Learning Log: Module 5 - Selecting and Curating Resources for Inquiry

This is a pathfinder in a search for resources to be used in an inquiry project on historical landmarks for my grade 4/5 Challenge class.

 

I want to find reliable resources that could provide information that will be accessible to my grade 4 and 5 students who have some basic understanding of research but still need guidance in finding information online. I recognize there will likely be bias as to which landmarks may be highlighted depending on the resources I look at so I will aim to have inclusions from around the world. I also want to ensure there is a variety of media to pique the interest of my students and get them looking at landmarks from around the world.

 

1 Kids-World-Travel-Guide Top 10 Famous Landmarks

I began by doing a google search for “famous world landmarks for kids”. My goal was to see what was out there in general. My first hit was a list from Kids-World-Travel-Guide.com. I liked the attention grabbing list and succinct presentation of information. The site also allowed for further exploration if students have an interest in the topic. A quick look at their “About” page lists the creator as an educator in South Africa but also shows a list of contributors who are travellers and students. There is an open invitation to contact the site for potential collaboration in having students build and add pages, I like their message of “See the world through children’s eyes” and “Create a more peaceful world through increased understanding of other people and cultures.” Could be further potential to look into depending on how our project goes.

 

2 New7Wonders of the World

The list of landmarks in the first resource reminded me of a project from when I first started teaching, the New 7 Wonders global voting campaign that occurred in the mid-2000’s. I had not looked at that project in many years but I remembered how my gifted students then were really engaged in researching and arguing for the Wonders they felt should win. I also remembered the site as being very well laid out as information had to be provided for the general public to vote for their top choice. I was happy to see the website was still up and the information is accessible, updated, and easy to follow. The finalists list of 21 landmarks on the Wonder Map is exactly what I was hoping for. There has since been another campaign for 7 Natural Wonders and a new campaign currently underway for the 7 Symbols of Peace! Potential to look into further as the project develops.

 

3 WBO Student

Having looked in the public domain, I then turned to resources offered by my district. With having the names of some historical landmarks in mind, my students could now make use of the World Book Online database subscription from my school district and available for students to access from school or at home. Plugging in several of the names of landmarks yielded sufficient results that I think students will be able to readily gather information from this vetted and reliable source.

 

4&5 Virtual Tours & Google Earth

During the remote learning phase of Covid-19. I had been collecting many resources to help teachers at my school, virtual field trips and tours were being offered by many organizations. I had come across an article in The Guardian that I bookmarked because its focus was on virtual tours of famous landmarks. I now have some time to check it out. The offerings are a wonderful intro to places most of my students will not have had experience with, being able to see it so visually will appeal to a lot of them. I could see that several of the tours were from Google Maps and Google Earth, this brought to mind an author visit several years ago. The author, John Wilson, talked about the extensive use they made with Google Earth for researching areas of Spain; he was able to “visit” cities and towns to add authenticity to his writing without leaving home. I added the web app as a resource so that students could walk along in street view. Google has created many collections/treks of their own of notable places that would be good opportunities for exploration as well.

 

I plan to look through the library book collection to pull applicable titles that I will add to the materials for student exploration… I think this is shaping up well as a beginning.

Destiny Collection - Historical Landmarks (click the title)

Resources cited

Graff, R. Top 10 Famous Landmarks in the World | Most Famous Man-made Monuments. Retrieved 27 July 2020, from https://www.kids-world-travel-guide.com/top-10-famous-landmarks.html 

 

Overview – Google Earth. (2020). Retrieved 27 July 2020, from https://www.google.com/earth/ 

 

Wilson, A. (2020). 10 virtual tours of the world's most famous landmarks. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2020/mar/30/10-best-virtual-tour-worlds-most-famous-landmarks 

 

Wonders | New7Wonders of the World. (2007). Retrieved 27 July 2020, from https://world.new7wonders.com/wonders/ 

 

World Book. (2020). Retrieved 27 July 2020, from https://worldbookonline.com/ 

Learning Log: Module 4 Collaboration and Participatory Culture

As a T-L you have been asked by the grade 2/3 team (2 teachers) to work collaboratively on a unit.  They want to study rocks and minerals. One teacher wants to focus on the writing process more and the other teacher is striving to integrate technology more.  Both want to embrace the notion of an inquiry project.

I like the collaborative planning guide from the Ontario School Library Association. It has great basic information that can easily be summarized onto one sheet for quick reference when setting plans up with teachers. It also doesn’t need a lot of time to fill out, in fact, I could easily gather the information through a quick conversation such as the one I am asking for in the above email and fill it in quickly for reference later.

My Quick Asks to Start

1.    Topic of study - what subject/topic are we looking into?

2.    Timeline - what is the anticipated duration of this unit? When do they want to have our collaboration and co-teaching times?

3.    Expectations (end goal) - what do we want the students to be able to do/understand/know more about?

4.    Student grouping size - will students be working individually, in partners, or groups?

5.    Anticipated resource types - will students be working primarily with print, digital devices, databases, videos?

6.    Specific student needs - any students with IEPs or specific needs?

 

Armed with these answers, I would then be able to go on my own to look at the resources available in our school. Some things I would do in preparation for our next more in-depth planning conversation may include:

·      Gathering some books (fiction and non-fiction) - since one of the teachers wants more focus on the writing process, we could look at short stories or other types of writing.

