Assessing Inquiry

How do you plan an assessment when you want students to explore and investigate on their own? Process and content are two separate things that are not well suited for combining in test questions, but they can be combined in authentic assessment. Well that is right up my alley. I have done nothing this year if it hasn’t been creating authentic assessments of a multitude of types. We have had papers, tweet boards, trioramas, posters, time machines with brochures, and a variety of others.

Students still need to know what to do. Rubrics can be used to separate out the process skills they used to find information and the content skills to show what they understand. A clearly written rubric is a great tool for students to properly plan out their assignment.

I still find it hard to create rubrics when I would like to give my students choices. I have here a snippet of my government choice board. In each of these choices my students will be able to choose a topic we have learned about and dig deeper into the topic. There are a total of nine choices. The first time I did a project like this, I created an individual rubric for each. It was a logicistial issue to keep it straight with the students. I spent more time managing those paper than I wanted to. So this time, rather than rubrics, they simply have a list. I was able to keep the same layout as the choices on the front, focus on what is most important in each activity on the back. That way as students are choosing, they know how it will be evaluated. The projects tie directly to lesson essential questions.

I have not tried this yet with my class, I am hoping that the end result will be something that is clearer to them from the start and matches with my end goals for understanding the topic of our government. We shall see if this is an improved form. 

Connecting with the 5Es

I found a number of new terms this week. When I think of engagement in a lesson, I think of it as an ongoing student interaction with the lesson. Students are engaged when they are excitedly working on the topic, not doodling along the side of the paper. The BCSC 5E Instructional model gives a different definition for engagement. What the BSCS calls engagement, I would call activating. On one thing we agree, student need to call to mind what they already know or connect with past learning to make the present learning relevant.

The BSCS model follows this directly with Exploration. I see how this works in science, but I don’t know that it always works in other inquiry. I have found that if I set the kids off finding information without some background instruction that is teacher led in Social Studies that they get lost in a sea of information that they are not familiar with. For a topic like government, I do like to give them a small foundation before I set them out on their own.

Then once they have this foundation they can explore the topic. I have tried the reverse, but there is too much vocabulary that the students are unfamiliar with to trudge through the topic alone first. Social Studies doesn’t have labs the way that science does, but students can explore with reading and games. Students can also walk video topics of their choice to find out more about different content facts.

Next I do agree that it is time for students to elaborate. They need to get out the basic ideas and then see how they can expand on them. Can they connect them to current issues, or chart them out, or crate a skit that would explain it to someone else. All of these are great examples of how they can elaborate.

Evaluation naturally comes at the end. Not that formative assessments have not been on going through out the process, but there needs to be an end and a culminating something that highlights all that the students have learned and now understand through the work of the unit. Choice boards are one of my favorite evaluation methods with Social Studies simply because there are so many rabbit holes of information that students can be drawn into. This allows them to take a topic that they had more curiosities about and explore them, while proving what they know and understand. 

Resource

The BSCS 5E Instructional Model. (2006, June 12). Retrieved February 26, 2015, from http://bscs.org/sites/default/files/_legacy/BSCS_5E_Instructional_Model-Full_Report.pdf

How Deep Can We Dig?

What is a fact? If it is something that can be proven and it is a smaller part of a concept, it can be many things. How small is small? It almost seems like one of those questions you get stuck on when you are a kid. “If I throw a baseball and it goes half the distance in 1 second, and half that distance in the next ½ second, and ½ of the half in the next ½ of ½ a second, and it keeps going and you can keep breaking it down, how does the ball ever get there?” The ball gets there because it always goes the full distance; it is just the budding mathematician that got stuck in a never ending line of fractions. In the same way, we need to pick an end point and stick to it. We only have some much time as teachers to allow students to delve into a topic, in the same way the ball only has so much time before it gets to the batter.

In elementary school we have a wide breath of topics to explore. Hopefully we can find way to integrate the topics so that we can have students use skills in one area, like reading, while learning about another content area.  Because of this wide variety of standards and concepts we need to teach, students are not going to get down to all the nitty-gritty facts in a concept. They should, however, get to some of them. Those little facts that are solid are the foundation so that they can understand more abstract things.

