Topic Exploration
To begin with, searching a good topic that shall intrigue not just me but also be relevant in connection with the prescribed curriculum I gave it a deep thought and while my mind oscillated from searching a good topic from different history topics to English language topics, it was clear in my mind that I wanted it to be story-based. In the process of reaching a point where I had to look for a direction, I have selected the topic of storytelling for grade -5.
This Inquiry shall be based on ideas such as laying out lesson plans that will enhance the innate quality of inquisition and curiosity, focus on the development of skills through play. Learning does not have to be boring. Hands-on, activities, and lessons that set them to explore and be their own judge are best for engaging the child and for memory retention and using technology as a tool but not the only way to teach or learn.
Being an inquiry project that will help children explore a myriad sub-topics, the tool for instruction shall primarily be questioning. It remains one of the most important tools that has been used since the fourth century, whereby Socrates used the format of questions and answers that helped in challenging beliefs and bringing the different disagreements to light, which helped in gaining knowledge that wasn’t biased and led to acquiring wisdom. Constant questioning can be an effective and fruitful method used to employ in the teaching and learning process. Inquiry helps a person lead to question oneself and focus on the importance of examining the self.
As Socrates said, “An unexamined life is not worth living”.
When teachers ask higher‐order questions and give students opportunities to develop deep explanations, learning is enhanced across content areas. Questions that start with Why, What caused, How did it occur, What if, How does it compare, or What is the evidence, promote high order thinking skills. When teachers ask higher‐order questions and encourage explanations, they help their students develop important critical thinking skills. By modeling good questioning and encouraging students to ask questions of themselves, teachers can help students learn independently and improve their learning.
Looking at the new BC curriculum, I appreciate how different it is from the curriculum we teach in India as it is much more general and is not a big checklist of specific items, and it is far less prescriptive. It gives teachers much more freedom for inquiry-based approaches, as their hands are less tied with large lists of overly prescriptive outcomes.
The purpose of this inquiry would enhance the skills much needed for this century naming collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and using technology to benefit learning. It is important to use different comprehension strategies to enhance the understanding of the written word. The teacher can use a variety of available resources employing oral, written, visual, and digital texts. The texts so read can be used to teach the language, culture, diversity, understanding self and the world around us, and also promote creativity in thoughts, words, and action.
Real and authentic learning is inspired by the right provocations. Planning activities that have the flavor of the real world, set of questions, and resources for further exploration and knowledge expansion definitely would set the tone of inquiry-based magic to happen. For language learning, some of the activities that have been working in my mind are to help the children make texts and illustrations more vivid and engaging by good usage of nouns and adjectives. For getting the kids to understand culture and diversity through stories they can be introduced to storytelling patterns of different countries across the globe. They can also explore further by delving into the stories of the land and how these stories help to get a picture of the traditions and old knowledge that holds true even today. These stories also help foster how critical thinking and problem-solving abilities in a person. Since inquiry-based learning is based on the complete involvement of students, it is undeniably an excellent way for children to decide on what they wish to draw from the storytelling.
Few examples of Picture storytelling
https://www.cs.swan.ac.uk/tellingstorybank/index.php
https://www.animatorisland.com/story-101-why-do-we-tell-stories/?v=3a52f3c22ed6
https://writingcooperative.com/telling-a-story-vs-storytelling-2c7a52377e95
I personally think it would be interesting to research the connection between the stories and the varied areas of learning. there lies immense scope to learn about community and culture and as take up the inquiry maybe we come out with some interesting facts. It is pretty clear that stories from the land and our forefathers have been passed and read and narrated in myriad ways. They have been adapted in the form of books, comic strips, movies, television series. what needs to be seen is how much impact it has on the learning process of the students in the form of an inquiry.
In the process of storytelling, the students can be asked a few reflective questions that can help any student to think about what they learn. These questions can include asking the students What surprised them and why? What’s the most important thing they learned today? Why do you think so? What would they want to learn more about, and why? When were you the most creative, and why do you think that is?. What made you curious today? How does learning feel different when you’re curious? When were you at your best today, and why?. (Assuming we were studying the same thing and you could decide and have access to anything), where would you start tomorrow? Why? What can/should you do with what you know?
I hope to come across results that will outdo my own expectations keeping in view the five core principles he following five core principles of effective teaching framework (Friesen, 2009). Next, I intend to plan the inquiry in a way that shall stimulate the intellectual and academic capacity of the students. The work that students are asked to undertake is worthy of their time and attention, is personally relevant, and deeply connected to the world in which they live. Thirdly, they would be assessed on their growth as a student not just their performance. Another aspect of inquiry would be how I as a teacher succeed in building interdependent relationships and help the students learn to build a strong learning culture. lastly, the fifth principle that shall motivate my project would be to build communities. Something I personally relate to because I firmly believe that our peer group is reflective of our ability to work together, collaboratively.