February 15, 2011

Today was more troublesome than yesterday. We continued an activity that we started last semester, however some students had left their material at home, some had lost it, some decided to try something different, everyone is at different levels of completion. I'm not really sure how to help them. I am supporting the students who need help but I feel at the moment that I would just like the process to be complete.
In maths class we talked about time, I taught them some new words (decade and century) and the students referred to the dictionary to confirm another word (millennium). I then read a story (literacy listening skills; Vivian and Rachael did well) and we then did a timeline together. For homework, the students are going to draw a timeline and use it to tell a story. The students are familiar with digital and analogue clocks. Showing another way to represent time gives them a better understanding of time. The timeline is great because the idea of time being represented as length means students have a better understanding of duration. The activities have a real literacy aspect as well.

The problem came with UOI. I modeled the "Think, Puzzle, and Explore" thinking engagement. However, when students were asked to apply this to the central idea of the UOI, they had difficulty. I will need to find questions to support their enquiry, and I will need to break the concept of the central idea into manageable parts.

When it came time to make questions for our guest speaker, Jane from grade 6, the students started slowly, but improved over the course of the lesson. The questions, with a little rewording from me, are:
1.Why does Korea have this stuff?
2.What Korean food can we buy in Taiwan?
3.Why did you come to Taiwan?
4.What Taiwanese food can you buy in Korea?
5.What did you think about Taiwan before you came here?
6.What things are the same between Taiwan and Korea?
7.Do you think it is easy to learn Chinese?
8.Is it easy to write Korean? Can you teach us how to write something?
9.Do you grow chilies in Korea?
10.Do you prefer school in Taiwan or Korea?
11.Do you like Taiwan?
12.Is Kimchi very spicy?
13.Do you think Taiwan is a good place?
14.Why are Korean products, like food, expensive in Taiwan?
15.How did you learn English?
16.Can you teach us how to speak some Korean?
17.How long does it take to fly Korea?
18.Why do Koreans eat kimchi?
19.What are the best places to go in Korea?
20.Do you have fun at ISIS?

The real problem came when we went online to search for answers to our questions. I modeled the process, but I will need to have the students reflect on what went wrong with their search. Then I am going to have to show them how to make good search questions. We also need to look at our question and the type of information or evidence we expect to get. Are we looking at facts or opinion? What are the sources of this information? I will model the process with one student's research question. I am also going to have to meet with each student (once a week, checking UOI notebook) and help them plan their inquiry, asking these types of questions (e.g. type of information, fact or opinion, alternative research questions). I could also have a researcher come in and talk to the students about inquiry.