Wishing

I wish, I wish, I wish…

I wish that time did not go by so quickly! Reflecting on my personal inquiry project, I feel as though I have been in a tornado of activity. Time has gotten away from me, and at times, I have felt pushed to my limits. I have never had the added pressure of a graduate level class over me as I proceed through the beginning of a new school year. Teaching, writing lesson plans, grading, open houses, coaching volleyball, staff meetings, etc., it seems the list continues to grow. Although I have felt the agony of defeat at times, I have continued to plug away. The giddiness/silliness and droopy eyes of lost sleep have not stopped my intrigue.

This is the first opportunity I have had to evaluate my own thinking. What am I most interested in? What are my goals? Where do I want to go today? The questions stream through the mind like a sieve. I haven’t stopped questioning since I began this project. It has been nice to have the chance to take a look at myself to analyze how I think and work. I have learned that I am able to handle stress and lack of sleep quite well. (Nothing a few Diet Cokes and cups of coffee can’t handle!)

Are my experiences anything like what my students face when working on a project? Do they feel the stress of deadlines? Are my students able to think about their thinking as I was? Reflecting on my thoughts and feelings throughout this process, I am sure that at times my experiences are similar to those of a child. The epiphany of finding that piece of information which I had been looking for was liberating! I felt like a kid in a candy store, so happy to have what I needed to make my search complete. I only hope that my students feel this same epiphany and intrigue in a class project as I have. It doesn’t even have to be a class project, an inquiry where they are looking for information, whether personal, academic or professional should be one of amazement and wonder; one where you should be happy every step of the way. Although I discussed the stress of this project, I didn’t feel that stress once I found what I was looking for. I wonder about the stress issue…do my students feel the pangs of stress in their life. Does the tick-tock of the clock as the deadline looms drive them crazy? Do they feel that agony that this MUST get done, as I did? I know that my middle school students do feel this stress, but I wonder to what degree. Do they have the sleepless nights because their mind is racing with the buzz of information? Is it possible they have as much to do as I do? I just can’t believe that they can. If they do, I am surely sorry for them. The level of stress I deal with on a daily basis could not be healthy for a young teenager.

This project has made me very aware of the stress of deadlines and necessary progress. There was a place we needed to be at certain dates. My students have these same restrictions when working on a project, and I am aware, now more than ever, that I need to give my students the tools to help them react and deal with the deadlines and processes. Students need to know the steps in the information inquiry process. Students must be aware of how to accurately validate a website. Students must know how to complete every step of this project just as I have.

No wonder I have received project after project which has been plagiarized, copied and pasted directly from the Internet it seems. “It was all I had time to do,” or so I am told. I thought that a week in class would be plenty of time for my students, and the library is open every day after school for extra help and computer time. What am I doing wrong? The tools are missing, that must be it. I must make my students more aware of their surroundings and help them find what they are interested in. It is certainly more fun to work on a project you are interested in, then one you are assigned to do. Students much know how to find what they are looking for, and organize it in a way which will suit their needs. I MUST make the effort to teach these tools to my students. Without these tools, I am doing an injustice to them, as I feel these tools will help them become better students in every subject, in every class.

Now that I know what I need to do in my own classroom, I think I need to take a look back at the final product I have created. Does it meet the standards I was looking for? Is there anything I need to edit or delete all together? Callison calls reflection the “key to both the student process for learning effective use of information and for the teacher who wants to evaluate his or her own techniques for instruction in information literacy. To be reflective is to consider options ad to make judgments.” (Information Power, pg. 267) Reflecting on this project, I am very happy with the outcomes. I am looking forward to using this lesson with my classroom students in December, which is when my curriculum calls for the teaching of this subject. At that time in December, I plan to again reflect on the outcomes. What have my students created? Are their presentations successful? How can I make this lesson better? How do the students feel about what they have done? It is imminently important that students also reflect on the process, as I will garner even more information on the quality of this lesson. Just as it is important for the teacher to reflect, if students are to use the information inquiry model correctly, then they must reflect as well.

Currently, I cannot answer these questions without first completing the lesson in my classroom. I can only know, right now, that this lesson will benefit many of the multiple intelligences of students and will add an interesting touch of culture to the topic of African tribal society. I look forward to inquiring on this topic again in the near future!

Waving

Here is the link to my PowerPoint presentation. You will find that I have included all three parts of the activity I will use in my classroom. The Bellwork will be completed at the beginning of class. Students hypothesize on their own, then they will discuss with a partner their ideas. Following the presentation, where I hope to have lively conversation with my students on the masks and information I have collected, students will be asked to begin brainstorming their ideas for their own tribal mask.

http://mypage.iu.edu/~aferriel/africanmask.htm

Wrapping

What is an effective way to communicate the information you have? The possibilities seem to be endless. From posters to scrapbooks to pamphlets, the list goes on and on. Is there one better than another? It all depends on what needs to be conveyed and the audience you are trying to reach.

My audience for this project will be 7th grade Social Studies students. Many of these students will be visual learners. These students need to “see” the information in order to “get” the information. With this being the case, I need to include pictures of the masks in my final product.

Although pictures may say a lot, I do not want to use pictures alone. Many of the students I see are visual learners, but with the multiple intelligences, most of us can find ourselves in two or more of the different intelligences. What about the auditory learners or the verbal learners? We definitely cannot forget the bodily-kinesthetic learners. I am always very concerned with helping these learners try to find their way in my curriculum. As often as I can, I try my best to include movement in my lesson plan. Bodily-kinesthetic learners need to move and touch in order to learn at their fullest potential. What can I do with my final product in order to ensure that I reach as many learners as I can?

My ideas for a final product are as follows:

Give students a picture of a mask and ask them to brainstorm what this mask might represent and the materials it may be made of. Students will then work with partners to discuss their hypotheses. Bodily-kinesthetic learners will be able to move around the room to work with a partner. Verbal learners will be able to write down their observations and speak with someone about their hypotheses. Visual learners will be able to see and hypothesize on what they are seeing.
Create a PowerPoint presentation with lots of pictures of African tribal masks and the basic information that I believe the students need to know.
Following PowerPoint, students will be given the task to create their own mask. Their mask should represent something to them. Ideas may include: love, hate, brotherhood, war, peace, etc. Supplies needed: plastic masks (found at Oriental Trading), beads, sequins, glue, construction paper, cardboard, raffia, etc.
Students will present their mask to the class with an explanation of what they have created. (How does the mask symbolize the theme they were trying to represent?)

I have chosen this path for my final product, because I feel I can reach the most students. Several different learning types will be involved, and students will have the opportunity to create their own versions of tribal masks. Students not only will have the chance to use their hands and artistic abilities, they will also have the chance to create a symbol of a theme important to themselves. This project will meet several of the Indiana's Academic Standards. In the area of Social Studies, the following standards will be met:
Standard 5: Individuals, Society and Culture – “Students will examine the role of individuals and groups in societies of Africa, Asia and the Southwest Pacific, identify connections among cultures, and trace the influence of culture of the past on present societies. They will also examine the role of artistic expression in selected cultures.” In the area of English, the following standards will be met:
Standard 7: Listening and Speaking: Skills, Strategies, and Applications – “Deliver focused, coherent presentations that convey ideas clearly and relate to the background and interests of the audience…” This project will also meet standard 3 of the AASL Information Literacy standards as students will be using “information accurately and creatively.” (See Information Power, pg. 8)