Hi!
I thought that since your project proposal said that you were creating a journal that you might like to share some thoughts and ideas in a blog format. So, voila! Here is a blog space to get started on the process.
I hope you will use it to share ideas, resources, thoughts, ideas and opinions. Sometimes, you do not need to Skype, you just want to write about your thinking. So, I hope this will tickle your thinking and prod you to blog your mind out!
Have fun!
Day 1
ReplyDeleteMy goal over the next few days is to really try to articulate how this project will look in the classroom. These are my “hopes and dreams” for myself, and my students during the course of the project.
1. That through their response to open ended questions, my students would develop stronger expressive language skills. I hope to see and hear that their learning is embedded in their natural conversations as they work and play together.
2. I hope that students will become more engaged in their work and will be able to increase the time they spend focused on a task. I need to ensure that the work has just the right level of challenge and support in order to really capture their interest.
3. I am interested in seeing how the prompts used in OLA sessions will encourage students to dig deeper and express their ideas more completely in other areas of the program, particularly in Math and Science.
4. This project will greatly assist me in creating a rich, inquiry based classroom for my students. Over time, I hope that the questions will come not from me, but from my students. Through gradual release of responsibility, students will begin to develop and answer their own questions in their own collaborative environment.
5. I am really looking forward to collaborating with other teachers as we develop and implement the project. I think our use of technology throughout the project is very exciting, and hope that it will bridge the great distance between Kenora and Red Lake. I hope that through Skype, blogging and e-mail, we will truly develop a strong picture of what is taking place in each other’s classrooms.
6. I hope that through my focus on questioning, I will improve as a teacher, in my ability to provide my students with meaningful and engaging work every day. I hope to provide my students with rich opportunities for higher-level thinking. When I observe my students in the classroom, I want to see that what they are doing is purposeful.
Today is my first release day. This has been much needed as I haven't had a great deal of time to develop the project. I am almost through Debbie Miller's "Reading With Meaning", and I am absolutely loving it. She certainly teaches with passion - what a role model.
ReplyDeleteSo far, I have written a number of prompts on sentence strips. These have been posted above our meeting area. I am hoping these prompts will help me to ask better questions during read alouds and small group reading.
I have set up a file for each student using iMovie. I imported either a photo or video footage of each student. I then recorded a conversation with each student. I tried to ask open ended questions during each conversation. My goal is to do this every Friday to try to capture what is going on in the classroom. It took about 30 minutes to meet with each student. Shelly was in working on Oral Language at the time.
Today, I plan on ordering materials for the classroom. I have struggled with this. As I looked through the catalogues at our school, I saw that many, many items designed for Kindergarten are not open ended (with the exception of building materials and math manipulatives). Everything seemed very commercial to me.
I am planning on ordering books that will be our "Springboards into Inquiry", interesting items for the "talk boxes" which I will talk more about later, "Question Mark stickers" to stick on the talk boxes, a few science items, a few new sets of building materials, a few props for dramatic play and a few open ended math materials from, dare I say, a Montessori supplier.
This is quite varied! I will really have to stretch those dollars, but the great thing is that all of the materials will support inquiry learning.
This week, we started our "Build It" Science Unit (Wings of Discovery). This Unit will really help me get the ball rolling as it is very open ended. The students were asked to bring in all sorts of cardboard, wood scraps, duct tape etc. to build with . My room looks a lot like a Recycle Depot right now! The students will be required to plan and then build. I can hardly wait to see all of their creations! (And send them home LOL).
These are all such great thoughts Kerri. It is great that you have captured them on the blog.
ReplyDeleteI am wondering how the assessment portion of this will look. How will you know when you are reaching your hopes and dreams? What are the criteria for success? For your students? For yourself?
It is great to read your candid thoughts and ideas and I have a much clearer picture of what you are working on.
Thanks!
Mary
Hi Kerri. Thank you for inviting me into your blog. It is so exciting to read about your project and the goals you hope to accomplish with your students. I have always loved the idea in theory of the inquiry model but have wrestled with the idea of curriculum and letting the "study" be driven by the student's questions and ideas for investigation. As teachers, we are by nature planners, and I am good with letting go of control and handing it over to the students but only to a point. I wish we could just go with what they need and want to study - but the curriculum is always there ... Anyhow, I have a great book on Inquiry based learning in practice and like Debbie Miller, it is a great read! Please let me know when you have finished RWM and if you'd like I will courier it to you. The title is Ladybugs and Swirling Tornadoes (I think). I loved it and refer to it from time to time to work my way through this thick wall in my brain.
ReplyDeleteAgain, thanks for letting me in!
Tammy
We are continuing with our building unit, and yesterday I introduced a planner. The students had to respond in pictures and words to the following questions;
ReplyDelete1. What do I need to do?
2. How will I do it?
3. What will I use?
The completion of the planner went amazingly well. I was surprised at how quickly they wrote their ideas down. The actual building part was interesting. Many students chose materials (while completing their planners) that I knew would not work, but I had to let them find out for themselves. A few students were frustrated and were reluctant to go back and change their plan and materials. I allowed them to have a second attempt at the activity, this time building the structure first, and then completing the planner. Some found this helpful.
I photographed their structures and asked them questions about their work using the iMovie program. Each student now has two entries. I noticed that several students did not have the vocabulary they needed to provide the complete response I was looking for, so I will work on this.
As for assessment, well, this is certainly becoming a self assessment of my teaching as I am really analyzing what the students are soaking in. I will be able to assess their ability to respond to open ended questions, and their ability to make connections in their learning. The students are also writing down what they are doing. Hopefully, over time, their writing will be more detailed.
Tomorrow is the "Big Building Day". We have boxes of wood ready to go. Hopefully we will get through it without any injuries!
Kerri