https://prezi.com/view/2ISv4qKfcsb7d02CJbhL/
This course pushed me to experiment with story and through the process of inquiry I was able to explore my own story and weave the knowledge I have gained through the summer courses.
My final inquiry project is linked above and my inquiry reflection continues below.
Inquiry Question: How can I facilitate student’s independence while also building a self-motivated learning community within my classroom and how can this positive learning community foster a passion for learning beyond the formative years?
• What was your understanding of yourself as a teacher before this course? Has it shifted? If so, how? – Before this course I did not feel like story could be incorporated in any course other than English due to the subject’s obvious emphasis on literature. I knew that I wanted children to love learning, but I was not completely sure how I wanted that to happen. As I worked through the final inquiry project, I researched ways that I could engage students and how they could bring their learning home with him. I drew heavily from my past experiences as a child who I felt had slipped through the cracks of the system during my high school years. I love the idea of story-use so much, but I have been nervous to use anything story based outside of an English classroom for fear that it would not align to the curriculum and curricular targets. Looking at the person/teacher I am now, I feel confident in taking stories into any classroom because it is how students can learn from stories they build, tell and present.
• What was your understanding of inquiry and of story as a means of research before this course? Was anything confirmed or disproven for you as a result of working through this process? Inquiry has always been a scary word for me because I did not know how to do it or the process that went with it. I had no idea which type of inquiry was right for me, my goals, and my future classroom. My thinking did not align with any of the inquiry paths until this class and the breakdown of activities taught me that I could use story as a means of inquiry. With my creative writing background, I am thrilled that story can be used as a research tool. With the help of the guest speakers and hearing different accounts of story use in everyday life outside of classrooms, it is important that students incorporate story into their learning to be prepared for the world they will graduate into.
• Imagine looking back in 10 years: how might this work have shaped your pedagogy? The work I did for this inquiry project and the project itself is something that has shaped me because I am now more comfortable taking risks with inquiry and pushing myself further than I did before. I am less scared of what inquiry means and how to do it and I have realized how important it is for inquiry to be a large part of the classroom. I made a list of goals for my future classroom at the end of my inquiry project, and I would not have produced that list if it were not for the thinking, research and learning I did for this project.
• How and when might you revisit this work as you move into your final practicum and your career in education? When I thought about what I wanted my inquiry question to look like, one of the most important aspects of it had to be “This is something I want to continually work on and investigate.” I will revisit this question every single day of my teaching career while planning stages of lessons and executing said plans during class time. As a novice (not yet certified) teacher my final experimental stage is the final practicum that is about a month away. This is the time where I can go more in depth with my inquiry and with four different classes I will have such a wide variety of students that will have diverse needs. More than likely I will have some juniors this practicum and this will be fantastic because they are bright eyed, new to high school students who hopefully are excited to see what secondary school is about. I plan to harness that excitement and use it to learn from them how I can make my classroom community positive and self-motivating.
