Wednesday, June 11, 2014

The Generally Disengaged: Dreamers, Thinkers, Readers, Movers and Shakers are On My Mind

A NEED TO ENGAGE ALL STUDENTS...
The Journey Begins

Reflection and Call to Action:
As I reflected on last year's classes I identified several hard to reach personalities existing in my classroom... dreamers (sleepers), thinkers (daydreaming doodlers), and readers (of novels that is)... movers (pencil tappers) and shakers (attitude filled lip smackers) ...and the captive student who felt he was imprisoned by me, the giver of knowledge and key-holder of the lab.  In contrast to the college bound and teacher pleasing conformist personalities, these few students could not create a sense of wonder from the list of skills they had to learn. Their disinterest was evident and their grades proved they were only committed to learning enough to pass the class, but no more.  

Charged with the task of teaching the full set of chemistry standards in eighteen short weeks, I tried both direct teaching and hands-on learning to accomplish the task.  I am convinced that through study and planning, I can create interactions and connections to engage and reach all my students while conquering the standards. I believe strategic writing is a key element for successI invite you to join me on this adventure as I step out of the direct teaching spotlight and off the stage of special projects, activities and lab days and into the journey of inquiry where I expect my students to shine as we explore and write about their own curiosities.   

The Process
Getting started:  
Identify a wondering
My dream and the reality for my classroom seem worlds away from each other.  In my mind, all students are full of curiosity and wonder about the physical world.  In reality, a few students are naturally intrigued by science, the teacher-pleasing and college-bound compliant personalities are engaged by science, but several students in each class are obviously disinterested. Some of the movers, shakers, thinkers, readers and dreamers find chemistry difficult and choose disinterest over hard work.  But some are free spirits, and though they are capable, they are not interested.  They long to know about the world outside the walls of our classroom.  I vividly recall the free spirit of this past school year... I have chosen him as my mascot for this journey we are embarking on... I see this lanky, spark of boyhood jumping up and hanging from my high window ledge to get a peak of the outdoors.  I imagine my classroom prisoner thought he was wasting his life in the shadow of my standards checklist.  He participated and felt the spark of wonder when we did activities and lab work, but on dry stretches of direct instruction and seat work practice, he could not muster an ounce of interest.   He did poor quality work although he was capable of much more. Whether a student ranks among the intrigued, compliant or disinterested, all students deserve instruction that warrants wonder.  Instead of the symbol of imprisonment, this mascot represents the quest to create deep understanding and appreciation of science by making connections to the real world.  Immersion in facts and wonders will not create deep learning, but I believe carefully planned inquiry based instruction with strategic writing assignments to enhance and display learning will.  I wonder if I can coordinate it all and if the results will bring my dream and reality closer to each other.

Brainstorm to create a research question
How do I create interest for my dreamers, readers, thinkers, movers, shakers and free spirited jail birds?
The quick answer: Teach through inquiry and Project Based Learning.
How do I incorporate inquiry AND cover all the science standards?
Quick answer:  Identify big ideas and carefully plan by making connections and being creative.  
How do I create deep and lasting understanding?
Quick answer:  Use writing to facilitate learning and to display knowledge.

Research Question
Final Research Question:  How does the strategic application of writing in the realm of inquiry based classrooms enhance student engagement and understanding?

Rough draft:  How can writing, in conjunction with inquiry, engage students and create deeper interest and understanding of science standards?

No comments:

Post a Comment