Okay, Holly, I am posting!
Focus would be a very good thing, I still have so many questions running through my mind. I believe, maybe, that my questions will be: How will my 7-12 students learn and retain as much knowledge with a less structured, more discussion/projects/research type class setting as they do in a structured setting with more traditional daily homework and regular assessments? I am probably not done writing my question yet, still does not sound the way I want it to. Then how and when am I going to measure the results? What class will be my trial class and why will I use that class? Will one semester really give me any accurate results?
In reading the posts on this site at least I know I am not the only one with questions and doubts.
J Maynard, Lund, NV
Jolynn,
ReplyDeleteYou are a rising star in the world of technology!!!! Look at you go!
First of all, no, you are not alone in having your questions and doubts, as a matter of fact, this is typical with the inquiry process and the reason why most teachers abandon this important work, they forget that the process of questioning and formulating a focus is just as important as the conclusions/discoveries and the end product. Second, a semester will be sufficient in conducting a mini-inquiry that will most likely leave you with more questions than answers, again, this is not a bad thing! I think you need to jump in with a survey, chose two classes. Ask them to compare and contrast the two teaching approaches. Get their opinions, their impressions, their suggestions. In the survey ask them to write some narrative about this and also ask them to complete some questions that rate things on a scale of.... I don't know, 1 to 5, or 1 to 10... something to give you some quantitative data. You could follow this survey with making some adjustments to your assignments based on their feedback and collect observations, student work, and interviews based on the changes, thus, questioning the impact of creating assignments based on student suggestions. (This might be interesting, IDK!) Also, I would like to suggest that you collaborate with Bill, as it sounds like he may take the same direction with his inquiry. Your question sounds like something he was wondering about, too. I hope these comments help and look forward to "seeing" you on the blog!
Holly
Another thought:
ReplyDeleteYour working question with some suggestions
What happens to grades 7-12 student-learning in a more student-centered discussion/projects/research type class setting as compared to a more teacher-centered structured setting with more traditional daily homework and regular assessments?
Play around with this and see if it gets you closer to what you are thinking.