April Post

This is it, end of the year!!!  We can do it!!!

We are still making our documentaries.  They continue to be excited about finding experts to interview and continue to take pride in their inter-personal skills. Most have finished their KWL and their research and are starting to film and edit.  I am excited to see the end products!  If you're dieing to know, the following are the expectations for the documentary:

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Documentary Expectations

The Format
A documentary could be described as a type of "non-fiction story."  Your documentary will be between 5-7 minutes.

Refer to the C-SPAN wesbsite for examples of student created documentaries.  

 http://www.studentcam.org/past_winners.htm

Refer to the following cite for C-SPAN downloadable clips on your issue.

http://www.studentcam.org/cspan_downloads.htm

Team Work -  100 pts
Before you get started, if you are working in a team, you should consider how the team is going to divide up the responsibilities. Typical roles may include: writer, editor, director, and videographer. Of course, one person can play more than one role

Research  -  200 pts
Research facts and opinions on your topic.  You must have a complete exploration of your issue.  You must have various opinions about your issue.  Cite all sources.

Interview an expert -   An attempt – 50 pts       An actual interview-  200 pts

Contact and interview an expert on your topic.  It can be an interview in person, via e-mail, or via phone.

Given out time constraint, I want to see you at least make an effort in finding and contacting and expert.

 Outline the Content  - 100 pts
Before production, you will  create a script outline, including storyboards illustrating specific shots. It should include: locations to explore, people to be interviewed, events to capture, situations to show, documents or still photos to include, artwork, quotations

Shooting Video – 200 pts
There are some basic rules to follow when shooting your video footage. You should consider lighting, framing, positioning, camera steadiness, speed of camera movement, sound, how many seconds you hold a shot, etc. A note about interviewing--think carefully about the questions and answers, the preparation, position, location and appearance of the interviewee. Careful planning can lead to better video footage for your final product.

Editing  - 100 pts
Editing is a critical phase of creating your video. Think of the editing process as similar to the writing process, and your video footage as the words you will use to tell your story. In what order will you arrange the story? What pieces work well together? What piece should be left out? How will it end? You may also realize you are missing some pieces and need to shoot more video. Determine your strategy of transitioning between scenes and which segments need voice-over narration.

You may use your phone, bring in your own tablet, the Chromebooks or the cameras at the school.  Search for video-editng software that will be compatible for your equipment.

Possible video editing software to use:

http://edtechteacher.org/apps/video/     (scroll to the bottom of page for full list)

 http://www.nchsoftware.com/videopad/

 
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When I was explaining this inquiry when we first started, I really wanted to discuss WHY we were doing this.  Sometimes when I start a lesson/inquiry I go over the "WHY" too quickly.  So not only did/do I explain it, daily, but I keep it up on the board.  When I first started thinking about the "WHY," I was amazed at how much it covers.  Just to name a few; we use our higher level thinking; we are creative and innovative; we use our communication and collaborations skills; we gather research and synthesize and process information;  we use our critical thinking, problem solving and decision making skills;  we use multi-media; we use our interviewing and inter-personal skills. Now that's a mouthful.

I have really enjoyed this year of inquiry!  It has forced me to allow the students to take ownership of their own teaching and learning.  They were up for the challenge and have carried it through to the end (almost to the end).  I am so very proud of them, and hopefully they will look back at their inquiry experiences and say that not only did they learn, but they had fun doing it!!!

April Post

Inquiry has had a positive impact on my teaching and student learning. I have found that I am more comfortable presenting most subjects with at least a mini inquiry approach. We started Geometry and I had no problem letting the students start by sharing their thinking, exploring and connecting, and finally bringing their thinking back. I have found that my lessons are easier and shorter when the kids have shared the learning they have discovered. I only need to direct their thinking or point out vocabulary they may need. I really love how that feels as a teacher and the kids love how it feels to learn it themselves.

I am still a bit uncomfortable with the long inquiry projects (our ants for example). While I still am guiding them on the main points, I am uncertain as to how long it will really take to complete this with all their own questions at hand. We have a deadline and a goal for presenting our learning, but I am anxious as to if we will make it. 

What is hard. . . all of it. In first grade you have a true variety of readers and writers. Making sure the material is appropriate and all the different scaffolds are in place takes lots of time on my end. The six and seven year olds have not yet learned how to self monitor. I continue to refocus them even while they are looking for one topic, I can only imagine (and yes I fear) what will happen when they are searching out their own question. In what I have seen from second grade and in my teammate's rooms, I know it is very messy in lower grades. It does not look like students on computers or quietly note taking from books. I struggle with how this learning looks to others.

