When I was taking my Bachelor of Education, I was right into the whole idea of integration. Integrate everything possible into LANGUAGE! Because at that time, language was the main (and seemingly only) focus.
Now that I've had the chance to get comfortable in both Math and Language, I have seen the opportunities to blend them. But beyond that, I want to integrate more, like science, and social studies, and arts. Rather than having "math" and then "language" and then "science," why not just have "learning" blocks? I know, I know, I've blabbered about this in a previous post - but allow me to digress.
Today, I was fortunate enough to have a member of our Program Resource Team in to do an inquiry. Kim Machan, who I taught alongside in my first year of teaching (for a month, and I really had no idea what I was doing) came in and we presented a number of challenges to my class, wrapped up in a neat, two hour
learning block. I'm thrilled with the results! On the way into work, I told my fiancee (who, by the way, teaches across the hall from me and writes a French Teaching Blog over at http://confessionsofafrenchteacher.blogspot.ca - check it out, she's amazing!) ... anyway, I told her, "Steph, I'm really worried! I think this whole experiment is going to be a bomb! It's going to blow up and there'll be two hours where I have nothing else planned!" Fortunately, the only explosions were positive. I'll tell you about that when it's time, though.
I planned to use Science as my "theme" (if you will) for the day. We'd explored two of the big ideas for the energy conservation strand, and I wanted to see how they would apply their current knowledge and understanding to discussions and real-world situations, as well as a math problem. I designed the day to look like this, in a (nut-free) nutshell:
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This group is working in one of the cozier spaces in the classroom, with access to a chalkboard coffee table and great seating ... it seemed to bring them into a comfortable discussion! |
1. Jigsaw Activity: Read the article with your group (Group A, B, C, D - four different articles) - become an "expert."
This is not a new idea by any means. I do not take credit for it! I hadn't tried it with this group yet, so I was anxious about how they would approach it.
2. Jigsaw Activity: Split up and go into your new group (Group 1, 2, 3, 4) - teach the new group members about your article. Discuss!
3. Rejoin your original group. Discuss the ideas and ask a question that you could collect data for, and graph it.
4. Present and discuss the graphs.
5. Complete a survey online (via Google Docs).
6. Graph the results.
Well, I overshot, but I knew I had in planning it. I just wasn't sure how much discussion would really happen, and wanted to make sure I had no "dead air time" when I had someone in to help me observe the thinking of the kids. I wanted to make the absolute most of it, which I did - without getting to steps 5 and 6.
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This group is going over the article to make sense of it. They chose to work at a round table so that they could hear each other better. |
What really ended up happening was that the initial reading and discussing lasted for about an hour! My mind was blown. When they shared, we really saw some gaps and some successes. This is when Kim suggested that we see what questions they had by asking them to take a solid 10 minute break to just digest and record their thoughts and wonders. It was a perfect idea. We learned a lot from their writing: some were way off, and asked random questions unrelated to the articles; some had questions that showed that they realized they didn't quite "get" the articles and that they needed to fix that; some asked questions to extend their current (solid) understanding of the articles; some made great observations and shot for the stars. It was very eye opening, and really a simple (and almost obvious) next step, yet I somehow missed it in the chaos of being the teacher. This is why I value bringing in outside eyes - they see what I easily miss, and I have no problem with that!
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Kim Machan engages some interesting thinking from the kids in this group. They were talking about solar panels and used a calculator to show her how sand on the panels could be an issue. |
With the language portion complete, it was time to get mathy. The prompt was simple: think about what you read or heard about, and ask a question that you could collect data about, and display using an appropriate graph. From BIG ideas (Shoes that make electricity, walls that are gardens and clean the air, art that produces energy ...) they came up with really interesting questions: What brand of shoe would people buy, if they bought the in-shoe-technology? Over the history of the world, how has electricity use grown? (This one is awesome, and a little cute - it's such a LARGE question that they'll soon realize that they'll need a few years to find their answers, but in keeping with the problem based approach, all of the adults in the room - at this point it was myself, Kim and our awesome LRC Mrs. Sutherland - let it go, so that their thinking could just bounce around.) The kids found the data that they could, graphed it out using a solid graphing skillset (whoa - don't read that as "they're perfect," I just meant for where we are, they're doing great!!) and in the end, shared their work with the class, asked questions about each others work, and answered the questions as best as they could.
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This group read about harnessing the wind to air condition, using an ancient approach that is better for the environment. They were so intrigued that they went online to find out more - because they want to build them at home! |
I could go on forever, but I won't. The main idea here is that these kids were presented with ONE "learning spine" - that's the term I'll use to describe what held everything together. Yes, they were reading, decoding, strategizing to infer and make meaning of words and sentences and the text as a whole. Yes, they were graphing, working with numbers and thinking critically. Yes, they were learning about energy use, energy conservation and what's happening in the real world around energy. They were working on their social skills, their ability to communicate with others and their abilities to reflect on their own work and thinking. When we debriefed after the learning block, Kim and I realized that we had touched on
every single mathematical process skill in the curriculum. Is it because I'm a planning genius? NO! To be honest, I didn't even look at that part of the curriculum when I was planning for the learning block. But I've been building the kids up to be able to work like this, and as a result, their process skills are naturally progressing. I put in the time before - I didn't expect miracles today.
They did a fantastic job for a first Jigsaw activity. Kim commented that it seemed to be "business as usual" - now that's a great compliment, because it shows that they weren't putting on a show for someone new in the room. In fact, I don't think they really noticed, other than the fact that there was someone else to bounce ideas around with.
So this post isn't super mathy ... but that's the point, isn't it? My students were THINKING today - it tied into math, but it also tied in everywhere else. To borrow an overused term, we got out of the
silo and I think we really got to play in the barnyard today. It was planned, but still flexible. It was neat, but dirty! We inquired together as students, as teachers, and as one learning community. Isn't that what it's all about? It was more than integration - it was learning. Plain and simple.
Sounds like a wonderful day! I'm sure you've sent your students home, and out into the world with many thoughts and wonderings. I'm thinking there would have been some neat supper time conversations in the homes of your students.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, 'business as usual' is a great compliment! Congrats on fostering an environment of inquiry :)