·      Begin Building a Collection in Destiny of resources for easy access (books, videos, websites, database finds)

·      Book device times - one of the teachers wants more of a tech focus so I will ensure the devices are ready and available when needed

·      Check my timetable - be ready with dates/times that will work for the teachers when we book our time together

·      Look at Curriculum Guide - brush up on the info for gr. 2/3

·      Check-in with Student Services or EAs - if there are any specific student needs in the class often times asking ahead to give planning time is essential

·      Look at resources in the greater community - fieldtrip opportunities, virtual fieldtrips, expert visits

 

My school currently has monthly grade group meets but it is mainly admin-driven. My staff has had some conversation this past year asking for some of that time to be for collaboration; I am hopeful that we can achieve that goal. At the moment, my next planning time with these two teachers will likely be before or after school unless I am able to juggle some slots to match-up with their music prep and meet that way.

My suggestions offer the teachers some help to get a few things off their plate in terms of set-up and creating a forum for discussion (Padlet). One of the teachers is not as tech savvy so this is a great opportunity to put in a low-key, easy to use app into play and build from it. Finally, having Aston’s book as a jumping off point also provides a commonality for both classes to interact with and draw from in order to expand discussion beyond their core classroom.

 

I truly hope that these first steps will lead the way to an exciting and fun inquiry project. In fact, I am pretty interested to set-up a hands-on rock collection display in the library myself, with fun, quirky and informative museum cards.

Works Cited

Aston, D., & Long, S. (2012). A rock is lively. San Francisco: Chronicle Books.

 

Ontario School Library Association (OSLA). Collaborative Planning Guide. Retrieved 18 July 2020, from http://www.accessola.com/osla/toolkit/How/CollaborativePlanningGuide.html

Learning Log: Module 2 - Structure for Inquiry

At first glance, Inquiry appears to me to be very daunting and a huge concept to learn about, understand and be able to comfortably apply in my teaching. The ideas seem vast and has so many components. Having had the opportunity to see inquiry in action taught by other teachers, I know and recognize how amazing it is but it still seems a huge task to approach alone. For this reason, personally, I would love to be able to collaborate with another teacher to be able to bounce ideas, share resources and learn together.

 

One of the big take-aways for me this module is the article “Elements of Information Inquiry, Evolutions of Models & Measured Reflection” (Callison & Baker, 2015). The defining of five “elements” as consistent cores in inquiry really helped to ground me. Looking at different inquiry models with these elements in mind broke it down into manageable segments that I found to be less overwhelming.

Inquiry models that stood out for me were Kulthau’s Guided Inquiry and Stripling’s Process of Inquiry. Both of these models were graphed in Callison’s article which helped me to see them in their aspects with more clarity. Guided Inquiry appeals to me with its breakdown of learning team tasks and student tasks. Having a guideline for teacher and student expectations sets me more at ease. As well, Kuhlthau’s (2014) thoughtfulness on the emotional aspect of learning and helping support students’ progress through some of the frustrations and anxiety of research really stood out to me among the models. The Process of Inquiry appeals for its clearly laid out stages. Further, my school district uses the BCTLA’s Points of Inquiry Framework which is based on Stripling’s model so perhaps I gravitated to it because it seemed familiar.

However, the article that really opened my eyes and made inquiry approachable was Fontichiaro’s Framing Inquiry with Scenarios (2014), now here was something I could readily grab, engage with, and present to my peers. I was so taken, I took the article and created a sketchnote hand-out that I think I could present to teachers at my school!

With the uncertainty of this fall looming, using scenarios in the LLC where it can be tailored in size and breadth is phenomenal. In the elementary setting where I am currently the TL, my time with students is on a weekly basis and through prep coverage. For this reason, it is often very difficult to collaborate with classroom teachers, they are never with the students when I see them. If I was able to tie-in some scenarios to topics covered in class, it would provide a meaningful extension to the students and would scaffold and build on what they are learning. This to me would be invaluable in showcasing how I can be a partner-in-teaching rather than just prep cover. I was also new to the school last year so I am still building relationships and learning how each of the teachers in my school run their classes, they each have different approaches and comfort levels. I am still trying to navigate the murky waters, especially with my intermediate classes which is really new to me. Having a background in middle school, I thought for sure, I would be able to get my intermediate teachers on-board right away with some multi-class/grade projects that had been successful for me in the past. I was totally shot down at the start of last year, much to my dismay. I know now I aimed too big and too fast. Using scenarios, I can build mini-inquiry lessons for students when they come to me in the LLC and progress from there. If teachers want to expand and dig deeper, we can arrange for that together in a way that is comfortable for them and for me. And the biggest winners, will be the students.

Works cited

Callison, D., & Baker, K. (2015). Elements of Information Inquiry, Evolution of Models & Measured Reflection. Knowledge Quest, 43(2), 18-24.

Ekdahl, M., Farquharson, M., Robinson, J., & Turner, L. (2010). The Points of Inquiry: A Framework for Information Literacy and the 21st Century Learner [pdf]. Vancouver, BC: British Columbia Teacher-Librarians' Association. Retrieved from https://bctladotca.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/the-points-of-inquiry.pdf

Fontichiaro, K. (2014). Nudging Toward Inquiry - Framing Inquiry with Scenarios. School Library Monthly, 31(3), 50-51.

Maniotes, L., & Kuhlthau, C. (2014). Making the Shift from Traditional Research Assignment to Guided Inquiry Learning. Knowledge Quest, 43(2), 8-17.

Stripling, B. (2004). Using Inquiry to Explode Myths about Learning and Libraries. CSLA Journal, 28(1), 15-17.