Thanks for sharing the results of your first inquiry science lesson and posting a question that you still have about how to "inquirize" your teaching. For this week's blog, we'll begin by considering these questions. Choose one of your classmates questions and offer them a suggestion. Be sure to refer to the reading on "inquirizing" your teaching as you answer the question.Next, think about our exploration of culturally responsive science curriculum last week. Take a moment to explore the curriculum resources for implementing Indian Education for All (IEFA) on the class wiki, then consider your current field experience placement. Which IEFA curriculum could you use in your current field placement? Why? How would you use it? What would you want students to learn? (Don't forget that this includes an exploration of the OPI Indian Education website as well.)
9 comments:
A possible answer for the question “A question that we still have when teaching science is what if you are teaching an inquiry lesson, and the students are not understanding it...what do you do?” could be to continue to ask guiding questions. Possibly have a list of questions ready for students in case they are not understanding the concept being taught. These questions could be listed from simple to more complex that way you can use the simple questions first and they could lead to the more complex questions which could possibly lead to more inquiry by the students themselves.
I really enjoyed the four directions teachings and I would most definitely use it in the 2nd grade classroom I am currently observing in. These interactive teachings are very educational and they provide a wonderful visual learning experience for students, it’s also very informational and authentic. It offers a direct viewpoint from the Mohawk people and is not influenced by white culture. I would use the Mohawk teaching because it would be very beneficial to discuss their creation story with the scientific content of evolution. I would first discuss the scientific notion of creation or evolution then I would ask students questions like, does everyone believe this notion? Are these people wrong? What groups have different creation concepts? Who are they? What do they believe? Are their even more groups? After the class had a discussion and came up with some other populations who don’t believe in what was just taught then I would show the interactive teaching to the class. We could discuss it and students could do journal entries mentioning what they’ve learned and what their belief systems are. I would want my students to learn and understand that the concepts and beliefs they learn in school and at home are not what everyone believes in or is taught. It allows students to see that there are other cultures and belief systems other than their own.
Since Chris and Kylie are the only other people who have been able to post as of yet, I suppose I will do my best to answer their question. “When you have an inquiry based lesson and the students are not getting it what do you do?” I agree with Raenelle when she suggested having more “guiding questions.” I think if the students do not understand the underlying principles it might be handy to have a “store” of questions that might lead them in the right direction. Another suggestion I would make is based off of my interpretation of the “Inquirizing” article. I was surprised when I read this article because I was under the impression that you had to have the students explore first and then discuss the material, but as this article states is it is actually more beneficial to engage and discuss with the students the activity, and concepts then letting them come up with their own questions to explore. (This article cleared up my misconception about “exploring/engaging”) So with Kylie and Chris (though I do not know how your lesson went or what you did-so you may have already tried this…) if my students were not understanding the concepts I would have the students come back together and conduct a more teacher directed “engage” phase, where we explore the materials as a class then have them ask questions about what they want to test. After we have orally discussed their questions, I would have the class select one question to focus on and create an experiment to test it. At this point if they understood the concepts you could break them into groups again, or if they still needed more guided instruction keep them as a whole class and work together. Eventually I would “wean” them off the teacher guided explorations for as many of the lessons as I could.
Once again, like Raenelle, I also really enjoyed the four directions teachings and will probably incorporate some of them in the future as well. While exploring the sites (especially OPI) I also found OPI’s literature and resource guide to be extremely useful. I know I am probably not the only one who is worried about using “American Indian” literature that we should not be, or reading it at the wrong time of year, so I like any place that I can go and I know the stories will be appropriate and useful. This page does just that. It gives several suggestions, and in some stories that I looked at, they had it in both English and the original language, which kids always like to see and try to read. I plan on reading stories from every type of culture in my classroom, and maybe someday I will have thematic units to go along with the stories, so this premade compilation will be helpful when I am selecting my literature, especially since it would be extremely easy to tie in place-based curriculum into any of these stories. I would hope that by incorporating this literature into my classroom my students would understand that there are many different cultures that exist today and each have their own unique stories and traditions. I would also hope that by creating entire units around some of these stories we will be able to explore many different areas of many different subjects, including math and science.
Another page I found that I liked was titled “Place Names” and it looks like it will be an excellent resource once it is all finished.
Well, it appears as if I will also be answering Kylie and Chris’s question (although I must admit, it is a good one). For starters, I agree with what Julia and Raenelle stated about using more guided questions. Sometimes, it just takes the right wording to turn the light bulb on, and as science is sometimes difficult to grasp (because you can’t always see it), it becomes harder to explain at times. In addition to asking more questions, I found some great words of wisdom in the “10 steps to inquirizing activities” section of our reading.
