Mrs. McAlister's Blog

Social Awareness Inquiry Cycle

4/23/2019

My sixth graders and I had a rewarding year delving into social awareness topics of their choosing. As a GATE class, we participate in Passionate Kids Project. This year, along with discovering our passions, we tackled social concerns. To be honest, the topics were out of my comfort zone but I trusted my student’s maturity. The inquiry was broken up into experiences throughout the year. The focus was on solutions.

Inquiry Cycle

Our inquiry cycle started out with many guided experiences then culminated in a completely student-led seminar. Let’s take a look at our cycle.

#SmashboardEdu: We started out with the essential question, “What are some issues young people face today?” and used this #SmashboardEdu guide. After coming up with concerns, students teamed up to do some initial research. (Collaborative slide deck here and blog post here)

Question Formulation Technique: After brainstorming social concerns with #SmashboardEdu, students were placed into teams based on the topic they were most interested in. We used this QFT guide to generate open and closed questions. (Blog post here)

Collaborative Research and Presentations: As a team, each inquiry group answered questions from their QFT then presented their findings in oral presentations. (Student samples here, here, and here)

Student Created Logos: As a side quest, some groups created logos using Google Drawings. (Slide deck here)

Thesis Statements: Individually, students created thesis statements that would guide their independent research. (Student samples here)

Articles Reviews: Students used two self-selected sources (with my approval) to answer their essential questions. Through a process of writing, peer editing, and teacher feedback, students wrote their article reviews that provided background information of the social concern and a variety of solutions to help solve the problem. (Samples here, here, here, and here)

Demo Slams: Each group created a digital and oral presentation. The digital piece was to have very few words and the oral presentation was to focus on solutions and include an interactive experience for the audience. Groups created, practiced, and refined their presentations. The goal time was 10 minutes. Peer evaluations were completed during the demo slams. (Sample here)

Social Awareness Seminar: For our celebration of learning, we held a Social Awareness Seminar for our fifth grade classes and parents. The fifth graders were able to choose topics they were interested in and attend those sessions. Our sixth graders dressed up, were knowledgeable, confident, and had fun. It was a perfect culmination to our social awareness inquiry. (Sample slide decks here, here, here and here)

We had a busy and productive year. We started the year in the shallow end of the inquiry pool and ended in the deep end. With lots of support and encouragement along the way, I’m proud to say that my sixth graders are leaving me as confident, independent scholars that were allowed to share their voice.

Educators, after 25 years of teaching, I’m still stretching, learning, and more importantly, trusting my students. We are in a new era in education. It’s time for us to make learning relevant, bring in student interests, and loosen up the reigns. It’s a journey. It’s taken me three years to get here. But the rewards of seeing my students share their voice, learn through experiencing successes and even failures, is worth any discomfort we may have. I encourage you to take on an endeavor next year that may make you uncomfortable. I wasn’t sure if we could handle these deep topics, but we did. I cried more this year than any other year (out of pride). I stepped out of my comfort zone, and I’m so glad we did.

On another note, if you’re interested in starting or refining your inquiry journey, I highly recommend Dive into Inquiry and Inquiry Mindset by Rebecca Bathurst-Hunt and Trevor MacKenzie. If you’re interested in problem based learning and want to try #Smashboardedu, give Dee Lanier a follow or check out SmashboardEdu.com.

#MuchLove . . . Marilyn ❤️

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Social Awareness Seminar - Faux Twitter Chat

4/16/2019

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I read an inspiring blog post recently (this morning) from my Twitter friend and professional colleague, @Carlameyrink. She was sharing, in this blog post, how her instructional coach created a buzz of engagement with their staff. After reflecting, I decided that I needed to create a buzz with my students and bring back our faux Twitter chat.

Earlier in the year, we created faux Twitter handles. Many of the students are gamers, have youtube channels, or have other social media. Their Twitter handles are variations of names they already use.

In class, we’ve been deeply immersed in a social awareness inquiry. We’ve developed questions, researched, wrote, created logos, and will be presenting group presentations tomorrow. This was the perfect time for a Twitter chat. Twitter chats generally get the participants to reflect on their practices, set future goals, and will often have an opportunity for shout outs. I use this same model for our faux chats.

Here’s the slide deck of questions we used.

Just like a real chat, we use the Q1 and A1 format, talk to each other using handles, and even incorporate hashtags. I post each question one at a time onto our Google classroom. Students first answer the question then they respond to classmates. I generally use three questions and post them about 5 minutes apart.

Take a look at some of the responses for our Social Awareness Chat.

Question 1: Our Social Awareness Seminar is tomorrow. How are you feeling about it?

