Inquiry-Based Learning -- I'm "ALL EARS!!!"

 

Inquiry-based learning has always been present in the classroom.  The difference is the role that the teacher serves in order to facilitate it.  I agree completely with Diana Laufenberg!  Where to obtain the information in order to learn has certainly changed over time.  Not only has the location changed, but so has the amount of information available, too!  This goes back to the week where we discussed "Information Overload"!  As a teacher, I must teach leaners how to develop a "growth-mindset", using "credible sources", and keeping in mind "digital citizenship"!  All things that we have read about and studied in FRIT 7234!

Inquiry-based learning in my fourth grade Math and Science classroom can take a variety of forms using a wide range of resources.  The FIRST place that it needs to be present is in the planning phase for each unit or topic in which I must research, collaborate, communicate, question, problem-solve, and understand what needs to be discovered by the students.  Once I know what should be expected out of the students, I must discuss with them and develop their learning goals together.  After we layout what evidence would prove that they understood and learned, the students would take control of the research and discovery of the content.  Next, the students would present evidence of learning to me in creative and informative ways.  Finally, we would all discuss and critique as a class in order to elaborate on what was learned and correct any misconceptions that may have developed!

In my opinion, what I just described above sounds like the ideal inquiry-based environment that fully facilitates learning!  However, in my experience, the classroom cannot look like this from day one.  It takes lots of training on procedures and routines in order to get to this point!  It also takes a behavior management system in your classroom that promotes respect between the teacher and students, as well as respect amongst peers.  Because of this, many teachers are sometimes "Inquiry-based learnophobes". (copyright pending!)  They are often scared to "Let Go!"  The reality is, if we were to fully adopt the principles of an inquiry-based model as a school, we would see the growth and improvement of our students.

Ideas For My Mini-Lessons:

• Each mini-lesson must start with a problem or question that will grab the students attention and ignite questions of their own. 
• These questions that the students develop should be used to guide the students in a discussion of ways to incorporate different resources and methods that may provide the answers to their questions. 
• A culminating task should be developed together in order to insure that the students know what is expected of them, and what evidence they will need to show in order to prove that learning occurred.
• During the learning process, students will use a set of curated resources in order to insure the resources are credible and contain information on the students' individual level. 
• Students should reflect on what was learned during the process and evaluate themselves on how close they are to completing their learning goals.  These reflections should communicate that the students understand the What, How and Why of learning that is taking place.
• Finally, they will complete the assessment and receive targeted feedback that should direct the students' future improvement.
• Throughout the process, students should display ethical citizenship.

No one likes a "Know It All"!

Having the growth mindset is very valuable!  I have had many students throughout the years that believe that they know it all and cannot learn anything new.  I also have had several students that believed they would never learn or succeed at anything.  Instilling the motivation for students to challenge themselves is one of the most important things that a teacher has to do.  Another major task is to make sure that students have the ability to accept failure and learn from their mistakes.  This is very important, especially when the RIGOR is the term I have heard more than any other in this past year!  I have had many teachers complain about how hard my class is and how hard my assessments are.  Many have said that they just cannot give their students such bad grades, especially those that are not used to making so low.  I have been asked, "Don't you feel like you are hurting your students confidence?"  MOST CERTAINLY NOT! I feel like the relationships that I build with my students and the conversations that we have after tests and challenging activities actually boost my students' confidence!

My goals at the beginning of this semester were to learn about new technology tools and utilize them in my classroom.  I feel that I have already used several tools that I have learned about.  I have used InstaGrok and Symbaloo to create different activities for my students.  I also have taken several things away from my PLN (lesson plans, strategies, tools, etc.) and implemented them in my classroom!  I think that having a growth mindset about my all of my grad school classes will help me through them.  Realizing that things are not always going to be easy, and I have to put lots of effort in order to learn the most out of each assignment will only help me in the long run.

