Now I Got It!

It seems like I am constantly changing directions. I think it's best to carefully consider my topic and make sure it is exactly what I want now before I am too deep into it. I have now found my way, the journey I want to take. After research and readings, personal reflections, and discussions with colleagues I have found the path I am meant to take in this learning journey. The topic of a writing program for an entire elementary school is far too big of an undertaking for the time allotment given for this inquiry in this program. Furthermore, to develop a writing program for a school, teachers need to be involved. It is a collaborative process and not one I can or should take on my own. It is also a long process, one that would require a multi-year commitment. Because of these reasons, I have narrowed it to one key aspect of writing in one specific grade with a specific teaching approach. The inquiry will now be focused on sentence instruction for grade two students with a constructivist and exploratory approach.

I am excited about this inquiry. It was in my graduate diploma that I used a similar approach to teaching students addition and subtraction of two digit numbers. I approach the instruction conceptually as opposed to procedurally. It was a stretching for me as I was confident in teaching mathematics from a procedural standpoint. What I learned from that has completely change me as a teacher and how I conduct the business of learning in my classroom. Rather than showing and telling, I was challenging students to explore and see what they could do, guiding their thinking and allowing them to voice that what they have come to know. Their understanding of what was happening what much deeper than what I had seen in previous years. They remembered how to go about adding and subtracting numbers because they understood it.

I want to take this instructional approach into a different field, that of writing sentences. I have touched this in my practice the last couple of years here and there. Through this inquiry I want to connect what I already tried to do in my classroom with more intentional instruction, research and meaningful practice for students. Rather than giving students practice sheets or using a show and tell approach, I want to include students in creating sentences that come from them and guiding that which they know to that which they are to know. I envision students coming up with sentences, all different from one another but with a similar focus. The topic will be from their experiences and meaningful to them. It may be a non-traditional approach, but I wish to transform, change and evolve my instruction of sentences.

I want to especially thank my colleague Shawn, who read my proposals, discussed his learning and encouraged me in this process. He was also my partner during the field study in the math graduate diploma mentioned above. In reading his draft proposal, where he is connecting the math field study to the collaborative process of teachers I was inspired to take the learning I had in that particular field study to another subject as well, that of writing.