I feel confident, like we'll do good, but I also feel anxious. What if a major problem begins? Even minor problems can be hard to solve. I just hope we don't have any major problems on the day of presentations. #FeelingConfident @RobloxDragon

I feel nervous, yet excited, about the presentation. I hope I don't forget what I'm going to say out of nervousness. @lookatallthosechickens

I am feeling a little nervous, but at the same time I feel really confident about tomorrow. The part that I am most scared about is the parents. I know that they aren't going to say anything, but I am still a little scared. The kids I feel fine about because I’ll just have fun and do my part. #OhNoParents @Dominguez0323

Question 2: You’ve worked really hard. What are you the most proud of?

I'm happy that although this is my first year with Passionate Kids Project, I've been doing great. I thought I wasn't going to do good on my demo slams, but got good scores. I'm very proud of myself. #Noob @Alfredokm57

I am proud of my whole group and everything we have been through. We have accomplished and overcame a lot. I am also proud of how our presentation is turning out. We have everything planned out and we are prepared. #Overcomers @cassidy3041

I'm proud of a few things. I'll just number them here.
1. Memorization of lines:
My group has a lot to say, and we really memorized it quickly. I can't believe I was able to do a classmates slide on demo-slams the day he was gone. Success!
2. Design of presentation:
I haven't really seen myself use my designing skills on something actually educational, but I guess I did now.
3. No overuse of words:
Words! Words! Words! Digitally are not good on our presentations in this case!
I'm proud of a few more minor things, but I don't want this to turn into an essay so there we go. @RobloxDragon

Question 3: We’re a community of learners. Give a shout out to a classmate.

I know were supposed to shout out to a classmate but I'm going to be shouting out my whole group. Shout out to DV about how he was kind of in control but not bossy to the point where he stepped up and became a leader. Shout out to GCC on how she was a cooperative and engaging person when helping mostly the whole group get the information, pictures, and ideas. And finally shout out to MV. He did an excellent job even though he came to our group really late but he still pulled it together. He was able to gather information from his resources and remember his lines, finish his article review, and have a good time doing the project even when it was late! So pretty much just shout out to my whole group for working their hardest and successfully accomplishing a good team and a bond between how we can feel empathy for this dreadful topic. @BonelessFriesOrder4 (Their social awareness topic is “depression”.)

I'm going to give a shout out to CS because she is literally the one who always brought the group back together and always made us have a good time WHILE being on task. #Havefunandlearn @diaz7127

I'm giving a shout out to two groups. The Children with Disabilities group for working so hard on the video and hands on and giving a lot of thought i to their work And another shout out to the Drugs and Alcohol group. They are a great example of teamwork and being hard workers. #Teamwork @SparklestheUnicorn

After we’ve cycled through the questions, we do a dramatic reading of the chat. I read the initial question, then students read what they wrote in chronological order. It’s actually a lot of fun! Everyone gets to participate and share with the group in a fast paced manner.

I love watching the students during a chat. They are very serious yet enjoy themselves at the same time. As their teacher, I know that this is really a reflection piece. Part of my lesson design is always reflection. The faux Twitter chat is a fun and engaging way to get students reflecting while having fun with their friends. As @Markbarnes19 would say, that’s one way to #HackLearning.

Give the faux Twitter chat a try. Your students will love it!

#MuchLove . . . Marilyn 🖤

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Goals Inquiry

2/9/2019

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One of my goals this year has been to focus on inquiry and bring meaning to our essential questions. Coming back from Christmas break, our new language arts theme was a perfect fit . . . goals. Our overarching essential question was:

What does it take to accomplish a goal?

With the question in mind, I put my lesson design hat on and implemented a three part inquiry.

Let’s see what we did.

QFT
We started the inquiry off using the Question Formulation Technique modeled after The Right Question Institute (here). My sixth graders used this slide deck to guide the process.

This is our fourth time implementing QFT this year. The level of familiarity and confidence with the process was evident. Students dove right into the provocation.

Their questions were deep and personally relevant. Some of their questions included:

What are goals?
How do goals lead to action?
How do goals prepare us for the future?
Are goals and accomplishments the same?
Is a goal always accomplished?

As you can see, their questions are a combination of opened and closed. We’ve come to realize that both types of questions are important.

At the end of each session, students write a reflection on index cards. The following questions are used to spark their reflections:

What did you learn?
How will you use the questions?
How did you improve as a learner?

This particular session was special because, as an AVID elementary school, we’re working on collaboration and supporting teacher leaders. Part of our plan this year is for teachers to share best practices and learn from each other. My dear colleague and I shared our passions with each other, along with our principal and instructional coach.

Socratic Seminar
The next part to our inquiry was using the student generated questions from the QFT in a socratic seminar. During the peer lesson study, I observed my colleague implement a socratic seminar with her fourth graders. They did great! Since many of my students were her former students, I wanted to be consistent with the process.

For our goals socratic seminar, I split the class into four groups. We had two seminars running at the same time. Each seminar had an inside circle and an outside circle. The inside circle held the discussion and the outside circle were the observers. The students discussing were given questions generated from the QFT on index cards. The discussions were 5 minutes long. Each observer was assigned one student. Observations were recorded on index cards. After the discussions, the observers orally shared their observations. Once one round was complete, the inside circle and the outside circle swapped positions and the process was repeated.

