1.  Think about your hopes for inquiry this semester.  What do you want to learn?  How do you expect to grow both professionally and personally from engaging in and writing up your inquiry during your final internship semester?

The experience I hope to learn through my internship this year is how to micro-manage all of the things that are required at an ERT school. There are a lot of extra responsibilities that teachers are given and I think that if I am able to handle this then I could handle almost any other school. I would also like to learn how to manage my time wisely when lesson planning, collecting data, analyzing data, and going to faculty meetings. I think that it can be overwhelming if it isn’t done properly.When writing and engaging in my inquiry I will grow professionally by seeing how time can be better managed in the classroom when doing transitions. I will be able to take what I find from my inquiry and apply it to my future classrooms. I expect to grow professionally though the understanding of knowing how to lesson plan for more than just one lesson at a time. I will develop the ability to plan fluently and also gain spontaneity in the classroom. Personally, knowing how to manage time and individuals is a great thing to tool to have because it is applicable in a lot of aspects of daily living.

2.  Consider your fears about this course.  What worries you about engaging in inquiry this semester?  What concerns do you have as you continue your inquiry work  as a part of your final internship?

The thing I am most worried about is getting burned out from being at a ERT school. I fear that the dislike that is steaming from all of the other teachers will get to me and influence my own thinking and discourage me from teaching at any time in my life. Specifically to my inquiry, I’m worried about the time that I will have to dedicate towards collecting data. I want to have viable data but it might be difficult to collect while I am teaching the entire day. I just don’t want to finish each day remembering that I didn’t time any of the transitions because I my mind was elsewhere. Another concern I have is that I won’t be able to give both the inquiry and my internship my best ability because each one is an extensive process. I want to fully concentrate on teaching, but if I have a due date for a part of my inquiry that is interfering with my ability to lesson plan then I won’t be able to give each my best effort.

3. Use your Inquiry Research Plan from last semester and your Goal Sheet and complete the following sentences:

Last semester my wondering was….

  • Does using carpet and tables impact time usage?
    • Can tables affect organization?
      • Does this affect the time while transitioning?
    • How does moving to the carpet affect student attention?

I believe my inquiry topic is important for student learning because…

  • The time that students have to learn is dependent on the time spent during transitions.
  • If the students’ behavior is not correlative with the teacher’s expectations, then a lot of the time will be spent managing the behavior rather than transitioning smoothly into the next lesson
  • When students have the chance to have a space of their own, they are able to put unnecessary items within it.
    • These unnecessary items can get in the way of other supplies, thus inhibiting the time it takes to get the appropriate items out during transitions.

The key forms of data I hope to collect to more deeply understand student learning related to my inquiry are…

  • Observation notes: To see the student’s arrangement during the transition
  • Data Chart of Times: To display the amount of time it takes to transition during certain times of the day.
  • Table of Types of Transitions: To show the variety of transition techniques that are used.
  • Interview with Teacher: To have an explanation as to how she implements the transition techniques and how they came to be.
  • Video of Transition: To observe the students in real time making the transition

The most important changes I hope to make/actions I hope to try related to my practice are…

  • The techniques and strategies that my CT uses to transition plus any additional researched strategies to see what the influences the students use of time positively.
    • Transitioning to the carpet between subjects.
    • Giving clear directions and expectations as to what they should be doing after transitioning.
    • Seeing how tables influence student attention and engagement verses desks.
    • Giving students a set time that they have to finish transitioning by and seeing if they can bet that time.

The key forms of data I hope to collect data to more deeply understand myself and my teaching are…

  • The videos that I collect will not only show me the transitions, it will also show me my “withitness” with the class and my ability to manage the students. It will allow me to develop my self-reflection towards what I need to work on.

One thing my supervisor needs to know to help me “create a space” for inquiry in my classroom is…

  • I will be using my phone as a time for many cases during transitions and for the videos.
  • Most of the strategies that I will be using flow into the day without any disturbance to their normal routine.
    • I planned my inquiry this way because kindergartener’s developmental level needs some sort of routine that is followed.

One thing my course instructor needs to know to help me write-up and share my inquiry with others is…

  • Since I am using videos I want to ensure that the students identity is safe, but I also think that showing the videos will be beneficial for my inquiry. So I need to brainstorm how I am able to access these videos but still keeping students identity secure.

goal-sheet

inquiry-brief

inquiry-presentation