Blog #6

In my classroom, inquiry learning is student driven environment where students are using math to answer real world questions that apply to their own life and environment. Inquiry learning needs to be  collaborative, fostering social growth and individual ability to work in a team. Inquiry should be using the content in real way that helps to foster deeper understanding than traditional textbook learning.

In regards to my mini-lessons, I plan on creating my three lessons around the first three elements of the Digital Information Fluency Model. The first would be over how to best locate information online. The second mini-lesson would cover the reliability of the information found from the first lesson. The final lesson would then cover the ethical use of the information found from the first two lessons. This third lesson would also tie in to the content I have already curated on my PLN.

I really want to focus on the principle of authentic teaching and learning, and one of the things my students and I are constantly complaining about is the lack of a recycling program at our school. I am a avid recycler at home and I hate seeing all of the waste that students produce during the day that is being taken to a landfill, many of my students and I have had conversations about this. Last year A few other teachers and I would collect recycling from our students and take it to a local recycling facility ourselves. I think that I can tie in math, research practices and authenticity into my mini-lessons using school-wide recycling as our focus.

I also plan on utilizing the principles of assessment, connecting with experts, and technology in my mini lessons. I plan on using technology in a way that both enhances and extends students' understandings. As mentioned in the Karen-Kolb article, extension of technology should take what students are doing inside of the classroom and push it into the world. My goal is to do this within our local community by reaching out to recycling facilities and the Board of Education in our county. The Board should know the value of a recycling program when compared to the cost, which is what my students could present. They will use the mathematical standards that involve rations, percents and graphs in order to share the information they have found with others.

Comments

  1. AnonymousJune 9, 2018 at 8:33 PM

    I really like your idea for the inquiry based learning. Having the students use math to solve real world problems is a great way to also show them that they really need what they are learning. Also, I agree that the students need to work on their collaborative skills and their ability to work in a group. That is one of the main things I notice about students is that most of them do not work well with others.

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  2. AnonymousJune 10, 2018 at 7:27 PM

    Your use of real world issues is a great example of extending the lesson as suggested by Kolb. While not all student’s might not recycle at home it’s a reality that are aware or can now be aware of and grow from even after they leave school.

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