Conceptual Inquiry Project

Conceptual Inquiry Project

It's year-long! As part of a yearlong research project, juniors at MEHS research a thematic topic of importance such as Truth, Beauty, Justice, Honor, Same/Other, etc. This month, they continue their inquiry by finding one book-length reading of non-fiction to fuel their knowledge and also listen to two radio documentaries on the topic. We offer them this list of sources:

Multi-modal Inquiry
PRX: http://www.prx.org/

NPR: http://www.npr.org/

Radio Lab: http://www.radiolab.org/

Re: sound: http://www.thirdcoastfestival.org/library

This American Life: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/

Ideas: http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/

The Next Big Thing: http://www.wnyc.org/shows/tnbt/2006/jan/

Fresh Air: http://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/

Snap Judgment: http://www.snapjudgment.org/

I am so excited to see how the students' understandings of their topics--understandings that have been building of the course of the whole school year--will grow and develop as they listen to others engage in the topic in online forums. This is so exciting!

What is significant about this? So much of what we teach is forgettable and in bits and pieces. When we offer students choice of topic and the means by which to explore the topic in depth, we help them to make meaning, creating durable pathways of understanding.

Thanks to my colleagues Greg, Kate and Bob for sharing this cool project with me!

Comments

5 Things I Wish I had Known When I Started Teaching Independent Reading

I was a high school English and Reading teacher. I got thrown into teaching reading classes in a new job based on coming from a school district that had a reputation for providing “Content Area Reading” training. I taught reading classes for nine years. I was a high school reading specialist whose job was to provide job-embedded professional development to teachers who were trying to increase the effectiveness of their literacy instruction. Now I am a PK-12 curriculum coordinator working in a school district that is gradually implementing a reading workshop approach in middle and high school. If you have read Mosaic of Thought , In the Middle, The Book Whisperer , or Book Love and if you have already implemented reading / writing workshop in your middle and high school class this blog-post might be a simplistic rehash of what much more experience teachers have to say. Or it might validate your thinking. If you are skeptical or curious about independent reading for s...

Learning with Significance

What is Learning of Significance? By helping students to make their own connections and understandings, these awesome teachers of significance have helped students to find meanings that will resonate with them. How to do it? connect with real issues right-size the learning task (and then make it even more challenging) problematize texts use multimodal prompts and texts show students how experts make meaning What does it look like? English -- a student researchers the war in Afghanistan with a partner and presents his findings about the Soviet invasion, the Taliban, and the U.S. involvement following 9/11. These same students connect this powerful new knowledge to The Kite Runner . In turn, the complex events leading up to and following 9/11 help focus the reading of the novel and vice versa ; as meanings become connected, webs of understanding reinforce significant knowledge. Science -- a teacher challenges his students to read a textbook excerpt describing...

Teachers of Significance

Search This Blog