Putting It into Action--Part I

Overflowing with ideas from all the professional development sessions I've attended and graduate course work I've completed so far this school year, my brain is currently working to find that delicate balance between what research calls best practice and reality calls a kid getting sick in the garbage can while my classroom phone is ringing during the middle of a lesson.  

In this series of posts, you'll see some of the strategies I've learned over the last few months and how I'm using them in a math unit on fractions.  Please understand that I'm both a dreamer and a realist; everything below is just me trying to reconcile the awesome instructional content I've been exposed to with the very real demands and pressures every teacher experiences.  Without further ado, here's a peek inside my mind and what's happening right now in my third grade world.

1. Inquiry, Student Choice & Knowledge Construction

THOUGHTS: So much of what I've heard and read lately harps on the benefits of student-led inquiry.  I find myself both nodding along and shaking my head as I think about letting my students develop questions and discover topics on their own.  How in the world can I teach the standards AND let them explore whatever they show interest in at the same time?!   Finally, I'm realizing that, yes, providing choice and control motivates students and increases engagement; however, I can structure and guide inquiry in a way that accomplishes the requirements outlined for me by _______ (the Common Core, the state assessment system, the school schedule, my principal, etc., etc. you fill in the blank!)

ACTIONS: To start our unit on fractions, I put up a modified version of what Dr. Sue Larson of Judson University has coined a Generative Vocabulary Matrix or GVM.  (More to come on the GVM later!)  As part of the display, I created a web organizer and had students consider three questions--What questions do you have about fractions?  Where do you see fractions in the real world?  What do you already know about fractions?  After having time to think about each question independently, students were given opportunities to discuss with partners, in small groups, and in the whole-group setting.  Ultimately, I wrote down student responses and color coded them, because who doesn't like a little coordination.  And voila!  A little (guided) inquiry!

After activating some prior knowledge and hashing out some questions about fractions, I set my kids loose with a text set, manipulatives, sticky notes and a graphic organizer to record their findings.

  

I complied about twenty books for the set--a collection of informational texts on fractions from the public library, my school library, and my personal classroom library.  Finding enough books and books on a variety of reading (and math) levels took probably thirty minutes, including my drive to the public library.  I wanted to have a decent amount of texts so that students had some choice and so that there wouldn't be more than two kids sharing a book.  

As this was still the first day of the unit, I didn't give much direction at all and instead opted to let the students take the lead.  I let them pick their books and decide if they'd like to read independently or with partners.  The graphic organizer they used had three headings--Questions I Have about Fractions, Key Words, and Why Fractions Are Important.  My kids are used to using sticky notes and recording ideas on graphic organizers, so after just a minute of modeling, I gave them about fifteen minutes to explore.

In my next post, I'll tell you more about how we students' discoveries from the text sets to develop our GMV or learning wall about fractions.