The students did great with the socratic seminar. Because we run a student-led classroom and they were previously exposed to socratic seminar, the discussions were on point and observers took their role seriously. In this case, pictures speak louder than words. Take a peek.

Vision Bottles
The culmination to our inquiry was creating vision bottles. One of the essential questions for the unit was “What can people accomplish when working together?”. I decided to use this as an opportunity to have our instructional coach come in and co-teach a lesson.

The vision bottle lesson included several parts: strips with self-reflective questions, friendship, SMART goals, and tactile items to inspire. Click here for the lesson.

A real quick to be honest. I thought the activity would take one class period. It actually took two. But I recommend three in order to honor each part.

The component that tied into our inquiry was the SMART goals. For this part, we shared and discussed this image. Using the structure, I modeled several personal goals for myself. We discussed and shared math, language arts, and personal goals orally. Then, students wrote their own goals. For this lesson, I didn’t insist that all the components of SMART goals was in their sentence. Another to be honest. It is REALLY hard for students to write SMART goals. Take a look at some of their goals.

Shout out to our instructional coach, Lagina Young, for the inspirational handout and fun items to put in the bottle. The students loved them all! Thank you sharing your creativity with us.

Our goals inquiry was relevant, scholarly, and fun. I’m proud of my sixth graders for digging deep into QFT, having a scholarly discussion on goals, and would love to hear how they react years from now when they rediscover their vision bottle.

Are you using inquiry or QFT in your classroom or school? I’d love to see what you’re doing.

I hope all of your goals and dreams come true in 2019!

#MuchLove . . . Marilyn ❤️

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Social Awareness QFT

12/2/2018

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We’re moving right along with our social awareness inquiry. So far, we’ve generated a lengthy list of social concerns, engaged in a #SmashboardEdu session, and regrouped based on student interest.

Our next step is to generate our essential questions. In order to facilitate students asking their own questions, we utilized the Question Formulation Technique. The work of The Right Question Institute website along with the book, Make Just One Change by Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana, has greatly influenced my practice.

Join me as I share our QFT session.

We started off watching this video of a fourth grade class navigating through the stages of QFT. The teacher’s thinking process and her student’s collaboration was motivating to both my students and me.

Our QFT session had 10 different groups varying from 2 to 5 students. The purpose of the inquiry is to learn about solutions to problems young people are facing today. In order to do that, students need to narrow down their focus. The QFT questioning process with help students determine essential questions to research and answer. The social concerns of my sixth graders are: immigration, face to face bullying, cyberbullying, making wrong choices, depression, self-harm, anxiety, drugs and alcohol, disabilities, and homelessness.

During the session, we used this slide deck to guide us. We engaged in all components of the QFT process which include:

   1.   A Question Focus (Q-Focus)
   2.   The Rules for Producing Questions
   3.   Producing Questions
   4.    Categorizing Questions
   5.   Prioritizing Questions
   6.   Next Steps
   7.   Reflection

This is the second time my class worked through the process. Our school has a very tight team. In fifth grade, students used the QFT process so it isn’t a new procedure. Honoring each step of the process is very important. It seems deceptively simple but the thinking and student empowerment is huge. Because students are doing the heavy lifting, they take ownership of their questions and learning. The timers embedded in the slide deck keep students on task and focused.

Take a look at some of the questions below. And this video of students collaborating.

The final component of the QFT process is a reflection. Students reflected in their digital journal. Their digi journal is an integral part of the inquiry. They’ll be returning to it throughout the next couple of months.

Take a look at some student reflections.