Inquiry allows students to have some say in the facts that they learn. There isn’t time for them all, and different facts can help build up the same concept.  When students are given, or helped to form their own high quality questions that are investigable, they can take some control. For instance, when we look at why people came to the colonies, there are many reasons, many small facts that add up to why. They came for religious freedom. Religious freedom alone looked different for each group. Puritans wanted the freedom to be Puritans, but they were not interested in any other religions being free. Quakers, on the other hand, had more of a worship-as-you-please attitude. Others came for the chance at land, or a fresh start from the poor house.  Yet other came for the chance to be rich. That makes that question of why people were will to leave England for a new unsettled world a great one for students to look at in a deeper way.

Now that same concept of Europeans had motivation to move to North America could be broken down into smaller concepts. You could look at why they wanted to move to Massachusetts and be Puritan.  There are so many facts in just that concept. That could be looked at in a tighter lens still and we could look at, was a strict religious society a successful one? Or we could investigate who wanted to come live in Puritan Massachusetts?

As teachers we need to think about this breadth and depth as we prepare lessons and investigations. This will help us and our students on track. 

History Detectives

          The next unit that I need to plan is the last unit for social studies for the year. In it I will wrap up what we learned about the Revolutionary War through reading fiction and non-fiction so that I can teach about the formation of our government. While I am swimming in ideas, I am trying to find how I balance having students investigate history and make sure that they can answer the district provided essential questions. These questions are based on the standards, so they are kind of important.

          I had students looking at both the PA and US Constitutions last year, but the way the PA standards have changed doesn’t seem to focus as much on the PA Constitution.  This simplifies things for me. I only have so much time and the differences between the two are not easy to discern at 11 years old. They can, but it takes time that it better used elsewhere. I think that I will move to select pieces from the Constitution and other period pieces, along with textbook reading to give a broader base for the readings. They need these textbook readings to find questions that they want to answer. I have found that they have a lot of questions. 

https://app.discoveryeducation.com/player/view
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https://app.discoveryeducation.com/
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           The Discovery Techbook that I have access to through my program at Wilkes is great. The lesson on the Articles of Confederation alone is very hands on. The lesson on the formation of the Constitution also has wonderful primary documents and student organization tools to aid them in looking at these documents in a meaningful way. Some examples are pictured above. There is a document based inquiry that has the Constitution, time period cartoons, and formed inquiry output to share with the class. These inquiries would give students structured questions to answer, and allow them to form some questions on their own. The investigations are designed for students and provide them with both reading and viewing material and tools to organized their thoughts and interpret them.

Part of a Interview writing activity that would have student create their own questions for important people of the time.https://app.discoveryeducation.com/player/view/assetGuid/6a4d056a-f25d-4022-ab25-57243332fbd8 

           I think that where I would like to go next in my unit formation is to rewrite a choice board that I created for government based around multiple intelligences. I want to take the basic idea that I had about allowing students to choose an output to show their understanding and build deeper understandings through the activities. Students would take what they understand from the document based investigation and find a topic they still have questions about or are interested in learning more. They would be able to explain what they understand through more modes than just a written response.

          What I have found missing in these assignments is the student explanation that highlight the evidence and contain logical arguments. First, I think that I need to cut out some of the fluffy options and replace them with options that allow students to conduct their own investigation. The activities should allow them to then take what they learned and be able to teach from their examples. All of this ties together the Abilities Necessary to Do Inquiry. They would be developing descriptions, thinking critically, and communicating it to others.     

           I did use a Law Craft game last year that I think I will include this year as well. I wrote about it previously in my  November 2014 blog. It allows student to interact with the law making process in ways that I just cannot simulate half as well in the classroom.  Way to go Law Craft! The game is an inquiry game. The game give instructions on how the game play works, but students are able to have enough choices and options that it is as close to being in a hands on science lab as social studies gets. As long as this game is functioning, it has a place in my classroom.

          As I continue to read about inquiry, I can't say that my thoughts about what inquiry is have greatly changed. It would be fair to say that my definition has broadened to include activities that I just lumped into high level thinking. I still have some ways to go to craft student led inquiry. I want to be open to it, but I am just not ready to let go and feel that they will learn what I want them to learn. I feel that their choices are important, so I need to find a place where I can feel comfortable with it. 