During pre-planning, it says to identify a “possible” activity that teaches your concept. I took this to mean that you may or may not actually use the activity depending on how students are grasping initial discussions. Are students engaged in the discussion, the demonstrations? Are they making predictions or answering questions posed by the teacher? If so, it may be an indication that they do not understand, or perhaps they just haven’t understood it… yet. According to the ten steps, many students discover during the explore and engage phase, but need help making sense of the concept through the explanation phase. The explanation phase is also a good time to slow down and teach things like vocabulary and may help to clear up confusion about the science topic at hand. In addition, I think it is very important to keep variety (more of the extend and apply phase). Perhaps come up with alternative ways of demonstrating and explaining the same topic. I think of how Dr. Blank used multiple ways of teaching sound waves. Some of those demonstrations did not hit home, while others made complete sense. When students don’t seem to be understanding, try to teach the concept in another way. Perhaps other students in the classroom can help explain it in different ways, too. See if that works.
In answer to the next portion, I would do a unit on Fire on the Land. It is extremely relevant to all of us, and I think the perspective of the American Indian would be enlightening. With all the fires that Montana always seems to get during the summer, I think it would be beneficial for students to see how fires on the land are not always a bad thing. The Beaver Steals Fire book would be a great intro into the lesson, and I think students would not only enjoy the information, but appreciate it as well. In the unit, children can learn “reasons for burning, what tree rings tell us, and cultural geography.”
On the OPI Indian Education for All website, there is a section on Connecting Cultures and Classrooms that is great! It is a K-12 Curriculum guide that has some really helpful information on it. The part I found most helpful for me was in how to connect Indian education. It gave you tips on how to be accurate, be considerate, be current, and so on. In addition, it listed the Indian Education for All content standards in Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies.
In response to Chris and Kylie’s question: “what if you are teaching an inquiry lesson, and the students are not understanding it...what do you do?” The first thing that I would do is have alternative avenues of pedagogy (within the scope of inquiry) planned, prior to teaching the lesson. This is beneficial to all in cases of an entire class experiencing difficulty in understanding, while also serving as a means to offer an alternative inquiry approach to individual students that do not understand the topic or question at hand. If, however, you have not prepared this, I would begin by simply offer slight assistance in the inquiry process. For example, the “Essential Features of Classroom Inquiry and Their Variations” rubric for teaching inquiry encourages us to offer a variety of questions to assist in the early stages of the inquiry process.
In our field placement, the “ANKN” curriculum, if slightly adapted, offers an interesting and appropriate IEFA units and lesson to use. This is appropriate in Mrs. Rothwell’s 2nd grade classroom now, as the students in my field placement are learning to solve and write math story problems. Although the lesson is entitled “High School Math Problems from Alaska” and does use advance math, the story problems could be very easily adapted to suit the current problem solving needs of Mrs. Rothwell’s students. These story problems consider Native life in Alaska and are typically quite specific to particular tribes and communities throughout Alaska. There are multiple story problems, however, that simply deal with situations that people in Alaska face, which could be easily adapted to Montana life.
Mrs. Rothwell’s 2nd graders are also learning about the various changes that occur locally, including weather, growth, hibernation and migration. I would want students to learn some of the specific situations that local tribes may encounter throughout the course of the seasons, while integrating mathematics. Mrs. Rothwell’s class is also learning to compare and contrast through the use of Venn diagrams. I would also want the students to use Venn diagrams to compare and contrast the experience of those tribal members living on the Flathead reservation, to those mentioned in the original Alaska story problems.
Having visited Alaska, I personally experienced the vast cultural differences (and many similarities) between particular tribes in Alaska and those from Montana. Tribal diversity is an important concept for students to grasp in early-mid elementary school, as they are often inundated with information which may lead them to believe that all Native Tribes are similar. I found a lesson on tribal diversity on the OPI website that would offer students further insight into tribal diversity and the importance of place to each different tribe.
Due to the amount of posts made for week seven I will also be answering Chris and Kylies question: “what if you are teaching an inquiry lesson, and the students are not understanding it...what do you do?” As both Raenelle and Julia said I think it would be very beneficial to have some guiding questions prepared ahead of time. The guiding questions can help direct your students back in the right direction when they are struggling to understand a particular concept. I also understand that as a teacher it can be helpful to facilitate the students in making connections to real life situations as well as to similar concepts that have previously been learned. A teacher can do this by again asking questions and guiding students to look back at other concepts they have learned prior to this lesson. Also keep in mind that typically students discover what happens during their exploration of a concept, however students may frequently need help understanding why something happened.
As far as the second part of this blog I really enjoyed the Place Names site. I know this site is not yet complete, but after looking at it in class, and then further exploring it on my own I think this information would be very useful in a classroom. I am working in first grade this semester, and it’s never too early to start learning, however you would have to modify some of the information/activities on this site for my six and seven year olds. I think this would be a great starting point to introduce Indian Education to my students. I think having a sense of place is a great base for beginning to tech about Indian Education, and this is exactly what this site does. I would show the sense of place video, and then go over with my students some of the questions the video poses. I also thought the Student Journal for use with the Building Worldviews is an excellent tool that I would try to incorporate into my classroom. As I stated earlier some of the stuff in the journals may have to be slightly modified for my first grade students, but many of the parts they could do, or we could do as a class. I also thought that the interactive Google Earth tours that take the students on an adventure through Montana's Indian Reservations is a great way to show your students the reservations in Montana, and really understand their significance. I would want my students use the tools on this website to learn why the reservation lands are called reservations, have a sense of what “place” really means and why it is so important, and also why and how place is so significant among the Indian cultures in Montana. As far as the OPI website there are many great tools to assist teachers in teaching Indian Education. For my first grade classroom, and for all other grades I really liked the Important Dates in Indian Education in Montana. I thought this was a simple way to express some of the most significant events in Indian Education in Montana. I also really liked that it included a timeline. I might teach some of these events and dates to my students and then have them make a timeline of the important events. I am very glad that we are learning how many resources are out there for us as future teachers in regards to Indian Education. It is one area I really do not feel confidant in knowing exactly what I need to be teaching and how to go about doing it.
