Practice Grounded in Inquiry
by Aimee Davis
written for the 2012 Invitational Summer Institute
There are ways I recognize my students’ communities, cultures and experiences as a means for knowledge generation. The following is a description of how that has looked in my classroom and in my school in the past and how it may look in my future practice.
I have recognized my students and their world through various literacy related experiences, directing them to create activities that relate to the world outside the classroom. It is important in the formation of these plans that my first thoughts are centered upon the students’ cultures and personal lives. The outcome of these experiences have looked like putting on plays from The Cowtail Switch in the classroom and Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughter’s in the auditorium. Not only are students actively a part of these activities, but also families and communities are taking part. On the road to that beautiful outcome, there are many learning opportunities, which are cultural and curriculum based.
The outcome does not always have to be a “show,” or result in a tangible outcome at all. My classroom has been the setting for invitational book discussions centered on cultural literature where the discussion part has outweighed the reading part. This was done on the outskirts of classroom time, at lunch and after school. The reason for inviting these students, or them inviting themselves in some cases, was because knew these particular students were asking to have a voice in many different situations that were arising for them. The book was a gateway for them to discuss themselves. At the time I thought it was “extra.” In retrospect, I believe that these were real learning experiences that the students would recall when they build upon their knowledge in the future. These “talks” and these “play practices” were done on the fringes of “real instruction.” However, they were meaningful experiences that had implications in the real world.
I have tried to incorporate these types of projects into regular instruction time. The result is sometimes these projects take a lot of time to complete. It takes them time to understand what they are doing, get into their groove and get the real work done. In addition, sometimes the result doesn’t look as beautiful as some people would like them to look. These “learning projects,” took up to three weeks to complete. There is background reading, creation of groups, creating and understanding rubrics, allowing an hour to an hour and a half a day for the students to work. Students often take advantage of the time and are off task .
In the coming year, I would like to put these “learning projects” at the forefront of my students’ learning experiences. Creating a whole experience that continues over time with a concrete end that has meaning outside the classroom walls will allow students to really buy into the fact that what they are doing is important. These are inquiry ideas that I will work on in my new teaching practice. I realize that time management may be an issue and will work on documenting the “whole experience.” This looks like grading process pieces such as drafts and evidence of cooperation. I also like the idea of presenting an over arching question over the course of a few months to generate connections between thoughts and ideas about social justice and themes and ideas represented in the literature being studied.
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Aimee Davis teaches English and has been at BOK since September 2012. She has been a teacher with the School District of Philadelphia since 2000.