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Professional Inquiry Introduction

November 4, 2021

I am a 3rd-grade teacher in Lisbon, Maine. This is my 10th year teaching but only my 3rd in this district and grade level. My classroom has 22 learners between the ages of 8 and 10 with a wide range of abilities. We now have 1 to 1 chrome books in the classroom but little else for technology as a school. I have used Donor's Choose to obtain a document camera, a digital camera, and a tablet for our classroom. Most of our digital work is done through Seesaw or Moby Max, which was adopted by our school this year as an intervention to help "fill gaps" related to COVID.
My strengths are compassion, creativity, and collaboration. I feel very strongly that the children need to come first and curriculum can follow. I have always worked with populations that often have many needs not being met at home and I make whatever efforts I can to ensure that my classroom is a safe, welcoming environment before asking them to be students. I have found that when a child feels comfortable, they are much more ready to learn and be a productive part of a learning environment. I also greatly enjoy creating with and for my students. We have STEAM centers to incorporate their creativity in a variety of ways and I love making digital content for them as well as a plethora of hobby crafts that I enjoy in my "free time" and use in the classroom when I can. Collaboration is one of the largest factors in a school environment for me. I love being part of a team and sharing content with my colleagues. I have learned so much from the people that I work with and I like to think that they learn from me, as well. Without a solid team to support and be supported by, this job can be nearly impossible so I dedicate time and effort to making sure I am a strong part of the team.
The areas I would like to see improvements in for my learners is creative thinking. I have a wonderful group of learners but they struggle with sharing ideas and thinking farther than what is right in front of them. I know that some of that is developmental and we will continue to work on it through the year, but I would really like to see them leave this year with substantial improvements to their ability to communicate ideas and think beyond what they can see, "outside the box," if you will.

As for myself, I want to continue to refine my practice and improve my ability to help students become independent thinkers. I love the idea of inquiry teaching but I genuinely cannot see it working with the group of students I have. I need to continue learning about how I can slowly increase student autonomy and help them take more ownership of their learning.

Here are some topics and articles that I want to continue exploring and learning about:

A Question Teachers Should Ask as Often as PossiblePush students past simple recall into deeper thought and engagement by adding this short follow-up question to your repertoire.

What is trauma-informed teaching?Learn what trauma is and how it impacts learning. Find out how trauma-informed teaching practices can help kids.

Improve critical thinking wth educational tech.pdf

Guiding Students to Be Independent LearnersThree strategies for helping students become self-motivating and take charge of their learning.

Critical Thinking for Kids: Games, Questions, Activities, Skills for Elementary SchoolTeaching critical thinking to children might seem like a tough task since kids are known to think literally! But at the elementary level, it’s about developing a mindset to set the stage for deep thinking. Read this article to find more tips for helping kids to become critical thinkers!

Cases on STEAM Education in Practice: Differentiated Instruction

5. I have always struggled with the concept of teaching critical thinking. Several of these resources are about teaching students to become independent thinkers and learners. I believe this is a vital skill that many students are missing and I want to be able to incorporate it in my teaching as much as possible. The STEAM resources are because I started incorporating STEAM centers this year and it has been amazing in terms of engagement, student take-away, and forcing me to think about new ways of teaching content. This is an area I want to continue to explore as I think it is rich with ideas for integrating and differentiating to accommodate the needs of students. This could also be a way to streamline teaching and make it more hands-on and student driven, increasing the autonomy that I want for my learners. There is also a resource on trauma-informed practices because I have had introductory training on dealing with trauma in the classroom in 3 different districts but the training rarely goes beyond how to recognize trauma and how it can affect the classroom as a whole and the students individually. I want to develop my understanding of trauma more because it is becoming increasingly prevalent in the classroom and I need to be able to handle it and help students with their trauma so that we have a better chance at a successful year.

6. I think the direction I am leaning toward is critical thinking in the classroom. This is not an area I have seen much in the way of PD on so I do not think it will be addressed by my district, leaving it up to me if that is something I want to improve on. I also believe this is an area that will most greatly impact my classroom learning environment.