Ultimately, I cannot wait to see the end product for these kids.

March - Blog Post (Really Late- sorry)

At the point of Spring Break, we had just received our ants. Our inquiry was really just taking shape. We created our chart of what we think we know to compare to our end learning. I provided my students with books and as I mentioned in my previous post a guided goal to all explore/inquire about.

We then watched our ants and began forming wonderings.

Then we jumped in by looking at what ants look like. (notice my drawing has legs on the abdomen - they should all be on the thorax on the what I think I know poster. The students looked for information about what an ant looks like, parts of and even that it is classified as an insect.

I cannot say we have a literature circle format; I guess for first graders it looks a lot different. The kids were each searching through non-fiction text in pairs or individually and marking pages for me to read (or reread) about our focus for that week. We then discussed and wrote items that fit on our web. Our discussions around the literature were on what to take from my read outs that met our inquiry focus.

I used to think this would not really fit inquiry, but I now see that even with a top as specific as what ants look like, the kids really got into searching out their own piece. Some wanted to know if ants were different colors or could be blue, others wondered if they were the same size and some questions grew out of it as to if the ants could regrow legs.

While all of our questions that evolved were not answered yet, students are on the right path to understanding the inquiry process (or start).

I am so glad I am taking it slow and a bit more structured than perhaps I could. I feel more confident as their teacher in allowing them to understand the expectations and process of inquiry. My goal is to allow them at the end of our inquiry to pick one wondering they have and allow them to go deeper and bring it back to our puzzle.

  

March Blog (A little late)

As we began out new unit of study in science I tried to approach my intended learnings for the students through the concept of inquiry.  The third and final unit for 5th grade is the Human Body.  On the introduction day of the unit I told the students that we would be starting a unit on our bodies and all of the systems that work together to keep us alive.  I was confronted with lots and lots of groans.  Apparently when you mention the human body to 5th graders they automatically think there is only one system and it's called the reproductive system.  After moving past the initial grumblings, the students were able to open their minds and prepare themselves to learn about the other systems.

I used to think the in order for the students to learn the science curriculum I would have to follow the tracks units.  However, after allowing the students to explore the musculoskeletal system and circulatory system through other avenues I have found the students much more engaged and accountable for their own learning.
I now think that students can really get passionate about their own learning if you get them the tools to use at their discretion but not as many guidelines.  Each day more and more kids will come in a tell me various facts about things they have researched at home.  I feel like for some of the kids they have been sparked to continue to explore how amazing our bodies are and how important it is for us to keep each system healthy.

At this point, we are wrapping up the heart and circulatory system.  Because the students have been so interested in the heart and keeping it healthy. I plan to give them some common heart problems to research so they perhaps take an active part now, while they are young, in working towards a healthy heart!

April- Wrap Up

This year I have been able to utilize mini-inquiries in our math workshop.  It has allowed me to find the balance between skill building and discovery.  My most successful lessons are when we work on a question of the day that can have more than one answer or a topic that they have yet had direct instruction on.  Students have time to talk at the carpet and give each other ideas.  They then return to their seats, work independently for a few minutes then return to the carpet to share with a different partner what ideas they worked on and where they are in solving the problem or how many ideas they have come up with.  The students then talk as a class and sometimes we have an anchor text that we read together and question as we go.  I have found that the level of questioning in my class is beyond where I expected.  When we were doing our measurement unit, one of my students asked the questions “Is there measurement in space?”.  At first I really, really wanted to just say ‘Of course!’ but instead I opened it up to the class and the discussion that ensued was amazing. We had an amazingly authentic debate that was respectful and insightful.  They had me thinking about all sorts of things…When are specific measurements important?  When are estimates better?  On this specific day we had so many questions coming up that I decided we should do an exit ticket with one question they still had or something new they learned.  Their questions were so outstanding that I decided to use a few of them for our question of the day-and they LOVED seeing their own questions being used that they started asking more and giving them to me on post-it notes ‘in case I needed more ideas’!! Here are a few examples of their questions:

I’m still unsure how to utilize inquiry on a larger scale.  Although we are using it most days, as I said earlier we are doing the mini-inquiries and they only take 1-2 days.  We have done them each week and I think the level of understanding in our units is far more than what I have seen in previous years.  Students are able to provide feedback to each other, and it’s not just ‘You did great’, it really is useful.  They give each other ideas and aren’t afraid to try things that they are unsure about.  It has been amazing to see the classroom transform!   

