Change Project

I believe that students’ curiosity needs to be considered an important part of their education so that they can develop intrinsic motivation to learn and do well in school. I also believe curiosity goes hand-in-hand with student choice. This past school year I noticed a decrease in student engagement during literacy centers. I had an opportunity during my Introduction to Classroom Research class to think critically about this dilemma and create a research design project around the question, “What happens to students' intrinsic motivation and pride during literacy centers when the expectation is to share their learning at the end of the session? This work and my beliefs about how students learn best have led me to my change project idea.

Next year, I will be transitioning into an MLL specialist role so that means I get an opportunity to be a bit more creative with my mini-lessons with my MLL students. My change project idea is to use my students curiosity to build upon their speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills by…..

1. As a small group, brainstorm a list of our curiosities.

To scaffold this so kids feel successful, I may start with topics I know they will be covering within 2nd        and 3rd grade and go from there.

2. Once our curiosity list is created, we identify themes that are similar.

3. Model creating questions about our curiosities so that each student has a question, of their choice, to learn about.

4. Use google classroom to individualize research material.

5. Create a digital playlist that will be accessible via their google classroom to access websites like: Get Epic,     A-Zreading, Storyline Online, PBSkids.

6. If accessible, utilize Seesaw so students have multiple modalities to gather information and share out         learning.

                                        

I know I will have challenges in doing something like this. First and foremost, student chrome books. Setting up students' devices so that they work without glitches is always stressful for me, especially since they will not be stored in my space. However, I am up for the challenge because I am determined to keep my beliefs about how students learn at the center of my work next year.