and then Suzi and I are helping students Coalesce and Go Public with a Making Thinking Visible Routine of Step-In through a site called "Fakebook". Here is an example:

Native American - Little Raven

     It is a fairly fluid process with the natural hiccups of inquiry itself.  The most difficult part is feeling that inquiry is successful when students need to return to teacher modeling/instruction for skills, or if we need to return to building background knowledge in the middle of the process.  

     My biggest Ah-Ha is the realization that the messy process of inquiry holds great power in developing student ownership and depth of understanding as students grapple with ideas in multiple ways.

My inquiry group

     The beautiful question of my inquiry group - The Weavers - is "How do we integrate the standards into inquiry?" We have had inspiring and collaborative discussions that continue to come back to our belief that the standards and underlying skills are the foundation of inquiry and are being taught authentically every day.  Though we believe this, we have still created the assignment to correlate the standards to our inquiry projects.  So, here are the standards that are being taught through our Denver History Inquiry project:

1. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.3

Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect.

2.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.4

Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 3 topic or subject area.

3.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.5

Use text features and search tools (e.g., key words, sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently.

4. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.7
Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how key events occur).
5. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.10By the end of the year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grades 2-3 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
Introduce a topic and group related information together; include illustrations when useful to aiding comprehension.

6. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.2.A

7. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.2.B
Develop the topic with facts, definitions, and details.

8.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.4
With guidance and support from adults, produce writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1-3 above.)

9.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.5
With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1-3 up to and including grade 3 here.)

10.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.6
With guidance and support from adults, use technology to produce and publish writing (using keyboarding skills) as well as to interact and collaborate with others.

11.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.7
Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic.

12. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.8
Recall information from experiences or gather information from print and digital sources; take brief notes on sources and sort evidence into provided categories.

13.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.10
Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Clearly, there are a plethora of Common Core State Standards being taught.  The piece I am missing is a direct assessment of each student's success with each standard.  Currently, I rely on my daily anecdotal notes and the final project for assessment.

Rubric from Galileo.org

     Another resource I recently found that is helping me to grow as a facilitator of powerful inquiry is the rubric at Galileo.org.  I am sadly living in the Developing column, but I see ways to move to Emerging!

http://galileo.org/rubric.pdf

February Post (ECE-3Rs)

As I've shared before, ECE is already using an inquiry based curriculum. However, now that we have one year of teaching it under our belts, our group focus is to consider how to make it more authentic for our students.

This month, we have explored and investigated garbage and recycling. We explored the trash we make at home, in our school, and in our community. We then considered all the ways we can reduce, reuse and recycle. Now we are getting to the meat of the unit and beginning to synthesize how we can have an impact.

Since this is the 2nd time we have taught this study, I am more comfortable with it and as a result, I feel the children are making some larger connections. The children are enthusiastic about the topic, are reusing items in different ways, and are talking about recycling at home. Given my group's focus, I really wanted to venture deeper into our own investigations around the topic so so I invited some experts in to help.

First I invited a parent volunteer to come in and help us explore our own question What is composting? Using real items, she showed us all of the different stages of the process. She had done this with us last year, but it was limited to her showing the children the various stages of composting and then we as a class gathered items for composting in the classroom to add to the school-wide bins. The only issue was children never actually witnessed the composting process as it occurred. So this year, I decided to put the process into action in the classroom. To do this, the same parent volunteer shared the various stages of composting. Only this time I had prepared a 10 gallon glass tank divided into 2 using a plastic piece. The parent layered each side of the tank with dirt and organic material. Only on one side of the tank, she added worms. My hope was obviously for the children to actually see how "natures recyclers" go to work. After 2 weeks, the children can see how one side is molding and decomposing while the other side is sort of disappearing into the dirt. Perhaps this simple tweak and visual will help reinforce the idea of how easy it is to reduce the amount of trash we put out for the garbage man. Already as you can see in the photo, children are adding organic material leftover from their lunch. It seems to be working.