March- Investigated and Coalesced

I used to think... 

that inquiry was going to be very time consuming and difficult and that as an educator I wasn’t sure I was ready to take it on.  It seemed like a scary word that brought things like chaos, time consuming and too much planning to mind. 

Now I think...

 that inquiry is what I have been using to teach for a very long time-I just didn’t name it that.  I have come to realize that I use the mini-inquiry model combined with workshop to help my students think deeply about what they are learning.  The biggest change for my classroom this year is the way that my students interact and discuss with EACH OTHER.  As I have learned to fine-tune my teaching methods and really connect with who I am as an educator I find that I first focused on my classroom management, then the way that I questioned students and used the thinking strategies in our math work; and this year I focused on how to facilitate my students having the conversations with each other that allow them to deepen their understanding.  Although this year things really have come together, I feel as though without the work of my previous years it would not have been possible for my students to get where they are now.  It was as though this year all the pieces started fitting together and I had an outline to my puzzle and the picture became clearer as we put more pieces in throughout the year. 

Colorado Regions "mini" Inquiry

In March my kids set out on what was supposed to be a "mini" (meaning I thought it would take two weeks tops) inquiry into the three main geographical regions of Colorado- the plains, the mountains and the plateaus. After a bit of informal pre-assessing, I knew they were going to need a lot in the immersion stage. So, We immersed ourselves in textbooks, websites, maps, and videos. Using a modified version of the Think, Explore, Puzzle thinking routine they determined importance as they recorded noticing, thoughts and wonders in their journals.

It was about this time that Michelle added to my schema for literature circles. I'd never really thought about using them outside of the literacy department, but I figured I could try it. Once the kids chose the region they were most interested in, the got in groups of three and read an article pertaining to their region. They already had been reading in lit. circles most of the year with Gretchen, so it was a very smooth connection to what it might look like in my room. 

Using their literature circle conversations as a starting point, each region group had to tackle our guiding inquiry question- How might the physical and man-made features of a region provide challenges and opportunities in that region?

So two weeks into our "mini" inquiry we were finally ready to do some research. This immersion stage was SO important that is took some time to get through. I practiced letting go of a specific timeline, and met them where they were. Their research revolved around determining which features were going to be important to that region, and then inferring challenges and opportunities using what they had learned about the regions so far.

The going public stage was by far the most entertaining part of this inquiry.  With only two days before spring break to put their learnings together in a presentation of sorts I was worried it would be total chaos.  Which it was. But when given the pressure of time, they stepped up.  Quality didn't go down either.  They were so into their learning that they even did work at home and brought it in to continue working on (without me even giving the option!).

So where am I in my own inquiry of how to fit standards into the inquiry process? Well, I struggled with guided their thinking as much as I did with the guiding question, and I'm not sure I would do it the same if I had it to do over. I still ponder how much of the inquiry process needs to be their own curiosities and how much I need to guide them so they are somewhat learned in the ballpark of what the standards are asking for. I know that the standards do have a place in inquiry, but I'm not actually sure that I have figured out how to weave them in yet!

Standards for Mathematical Practice and Inquiry

I am on a continued quest to embed inquiry into my math lessons with fourth graders, and I am finding that I am continuing to ask, "What does inquiry look like?"  As I read our book and learn about the different types of inquiry, I don't see any that fit for math. Is it enough for me to be a better questioner, or do I need to go full on Open Inquiry?  How can I do an Open or Curricular Inquiry when there are specific skills that students need to learn in math as they progress through fourth grade? 

Obviously, there is a continuum when implementing inquiry into the classroom.  Some of what I do is much more inquiry based than others.  I used to think that all inquiry was open inquiry, with students choosing their own path for learning.  With the demands of standards (CC or otherwise) now I think that most of what I do in math is going to be curricular inquiry.  Although, that doesn't really seem to fit either.  Now I am thinking that the inquiry piece may be around how to build math THINKERS in my classroom.

My current focus from now to the end of the year in math is how to effectively integrate the Standards for Mathematical Practice into our thinking strategies for math because I think that if I make these my focus, it will change my entire approach.  It will also honor the different learning styles in my classroom and allow me to take a thinking approach to whatever type of math I am teaching.