7. I can see an alignment with this and several of the essential questions for this course:

How do educators leverage technology to create environments that support the development of diverse skills and emphasize challenging learning experiences?
- - Critical thinking is definitely a challenging learning experience for 3rd graders. The idea of getting creative and sharing those thoughts can be very intimidating for students but it is also a developmental hurdle that not all of them will be ready to jump.
How can technology enhance teaching and learning partnerships that support and promote innovative models of deeper learning?
- - In briefly looking for resources on critical and creative thinking, I found many links to technology as a way to help students with these skills so I think this could be a great way to engage learners in going deeper with their thinking and I hope to find tools that make it fun and meaningful for them.
How can educators align vision, implementation, and practice to foster learning enhanced by technology?
- - This is a question I want to explore further through the lens of critical thinking. I have a vision for my students but how I achieve it is what I am working on.

Comments:

11/6/2021 17:04:28

Cassandra,

I love that you are thinking about exploring more with STEM and STEAM! I truly enjoy integrating STEM activities into my classroom. It helps students to think outside of the box and express themselves creatively. These activities also promote critical thinking skills. I am excited to learn more out your research and inquiry project!

Kristie Ferland

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11/7/2021 21:13:30

Hi Cassandra,

I also am trying STEAM centers in my library classes this year. The resource you posted about differentiated STEAM education will be very useful for me as the year goes on. I noticed it talking about curriculum compacting, which is something I am not very strong with. It's a concept that makes sense to me, but I've never had a term for it and I haven't gotten many chances to practice. I also like this embedded comments widget--I'm a big fan of Google Forms! Thanks for the post! :)

Emily Protheroe

11/8/2021 12:51:55

Great blog post with some great resources to explore! I, too, struggle with the same things you do (teaching critical thinking) and would like to grow in those areas as well. I have starting incorporating STEM activities into my science classroom and I have seen this increase autonomy. I think this is a great way to start students down the path of learning to be critical thinkers!

Tara

Digital Citizenship in the Classroom

September 30, 2021

The word citizenship is defined by the rights, duties, and privileges that go along with it. I am of the opinion that any teacher looking to involve their learners in an online community (insulated or otherwise) has a responsibility to teach said learners about digital etiquette and internet safety as it pertains to their involvement as citizens of that community. Just as we train students to become good citizens of society, so should we train them to be safe, respectful, and responsible citizens of the digital world. Every learner needs to understand that rules for polite society also apply to a digital platform and that there are expectations for behavior there that help maintain it. Being a part of a community puts a responsibility on anyone, regardless of age, to learn, create, and participate in such a way that does not infringe on the rights of others.

In a pre-pandemic world, the responsibilities of digital citizenship were not something that I explicitly taught, though classroom rules applied as much online as in person. Now that a significant part of the learning experience takes place on the internet, digital citizenship has become something that I formally teach my students through a series of lessons as they become relevant to our learning path. The values we learn in those lessons are embedded in everyday expectations and are revisited frequently for maintenance and relevance. Not only do students need to understand what expectations are being placed on them as digital citizens, but they deserve to understand why there are limitations in place. I would not send them out to the playground for a 30-minute free-for-all with no adult supervision or guidelines for behavior so why would I do the same on a digital playground (a term I have overheard students use in reference to their laptops😆). Unless there are serious safeguards set up so that students cannot access anything but designated sites (not something I would agree with) then there is every possibility students will find themselves in a situation where they need to know the "rules." And let's face it, even with safeguards in place, there will always be students who are able to access things they probably shouldn't...

Now, with all that said, teachers have a lot on their plates as it is and many do not have the knowledge of digital platforms that might be necessary to teach students. So who does it fall on to enforce this? Well, I would argue that it falls on the people who are teaching students to use technology, whomever that may be. Whether it is a technology instructor that students see for unified arts or the classroom teacher who is establishing a digital community within the classroom, the teacher delivering the instruction for internet-based platforms should be driving the instruction on digital citizenship. There are many curricula available online (both free and for purchase) that are fully fleshed-out lessons and units on internet safety and digital citizenship (see resources below for some ideas). There are also quick acronyms that can be taught and posted as a simple reference for expectations. The amount of instruction on digital citizenship should be well matched to the intent and amount of instruction on digital platforms (ie, different for everyone).

This does, however, create a broad spectrum of learner knowledge on the topic. This is where the district should be stepping in to ensure that at or by a specific point in a student's education, they are receiving a set level of instruction in the topic. Just as we are told what to teach with standards for ELA, math, science, etc. we should have the same expectations for online presence. In an ever-changing and evolving world, education needs to keep up, and teaching students about digital citizenship is one way in which this should be happening. If we can have an ELA coordinator and a math coordinator, should we not also have a technology coordinator who can help keep teachers and students on the same page with digital awareness and learning? What are your thoughts?