Inquiry Based Learning

Inquiry based learning is an interesting Idea. I see this in my classroom all the time. Children and adults what to know more than just your typical what where when and why questions. The article spoke about about how our traditional research was and is still based around those questions. But with the age of the internet and new technologies we can begin to learn and research things from many different approaches. 

I have to say though I am not truly impressed by the who concept. I think that I see this idea already implemented and I don't know if elementary and middle school aged children can choose topics that really help them grow as a learner. Im not saying that they aren't cable of learning important things on their own or that learning what they want isn't a good thing for growth as a student and person. Rather I think that we must guide the learning process which in turns means also guiding the subjects students may inquire about. If students choose topics without much depth I would think it would be appropriate to re-direct them and point them down a direction where they can ask questions like how did that happen or what will it be like if? As it said in the article we know that the internet and other technology resources are not always factual that is why we must monitor are students progress when they research their inquires. I could see my self using this in the class room for several reasons. I think right now in my placement if we had the time it would be a great activity for free time away from lesson or even a possible center. Kids what to know things and share it with the world. That is what makes inquire learning so interesting, not that it is new or somewhat different from regular research questions but rather its what the student or person is interested in. 

Owens-Where Do You Want To Go Today?

Interesting Article. "Inquiry Based" learning seems like a great tool to use. I think prior to reading this I may have thought that this is something I could have done and maybe thought of it more as teaching some sort of lesson/unit and allowing students to branch off of whatever subtopic interests them. I think I did this type of "research" all throughout my school career and can distinctly remember most of these experiences simply because I was very interested in what I was researching and it made the experiences that much more enjoyable and memorable.


When the article gave the definition of inquiry based learning the end of the definition said." . . they finally DO something with it (the information) " I think not only allowing the student to pick a subtopic and chose how they may want to present it to the class: in a poem, a PowerPoint, a paper, a collage, etc. also brings the child's interest in that much more. This type of learning allows the anxiety and frustration of many pre-chosen projects to be eliminated. "When children choose a topic of interest, they tend to remain engaged during the length of the study" (407).

I think that most of the times I thought that I was choosing my own topic to study it was usually after our class had studied or been introduced to a certain topic, so essentially we weren't really choosing our topic randomly but as a student I didn't realize this and felt empowered and excited as the opportunity. " . . if children have some prior knowledge related to the topic, their inquiries tend to turn out better than if they are starting from scratch"

I am excited to give my students opportunities for inquiry-based learning and create excitement that keeps them engaged. "Teachers can foster inquiries by sparking interest in topics that students may not have even considered on their own"

This article inspired me to give my students virtual experiences that spark cognitive thought and inspire and evoke curiosity. I really want to explore the various technological tools available to me as a teacher!

Teacher-generated Questions

Teacher generated questions are a comprehension technique that allow students to think about what they are reading and therefore remember more. In the article they are called QAR or question answer relationships. This technique encourages the students to take what they have read in the text they are going through and use it to answer questions that were generated by the teacher. They are then encouraged to answer the questions using the given information. Four main question types are

"Right There answer are found in a single sentence in the text.

Putting It Together or Think and Search answers must be found across the sections.

Author and You answers require the reader to infer the meaning from the text because the answer to the question is not stated explicitly.

On My Own answers rely on the reader's experience and knowledge. "

These types of questions help with student comprehension of what they read. I find this interesting because I feel that it is essential for teachers to ask their students questions that would help them make connections between what they read and what they know in real life. The questions can also help solidify in their minds what they read so that they remember the big ideas well.

