Tag: inquiry

My Challenge with Inquiry-Based Learning

My Challenge with Inquiry-Based Learning

The longer I teach in the PYP, the more I recognize how much learning I have to do, especially since I am coming from an American educational background, in which my own student learning experiences did not include inquiry-based learning, let alone my professional teaching training. I’ve had little framework in my personal life experience. So I often find that I have to step away from national standards and think about how I can best construct meaning of the central idea. Most of the time it feels exciting, but sometimes it feels overwhelming–there’s so much unknown as I am a guide on my student’s learning journey. And I’m often wondering to myself: Am I doing this right?

I’ve decided that my that the only way I know I am moving in the right direction is if I see that student action is taking place. Are students taking personal responsibility in their learning? Are they inspired into action?–do they need a nudge or a push to get them moving?

student-action-motivator
Taken from Jessica O’Hanley’s webpage

Granted not all action will be a project or consist of a product. I love how Sonya Terborg’s blog lays out 6 ways in which action can be demonstrated by:

  1. Having-more knowledge, more care, more determination and more respect.
  2. Thinking differently-wondering and/or changing your opinion.
  3. Feeling differently-empathizing, loving, admiring, worrying or feeling inspired to make a change.
  4. Doing something or NOT doing something like giving time, money and effort to a cause or stoping a behavior.
  5. Saying-explaining, discussing, debating, asking or thanking.
  6. Being-changing one’s behavior as to be more patient and respectful

I think when I use these ideas as guideposts, I can reflect better on the inquiry and determine what worked and what didn’t work. And, like all things, I need to remain patient with my learning journey, staying open to the process of discovery and growth in this professional area of mine.

I wonder how other educators determine if they are successful in their practice of inquiry based learning. Please share what you consider as your markers of success!

 

 

Ancient World, Modern Times

Ancient World, Modern Times

Have you ever taught a unit that you wanted to do over again-either because you bombed at it or because it was so engaging? Well I’m closing the year on a high because this unit went so much better than expected.

Our central idea was: Ancient civilizations have influenced many things in our modern world.

The art teacher and I decided to use the Greek civilization as our model for an influential civilization. The history of us provided the fodder for our discussions and then we began to talk about the Greek philosophers as we began tuning into and engaging into our unit. The students were intrigued by Socrates, mostly because he drank poison. These lively stories cultivated a keen interest in crafting questions that “hurt our brains” to think about, as we explored metacognition.  img_9429-1

As we delved into aspect of the Greek civilization, I decided that I would focus on reading content of our unit on myths and legends, Greek and Latin roots in our English words, while developing their listing and speaking skills. I provided a variety of media sources other than books, and decided to introduce them to podcasts to add a twist to the listening skills. Listen Current  was a great resource and provided listening guides for their podcasts which was very ELL friendly and helped us to tackle challenging vocabulary terms.

I asked them what ancient cultures they were curious about and explained that we would do podcasts, in which they interview each other about their civilizations.They were so excited, which genuinely surprised me. It was hilarious to see them craft questions for these interviews that were meant to “hurt each other’s brains”, going deeper than their typical questions.  We used the app Spreaker Studio to create very simple podcasts.

The podcasts took longer than I expected, as they needed more guidance with writing scripts and all those tricky questions made it a bit of a challenge to find research materials that were at their reading levels. However, it created a need to find multiple sources of information and it was a true RE-SEARCH unit, in which they had to keep reading, watching videos and keep looking for information on the internet.  They would stop and discuss their civilizations naturally and made a lot of great connections. The students researched the Aztecs, Chinese, Egyptians, Incas, Mesopotamians, Mayans, Norse, Romans and Nubians.

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My co-teaching partner and I had talked about having the kids put together a “museum of ancient history” as summative task, but the podcast ended up taking up more time than we expected and instead we had them decide to take something that we take for granted in our modern world and trace it back to its ancient roots. Students chose topics that resulted from some things that they learned about from these podcasts–from armor to lipstick, from books to medicine. It was a rich variety of topics. The kids made “fortune tellers” that described the why and how of this invention, and then they shared them, taking turns with each other.
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Although I would do things a bit differently if taught again, it is a good feeling to know that our students can appreciate the drive, creativity and curiosity of ancient people. I was generally concerned if this was too heavy of a history unit, but the curiosity and motivation sustained itself.

 

 

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Have you ever taught a unit that you thought would be awful and turned out great OR vice-ver
sa, you thought it was going to be wonderful and turned flat? I wonder what makes students’ so committed to their research on topics.

 

 

My Quest to be a Know-It-All

My Quest to be a Know-It-All

Professional Development is something that I take seriously, and I am constantly researching about the latest developments in education and I am eager to share with my colleagues what I have learned. When I’m not reading, I’m engaging in Educational “Hangouts” or Twitter chats. I love MOOCs and take at least 3 a year.

I have highlighted just some of my professional development that I have formally received.