 My next visitor was an artist who is reusin plastic for an art piece/exhibit to demonstrate the impact of plastic on our oceans. Before she arrived, children brainstormed questions for her. While some of the questions were surface ones, most were impressive from 4 year olds. Only when she arrived and the questions posed to her, the children were not really interested in what she had to say. They did however want to touch all the materials she brought and later engaged in making their own plastic art sea creatures to contribute to her piece.

At first, I was somewhat disappointed with their lack of engagement, but then it dawned on me that inquiry and questioning in ECE is just messy.  It would seem that inquiry would be easy in ECE given a 4 year olds naturally curious mind, but it's not. There is just no way that all children are interested in the same thing at the same time. So while I used to think I should share the prescribed curriculum questions then do activities with everyone during the course of the week to help "answer" the questions, I've realized this is not authentic inquiry for my students. Sometimes just developing our own questions and knowing one strategy to find answers like asking an expert is a big learning step for a 4 year old. Or even letting small groups explore their own questions that interest them is more authentic. This small group exploration is something I'd like to try and then have the groups share something they have learned. Perhaps then some or most kids would at least begin to make connections between what they did and what a peer did.

Exploring is rigor and inquiry in ECE. My focus should be on developing background knowledge and offering a safe and nurturing environment in which children can explore their questions. I can guide them to places or people to find answers, but it is the process that is most important. I am now comfortable enough to veer off on my own course of inquiry within the curriculum and do the things I think will engage my students and support them in making connections.

Now that I've reached this stage, my next goal is to find more effective means to support my students in posing their own questions and following through with those investigations (whole or small group). Not only do I want to work more with small group investigations, I also want to work on modeling in order to guide the flow of a study so connections from one essential question to another are more fluid...hopefully allowing children to develop deeper understandings. To do this, I'm going to be more diligent, intentional and consistent with my shared writing experiences, thinking strategies and daily reflection time to make our last 2 studies of the year more cohesive.

Weather Systmes Inquiry Projects

As February came to an end, so did my first attempt at student learning through inquiry.  As a class, we spent 6 weeks learning about various weather topics through student inquiry.  The students had to present their learnings to the class.  Students presented their projects on google slide shows, poster boards, imovies, lego movies, and even a diorama.

I was very pleased with the information the students collected.  I was also amazed at the learning!  I feel like they had such a great understanding of their inquiry topics and they presented the learning in such a way that the students learned from each other!
I am very excited to continue the inquiry process in science.  I am still a little hesitant to do math in this way.  However, after really thinking about how I learn new things, I realized that I am constantly googling and searching for answers. This weekend, my son and I needed to install more memory on his xbox.  I purchased the device on line and of course there were no directions included.  We decided to look on youtube and of course we found several videos on how to install the memory!  It is incredible to me that with the help of the internet we can research anything and everything!

February- Investigated

This month our group read Chapter 4- Inquiry Exemplars: How does a Lesson Look and Feel?  We all picked one lesson that was close to our grade and content level and discussed what we noticed in the lessons.  I had a lot more questions this time then were answered.  First off, is inquiry really just posing a challenging question?  Many of the math lessons just posed difficult questions and allowed students time to discuss and think about them.   Perhaps I am already doing inquiry without realizing it??  We always have a question of the day, sometimes it takes us a few days to explore and talk about.  We write, discuss, explore and question around these questions and maybe that is inquiry. 

I used to think that moving towards inquiry was going to be very difficult and time consuming.  Now I am thinking that I only need to change a few things and that we were already on the path towards inquiry-I just didn’t realize it.  I still have many questions and need to continue working through some ideas and I think that the mini-inquiry approach in math is where I will be starting.  One of the places I’m really feeling that I can work with to have more of an inquiry approach is our question of the day.  We have been reviewing the thinking strategies much more explicitly as I want them to start connecting with the ones they are using.  For our questions of the day they can solve them however they would like, my only requirement is that when we have finished we take a few minutes to reflect on our work through writing and I want them to start including the thinking strategies in this writing.  

Another random thought/connection…This year I am working on an action research project focused around student discourse.  I found a very section in the book we are reading called “Discourse (How are the environment and interactions structured?)”.  It helps you take note of the questions that you and the students are asking and the interactions taking place in the classroom.  I think that the questioning taking place in our classroom is around the proficient inquiry (level 3) and my goal is to move us towards the exemplary (level 4) type of questions.  (pg. 100).  I am excited to see connections that I can use in other areas this year and hope to continue finding more similarities.