Comprehension

This weeks reading on comprehension from Stahl's article was very relevant and interesting in that the comprehension model is not focused enough by primary teachers and is often done in ineffective ways. The strategies he discussed seem to be effective if used and model correctly by the teacher. The one I liked best is when the teacher built upon Question Answer Relationships which in-turn enhances the student achievement with comprehension. I think at every level of education students need to be guided in their comprehension of text and literature alike. It is not that more than one conclusion can be had but rather that we often need help in understanding bigger ideas. This way students get the full effect of an authors intention and have a better understanding of what the text is saying. We want everyone to form their own opinions and ideas behind writing but it is also important that we understand that many need assistance in sometimes getting there. Guided reading is a great place for this concept to take place and questions like what do you think they meant by that or what do you think will happen are great ways to help build our thought process around literature and the meanings expressed in its text. The other concept I found very intriguing was the Reciprocal theory and would love to see more of this in the classroom. We need students to feel responsible for their learning and find success with that responsibility. A great way of achieving this can be done through this model. If you give young learners the concept of discussing their stories they may develop a process that is essential to their future success in both education and in life. Comprehension doesn't just stop at literacy it only begins there. We use this technique to understand one another and learn how to get by in our daily experiences. Primary school can be the base on which we teach this but it requires devotion to the methods and concepts that Stahl has described. Only then we will learn to comprehend. 

Comprehension Instruction in Content Area Classes

I thought that specializing in language arts meant that I had a pretty good understanding of what comprehension was but I was wrong. Comprehension involves so many processes:

" . . .is an active, intentional thinking process through which the reader constructs meaning . . .word level processes like the ability to identify words quickly , accurately, and effortlessly and knowledge of the meanings of words"

A lot is happening as a student is reading and comprehending a text. I found the section about what "expert comprehenders" to be especially interesting. A reader has to bring their prior knowledge into the picture, figure out how to read the text, and after they do things like summarize their reading and clarify their understanding of the information they have just read. After giving it some thought when I read a challenging article, or any text, I do do most of these things without knowing it, my mind does go through various steps unconsciously in order for me to be able to comprehend and critically think about what I have just read.

As a future teacher one of the most important ideas in the text is as follows: "It is important to note that the ability to activate and use strategies . . .does not develop for students simply by providing them with opportunities to read. Instead many students benefit from instruction that explicitly teaches them a few research-supported strategies and then, over time, helps them learn to use such strategies in a flexible, coordinated, and self-regulated fashion" (368).

I never thought about giving a student a text and teaching them strategies for comprehension. The getting ready to read, while I'm reading and when I'm done, and the visual organizer graphics and lists that the author supplied seem like very useful tool in the classroom. I really enjoyed this article because it caused me consider the fact that we as teachers shape "expert comprehenders" and by doing so we give our students one of the most valuable tools for success in their futures.

No Parent left behind

No parent left behind is a interesting article in the sense that we should start there with no child left behind. If there is no relationship between school and home it has often proven very difficult for children and students alike to succeed. In the reading it mentions that most of these parents view education as important and have a fairly good impression of the public school. It becomes negative when they are written off or given adequate resources. A great line in the article was this, " .. educators must identify a way to create "effective partnerships " with parents that match the REALITY of many households." I bold the reality for the simple reason that in many low income homes reality there is more illiterate and less resource for teachers to rely on. We have to know that many children come to school with less than most of there wealthier piers. Even in many suburban schools kids still get the amount of literacy experiences we would like them to have. I believe it was do not just last week that we talked about the number of hours that children need before they come to school. For intense in the questions that parents answered they thought that the school shared the responsibility of reading and sharing stories with children. This may be true to a certain extent but unfortunately we need parents to read everyday to young people and in some format demonstrate that reading is fun and exciting. A great way to do this is having children read to there parents and family.

Opening Quality Lines of Communication

In the article Opening Quality Lines of Communication, a teacher tries to establish communication with his student's parents in the beginning of the school year. Assigning homework to the parents is a very creative way to become closer to students as well as the parents. It can be difficult to be in touch with parents especially in an Urban setting. This article argues that the more parents you, as a teacher, can be in contact with the better off your students will be.

When reading Marcus- Gifted and Challenging I realized I had never really thought about a gifted child being both gifted and challenging. It shows a case study where a boy named Marcus learns quickly and is considered gifted. Before reading this I never thought about the challenges gifted children face. They all have different areas they are good or bad at. Each child is different. I found it interesting that he was so frustrated with school as a whole just because he didn't like writing and had a hard time staying still. Because of these two difficulties he began to dislike things he had enjoyed before such as reading.