The Standard for Mathematical Practice:

describe varieties of expertise that mathematics educators at all levels should seek to develop in their students. These practices rest on important “processes and proficiencies” with longstanding importance in mathematics education. The first of these are the NCTM process standards of problem solving, reasoning and proof, communication, representation, and connections. The second are the strands of mathematical proficiency specified in the National Research Council’s report Adding It Up: adaptive reasoning, strategic competence, conceptual understanding (comprehension of mathematical concepts, operations and relations), procedural fluency (skill in carrying out procedures flexibly, accurately, efficiently and appropriately), and productive disposition (habitual inclination to see mathematics as sensible, useful, and worthwhile, coupled with a belief in diligence and one’s own efficacy).   --http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Practice/

The idea of working thinking routines into math class is not a new one to me. Nor is an emphasis on discourse and writing.  But I am frustrated by the way new things seem to come down the pike, without any connection to what is already in place.  With a continued concern that kids cannot transfer their knowledge from content to content, I am interested in streamlining what I am doing in terms of setting expectations for thinking and understanding in fourth grade.

My plan is to lead students in an inquiry lesson where they pull from their schema about the thinking strategies and connect the SMP to each.  We are going to do one (Questioning) together as a class and then students will do the Chalk Talk routine to connect them.

How does this all connect to inquiry?  I am thinking that if I can do a better job of setting the expectation that, "These are the ways you will be expected to think in math," then that will lead us to much richer, inquiry-based math learning.

Inquiry Evolving...Handing Over Responsibility to my Students

With all the interruptions of PARCC and the like, it has been challenging to keep this inquiry project as my first priority to my kids.

As we have delved (if that is a word) deeper into the world of Student Inquiry and research, many things have become clearer and clearer to me.  In a nutshell, the kids have read many short non fiction biographies of people famous in Colorado history.  At first they were not "thrilled" about what they would be reading, yet as they did, the positive vibe in the room became very apparent.  While the books were short, 30 pages max), they were easy to read for all students, and the questions and discussions were quite deep.  Kids were asking if they could read more of the books during their daily Independent Reading time...pretty impressive considering their reluctance at first.

After reading several titles, the kids began deciding who they wanted to know more about.  They decided whether they wanted to work independently, or within groups.  From there, I introduced several research sites, brought in as many books as I could find on each person, and then we were off.  

Here's What I thought:

• Research would be easy and questions would be answered.
• Students would decide how they would present their new learnings to their class (becoming the teacher).
• The entire process would take 1.5-2 weeks to complete

Here's What I learned:

• During the testing season it is very difficult to access information due to lack of computers.
• Questions needed to be narrowed and teacher guidance is needed
• Giving students too many choices on how to present their learning needs to be limited

I'll keep you posted on how this ends up.

March Post

My last inquiry finally ended two weeks ago.  It was not the most stellar.  As stated in my last blog, Lynn Knowles and I did some cross-curricular work together.  The 7th grade did an inquiry on Medieval times and 8th grade did one on the Civil War.  I left it open as to what they wanted to research within those subjects, yet they were not too happy that I actually gave them "the topic."  They were not as into it as the previous inquiries when they could choose their own topics.  So, I used to think that students would like to do a cross-curricular inquiry, yet I know now that they didn't.  At least this one.  Although, I will not stop incorporating cross-curriculum into my teaching.

Now we have started a new inquiry.  They are sooo much happier with this one.  Thanks to Jessica's great idea of having the students make documentaries!!!  They are loving it!  They can choose their own topic this time, yet I did give them the documentary expectations.  One of them is they need to at least attempt to contact and interview an expert on their topic, either via phone, e-mail or in person.  They would get a large amount of extra credit if they could actually get an interview.  Wow, was I ever surprised!  Every group is going crazy with their interviews!  They are basically getting a majority of their research from the experts that they are interviewing.  I don't think the extra credit has been the motivator, I believe that they really want to find out information from actual people and to use their interviewing skills.  They are so excited, as I am!  So, I used to think that the students wouldn't want to go that step further and use their communication skills, and now I know that they are craving to use their communication skills.  What an excellent way to end the school year!!!

March Post-where am I now

After the students created their "wondering" sticky notes that easily fell into various categories and we created the Weather Systems Inquiry Menu, each student highlighted the area of inquiry that they were interested in.  Students then began to research their area of interest.  In order to help guide their research, I gave them several student friendly websites to visit Weather websites. Since the students had been through the research process previously with Ms. Cramer, they had some great organizational skills and most used google documents to organize their information.  The students were given three weeks to do their research.

I used to think. . .