Student 1: "I learned that when doing a QFT, you can’t really worry about grammar at that point. You have to hurry up and write down your questions in the time you are given. I will use the questions we chose for further research in my anxiety inquiry, and to have more understanding with it. I can improve as a learner by expanding and tweaking my questions to make them better, and by taking my thinking into a deeper level. I also learned that making up questions in a limited time is not really easy, and you have to be a fast thinker. In a QFT, you aren’t really learning about your topic, but about your group and how good it collaborates. In my group, we needed a little bit more collaboration with the new member. We, of course had to help him a little with his understanding. Hopefully he improves with his collaboration and thinking. It was a little awkward considering he was uncomfortable with us since he barely knew us. The QFT really did help us with our thinking, and helped us get a better understanding on the questions we want to research on. All in all, the QFT helped us get a little more comfortable, and also gave us a good start because we thought of many good questions we would like to do further research on."
Student 2: "During our QFT time there was so much learning and engaging going on. I learned a lot about my group and the questions they had. AH (a group member) seemed to be really interested on the effect of making wrong choices. On the other hand ADH (another group member) was mainly interested on the origins and the consequences. We all asked many questions. Many were open. I feel that’s good because we could engage more in the topic. I also learned that we can all work as a well mannered team. We all took turns and gave the questions we felt were important. As a group we all felt we needed a voice. ADH was making sure that everyone got to share their perspective on the questions and what was more important. I feel that I can use the questions in many ways. I feel that it is best for me to use more or less the open questions to help me engage more in the subject. I will use the questions as a way to research and go deeper into the awareness in a scholarly way. The questions will improve my knowledge on the subject and can help throughout the process. There are many ways I can improve as a learner. I feel that maybe asking different questions such as deeper questions can improve the way I research. I like to reach for a scholarly act so the deeper question can engage me more. It will help my thoughts on the awareness. I should start thinking outside of the box. It’ll help my me and my groups ideas. After all this QFT session was really good and will help me learn new things, think of ways to use my questions, and help me try to improve my learning."
Student 3: "My QFT topic was Drug and Alcohol Abuse. My reflection of this topic helped me learn that there are more to drugs and alcohol than them just being bad. Something else that I learned during this session is that drugs and alcohol have many more questions to them then you think. We usually thought that drugs and alcohol were just things that we shouldn’t do, after what seemed about six minutes we realized there was still more questions about drugs and alcohol that us four were still wondering. Another thing that I can reflect on is that our group were not exactly comfortable with our topic, but mostly because we didn’t know how to explain this topic to others and how to put all the things together as a group. Something that I will do with my groups and my own questions are by trying to explain to others and more importantly why drugs and alcohol are things that people shouldn’t even try not even one time in life because after who knows if you’ll end up getting addicted to either of them. Another way that I can use these questions is by researching each different facts about them and how to help me understand these questions on my own and again after explain it to others to help them understand as well. A way I can improve as a learner is by giving more questions in my group and by helping other people find another question to give either me or themselves another thought about theirs or another about mine. I can also improve myself as a learner by thinking a little deeper in my questions. Something else that I think that I really can improve on as a learner is that I think I can be more open to others and yo my own ideas and to be able to share my ideas."

We culminated the session by going on a gallery walk. Students were able to read each groups questions and discuss with their peers along the way.

Our next steps are to focus on the three priority questions from each group. Students will be learning about their self-selected topic with a particular focus on solutions to their social concern.

The QFT process is a powerful questioning technique that can be used at all grade levels. Here is a GFT slide deck guide that you can modify to meet your particular needs. Feel free to insert your Q-focus into the slide deck.

If you’re already using QFT or are just starting your journey, I’d love to see what you’re doing. If you have questions, feel free to DM me.

#MuchLove . . . Marilyn ❤

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#MyRelaxing5

12/1/2018

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The beginning of the school year has come and gone. So why am I still working so much? Honestly, I love what I do. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not bringing work home but I am thinking about it all the time. And I do mean, all the time! Thank goodness for my Twitter friend, Mari, and my teaching partner, Jesus, for reminding me to have balance. Jesus and I made a pact at the beginning of the year to keep our balance in check. We’re doing pretty good going home at a decent hour. And Mari gave a group of us a challenge to write a blog post about called #MyRelaxing5.

So here they are, in no particular order.

1.   Geocaching - My current passion is geocaching. (Shout to Mari for writing a blog post about it.) I caught the geocaching bug in July and I have 182 caches to my name. I’ve found 7 travel bugs and have hid two caches of my own. It is seriously soooo much fun! Think Pokemon Go but with real items and logs to find and sign. Today we took a Boy Scouts group out geocaching in the desert. Talk about fun! Geocaching keeps my mind off work, gets me outside, and satisfies the competitive nature in me. If you’re interested, DM me and I’ll help you get started or check out the site geocaching.com.

2.   Exercise - One of the best ways for me to decompress is to exercise. It’s always been part of my life. Currently, I love weight lifting, rowing, and running. Just this morning I was challenged to run 3 miles or 30 minutes each day for the month of December. The timing is perfect. I immediately said “yes”. The weather here in southern California this time of year is perfect for afternoon runs and walks. But I have to admit, I will often come home from a run with some really good ideas to implement in my classroom. The white space is perfect for ideas to come and go. I used to run with music. Now I track my runs with my Garmin and enjoy the white space.

3.   Binge Watching Netflix and DVR Shows - This is my Friday night. I let my shows accumulate, I get into my comfy clothes and blanket, and snuggle in for the night. This probably sounds really boring to some but I love it!!! It’s probably the only time that I’m truly relaxed. One of our dogs is really old . . . 17 years. Her name is Lady. I call her my Old Lady now. I make sure to give her lots of lovin’ during Friday night binges.

4.   Visit Friends - I have two best friends. One is my best friend from college, Elena. I love visiting her during holidays. When I visit her and her family, it’s just like being home. Her daughters called me Tia Loca. We have so much fun together! The best part of our visit is that their kitchen gets a thorough cleaning. Super weird, but I love cleaning kitchens . . . so relaxing. I will definitely be visiting them soon. My other friend is Joan. We started out as running buddies. Now we’re geocaching buddies. We’ve done dozens of 5Ks together and a couple of Vegas half marathons. We don’t run too fast, but we sure have fun. A geocaching adventure is definitely on our calendar.