References

Discovery Education. (2015, January 1). Retrieved February 6, 2015, from https://app.discoveryeducation.com/techbook2:concept/view/guidConceptId/6DAA9EEC-EECB-4396-BB43-7F9DD72FD5CE/guidUnitId/CDEAA01B-19A2-4490-90ED-9B964AC11F63#/tab=model-lesson-tab

GAMEUP | Law Craft. (n.d.). Retrieved November 24, 2014, from https://www.brainpop.com/games/lawcraft/

So, I've Heard You Have Been Wondering...

What is with all the "projects" and not so many tests in the classroom? Aren't test the clearest and cleanest way to assess student learning?

Anyone who walks into my class in the fully swing of a project knows that I like to let the kids get messy. The students are around the room in various stages of the project working independently or in small groups hashing out the what and why of their next step. This week they are fake Tweeting about Wonder to dive into character's perspectives, creating time machines and brochures to sell the time machines, and creating our own colonies so that they themselves can make better choices than the first few rounds of English colonist. While I know what I want the students show in terms of understanding, I don't have a precise idea of what the end result of any of these should look like. I like that I don't know EXACTLY what it should look like in the end. So it is messy and I love it. 

These activities are a mixture of projects that I did previously and ones that I added this year in my effort to increase the rigor of student work in the classroom. The school district's goal is for all teachers to increase the rigor of student learning. My goal in creating these projects wasn't to create inquiry directly, but from what I have read on the art of defining inquiry, I would say that these classroom activities line up. So now what I am trying to figure out is how closely does creating a learning activity that is rigorous and one that is based around inquiry have in common? It would seem that they are closely related. 

When we decided to teach Wonder, rather than just read it aloud, I jumped on developing learning activities that would be on going throughout the book as the characters developed. It would give the teachers time to model what we wanted the students to learn and give the student time to practice the different skills. During this set of lesson the students have been able to openly discuss what they think of the way that characters are behaving, what their motivations are, and how they feel about the interaction of home and school life with the students in the book. None of it is multiple choice and little of it has hard and fast right or wrong answers. In the fake Tweets they are inferring how a character would tweet about what is currently going on in the story. Wonder is written from multiple points of view, which works perfectly for this. They are then able to interpret the characters deeper feelings and shine part of themselves on these characters. Part of me then argues, "But that isn't a question. Aren't questions inquiry?" While I didn't phrase it as a question, it is there. The questions are, "How did this event affect the other character that is not writing this portion of the story? Why is what is happening in the story important to them?" Our group discussions have shown me that they can back up numerous arguments about how they interpret the character would feel in these situations. This is so much better than options A, B, C, or D.

How does assessment fit in with inquiry assignments? If there is not a defined and predetermined answer, how do teachers and students know when quality work is being done? For the larger projects, I do create a specific rubric. I do share the rubrics with my students early on. I do not want them to get deep into a project to find out that their nitty gritty didn't match. Even though I do provide them with the rubric, I know they don't pay close attention to it when they get excited. When I first discovered rubrics, I thought they were the best thing ever. They tell you exactly how to get an A. It was like cheating, I always needed to guess when I was growing up. Now though, I do find some pit falls when I am making a rubric. How do you fully explain what you want without tying the hands of your students and limit them in something that they could make great on their own? The authors of The Inquiry Page feel that it is not best that teachers are increasing relying on rubrics and predefined assessment guides. I struggle with this. I think that some children need a firmer guideline on what they need to do, or they are lost and floundering. Other children have taken a project and outdone what I had thought, but the work did not meet with the exact guidelines. That is where I step in as a teacher and make a choice. If they are showing me that they understand the skill, which wins out over the precise wording of the rubric. These are underlying thoughts I have had before that I had clarified after reading about assessing inquiry this week. 

Is there a line where inquiry stops? I am thinking of this in specifics, because otherwise I think the questions is too big. Am I right to think that the students working on Creating Colonies is inquiry? Let me give you a bit more information about what they are doing. They have been given four choices: what people to bring, what items to bring, where to build the colonies, and what to do when they get there. There were options to choose from for each four choices based on historic facts from Roanoke, Jamestown, Plymouth, and Connecticut. I don't have a right answer for any one, but they needed to explain each of the four choices. The answers need to be whole and fit together to fit the basic needs of food, water, shelter, and safety. Their explanations are more what I judge than anything else. To me, that open opportunity to make their own choices after reading about historical mishaps allows them to explore the time period better than a matching test of names and colonies. What do you think?

