Sharon Doyle Blogpost #5 December - Inquiry Standards

     As a music teacher, I have an obligation to provide my students with expertise that allows them to embrace the content of music through standards based lessons that provide them with the fundamental elements of music.  I do, however, believe that all of us as teachers have an equal obligation to assist students in improving their reading and mathematics skills as these are skills that will assist students in acquiring content knowledge from all disciplines.  The question that comes to mind is how to do both in lieu of this course of study to show reading improvement yet do my job of music teacher?

     To attempt this task, I wrote a unit plan that incorporates the Visions requirement of the development of a research project by each of the students.  Upon writing the unit, it was virtually impossible not to include the inquiry standards as part of the purpose within the unit.  The overarching standards to be used are as follows (Note:  there will be many more standards addressed during the course of the study.):

Grade 3-4: Inquiry-Based Literacy Standards

Standard 1: Formulate relevant, self-generated questions based on interests and/or needs that can be investigated.

1.1 Formulate questions to focus thinking on an idea to narrow and direct further inquiry.

Standard 2: Transact with texts to formulate questions, propose explanations, and consider alternative views and multiple perspectives.

2.1 Explore topics of interest to formulate logical questions; build knowledge; generate possible explanations; consider alternative views.

Standard 3: Construct knowledge, applying disciplinary concepts and tools, to build deeper understanding of the world through exploration, collaboration, and analysis.

3.1 Develop a plan of action for collecting relevant information from primary and secondary sources.

3.2 Organize and categorize important information; collaborate to validate or revise thinking; report relevant findings.

Standard 4: Synthesize information to share learning and/or take action.

4.1 Draw logical conclusions from relationships and patterns discovered during the inquiry process.

4.3 Determine appropriate tools and develop plan to communicate findings and/or take informed action.

     It is important that one understands that I am a firm believer that writing and reading are very closely connected and while reading can help students improve their writing, I firmly believe that student writing and project making can also improve their reading.  In putting together a project with teacher support, students improve their ability to read to find information, ask questions of themselves while reading, determining importance as they gather factual information, and preparing their material for the purpose of sharing it with others. As I study the inquiry standards more deeply, I find that the basis of inquiry standards can be used as strategies for assisting students in the improvement of their reading ability.  Good readers question themselves as they read, make predictions, formulate opinions, and organize and synthesize relevant information to gain comprehension and understanding about what they are reading.  This is a summary of the inquiry standards.

     For students who seem less interested in simply sitting and reading with little or no purpose, knowing that they will be presenting the information in a manner of their choice and actually 'teaching' others what they have learned in the confines of the classroom under supervision of a teacher as guide appeals to these students. Research projects can be a creative way for students to improve both their skills and reading ability. Students are selecting their own topic and format for this project while the work for the research will follow a template accompanied with a rubric for grading that the students will have during the duration of the project as a reference selected by the district as part of the curriculum.  As we have already begun some preliminary research for topics, I find the students are willing to read at a higher level and enjoy the freedom of choice as part of the project design.