January- Immersed

I am in the inquiry group Math Mamas.  When we first started we realized that we are all really struggling with what inquiry is.  So our questions are:  What does inquiry look like in classrooms? and Why do inquiry?  We decided that we would like to have something to help guide our thinking and we agreed on reading parts of the book: Succeeding with Inquiry in Science and Math Classrooms. We started with the second chapter: Why Inquiry, and Why in Your Classroom? This chapter really seemed to fit with our first question and gave us a starting point for further discussions.  When our group first started, we came together as math teachers.  Now our thinking and discussions have moved more towards science and social studies as we want to feel comfortable in leading the inquiry process and for us it seems more accessible in those content areas.

THINK

I think that inquiry is learning through investigation.  I think of it a lot like the scientific method, which is probably why I find it easier to come up with ideas of teaching it in science vs. math.  I think it’s allowing students to struggle and explore, while challenging themselves to work through difficult things and learn. 

PUZZLE

My biggest struggle is, how much freedom do I allow?  Sometimes I wonder if I’m letting them struggle too long.  Also, are there areas and skills where inquiry doesn’t fit?  If so, what are they?  When will I know areas to use inquiry and when there are other best practices that might fit better?

EXPLORE

My next step is to finish reading the chapter for my group and then to browse the book to come up with suggestions for our next reading.  I also would like to try a mini-inquiry to see what happens so that I might better understand my struggles as an inquiry instructor!

Cross-curricular inquiry

I had stated in my last Blog that Lynn and I are collaborating with this current inquiry.  The 7th grade's inquiry is on the Medieval times and the 8th is on the Civil War.  I think that I have allowed way too much time for this inquiry.  They are so over it.  I think because they would like to work on something else in literacy (not that this is all that we do).  ALSO, the previous inquiries, they needed to do their KWL notes and make a presentation, which they love.  This time, they had to do the KWL, research notes, AND, write a research paper.  You'd think that I had asked them to climb Mt. Everest.  I have figured out that inquiry can certainly be fun, yet there needs to be rigor.  I think that I was having so much fun with this new "thing" that I didn't work on the rigor.  Or, maybe the rigor is built in. 

So, here's my Big Blog Question...do you think the rigor is built in???

February Inquiry Thinking

Tracy and I decided to jump right in and give inquiry a try in Science since that seems to be the most natural fit.  As mentioned in the first post, our inquiry study in Science was around Weather Systems.

After the students create beautiful questions and wrote down what they were "wondering" about weather systems, I posed our essential question:  How has accurate weather predictions contributed to society's advancement?  As a class, we spent a lesson breaking down the language of this question, specifically discussing what the following words mean: accurate, contributed, society, and advancement.  I had students talk in small groups about what each of those words meant and then we came back together to chart/list some synonyms for those words in order to make the question more clear.  This question needed to be clearly understood by the students, because it was going to be the central point of our research.  Their final projects needed to be tied back to this question.

Using the Science Inquiry Science Inquiry Menu students then highlighted what topic they were going to research.  We also brainstormed some presentation examples along with those that were already listed.  Tracy and I also developed a final project rubric, so that students knew what the expectations of the project were, Inquiry Rubric . Students were given about three weeks to do their research.

What I used to think is that the final project rubric we had created was adequate and would push students to create a high caliber project.  What I know now is that the rubric needs to be "tweeked" in several areas in order to push the final projects to that higher level.  For example, I would set the expectation that their final project must include a video and perhaps an interview of an "expert" in the area. 

 I used to think that this guided differentiation inquiry project would allow students the freedom to become creative with their final projects, as well as push themselves to deeply explore an aspect of the weather that they would be committed to and highly motivated to explore.  What I know now or wonder about is:  Why did most students not push themselves?  Was it because of the rubric expectations?  Why were they not creative in their final projects?  Is it because they are unfamiliar with various technology based presentation formats?  I encouraged the students to explore different presentation formats.  Did they not explore options, because they are unaware of what the options are? Now I know that when I do this type of inquiry research again, I will incorporate mini-lessons around various options for final presentations instead of just having a google presentation, aka slide show.

