Inquiry - The quest for a student driven journey

Last term we delved into our first inquiry learning journey for the year. Initially we worked out what we really wanted to know about the ANZAC's and Gallipoli we asked lots of questions about stories we had listened to, things we had watched, new things that intrigued us when we came across them on the webquest and anything else that came up in our personal experiences discussions. We used the internet to find and select the right information and then we got together to discuss the best way to present this new information we have.

The overall question driving the learning was 'Why should we remember the ANZAC's?' The challenge then was for the children to help teach others the answers to our questions about ANZAC day and World War 1, in the hope that they too can have a better understanding of why we remember. It was interesting to listen to the students as they decided that making a hand made poster book to present the research findings would be best. They had lots of reasons as to why this would be a most suitable way, including "because we hardly ever get to use our own handwriting or colour things in". I was encouraging them to think about the ways in which we learn best and how we could reach a range of different learners with our chosen approach. To which they had lots of important ideas but all adapted to presenting their information by hand.

I decided that I would need to challenge their understanding and prove to the them why a poster may not be the best option. The lesson involved giving each group of children a selected piece of info about the gallipoli campaign. The children had to think about the best way to teach their piece of information to the class so that when they leave the room they will remember it (not just in the short term but next week, next month and next year). It was interesting to hear the ideas being thrown around as they planned how to best teach their information - "I learn heaps when I see it on tv... we could record the information in imovie" and "We could create a catchy song that will stick in peoples minds, like when I get songs stuck in my mind". There were 5 or so groups and each came up with a unique way of teaching the information to the class.

When reflecting upon the effectiveness of each approach and how we can apply this to effectively share our ANZAC learning there was a buzz of discussion. They had ideas coming left right and centre, none of which involved creating posters or making a book. One of the ideas thrown out (in jest) by a somewhat reserved child was to create a claymation. The discussion turned to a freeforall with kids adding in ideas and piggybacking off the claymation idea and they began to plan out what their animation projects might entail... The students enthusiasm and drive was incredible and this idea of creating animations seemed to have hooked some of the more challenging children to inspire. A new path for our journey was being formed.

In my haste to learn about and then think of how to introduce the basics of animations I came across various websites including this one . This inquiry unit has reminded me of the value in finding out what interests the kids and how important it is to help them make connections with their learning in ways that are interesting and motivating to them. Dr Julia Atken sums it up beautifully when she explains that powerful learning happens when it is personally meaningful. So our challenge is to design learning that has high intrinsic worth and high felt need and by making learning relevant, interesting, challenging and experiences that promote curiosity.

My student driven inquiry quest continues and I search for more ways to ensure the learning that is happening is transformative and can be applied in students lives now, next week, next month and beyond.

MI Morning

Our Team decided that a great way to introduce and reinforce the Multiple Intelligences in our rooms would be to have an MI morning. We split our classes into four so the children could complete the activities in different year levelled groups and each teacher had two Multiple Intelligences to design activities for.

My two were Interpersonal Intelligence/Group Smart and Naturalistic Intelligence/Nature Smart.
As an Interpersonal activity, the children had to work in pairs, sitting back to back. Each child had a piece of paper and a pencil. They took turns to draw a picture (using basic shapes), then explain the picture as accurately as possible so their buddy could recreate it on their own paper. This was very interesting; the students quickly realised that in order for this to work, they would need to communicate very clearly with their buddy - especially where Year 5 and 6 students were paired with Year 2s.
For Naturalistic, we went outside to do some cloud watching and then had some discussions in garden areas around the school. Conversations about how and why leaves change colour and how intricate spider's webs are, tied in perfectly with our 'Out of the Ordinary' theme; it made the students realise that things we see daily and may consider 'ordinary' could in fact be extraordinary.

