Collaborative+Inquiry

Collaborative Inquiry
Here I have collected some of my blog posts from our collaborative inquiry group's work space. Our inquiry question is "How can I guide a student to discovery without creating the path they must follow?" This path of inquiry has led to significant positive changes in my classroom.

[|Documenting Learning]
posted Apr 11, 2010 9:42 PM by Karen Wade [ updated Apr 11, 2010 10:03 PM ] I have been reading __Pedagogical Documentation: A Practice for Reflection and Democracy__. Several points struck me: using pedagogical documentation as a means for the construction of an ethical relationship to ourselves, to the Other, and to the world was one. Another was the use of documentation in the process of reflecting on one's own teaching, and how that could be powerful tool to understand one's own teaching practices and student's processes of learning. I have already seen how documentation has changed my concepts and practices as a teacher. I wonder how much more dramatically it would change if I were to follow the suggestion to begin a dialogue with parents, administrators and the community about our students' learning?

[|Students talking about TAB]
posted Apr 2, 2010 9:39 AM by Karen Wade [ updated Apr 2, 2010 9:41 AM ] Talking with students about our new TAB approach this year, one sixth grade student said the best thing about it is "You let us be who we truly are." That struck me, and stuck with me. What could be more important?

Here he is: [|http://got.im/W6C]

[|Teaching skills, behaviors and concepts.]
posted Mar 28, 2010 2:18 PM by Karen Wade [ updated Apr 2, 2010 9:36 AM ] As I have been thinking about assessment, I was considering the difference between teaching skills and teaching concepts. Then, after reading a student journal reflection, I realized I was also teaching another category: behaviors. In this case, the behavior was planning your work. The student recorded his response using our Vado. You can see it here: [|http://got.im/YsZ]

The audio isn't that great, but what this student is saying is that he now plans his artwork ahead, where before he didn't. To me, that is a huge change! And a teaching success. And this was his own response to reflective journal questions. I read his journal, and his writing skills were poor, so I could get his meaning, but I thought he might be able to express himself better by talking into the Vado. (I think he was a little shy about it at first.)

[|TAB and Assessment]
posted Mar 28, 2010 1:56 PM by Karen Wade [ updated Apr 2, 2010 9:37 AM ] As the value of documentation becomes more apparent to me, I have realized that documenting the students' work is a valid and reliable method for assessing their learning. To me, the concept of documenting goes beyond the individual artworks one student may produce. What if it also included small and large group work, everyday life of the classroom, students' ideas and interests, and evidence of meeting standards? I believe that documenting in this way is a natural fit for assessing student learning in a TAB (teaching for artistic behavior) environment. My goal for April is to document student learning through individual artworks, small and large group work, everyday life of the classroom, students' ideas and interests, and evidence of meeting standards.

[|Questions in the classroom]
posted Mar 23, 2010 7:44 PM by Karen Wade [ updated Mar 28, 2010 2:38 PM ] A new approach this week has turned out to be very interesting. As a result of our AE 2.0 inquiry process and my work with our artist-in-residence, I tried guiding a class with a question. In this case, they were derived from big ideas in the science curriculum. One was, “How can we create two animals that are related, but not the same?” and the other was “How can we create an animal in its habitat?” These questions were followed by lively discussion in large and small groups, research using library books, and individual creations. Students shared their works and the stories behind them using the document camera as a closing (assessment) activity. I am going to try this again next week and document the process and results. It is becoming very obvious to me how important documentation is for this and similar approaches to teaching. It truly does make the learning visible! My next questions include "How can we as artists increase awareness of environmental issues?" (My plan of approach: ask question, discuss. Break into small groups, who respond using sticky notes under the document camera, and discuss. Then view and discuss related works by contemporary artists)

[|Assessment and TAB]
posted Mar 16, 2010 9:41 PM by Karen Wade [ updated Mar 23, 2010 7:38 PM ] Assessment is still on my mind. I have been experimenting with a few different assessments: tracking center choices, holistic portfolio rubrics, and mini-portfolios. Today I started a dialogue with my 5th and 6th grade students about evaluating our mini-portfolios built around a theme chosen by each student. We made a mind map on the dry erase board of our ideas. Tomorrow I am going to document our dialogue using technology (maybe a Prezi) to share our ideas.

March 17; we made a Prezi together collecting the kids' ideas about evaluating our work. You can see it here: http://prezi.com/ndsq2qzunstv/

This is such a neat program, and it is so visual and intuitive, it was really easy for the students to learn and use. I like it very much!

[|Artist in Residence]
posted Mar 14, 2010 10:18 AM by Karen Wade This week, I am looking forward to the first day in the classroom with our artist in residence, Alison Zapata. She will be working with one group each of fourth, fifth and sixth grade students to create murals in our outdoor learning courtyard. You can see some of her other work at http://zapatastudios.com/wordpress/category/murals/ She has been documenting her recent work using invitation-only blogs where users can interact, leave comments. Since I saw this, I have been reconsidering my use of a wiki for documenting our classroom. A blog like //blogspot.com// can provide a collaborative space for school and home, with embedded videos and pictures. I have really enjoyed reading her narratives and reflections about her current work in a Montessori school.