Takeaways from Day 4 of TCRWP Writing Institute June 23, 2016

I am going to focus on Mary Ehrenworth’s Inquiry Work from Days 3 and 4.

During our time in Mary's workshop, we were given about twenty minutes to plan mini-lessons and inquiry work with our groups. By putting a time limit on it, we still got them done and did not dwell on being perfect which I can do sometimes, especially when I am new to the work. It’s all about learning, trying, and reflecting. We ask our students to do that on a daily basis and I need to remember this for myself.

Inquiry Work is not part of a mini-lesson. It can take a period, a few days, or even better 20 minutes, so that students can apply it during Writer’s Workshop in their writing. Hattie, in Visible Learning, shares the importance of not having too much time pass between learning and applying learning.

Inquiry Work sticks, especially when we learn it and apply it right away. Grant Wiggins also shares that the less time gap between learning and applying the learning, the better information is retained for learners. Also, with inquiry work, it engages students - they are talking, writing, and drawing their learning to share with others. Then, looking at their writing and applying their learning.

Try to time an inquiry lesson when students are in the midst of a draft, so that they are excited to apply their learning to their own writing right away.

Inquiry Work is done at centers. Students teach each other by learning and then creating a tool that explains their learning to others in the class.

You may wonder, how do I even decide what type of Inquiry Work should I do with my students?

1. Study student’s writing - what are they ready for now? What do you see them trying and not fully understanding in their writing?
2. Look at units ahead of time and see what will be hard and plan inquiries within the unit - space them out based on genre.
3. Pick up a text or two in your room and look through to see what would be good to teach students that would enhance their learning and their writing.

Mary modeled with Frog and Toad for verb tense (which could be used with middle school students too). She used post-it notes to point out for students to see specific examples. Then, we can ask students to find other examples in the text.

We were then tasked with creating our own inquiry within a group. We focused on ways authors’ use commas. We were thinking 3rd-8th graders as we work with those grade levels. Reflecting on our work, I will tweak this to be specific with the commas I mark in the books so that students see those examples and then look for more pf them within the text samples.

Our example:

   

We were able to walk around the room and check out other Inquiry Work. It was so fun to work with the text and be intrigued with the Inquiry Question and then follow the directions on the Procedure Page.

Inquiry Work Tips:

1. White space and color matter
1. Maybe do a mini-book for them to work from
2. Have lift flaps
2. Strategic Text Selection
1. Multiple examples
2. Easier to more complex
3. Be strategic with page selection
1. Limit the scope of the inquiry
4. Genre Choice
1. Focus on the genre you are currently in
5. Remember, do this when students are in the midst of their draft so they can apply it in their writing

I cannot wait to try this work with students and teachers to enhance the learning of grammar in classrooms so that students have better opportunity to retain the grammar "rules."

~ Candace Whites