Professional Development that I have attended:

  • Introduction to the Primary Years Programme Curriculum Model (International Baccalaureate)
  •  Teaching and Learning (International Baccalaureate)
  • 3-5 Year Olds (International Baccalaureate)
  • Role of the Coordinator (International Baccalaureate)
  • Differentiated Instruction (Staff Development for Educators)
  • Digital Learning (Intel Teach to the Future Program)
  • Structured English Immersion (Arizona State University)
  • Systematic Change in Reading  (Arizona Department of Education)
  • Conceptual Based Learning in Math (Math and Science Partnership Grant, University of Arizona)
  • Enhancing Creativity (University of Phoenix)

I also have an IB Webinar Pass and frequently listen and learn from new and archived webinars, as well as IB conference talks on iTunes. As a member of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), I regularly attend webinars and online courses offered on topics such as formative assessment, managing differentiation, and creating high quality units.

On My Bookshelf (or Kindle)

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Our Trip to the Outback

Our Trip to the Outback

As a part of EY4’s final task on their unit about how people use transportation systems to stay connected, I decided that the summative task was going to be a rather large scale simulation of a trip. Originally I had thought that I could have them individually plan a trip, but then I worried that it might be too basic–a trip to the shop to buy ice cream, for example–so I wanted us to experience the  idea of a system, which is more complex and involves many steps.  We came up with a list of different countries around the globe: Egypt, Australia, Italy, Korea, and Mexico. We researched the countries and determined a list of reasons why we might go there:

  • seeing interesting places
  • trying new foods
  • seeing family  (in some cases)
  • meeting new people
  • having different experiences
  • seeing different kinds of animals
  • shopping

Then we researched the countries–what would be the interesting things to do, see or eat? Students got really excited to go to Egypt and Australia, although Italy, with its pizza, was close behind. We took it to a vote, and Australia won.  We took an interest survey of what students would like to do there.  Next, we started to consider how we might go to Australia. We looked at maps and thought about how long it might take us to go there. Most students agreed that taking an airplane was the most sensible form of travel, although one student did suggest that a submarine could be faster. Since we had never been on a submarine, it became a ” I Wonder” and a point of inquiry. I love when we chase up these wonderful imaginings (and yes, there is a supersonic submarine that is in the making which would be faster than an aircraft, but its not ready yet). 

After that, we set into motion getting our passports ready, our tickets “booked”, and packing our bags. I had a wonderful Australian mum help me with the snacks for our in-board flight, our Humanities teacher was one of the tour guides when we “arrived” in Sydney, and the art teacher provided me with some inspiration for Aboriginal dot paintings for our visit to the “Australian Children’s Art and Culture Museum”.

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Everyone boarded Tiger Airlines to Sydney and enjoyed in-flight entertainment and snacks. Then they were met by Mr Horton from Outback Tours who took us to the Kangaroo Park and we even saw Koala Bears. After our tour, we headed to the Australian Children’s Culture and Art Museum in which we made dreamtime paintings, read and watched cultural videos, and made didgeridoos. It was a lot of fun and the kids learned a lot.

So the summative task involved:

  • Country preference ranking
  • Country research (topics explored: foods, places, animals)
  • Interest Survey
  • Trip Reflection

As you might imagine, it was very successful. The students really got a sense of how involved taking transportation can be. Even my students with little English were able to participate fully, and, although it was hard to articulate their reflection, I had enough evidence to demonstrate that understanding took place.

A journey of a 1,000 miles

A journey of a 1,000 miles

I feel like teaching is a journey, never really “arriving” anywhere except for where I am on my path towards excellence. I’m in the midst of my own inquiry, to “Know Thyself”, not only as an educator, but as a person. I’ve enjoyed co-teaching and playing with others in a classroom space and am grateful to have learned how to bridge the cultural gap when it comes to international teaching.

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Small school, Big Hearts

Small school, Big Hearts

We were invited to an Emirati home and our grandfather explained how the Bedouin tents were traditionally constructed and designed.
We were invited to an Emirati home and our grandfather explained how the Bedouin tents were traditionally constructed and designed.

Socialization is an important element of my classroom.  In today’s world, our relationships are vital to our ability to succeed in the “real world”, and I believe that we must develop a children’s attitudes to learning so they can become role models, not only academically but also behaviorally.

I love it when we reach outside our classroom and into various aspects of our community. Since I live and teach in a village, Liwa, my options are a bit scarce, however I find it even more relevant and necessary to find connections. We have been asking more teachers, students and members of the community to become involved in our learning. Whether we ask them to come in as guest speakers, conduct home visits or invite them to share in our learning, I find that the kids really enjoy the various interactions.

It has been wonderful to see how the community has responded to our requests. We may have a small school, but our community has a heart–a Big Heart–and they love our children and are happy to find ways to encourage and support our littlest of learners.

Here is an example of how we build relationships with other students at school.  In this example, older students are reading with my Kindergarten students with books related to our unit theme.

 

 

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