Once the children had engaged in all eight Multiple Intelligences activities, my class and I discussed what they had done in each room they visited. We did some Bus Stopping around our room, recording our ideas then got together again as a class. I had the students decide which two activities were their favourites and then got them to discuss in pairs why they liked these two best. We also talked about the ones we didn't like as much and why - more interesting discussion!
I then introduced the concept of Multiple Intelligences and showed the children cards illustrating all eight. Together we talked about which activity matched each card (they had not previously been told) and matched them up. This prompted comments such as "Oh, I liked that one because maths is my favourite things at school and I like numbers!"

I had wanted to introduce Multiple Intelligences to my class but was initially concerned about the children feeling labelled by the "Smarts" and not fully understanding what these meant. The MI morning provided a perfect opportunity to introduce them and gave context to a seemingly difficult concept for Year 2 students. We refer to them in class regularly now and the children have gained a deeper understanding of themselves as learners. All round success!

Inquiry Learning -

Wow we have finished all our testing, room 3 children have made huge improvements in reading, writing and maths we are very proud of them. Although we are worried about a few that aren't moving we are getting in more parent support and trying to allow more time in class for these children to get better with their reading and maths strategies.

Our dionosaur immersion is underway and is working well, the children are building a lot of prior knowledge to the topic and discussing what they know and questioning the unknown. They have also started on knowledge and comprehension tasks to do with the topic in our learning centre.

Our next little focus on thinking is the multiple intelligences and finding out about their strengths and weaknesses so they can then begin to understand why they think the way they do and why they might not be as good at some things. We look forward to our pod day this Monday with full immersion into Multiple intelligences. We will then move into what we know and then do the test to see what they are strong and weak in. This I'm sure will be no surprises.

Pod game sessions and workshops on how to play lunch time games has been beneficial. Children have come up with their own games to to share with others. I enjoyed watching their teaching abilities and the fun that they have. The gear is being used a lot too.

A busy start but wow!

Literacy & Thinking

As part of my reading programme I like to integrate a thinking tool to focus on each week. This week has been the Red Thinking Hat. My class is very good at articulating their feelings but need support to explain why they are feeling this way. We have had whole class discussions based on our shared book and have also talked about this in our guided reading groups. I have noticed that this has really enhanced their vocabulary and has structured their communication in an informative way.

A tool I have found useful for this has been talking frames. Giving the children a sentence beginning has meant those who are usually reluctant to contribute have the confidence to participate in conversations. Those who are more confident have extended these so it has been an all round success.

Big question: How can I ensure the children in my class have the same level of comfort when discussing their own feelings relating to deeper issues as they do in this context?

What if?

Over the term we have been thinking about all sorts of things that may or may not be possible with the sentence starter what if? The children read the what if question and then discuss ideas with their thinking buddy. They then take post-it notes and record their ideas and post on the whiteboard. We would then share the ideas. Over the term it has evolved and the children suggested we use the thinking hats to organise the types of ideas we place on the board.

An interesting reading I came across was Why we teach thinking skills. Some very important points to consider.

I am pondering what is the best way to help my classroom of students understand that there are different types of thinking?

Room 2

We have some cool things happening in Room 2. We have been applying our thinking skills in our reading programme. By using the thinking hats as tools to organise our thinking we are able to see the different ways we make connections to help understand what we are reading. It has resulted in some real Aha moments.

The parents of our readers that are not achieving at expectation came to a workshop, we shared the different ways we can connect with reading, how we can think about characters and plots when we read and listen to stories. There has been a huge feeling of success for these children and they are more engaged and excited about their reading.

The tadpoles have turned into froglets. We have been looking at our first wonderings and thinking about the different things we have learned along the way. It has been exciting to see the wonderings turn into "what we know nows".



I went to a fantastic writing course with Murray Gadd. He incorporated thinking into his writing programme and showed how important it is to give children experiences they can talk then write about. Came back with a list of exemplars of what children should be achieving and skills to be taught for different text types.

My big question at the moment is; when children have a real strength in creative thinking how do we make them feel as successful when using critical thinking?