I'm going to answer Julia and Sage's question, "When students are having time with the manipulatives in the exploration sense, when does a teacher need to step in and
address the lesson?" I think I good plan for this would be to just tell them that they can have a certain amount of time (for example, 2 minutes) to explore the objects, and then when that time is up, continue with the lesson. This is obviously something that can be flexible too because if it seems like the kids are done exploring the items in about 30 seconds, you can just quit exploration time then and continue with the lesson. I don't think you should try and speak during exploration time because they are probably not going to be able to pay much attention.
I also enjoy the four directions teaching material. I think the visual and audio experience in learning is great for students and can be a very helpful tool in the classroom. I am unsure of which curriculum tool we could implement in our classroom at the moment, but our teacher is pretty flexible, so I imagine the four directions website could be implemented. It could be used as a supplement to American Indian literature found on the OPI website that is being introduced in the classroom. This could help students to learn about American Indian culture and expand their horizons on what they know and think they know about American Indians.
I am also answering Julia and Sages question. When students are having time with the manipulatives in the exploration sense, when does a teacher need to step in and address the lesson?Should we have taught (spoken) during exploration time? How much time is too much time when letting children explore?
I think that as a teacher you need to explain to the students there will be a set amount of time for them to explore the manipulatives, and when the time is up they need to put them down and give full attention to the teachers so the class can continue on with the lesson. I think anywhere from 1-3 minutes would be plenty of time for students to explore the objects. I don't think you need to teach while they are exploring the objects because I don't believe they would be listening to the extent needed.
To answer the next portion of this blog, I also enjoyed the four directions teachings. Like Chris said our teacher is very flexible and would most likely allow us to implement this into our classroom. I could also see myself implementing it into my future classroom. I think the site has great audio/visual materials for students that are very age appropriate. One way to incoporate the website would be to introduce students to the topic and then let them explore a little on their own in either the computer lab or on their own. I would want students to learn the importance of American Indian culture and beliefs, and be able to respect it. As far as the OPI website I think this is really a great tool for all of us. I am worried if the materials I will be teaching are appropriate, and this site gives great tools/resources for educators.
An answer to Chris and Kylie’s question: “What if you are teaching an inquiry lesson and the students are not understanding it...what do you do?”
I too am also a little unsure of what a “right” answer is to this question. But if you are going to teach and inquiry based lesson it is very important that the teacher knows how to respond to a students comments in a specific manner. Teacher reactions and responses to their student interactions is what determines whether students will grow as inquirers or not. To find an answer to their “problem” on their own doesn’t fulfill most students. It’s how the teacher conducts the lesson that determines what the students learn. “When students know the answer…. They stop thinking. In other words, it's not the answer that enlightens… But the question! Think about it…. When students are thinking about a problem under effective teacher direction, their brains are engaged in lots of activities. Once the answer is given by the teacher, students stop thinking and go on to other issues. Teachers and students often are not comfortable grappling with questions not followed by answers since we are all are so conditioned to provide answers to our students. That has been our job as we defined it… A resource for students who want to know answers.” So basically, refrain from giving your students the answer to the inquiry problem, regardless of any discomfort you may have watching your students struggle. Like most everyone mentioned, have guide questions available to allow students to think about possible solutions and listen carefully to what students have to say and build off one another. Have an introduction in which you structure what is expected of them. Also, create a planned action to increase the growth in your students. Provide help to your students so they can experience success with inquiry with out giving them the answers. As a teacher, respond to your students solutions/theories creating a dialogue that inhances the inquiry process. For example:
Student A states a theory: "I think that……" Teacher Response: " What data would you need to check out that theory Student A?"
It is always important to teach things that are just far enough out of what your students already know to stretch their learning. That way you can give them clues on how to get to the answer without actually giving them the answer.
As for the next part of the blog regarding resources for implementing IEFA both web sites have some great resources. I also agree with Kylie in that incorporating IEFA into lessons can be a little bit intimidating because of the worry about making sure that the material was appropriate as well as culturally sensitive and acceptable. But these sites along with OYATE a book site organized to make sure Native American histories and lives are portrayed honestly should help set us, as future teachers, in the right direction. In my current placement we are planning to incorporate IEFA into our thematic unit. We don’t have all the kinks worked out yet, but so far we will be using a slide show on native plants incorporating their Salish name along with discussing the Bitterroot flower and how the Native American’s use this as a sign of spring in our spring themed unit.
Post a Comment