5.   Weekends with Family - Both of our children are in college in Orange County. We’ve taken to weekend trips with the kids. Sometimes we meet for the weekend in San Diego or Palm Springs. Other times we go see them. Of course, my daughter’s kitchen gets a good cleaning! We were at our son’s last weekend. This may be gross but I’m dying to clean his bathroom! Getting away to see our children makes me so happy and really is relaxing.

These are my #MyRelaxing5. I’m feeling a little guilty for not putting reading on my list. But, to be honest, I have a really hard time reading for pleasure during the school year. I always have an education related book that I’m working on. My recreational reading will have to wait until summer.

What are your relaxing 5? I challenge you to write them up and share them with us on Twitter. Even if you don’t write them up, the reflective process is well worth it.

#MuchLove . . . Marilyn ❤

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Social Awareness #SmashboardEdu

11/21/2018

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We’ve been busy in sixth grade. Our year long Passionate Kids Project (PKP) journey is moving right along. During the first quarter, students shared a particular passion of theirs and brought in an artifact to pin to our Passion Wall. For our second quarter, we will be working collaboratively to identify and solve issues facing young people today.

Join us on our journey.

Identify the Problem

We started with the essential question, “What are some issues young people face today?”. We gathered around our chart paper and two student leaders lead the brainstorming session. We talked about trust, privacy, and maturity as the topics got deeper and deeper. I have to be honest, I was surprised at the level of knowledge, empathy, and self-awareness the group had.

Narrow Down the Topics

During Station Rotation, we revisited the topics and discussed issues that students were drawn to. At the end of each 20 minute session, students wrote down 3 topics on index cards they were interested in diving into deeper. From there, students were grouped by interest. The topics included immigration, face to face bullying, cyberbullying, racism, gaming and too much internet, making wrong choices, depression, self-harm, and anxiety.

#SmashboardEdu

One of our favorite problem solving structures is #SmashboardEdu. It is a gamified process for solving problems. Over the course of two class periods, students identify the problem, research, solve, share, and reflect. Shout out to Ed Tech Team leader, @DeeLanier, for his fabulous bank of resources here. We used this slide deck to guide our sessions. With the use of cards, a timer, and a student reflection sheet, students were guided through the problem solving process. The culmination was a gallery walk with groups sharing their digital creations and solutions with the class.

The amount of engagement and collaboration was high during the sessions. Because the topics were student driven, their discussions became personal and reflective. With the use of the cards, discussions stayed on topic. The timer kept the pace moving and the reflection sheet provided accountability. The protocol for creating calls for 15 minutes. We did 15 minutes the first day then allow 10 minutes the second day for final touches and inserting their creations onto this collaborative slide deck.

Moving Forward

After our initial exposure to social awareness concerns, students were introduced to our bigger project. Students will continue to research a concern and give a 10 minute seminar to our 5th and 6th grade classes focusing on solutions. Students were given the opportunity to stick with the topic they have or change the topic. The majority of students kept their current topic, with a handful changing topics. New topics include homelessness and students with disabilities.

I’m so excited to see where their projects take them. The Social Awareness Seminar will be EdCamp style and will include a hands-on activity. Groups will be able to write a proposal for supplies for their activity. As part of the research process, groups will be asked to interview a professional in the field or a person that has personal experience with the concern. If you are able to be a resource, or know of a someone that would be willing to be interviewed, please let me know. We are working on learning and collaborating with others outside our four walls.

Thank you so much for joining us on our social awareness journey.

#MuchLove . . . Marilyn ❤

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Biomes Inquiry Project

10/28/2018

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We’ve had a great start to sixth grade. I’m excited to share our first inquiry project. In science, we’re studying ecology. As an extension, we dove into a biome inquiry project.

We started by discussing the “Types of Student Inquiry” poster by Trevor MacKenzie and Rebecca Bathurst-Hunt. At the end of the year, we conduct a free inquiry on our personal passions. I really wanted students to see inquiry as a journey, something that is process as well as a product. The student’s perceptions and discussions about the poster were deep and targeted. They left the session feeling confident and supported. I was pleased with their level of engagement and understanding.

I introduced biomes through this video. After watching the video, we developed questions using the Question Formulation Technique. (The Right Question Institute at rightquestion.org is a valuable resource.)

Here is the sequence that we followed.

-Students wrote questions individually.
-In groups, students compiled their questions onto a poster.
-I created a Google doc with all the class questions.
-In groups, students categorized the questions as open or closed. (Document here.)
-In groups, students changed several open ended questions to closed questions and vise versa.
-Students finished the process by choosing three questions they were most interested in answering individually.

It was such a powerful experience watching students interact with their peers and ask questions. Their collaboration skills were excellent.