It also seemed that his brain developed quicker than his body. This was another thing I had never considered. According to the article, "The bones of the young child's wrist do not finish calcifying and children do not gain very much dexterity in their hands until about 7 years of age." Marcus had ideas that he was unable to put down on paper perfectly as he wanted. His motor skills were not perfected yet to the extent he needed them to be in order to keep up with his brain.

As teachers, we need to be aware of gifted students allowing them to grow at their own pace while trying to help with their frustrations. Having a child, gifted or not, shut down from frustration is never ideal. It is up to the teacher and parents to help as much as possible.

No Parent Left Behind

This article made me rethink my thinking about parents and school. I initially held some of the ignorant and negative thoughts about parents not being involved because I know, as the article supported, that students who have parents that are not involved and reading with them at home, etc. suffer. As embarrassed as I am I thought these parents were lazy or didn't care to help their children at home. In reality the problem can be explained more logically that parents are, "so busy with the day-to-day responsibilities if feeding, housing, loving and caring for their children that they have little time to support school-related literacy activities at home. They believe they are supporting their children's educational development and fulfilling that parental responsibility by sending them to school. where effective teaching can instruct them in literacy." I feel that because I have never had experience in a very urban low income school I was never able to get enough real life experience and interaction with parents who are struggling to, as the article describes, simply feed and house their children. It is not that they choose not to help them with school work etc. at home it is more that they are too busy to or they feel that they are not intelligent enough to. I found the article very eye opening. When the article discusses banishing resentment towards uninvolved parents I found this to be very true. One of the struggles that teachers in impoverished schools face is creating "effective partnerships with parents that match the REALITY of their households" The word reality encompasses a lot of meaning and changed my viewpoint and made me feel ignorant and judgemental for my past feelings.



I found the way in which the authors and researchers had, in essence hunt down and contact some "invisible" parents through community members very interesting. They had to make themselves accessible to the families and parents and be careful not to disrupt their busy and stressful lives too much by coming right to their homes or the schools to interview the parents.



When the one parents was quoted saying," She talk more better than me. More talk. Why you wanna do that? She need to read" Although I am tempted to feel angered at this response when thinking about how the child of this parent may suffer because of her involvement or lack of understanding I am able to be more understanding that she doesn't know she is harming her child's growth by thinking she only needs to read not talk, she simply doesn't know. She can't be blamed for not knowing.



The following quote makes me empathetic and face the facts of the "reality" that these families face. "with nine kids and two adults livin together in a house with two bedrooms, we don't have space or time for all the kids to homework." This makes me sad but I know that this real and families all over the county and most likely in the schools that we are at have similar home situations occurring. As teachers we need to be understanding and strive to solve this problem although I don't know exactly how because the chapter ended without posing any real suggestions for teachers. . .I guess the point of the chapter was more so to present data and change the thinking of the readers.

Scaffolding in the classroom

I have only had on experience in the classroom so far. But the first thing they do in the morning is listen to two or three students talk about a story they wrote themselves. After reading what they wrote the other students are able to ask questions and comment on the story. This is great way to build language skills and interaction between students. It helps socially behind students get a great opportunity to express themselves and be forced to practice there speaking and communicating skills. The most important part is that the teacher is able to guide positive feedback from student setting the rules ahead of time about what type of questions and comments can be asked. This is just one way that we can build students vocabulary and ability to socially interact.

Chapter 3, Gibbons

In chapter 3 we read about how certain text represent certain linguistic features. Then it went on to go over four stages. The first stage was about doing the experiment. Having students perform a science experiment and then having them discuss the methods they used and result is a great way to help language develop for many students. It gives some students opportunities that they would not have had without the group interaction. The next step was to introduce new vocabulary and i thought this was a great way to keep kids interested and at the same time continue to build their language skills. Having a deep vocabulary is great and when people learn new words they love to tell others about it. Its a great way to help build interest in education and good language skills. The third stage is guided reporting, this is like any guided lesson the teacher is working with the students to help demonstrate the proper language and ideas behind what they are learning. Its important for the teacher to model appropriate vocabulary and how its is used after they have learned the new words. Finally the fourth stage is Journal writing, having students write about their experiences is a great way for them to build strong literate skills and deepen there language ability. The book spoke about the prompt, what have we learned. Thats good but just writing anything is good for individuals thought process and developing interest in writing and language.

