I have had multiple opportunities throughout my teaching career to experience the cycle of inquiry. When I first began teaching (Many moons ago!) I had to participate in a teacher induction program in which the cycle of inquiry was at the core of the program. A few years later I was asked to be a BTSA support provider for a first year teacher and once again, I experienced the cycle of inquiry. Leading this first year teacher allowed me to experience the cycle of inquiry from a different perspective. As she learned and gained better teaching skills as a result of the cycles of inquiry she was completing; I also learned from her. Similar to my own induction process, I gained a great deal of knowledge and felt re-energized to complete cycles of inquiry in my own classroom. At the time, I was teaching in a first grade classroom and I felt that purposefully completing cycles of inquiry in my own classroom, allowed me to learn more and in turn be a better support for her in her journey of becoming a better teacher. Now that I am teaching intervention groups, I feel that I continue to follow cycles of inquiry with in my small group intervention.
Last semester we were asked to complete some action research in our classrooms. Following the cycle of inquiry to gain knowledge and complete my research allowed me to realize that I continue using cycles of inquiry when I teach different lessons; yet, not to the extent of the formal research process that we followed last semester. Even though the curriculum I am given to follow can be quite scripted at times, it does allow me to complete cycles of inquiry because we touch on the same strategies throughout different stories. I have come to realize that as educators, in order to become better at what we do, we must continue to complete the cycle of inquiry in everything we teacher.
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Wow! Talk about a dense reading! I started this reading assignment with a colored pen in hand to highlight important aspects of the reading, as I usually do. After reading the first few pages multiple times, I had to put it down (I had printed it because I feel like I understand more when I have a book and highlighter in hand, rather than a screen). I came back to it later in the day and I began to read again. As I began to read again and felt confused about what I was reading once more; I couldn’t help but think of the students in my reading groups that struggle with most of our readings. As I read each paragraph, I thought about what the author was trying to convey in that section of the text. I highlighted, underlined and wrote notes and questions on the margins; this helped me to process the content in smaller, more digestible chunks. I am definitely a visual learner; therefore, figure 6.1, the sense-making metaphor was quite helpful. The exemplars were also helpful in understanding how sense-making has been applied in different areas of research. Even though I feel like I was able to make sense of more of the reading after multiple reads, I don’t feel completely confident that I am able to fully understand all of the information that the author was trying to deliver.
From what I understood, the author was trying to tell us that each individual is unique in how they think about and process information in their day to day experiences. Many aspects come into play when individuals are trying to make sense of things. Different individuals define their own steps on their own terms, but can come up with the same conclusion. Sense-making happens in everyday experiences. In reference to my classroom, this means that every single student can have his or her own path to understanding the material that is presented to them. It reinforces my current belief that the cookie-cutter curriculum that is sometimes used to teach students do not support all of our students varied learning styles and their sense-making methods. I don’t feel that I understood the material enough to teach it to someone. Yet, if I had to teach this to students I would definitely start by using the sense-making metaphor picture. I would introduce it in small pieces, drawing and labeling as I introduced each section of the picture. I would also include video clips and provide examples that they could relate to, at their age. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
May 2018
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