I created my own tally sheet of questions students were interested in answering. With student interests and content standards in mind, I created a choice board of essential questions for students to use for their inquiry.

When we introduced the inquiry project, students were instructed to choose four questions from the choice board to research. (Document here.) Because this was a controlled inquiry, I provided three templates for students to use. (Templates here, here, and here.) Each template had the same components: title page, four essential questions, captivating image, quote, map, and resource page. The required components were the title page, four questions, and resource page. The image, quote, and map were available for students that wanted to “level up”. Most students completed some or all of the additional options.

Part of my workflow to monitor students and their progress was for students to fill in the cells of the questions they would answer on their choice board and send me their Google slide link using a Google form. We also created a crowd sourced resource page for students to use. Additionally, I had a poster of the choice board where students wrote their names by the questions they would be answering. This became a support when students needed assistance with a particular question.

Students spent about 5 class periods researching, taking notes, writing their responses, and completing their slide deck. Experts in particular areas emerged during the week and became valuable resources to classmates. Some students shared how to insert links and images, other students were eager to share sites they found, while others shared how to use text boxes and word art on the map.

The final products were informative and scholarly. Just as important was the amount of student agency that developed during the unit. Because students were involved in determining the questions being used and choosing their own template, their engagement was high. We have a flexible seating environment and students regularly collaborate with peers. These structures amplified student success.

Take a look at some of our inquiry projects. (Links here, here, and here.)

Next on our agenda is a guided ancient civilizations inquiry. If you’re on an inquiry journey, I’d love to be tagged in your posts. Trevor and Rebecca have an active community using the #InquiryMindset hashtag. Be sure to give it and them a follow.

#MuchLove . . . Marilyn ❤

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Inquiry Mindset . . . Sharing the Love

10/6/2018

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Wow! It’s been a busy but great start to the school year. My new group of sixth graders have settled in nicely and my partners and I are finding our flow. Not only that, I’ve been able to share my love for inquiry at two EdTechTeam summits, with our district GATE teachers, and at our school site Inquiry Mindset book study.

Here’s a quick recap.

High Desert EdTechTeam Summit

The teachers in Hesperia, California are amazing and passionate. I presented two sessions on inquiry, “Getting Started with an Inquiry Mindset” and “Leveraging Voice and Choice by Diving into Inquiry”. This was my first time sharing inquiry with others. I was honestly a bit nervous. Fortunately, the teachers were kind and eager to learn. The best part was meeting a couple of teachers that are equally as passionate about inquiry, @TechCoachGraham, @nunes_edventure, and @itsmrsking. Their knowledge and excitement for inquiry is contagious. Be sure to give them a follow. You’re sure to learn a lot.

Imperial Valley EdTechTeam Summit

Our local summit was a blast. After feedback from the first summit (thank you @MsVenturino and @meagan_e_kelly) I made some modifications on the sessions, particularly building in more collaboration and time for creation. (Links to the sessions here and here.) We focused on provocations, the inquiry map, and authentic pieces using Adobe Spark and GooLinks. I had so much fun watching teachers interact with the inquiry content, plan their next steps, and collaborate with peers. This is our third summit and the educators were ready to take their experience to the next level. Not only are teachers interested in technology, but how to use it meaningfully within their content areas. I’m excited to see where the #IVEducators go on their journey.

Sunflower School Inquiry Mindset Book Study

This has to be what I’m most excited about. It’s an honor to facilitate our school site in an Inquiry Mindset book study. At our first meeting, we covered chapters 1 and 2, characteristics of the inquiry teacher and 10 reasons to use inquiry-based learning. Our discussions were deep, meaningful, and student centered. One powerful experience was reflecting on the 10 reasons sketchnote, created by @rbathursthunt, using the stoplight strategy. It was a powerful reflective piece. We ended the session by visiting classrooms and having teachers share some of their inquiry spaces. One teacher has a rock collection as an inquiry provocation, a first grade teacher is conducting inquiry of plants, and two teachers share a library for both classes. Our next session will cover provocations and the Questions Formulation Technique. Here's the book study slide deck that we'll be adding to.

ECESD GATE Teacher Training

In our district, we have three elementary schools that have GATE programs for gifted and talented students. We started by reflecting on where we are in the inquiry pool. As part of the program, students participate in Passionate Kids Project. Students find their passion, connect their passion to society, research, write, create authentic pieces, and share at a celebration of learning. I used @trev_mackenzie’s inquiry map to guide my class last year. It was a phenomenal experience. For the teacher training, we followed two students on their journey. It was an effective way for teachers to see the implementation of the process and view student work firsthand.

Teachers had many targeted questions throughout the 6 sessions. My honest answer to any inquiry question is to honor your students. Know where you want to go, but let your students choose the path. They will take you on adventures you may have never dreamed of.

I'm excited to see where the inquiry journey takes all of us!