Even though I continue to wonder and ponder how I would change the project, I still feel that it was very successful.

What I'm thinking in February...

My thinking around curricular inquiries, essential questions, and how to research is constantly evolving. Just when I think I know what I believe,  I read or see something else that pushes my thinking. Then, I feel like I'm back at square one. Although this journey is exhausting, at least I'm creating a definition of inquiry that works for me. It's all about trial and error.

A few weeks ago, when I was planning our study of our nation and state's government systems I felt pressured by time, tests, etc., and I knew I couldn't commit to a large inquiry unit. Even my last mini inquiry study didn't seem so mini. But in the back of my head, I also had a quote that many of our students refer to often by Benjamin Franklin. "Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn." So, I decided that students could investigate one of the branches of the government, become an expert, and teach others about it. I figured it was at least better than direct instruction from me. Therefore, with the big question of how does Colorado's government impact life in Colorado, students are divided into three groups and have been scouring articles and the internet in order to add to their schema about one branch of government. 

With that being said, I wish I could go back in time and start again. Just this week, I went back and reviewed the chapter around curricular inquiries, and I was struck by the section titled What Content is Best Suited to Small Group Inquiries on page 166 & 167. As I read the bulleted list, I realized that the current work I'm doing didn't match any of the criteria. Now, I wasn't calling our investigating an inquiry unit, but it still didn't sit well with me. After thinking about it for quite a while I realized I could have posed this work in a different way that might have engaged students more, helped strengthen the relationship to the outside world, and allowed for interpretation and debate.

So, now I'm thinking when I am planning I want to create questions that students will relate to. In attempting to answer these bigger questions students will naturally build their schema around the content in the standards.  This doesn't come naturally to me, and it takes me a long time to wrap my mind around them, but I know the payoff will be worth it. In creating bigger questions to ponder I know my our content will immediately meet more of the criteria that makes content good for inquiry. I realize questions are critical in inquiry, and I always have at least one essential question. Although, that question isn't guiding our thinking. They usually aren't intriguing or motivating, so I just want to spend some time revising those questions. There is definitely room for improvement.

What questions have you used to guide your curricular inquiries?

Letting Go

My group, The Weavers, has been nothing but inspirational.  Our monthly meetings provide me with a much needed place to work through ideas and thoughts that seem somewhat muddled in my own brain.  One thing I realized is that I have been scaffolding my student's ability to be capable of inquiry since day one.  Our belief in the explicit teaching of the thinking strategies has provided our student's with the cognitive abilities to blossom when given an inquiry situation.  So I began my dive into math inquiry by reminding them of the knowledge they already possess!

 I used to think that math inquiry was going to lead me on this great, amazing, inspiring teaching journey!  Then I realized how HARD it was going to be.  With all the pressure of testing etc., it was terrifying to think of letting my students come to understanding through their own inquiry process.  Through the support of my amazing friends and colleagues, now I think that this inquiry journey is exactly what I need as a teacher and specifically what my students need as learners.  Each time I provide them with a "mini" inquiry into a math topic, I am in awe of what they come away with learning.  And not because I told them it is true, or the right way to do it, because they came to that conclusion on their own.  This is the type of learning they will remember!

February Thinking

     I came to a realization during my group's meeting, The All Inclusives. Our inquiry is around how to engage all types of learners. Our group is compiled mainly of first and second grade teachers with intervention teachers of various levels. We decided to break our topic into sub categories of learners and each take one to research; over confidence, perfectionists, low self esteem, struggling learners and learned helplessness to name a few. We each began sharing out a synopsis of what we had read and learned and how one related to another when having our students work an inquiry project. Many elements of this discussion came back to finding what interests each individual student. Well aha, that's just what we were doing. We picked a topic within our topic that ultimately interested or pertained to us and our teaching. While we are not doing the project alone, we are. We each have our own piece of the puzzle that suits us. We share out and learn from one another and will ultimately have a full picture assembled and an entire layout to refer to, but my piece may not directly fit into every one. 