Letting Go

I  enjoyed listening to the webinar and reading the blog post this week.  Teachers at my school  just finished reviewing and discussing the first FIP module.  This module had to do with summative and formative assessment, as well as student involvement during the learning process.  I have tried so hard to implement a variety of strategies to facilitate formative assessment practices and student directed learning throughout the year.  I was really excited to hear one of the men in the webinar ask about what to do with students that are on a different skill or developmental level when they arrive in a teacher's classroom.  The question ended up getting pushed to the side and not ever really addressed.  That has been my biggest problem this year as I try to implement effective teaching practices.  As a fourth grade teacher, my students have been pinged around to different teachers throughout their previous four years.  This causes my students to arrive with wide range of skills.  I would equate it to having one soccer team for the whole school.  On one end, you have the players who could make it professionally, and on the other, you have players who have never seen a soccer ball.  This makes it very difficult to "scrimmage", much less play the "game"!

The webinar said it best, "teachers are very uneasy right now".  It is hard to convince teachers to move away from the traditional model of teaching.  Telling them to "let go" and give the students more responsibility is like telling some to jump off a bridge.  Bottom line is, if we as teachers do not move toward this way of "school" and, instead, choose to stay where we are at, then we will, in a sense, move further away.

My favorite quote to end this post came from toward the end of the webinar when one of the men said, it is going to take "boots on the ground" to fix this, and that positive change was "NOT going to come from the top."

Reflective Searching

No...not as in searching my soul for deeper understandings about who I am!  But being reflective about my searching techniques and skills!

I see myself as a pretty proficient searcher.  I use Google at least once a day to find information, and I have been able to find what I needed with very little trouble.  I did pick up some tips and tricks from the video that helped me improve, because, after all, we can always get better!  I see myself as a "viewer" type searcher!  I think one of the main reasons is that I have never been a big "reader".  I tend to go through sites and resources quickly, and if nothing sticks out immediately, I move to the next in search of something to quickly finish an assignment or task.

Considering this fact, I think that I am very similar to typical teens in terms of searching.  The reading passage in, "How Teens do Research in the Real World", pointed out several things that I can certainly relate to!  I have a very short attention span, and procrastinate often!  In fact, I am very surprised I am writing this post tonight, instead of waiting until Tuesday!  I think these two factors contribute to my searching style.

The "Filter Bubble" is a little creepy to me!  After reading the articles and watching the videos, I am slightly unsure about how to "pop" mine.  I know that removing your cookies and changing some settings can help reduce it.  However, it doesn't get rid of it all together.  I guess I am just going to have to be careful what I click on!  Maybe even try to confuse the Internet by searching off the wall topics and throwing off the algorithm!

Is There An Off Switch?

Wow!  Talk about information overload!  Seriously...is there an off switch?  All of the items that we had to reflect on seemed to follow the same concept with exception to The Journey from Digital Literacy to Digital Fluency. We are all constantly learning, and we don't have any choice about it.  If a person were to find an off switch and flip it, they would be so far behind once they turned it back on that they may never catch up!  This can be very overwhelming for a person who is not accustomed to this large quantity of information (i.e. a person over the age of 25).  You know, those people who understand what a dial up signal sounds like, having to type in the command prompts, and why that save symbol in Microsoft Office is shaped like that!

But, fortunately for us, our students are accustomed to having this unlimited information.  We are also fortunate that children are naturally inquisitive.  It is our job as teachers to provide them with the skills to safely access the information,  teach them to determine what is accurate, and provide a means for presenting what they learned!

The teacher that is digitally literate is not too bad at doing this.  However, teachers that are fluent are great at it!  If all teachers would make it their goal to become digitally fluent, the possibilities of what we could do in the classroom would be endless!  I agree with the author of the last blog post, Karen Lirenman, it will be a "slow and painful process" to make the transition.  But how "exciting and invigorating" it will be!

Blog Post #1

Hello!  My name is Brad Boykin, and I teach fourth grade at Screven County Elementary!  I currently only teach Math and Science, and have two classes of students.  My class set up is set up so that I teach 5 rotations of small group math.  While I teach, the students are busy working in the other 4 rotations.  I current use several webquest type activities in order for my students to discover and explore different concepts in science.  They utilize Microsoft PowerPoint almost everyday to create presentations about all kinds of things.

I would like to continue to teach the way that I am!  However, I feel like I am not fully utilizing the many resources that are available.  I hope that I am able to learn about many different tools and procedures that I can use in my classroom to make my students' experience even better!  I am very excited that Dr. Repman is having us set up this PLN, because this will give me several more brains to pick to see what good stuff I can reuse!