#MuchLove . . . Marilyn ❤

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2018-2019 Goals

8/10/2018

4 Comments

It’s that time of year again . . . Back to School. I don’t know about you, but I love the excitement of setting up my room, organizing student supplies (new packs of crayons are the best), and setting goals for the year. In the past, I’ve written my goals as a list, as infographics, and even a Google Keep note. This year, I’m documenting my goals on my blog.

Soooo, here goes. I have three major goals for the 2018-2019 school year.

Student Voice and Leadership
Last year, once of my goals was to implement a student-led classroom and flexible seating. I have to say, we nailed it. This year, I want to continue with both of these, but also ramp up student voice and leadership.

For student voice, I’d like to amplify the voices of my students both literally and figuratively. I purchased a super cool karaoke microphone from Bonaok. I plan to introduce it during Smart Start so that it is a regular routine in the room. Of course, Flipgrid will be an integral part of class. My students loved it last year. This year I hope to go beyond our classroom and interact with a larger audience. Hopefully, we’ll have the opportunity to connect with other classes during the Global Read Aloud and through members of my PLN.

For student leadership, I have two venues. One, I run the campus ASB. This is a great opportunity for students to hone their leadership skills. My principal and I have been working for the past four years creating opportunities for leadership including assemblies, school wide events, and self-selected projects. The other way I’d like to honor students as leaders is through our Passionate Kids Project. Last year, students navigated through their passion projects with great enthusiasm and produced phenomenal artifacts. This year, the sixth graders will be encouraged to give back to the community. I’m excited to see what they decide to do. I grew so much last year learning how to step aside and let students lead and make decisions. Their community projects will surely provide an opportunity to hone their voice and leadership skills.

Inquiry Based Learning
I’ve been on an inquiry journey for two years now. I have learned so much!!! The two books that have influenced me are “Dive into Inquiry” and “Inquiry Mindset”. I have truly been transformed as an educator. I’m going to continue to use “The Inquiry Process” for our passion projects. Additionally, I have 3 more goals to deepen our use of inquiry based learning.

First, I plan to use more provocations with students. Engaging video clips, picture books, images, and hands-on artifacts will be perfect. Last year, I dabbled with the “What do you notice, wonder, and know?” questioning strategy. This year, I’d like students to document and lead the discussions.

Second, I’d like to incorporate inquiry into our Wonders ELA curriculum. As part of our grade level unit openers, we can create a culture of fostering student questions. With the use of provocations, the unit theme, and student experiences, powerful learning can take place honoring both mandated curriculum and student interests. Students can take their initial wonderings and turn them into mini inquiry projects. I’m excited to see where our sixth graders will take us through their research and creation of artifacts.

Third, I plan to implement SmashboardEdu into my inquiry units and design thinking challenges. I’ve watched the progression of the concept grow and am excited to give it a try. The structure of SmashboardEdu starts off with an authentic problem and students progress through a thinking process that culminates by solving and sharing their solution. For more information, here is the creator’s slide deck. Thank you, Dee, for the fantastic resource!

Finally, I’m hoping to share my passion for inquiry with others. I have a few possible opportunities on the horizon. Fingers crossed that they work out.

Balance
I have to be completely honest here. I am awful with balance. I’m an all-in kind of person. Whatever it is that I’m doing, I give 110%. With that being said, I’m going to “try” really hard to have a reasonable work-life balance. My main goal is to have a completely work free day on Sunday and limit my time working at night. I especially have a tendency to “think” about work. I call it my percolating time, but I do need to limit that as well. I feel confident that I’ll make huge strides in this area. I have a supportive PLN that will encourage accountability throughout the year.

As we start the new school year, many of us are setting goals to help us stay focused and be purposeful. Let’s encourage and uplift each other along way. May each of you have a blessed and productive 2018-2019 with your staff, colleagues, and students.

#MuchLove . . . Marilyn ❤

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#BetterTogether California Teacher's Summit

7/25/2018

1 Comment

It was an honor to be an EdTalk speaker at the San Diego State University - Imperial Valley campus #BetterTogether California Teacher’s Summit. I had so much fun writing and presenting to Imperial Valley educators.

#RelationshipsMatter by Marilyn McAlister

It’s an honor to be here today. Thank you so much for the opportunity to share a topic that I’m passionate about. The Better Together Teacher’s Summit is a great place to learn, share, and grow.

This year’s theme, It’s Personal, is near and dear to my heart. You see, both of my parents were educators and administrators. I learned valuable lessons from both of them about the importance of relationships. Back in the day, when my dad was an elementary principal, he would drive students down to our local Circle K to pick up a soda. Boy, I bet those teachers were mad at him. They sent a student to the principal and what did the student get, a soda!! My dad was onto something. He knew the importance of relationships. Join me this morning as I share #RelationshipsMatter.

