Dear parents of 5A students,
These questions are
necessary components of teaching students how and when to question. The goal of
inquiry-based learning is not to let go of the ‘spoon’, rather, just putting
the spoon in the hands of the student and seeing what happens. It is not so
difficult to turn the tables and teach students how to develop real questions,
those that uncover personal understanding for them. Allowing students the
exhilaration of learning in an environment where their questions are valued and
celebrated will reap rich rewards. When students have some ownership of their learning experience, enthusiasm, effort and
efficiency is generated.
Motivation is part of the rationale for teaching students how to question.
Students cannot be expected to think critically and creatively about ideas and
knowledge unless they possess the magical ‘ingredient’ – the question – to kick-start
the process. Educating students for the 21st century requires that
educators teach students how to be critical and creative users of information.
Neither attribute can be accomplished unless students are also effective
questioners.”
Q-Tasks:
How to Empower Students to Ask Question and Care About Answers
Carol Koechlin and Sani Zwann
Students in 5A have been working on building their
questioning skills and are learning to take a more critical and creative
approach to learning. The inquiry-learning
model generally follows a ‘cycle’ that begins with students ‘connecting’
and ‘wondering’ about a learning area. Students then learn to construct and
evaluate quality questions that will help foster quality research. The next
step involves students actively engaging in their investigations. This is where
5A is now. This is also the reason for this letter. With student
ownership of learning in mind, our class has been divided into two separate
inquiry groups for our first project. By democratic vote and student voice, two
areas of investigation have been identified by the students themselves. The
first will be focused on the “Bermuda Triangle”. The second is on a very
interesting, but potentially powerful area - the events surrounding 9-11 and
the tragedies in New York City.
With the sensitive nature of the events surrounding 9-11,
there may be some potential concern for parents having their children
independently researching this topic. For this reason, I am asking all parents
of 5A for their input. If you are uncomfortable with the topic or would like to
meet to discuss the project further, please indicate on the form (see below).
While students in the “Bermuda” group will not be actively pursuing research on
the 9-11 topic, they will be exposed to the content via other students research
and presentations. For the record,
please be aware that our new read-aloud for the class (a 9-11 based story
written by celebrated children’s author Eric Walters) was determined AFTER the
students had chosen the 9-11 topic, not before. Therefore, I believe there was
no teacher influence in the decision-making process when determining possible
topics. It is an excellent (and grade-level appropriate) book that I have read
to many previous classes.
While students are learning to take greater ownership of
their learning, please understand that this project is not unstructured. All
learning and expectations will be framed and monitored.
Students in 5A will be given an agenda message directing
parents to this post. Once read, parents
will sign and return the form handed out in class.
Thank-you for your time on this matter. I look forward to hearing from you!
Sincerely,
Mr. Alcock
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