References:

Definition of Inquiry. (1998, January 1). Retrieved January 24, 2015, from http://www.cii.illinois.edu/InquiryPage/inquiry/definition.html

Inquiry Assessment. (1998, January 1). Retrieved January 24, 2015, from http://www.cii.illinois.edu/InquiryPage/php/assessment2.html#Rubrics

Palacio, R., & Knopf, I. (2012). Wonder. New York: Random House Children's Books.

Digital Textbooks Don't Have It All, But What They Have Is So Cool.

I have been researching and thinking about modern textbooks for a few weeks, and I have put together this little movie on Powtoons. I hope that you will be edutained.

What do I use in my classroom?

I have access to digital technologies every day at school. I have a digital version of both the kids reading and math books. The kids have access to all this too, but we don't have the devices to take advantage of what we have. So, for now, we use what we can on the Smart-board, which I am so very grateful to have. The Journeys program reading textbook's only extra feature is that it can read to you all words on the page. I do use this feature and I can see how this would be so very helpful in the younger grades to model  what it should sound like and to help with decoding words for struggling readers. I do feel, however, that it could do so much more. Just adding links to the book so that students could explore more about the topics would take it to the next level.

The math series that the district just bought, Go Math, has much, much, more. We have slowly been gaining access to the materials, so I will admit that I am not sure that I even know everything that it can do. I have been trying different features. My students favorite is a skills practice that has four parts. It teaches the skill, which is often more than what we cover in one lesson, gives practice, has work on your own and ends with a quiz. I will start out some classes with part of this skill builder. I do encourage students to use them at home, but I have had limited responses to that very fine suggestion. In class, however, they love it. In the practice section it will tell them when they are right. This is actually how they refer to the program, "Can we do 'That's Right!'  Mrs. Lopez?" It is hard to turn down kids who can't wait to figure out math quickly on their whiteboards for the chance to type in an answer up front. Nothing is better to them to hear that movie phone voice say "That's Right!" Then I go into a daydream where we all have Chromebooks and decent wireless network in the building and think about how this would be if they all had their devices to do this part instead of their low tech white boards. That would be so cool. 

My research is all linked in my personally curated newspaper. Textbooks in the Modern World

Help! I need somebody. Help! Not just anybody. Help! You know I need someone. Heeelp!

I really really wanted to do something that was cartoon poppy with hand helpers. So, for this end product I jump on the chance to play with PowToons. It is fun, but not perfect. Apparently I need to voice over the whole thing on one reel. I am using audacity, but I want to know exactly what I am saying in order before I polish up my voice over. At the same time, I want to have the pictures match the words. I have a solid start, but it isn't done.

I am looking at textbooks in this modern age.

Update: I took out the videos, I didn't approve of the way the video stopped.-----I found 2 videos to start that I want to use. unfortunately the auto-play stops after the movies and you have to double click the > in the middle to get it to keep playing. With a play button right next to that and a single click not working, I am not a fan of how that is working, but I really feel that it shows what an interactive textbook can do. So, Question 1. Are the videos as great as I think they are, or not worth the hassle of restarting?

I only have the words done for the first 5 slides. The pictures on these slide are pretty much what I want in the end. I am not thrilled with my voice performance, but I think the words are decent.At this point it is only polished through the 5th slide with the different colleges popping. Question 2, is this a strong enough start?

I am still piecing together the rest of the slides. Overall I am looking at how it benefits teachers to make their own books, what free sourcing brings to the table, who can actually use the technology, and why print book still have some advantages. The voice is done for the rest, the images are still all a work in progress for this. Question 3, is that a sufficient range of topics?

Take 3- I think that I am down to fine tuning at this point. Anything really bothersome at this point?
Now that you have been able to view it, are the cartoons and images working? Is the blend of cartoons with really images visually working for you?

Thanks for taking the time to look at my work in progress.

Here is a link to my newspaper as well. http://www.scoop.it/t/interactive-textbook?justScooped=1