• that students would naturally push themselves to dig deep into the topic that they were researching
• that students would reach out to various sources besides the internet to do their research
• that students had all of the skills needed to put their research into their own words
• that students understood how to format a presentation
• that students were more skilled in presenting in front of a large group

Now I know . . .

• even though students have the freedom to pick their own inquiry topic within the menu, they need to be guided through deeper thinking
• students love to use the internet and not books (go figure), but they need guidance to appropriate sites
• students need mini lessons in how to put their thinking into their own language instead of copying and pasting the words of others
• students need mini-lessons in how to format a presentation.  For example, understanding appropriate font size, background color, how and when to include visuals, graphs, pictures, etc
• students need mini-lessons in how to present in front of a large group.  For example, how to use a google presentation as a guide for their presentation versus just reading off each slide, appropriate projection of their voice, body language, etc.

In reflecting on this inquiry process, I would use all of the above mentioned to adjust my instruction within this inquiry project.

March Post - ECE Literature Circles

1. Where are you now in the inquiry process? What are your next steps?

As we go enter the home stretch of the school year, I continue to wonder how to make our prescribed ECE inquiry based curriculum feel more authentic. I keep wanting there to be some type of set protocol or linear routine for me to follow and I have to remind myself that inquiry can be messy. Instead of thinking about a linear structure I should think of it as a web of investigations that culminate in the development of schema or deeper understanding of a topic for our little guys. 

Where I struggle is that our curriculum usually provides some very basic investigations around 5-6 essential questions. Time is left at the end of each study for children to explore their own investigation. The issue for me seems to be that most of the questions posed my students tend to be covered within the 5 prescribed ones or they are not seemingly meaty enough for larger investigations.

I've come to the conclusion this is where I need to refocus, be flexible and consider even the smallest types of inquiry. For example, we recently used the See Think Wonder routine during our Building Study. When the children looked at a picture of a person building an igloo, the questions were less around less about the person building the igloo or the material he was using and more about what was inside the igloo leading the children to think/wonder if it was a home or a trap for animals. There were a variety of interpretations about the picture and yet none of the groups I worked with considered the igloo a home for a person and it took a ton of modeling for them to think about how something could stay warm inside something made of cold ice.

Considering their misunderstanding of igloos, I am thinking about using it as a topic for a mini investigation at the end of our building study. Maybe it will be as simple as reflecting on our disucssion about the picutre and modeling where to find information about igloos and what makes a building a home for people. Any ideas are welcome. Ideally, the chidlren could build their own igloo!

*Instead of taking dictation during our igloo discussion, I recorded it so as to keep the conversation flowing. I therefore do not have pictures to share outside of the picture I used of the igloo. (will attach later)

 

2. Use the 'I used to think, now I think' protocol to tell your reader about the progression of your thinking. 

As for literature circles, I used to think...how in the world does this apply to ECE when our kids don't even read. Then enter Ann Christensen and her amazing guidance on shared cognition. Her recent PD helped me understand how we as ECE and Kindergarten teachers can more effectively provide rich literacy experiences for our students. The foundation she shared with us is sometimes referred to as reading readiness where children are labeled as “ready” or “not ready.” The questions she explored with us were “How do children get ready? What does it look like when they are ready? What happens to children who are not ready?” To support reading readiness, she introduced us to the 3 Ts (Thinking, Talking, and Text) and the definition for rigor in early education. Rigor in ECE equals actively engaged students and the ability for them to do independently what a teacher has taught them in small group. 

While I feel like her ideas were already at the core of my teaching practice, they made me think about how to engage my students during read a loud and use small groups more effectively. Before this PD, I thought I was doing well by modeling good reading strategies during whole group and using small groups for more hands on learning experiences/activities. I now understand how this may only be supporting some of my students (those who already have a strong language base and are not shy in using it) and not all. 

Ann recommends continuing to use whole group read a loud but then supporting all students by doing the 3Ts in small group using carefully chosen reading material and realia for the children to explore and drive discussion. This way, we offer all students a less intimidating environment to talk, explore and inquire which in turn hopefully engages them in the learning experience and deepens their understanding/connections about a topic and/or the reading material. 

This PD was really powerful considering all of our discussion about literature circles. I can now see how they can apply to ECE. I therefore plan to use the 3 Ts strategy both in our investigation about igloos using a non-fiction text as well as during our investigation of what makes buildings strong using the book The Three Little Pigs along with building realia such as straw, bricks and sticks etc. 

* I will use my next post to share photos and my reflection on these experiences.