As we start to think about the new school year, we put up bulletin boards, review our pacing guides, and set up our new lesson plan templates. I’d like you to consider this quote by James Comer as we prepare for the new year, “No significant learning occurs without a significant relationship.” Take a moment. Let that sink in. “No significant learning occurs without a significant relationship.”

Let me tell you a story. It’s about my student Albert. I call him, “My Albert”. Albert was my student 10 years ago. He was shy, he was quiet, and he had the best smile ever. During our Civil War unit, students were asked to delve into an aspect that interested them and create an artifact to showcase their learning. Albert was really interested in the battlefields. When it was Albert’s day to share his learning, he brought in a detailed pencil drawing of a battlefield. It had a legend, paths, and the Confederate and Union flags. The drawing was immaculate. The class oohed and awed. At that moment, Albert was the star. His passion was revealed.

But that’s not really the story. The story is that from that year on Albert has come by my classroom during Open House every single year. He opens the door, I’m giving my presentation, and every single year I walk over and give him a big hug. Right in the middle of Open House. Everything and everyone pauses for that moment. You see, Albert and I have a relationship. It was nurtured 10 years ago.

I’d like you think about your Albert. Each one of us has one. Picture that student in your head and close to your heart.

This morning I’d like to share 3 ways we can connect with our learners. Get to know your students, offer voice, and provide choice because #RelationshipsMatter.

Last year, I started the year by asking my students six questions. These questions allowed me to get to know my students, but also allowed my students to get to know themselves.

Students reflected and wrote their responses on a hyperdoc.

I found out that I had a lot of gamers. One even wants to be a gaming YouTube star. This inspired me to ramp up my use of game based learning.
I found out that I had students that love sports. From gymnastics, travel softball, to BMX racing. This helped me weave these activities into my math lessons.
I found out that many students felt confident in language arts, but revealed signs of math anxiety. This encouraged me to approach our math lessons with a bit more empathy.
I found out that some students preferred to work alone. This assisted me in supporting those students during collaborative work time.

Towards the middle of the year, I felt like I hadn’t really connected with a few students. I knew that I needed to be intentional about those relationships. I dug into my computer and pulled out the responses. In moments, I had discussion topics at my fingertips. The interest survey came to my rescue. I was able to nurture a few more relationships. Give it a try, because #RelationshipsMatter.

When we offer students a voice in their learning, relationships are built not only with the teacher, but also their classmates. Many of you probably already know about Flipgrid. But did you know that it’s now free? The power of Flipgrid is that students are able to record their thinking, reflect on their learning, and respond to each other from the Flipgrid dashboard. Let me tell you, this would have been a perfect tool for Albert. I’ve found that my shyest, quietest students are the ones that enjoy Flipgrid the most. I just smile when students post video reflections from their bedrooms and even funnier from their bathroom. Hey, it’s a quiet spot. Giving students a voice in their learning is effortless with Flipgrid and connects students to each other and their classmates. Give it a try, because #RelationshipsMatter.

Providing choice helps students build relationships with the curriculum. Last year, my students and I dove into our passions. We created essential questions, researched, wrote, and presented authentic pieces. We even had a student-led edcamp. The amount of learning that took place was phenomenal. By allowing our students to choose topics and how they will showcase their learning, we honor each individual learner. You can see our Passion Board here. This is just a snippet of the learning. To you, the board might seem like a big mess, but to me, it’s a showcase of the students in my class. Each artifact tells a story.

April is a very talented artist. She researched the psychological effect of art.
Danica had a champion pig at the fair. She researched bonds between animals and humans.
And Rhiannon’s passion helped teach others of the importance of beach clean-up.

Our Passion Board is our 6th grade version of Show and Tell. Yep, Show and Tell. We’re bringing it back! Providing choice allows learners to have agency over their learning. By honoring the interests of each individual student, they feel valued and respected, which nurtures the relationships in the classroom. Give it a try, because #RelationshipsMatter.

I was really worried at the end of the year. Albert’s brother was in the sixth grade class next door. I had a moment of panic thinking that I wouldn’t see Albert again. But his brother told me that they have a younger brother that is still at our school. Phew! I still get to see “My Albert” during Open House.

As we embark on a new school year, think about your Albert. We all have one. Who’s your Albert?

Make a commitment to get to know each learner in your classroom, offer voice, and provide choice. May you have the best school year ever! Give it a try, because #RelationshipsMatter.

I’ve gathered some resources for you to continue your learning with the topics I’ve shared. Feel free to snap a picture and log into the link on the bottom right. I’d love to continue the journey with you. Because . . . #RelationshipsMatter.

Shout out to Alex Kajitani for his expert speech writing guidance, Emily Davis for welcoming me into the #BetterTogetherCA community, and Sara Pate for her positivity and organization skills.. Big hugs to Annette Rea and Andrew Arevalo for being my biggest cheerleaders. And a special thanks to Mari Venturino and my husband, Vance, for asking the right questions during the editing process. We are truly #BetterTogether.

#MuchLove . . . Marilyn

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