Scaffolding

Chapter 3 talked about a structure of scaffolding in a science lesson. There are four stages mentioned in which they are helped through the lessons.

1. Doing an experiment

2. Introducing key vocabulary

3. Teacher-guided reporting

4. Journal writing

Through these stages the ESL students are able to learn a little at a time and incorporate a little at a time so as to not overwhelm them with too much information. It seems to be very effective as the students are able to do the experiment and explore the experiment before learning all the new vocabulary. This allows them to put what happens into their own words and then apply the new vocabulary in stage 2.

Stage 3 is the teacher-guided reporting. This is especially helpful to the students because they are able to put their thoughts together but also be guided in the right direction by the teacher. The last stage is difficult because it is individual. Journal writing allows the children to write down their ideas that they went over first in a small group, then with the teacher, and now by themselves. They can sort out what happened in the experiment and also add the new vocabulary words introduced by the teacher.

This scaffolding method seems very affective in an ESL majority room and it could be helpful in a general classroom where maybe not everyone is ESL.

If there is something between a digital native and a digital immigrant then that's what I think I would fall under. My generation has grown up with the different technologies around them, however, I feel like I am pretty uncomfortable with most technology. I end up really stressed out mostly with computers. Cell phones seem to be easier for me to understand.

In the article, video games are brought up. I found it interesting that it said video games are able to capture attention for so long. It really made me think about the idea of copying the ideas to maybe incorporate it into the classroom creating longer attentions spans. Anything seems to be possible with new technologies always coming out. As teachers we need to be on top of all of it or as much as we can so as to help this new generation of students reach their full learning potential.

Digital Natives vs Digital Immigrant

I think I am definitely a digital native. Although there are many new technologies out there that I am unfamiliar with, for the most part I grew up with computers, cell phones, and video game consoles. Now my generation is obsessed with cell phone texting communication, playing "wii," and checking their facebooks.

The part of Marc Prensky's article that I found to be the most interesting was when he discussed multi-tasking:

"Younger learners have been multi tasking since their infancy. Whether listening to music while studying, instant messaging while in the classroom, downloading music while surfing the web, or speaking on the cell phone while writing a paper."

I have done and do all of these things. It really makes me think about our culture and that we are able to do so many things at once, rarely am I doing just one thing ever. I think teachers have to take this into account in their teaching. The generations we will be teaching may have a much shorter attention span to "lecture/recitation" type classes. I think incorporating technology into everyday curriculum is important because although there are many forms of technology that are more of a bother to learning, there are many that can be very conducive to learning in the classroom. Also children need to learn how to use certain technologies because the rest of their lives will include these technologies. I am excited for our class project coming up where we explore a new technology because I think this will be very important in my future classroom.

Scaffolding

Cannot complete this blog about students scaffolding in my classroom because I have not had a day in my placement classroom yet.

Scaffolding Language Scaffolding Learning CH3

My initial reaction to reading this chapter was that I was overwhelmed at the thought of having all but two students be ESL students. However, I have more understanding and respect for this teacher after reading the article.

I found the learning "centers" that she used with her students to be interesting.
1. Small groups
2.Introducing Key Vocabulary
3. Teacher guided response
4. Journal writing

"This cycle was repeated several times during the unit on magnets." (p43)

The fact that the teacher used this process repeatedly with her students, shows that the repetition is effective for her students. Her students got more and more comfortable with this sequence and therefore, they were able to learn so much from this sequence each time.

"What can we learn from this example? First, we can see again how small-group work supports learning" (p44)

Further on in the chapter the teacher explains the vocabulary to the students and she uses actions to reinforce her words. I found this to be interesting because I think using actions with verbal cues in any classroom is effective.