     I chose the puzzle as a metaphor because a puzzle is everywhere before you finally get all the pieces in place. This fits our group and our additional discussion, because the inquiry process for little learners is so messy and everywhere. We are all struggling with how it will come together in our room. We see this wonderful images and videos of upper learners who can read and write and have social skills to work with one another. The littles are still living in a world that revolves around "me". We strive to build their social skills within a realm of learning. We decided that at 5, 6, 7 and 8 years old, inquiry is very messy because they are cutting out, coloring and trying all the pieces of the puzzle . . . and that's okay. 

     As a group we are at various stages of the inquiry process. I am currently trying it out. I began by trying a see, think, wonder for our weather unit. I learned a lot by starting here and could see, think and wonder about what my students are capable of. We developed questions and selected a few to pursue as a class. I allowed the kids to pursue further on their own. By doing both, I understand better where my class can go with inquiry next.  And so we completed our first 10 piece puzzle. I know now we can go bigger. 

     My next step lead us down one path with two pieces connecting to get us started. Our first piece is our new unit on Ants. I am excited to offer the kids whatever piece they are interested in. I am okay with everyone working with their own piece of the puzzle. They will be interested, it will apply to them and they will grow independently. I know now that they may pick up new pieces to connect to what they chose to start with. I know it will get messy and the pieces may be all over the room, but they will begin to connect. With the right scaffolds in place for each child, their own interest will lead them to learn something new . . . a lot. My next step is to let them be independent learners.

     The second piece is how it connects. Every child may have their own independent piece. I know now how the puzzle joins. Every piece is important as the puzzle is not complete until they all come together. I also understand that every piece is not directly connected and that too is okay. The picture still shares comment elements and no one piece is more important that the other. When the kids jump in to inquire about Ants, they will connect and make a big picture no matter what piece they carry in. I understand that the collaborate and go public piece can be at this age one in the same. The kids can collaborate to meet an end picture by each bringing a separate piece.

   I am super excited now to open the box and spread out the pieces (not the ants) so the kids can figure out how they go together. Messy pictures coming soon.

January Thinking in March

My research group is aptly name The Weavers, as we are interested in weaving  together the  standards we need to teach with an inquiry approach to teaching.  My specific interest is in finding appropriate teaching moments inside each workshop where I can do some sort of mini-inquiry.  Up to this point I have always put inquiry into the "research" part of teaching.  This inquiry group has started opening my eyes to all the little bits of inquiry that can fall throughout each day!

Unknowingly, I brought an intangible artifact to our meeting on Friday.  I had presented my kids with an unfamiliar topic (parentheses in math equations) and asked them to struggle with some  problems before I gave them any instruction.  I told them to ask questions, monitor for meaning, active schema etc. in order  to make sense of  the problems.  They could  collaborate with each other, and I went around to answer any clarifying questions.  After ten minutes, we came together for the lesson part of  our workshop which I started by letting them share their thinking on the problems.  At this point I hadn't even labeled it an "inquiry", but upon reflection with my group on Friday, I realized that it really was a super mini-inquiry.  

If I were to place this activity in the inquiry process, I was putting them in the immerse stage without really being intentional about it.  Now that  I know this, I will place these kinds of inquiries throughout my math workshop!

What I THINK I know...  that my kids have the critical thinking skills to access my curriculum through inquiry.

What QUESTIONS I have... How do I choose the standards that will set the kids up for successful inquiry in math, vs.those that might need some specific teaching of a skill previous to the inquiry?

How might  I be more  intentional in my planning so that I plan with inquiry in MIND, instead of it just ending up there?

What I want to EXPLORE next... I want to explore my questions!

February Post

During our inquiry meeting this month our group focused on what thinking strategies come easily and naturally to us.  We shared our examples in order to give each other new ideas because we each have different strategies that we do naturally/easily during different parts of our day (lit, writing, math, science, social studies).  The thinking strategies that I think come up easily for me in kindergarten are schema, creating sensory images and sometimes asking questions.   We have decided our next steps will be to focus on some ideas our teammates have and try them in our classroom.  Our next steps will be to think about the thinking strategies that were not talked about during our group time and ones we find most difficult and try to think of times during the day we can implement them.  The thinking strategies that feel unnatural to me and I really have to work hard on are determining importance, synthesizing and sometimes making inferences.  We will share our ideas at our next meeting.

I used to think that incorporating the thinking strategies into everyday lessons and "talk" was going to be so difficult for kindergarten and for myself.  I really did not think I would be able to do it. in my classroom gracefully.  I now think it is totally possible and becoming easier for me everyday.  The more I familiarize myself with the language and just do it (even when it feels uncomfortable and unnatural) the easier it becomes.  Some of the thinking strategy language is coming out of my mouth easily and naturally now............and even my kids are using it in their vocabulary......not always correct but they are attempting and that is really all that matter in Kindergarten.  The more you attempt vocabulary the more it will become party of your dialogue.

I think the pictures I posted last time are still relevant to this post.  I have my "Your Busy Brain" posters hanging in the classroom and these are visual cues for the kids to remind them what thinking strategies we have really delved into and remind them what they mean if they forget.  I don't point them out every time the vocabulary comes up any more which I think is okay because some of it just comes up naturally and easily and doesn't need a reminder (schema, creating sensory images).

February Post: Mini-Inquiries

(Pictures on their way...)

After diving in head first into my last inquiry unit and barely keeping my head above water, I thought it would be wise to take a step back and approach inquiry at a slower process. I have recently been inspired and reenergized by mini-inquires. They are concise, focused, and seem to arise authentically throughout a larger unit of study.

In class, we are reading the novel A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. The author beautifully juxtaposes two characters, Nya and Salva. Their two stories bring to light the plight of refugees during the Sudanese civil war and water inequities in developing countries. Since students have little to no background knowledge on the latter, many questions began arising during our reading. Many were answered as we read ahead, but some continued to linger. Specifically, the author describes in detail Salva’s journey through the desert as a Lost Boy, but she glazes over the hardships he faced in the refugee camps. The main character lived in the refugee camps for nearly 11 years before resettling in the United States, but the she only dedicated two chapters to this part of the character’s life. Naturally, my students felt frustrated and needed more information about life in refugee camps.

The following week, we engaged in a mini-inquiry about refugee camps through the eyes of Syria. Scope, a Scholastic magazine for middle schoolers, recently published a paired text about the Syrian civil war and the refugees that fled to Lebanon and Jordan. We spent a week reading, digesting, and adding to our understanding of the humanitarian crisis. Each day we watched a video or read an article from the magazine. Students worked in pairs to determine challenges the refugees faced and efforts that are being made to support them. At the end of each lesson, we regrouped to chart collected vocabulary related to our topic and to chart new wonderings. After analyzing 3 sources, there was still a long list of unanswered questions, so partners chose one question to further explore and found a fourth source to answer their question.

Since I found the first three sources, the final source was a good opportunity to do a mini-lesson on one research skill. From our previous inquiry unit, I noticed my students had a hard time narrowing their searches. So we spent some time talking about key words and tricks to narrow our searches. It was a singular mini-lesson, but it was effective with all students successfully finding a fourth source to answer their question. Students then went public by sharing their additional understanding with the class.

This lesson was an important moment for me in my understanding about inquiry, because I used to think that inquiry had to be a long, full unit. Initially, this felt overwhelming for me, and I was bogged down by all the mini-lessons that I didn’t foresee or that were unrelated to skills my students needed to understand. Now I’m understanding that less may be more…at least for now. During our mini-inquiry, we were able to explore a topic the students were naturally curious about while practicing our reading of informational texts and refining one research skill. I’m feeling confident that a series of mini-inquiries can build upon their research skills without feeling too overwhelming for them or for me.

When thinking about next steps, I would like to continue exploring and refining mini-inquiries. Our next one may be related to water issues. Although, the students are not as curious about this topic. Looking even further ahead, I’m wondering what I year of learning might look like if I started out with many mini-inquiries and then ended the year with a bigger inquiry unit after they fully understood the process and had plenty of time to develop the necessary skills to navigate their curiosities.