Issue Research Redux

Just before spring break my kids finished their Social Studies CBA. It is a big project involving research on a topic, and analyzing information. Many of the pieces of reading- news articles, websites- are above grade level, adding to the challenge.

The work that kids produced was really great. Having done this 3 years prior, this was probably the best of the years as far as overall work kids produced. Instead of basking in the glow of good work, I wondered why the work was better. What made year 4 that much better than year 3, etc.?

I was more intentional with the skills kids would need to use. Being able to write a thesis statement is important, and we modeled doing that. Making inferences from quotes- another challenging skill. Analyzing all of the possible solutions- kids previously were locked into their solution. Instead, they were asked to see all viewpoints- and we tackled modeling that as a whole group. Another part of the success is embedding news articles in our weekly work (er, bi-weekly maybe). I asked kids to pick sides on issues during the year as well as analyzing points of view. When they see the CBA in March it ends up being less of an ordeal.

I still think there is room for growth. We found lots of statistical information... But we struggled interpreting it. Things like car emissions or accidents texting while driving were inserted with the "as you can see..." sort of line that assumes you can read the graph. Next time we'll actually write about the meaning of the data. But for now- job well done.

We've Got Issues

I struggle mightily with homework. On one hand it is kids' time, and they should do with it as they will. On the other it is an opportunity for extra practice, connecting families (homework help), and good study habits. I dislike the daily homework seeing the legwork on my end to be significant compared to the payoff.

What I started doing 2 years ago was a current event. Kids select an article of their choice to read and summarize. It shows comprehension while also focusing on distilling ideas from a larger article into 4-5 key points. It ties into reading standards in a variety of ways while leaving little legwork on my end, and allowing kids choice.

This year I am going to tweak it a bit. Instead of an open ended free for all we will have a structured context to pick from within. For example, we started with Government this year in order to highlight the 2012 presidential election. The month of October will be focused on election stories- who is running, what they are saying, etc. it will provide some interesting context to go through facts/opinions and persuasive writing also. Later we will highlight other important events/milestones/themes. We will likely do something around community needs in December. January we will come back to government as the inauguration/government start up begin. February might be for finding something you love- animals, video games, etc.

I'm pretty excited about it. The evolution to something meaningful is going on, which is pretty great.

CBA Launch

The Constitution and the Bill of Rights are next on my list. Instead of some of the in-depth work that I wanted to do, I am doing more simplistic reading comprehension work. As I mapped out the final few weeks I saw how little time I really allotted for the CBA. I expected that the question formulation, research, drafting, revising, and completion would take 2 weeks. It should... but not when the 2 weeks have other odds and ends mixed in (like Memorial Day, Field Day, Talent Show, etc). Ugh!

The solution is to condense a few things in order to ensure enough time to finish the CBA in an appropriate amount of time. The goal is to go over branches of government and talk about rights, with a progression into particular issues that kids brainstorm. We'll start the brainstorming together, using a WCYDWT sort of thing. There are a few different approaches I am tossing around. One might be 2-3 images (something like the arrival of construction equipment, a map, and blueprint) and 1-2 questions for kids to wrestle with- how might this impact the community? what are the positives/negatives of this event?. Another idea is to have one image (something like open green space, or a wetland) and start entirely from scratch- what does this image make you think of? how is this image important to the community? I am not 100% how I want to approach it, but I do know that the latter was done (by me) and was successful in some ways.

The ultimate goal is to get kids wondering about issues around them. I want kids to ask questions that naturally lead them into research, and naturally lead them into supporting/refuting their opinion. I do know that I am going to restrict the presentation formats. Just because you have access to 8 or 9 different platforms doesn't mean you need to use all of them. I've got 7-10 instruction days left before it starts. Should be fun!

The Wheels on the Bus

There are some things teachers don't do well, myself included. One of those areas is "search" or "research" or data/information accumulation. Here is a common sequence of events for my kids as they tackle their CBA:

• Issue: Wetlands/Conservation
• Essential Question: Should wetlands be protected or developed?
• Search (via Search engine): "Should wetlands be protected?"
• Search Result: Some sites including WikiAnswers.com... followed by
• Student Action: copy, paste into Word/PowerPoint slide, possible rephrasing (certainly upon teacher questioning)
• Student Question (to teacher): So am I done yet? I've done all my research.

Granted, this is not each and every student, but this is a very common occurrence and leads me to the supposition found above. Now, I could be happy with the fact that they are crafting genuine questions about topics of interest. I could also be happy, and perhaps even satisfied, that they are doing any research. But that just isn't my style.

To tackle that I illustrated how to search, albeit in a manner that was still not as in depth as I'd like (time constraints). First I started with a discussion about search terms, generating multiple terms that were derived from their questions and stakeholders. From there we went into their method- just type in your question and hope for the best! We agreed that this was not quite the most efficient method, and didn't always yield the greatest results. Instead we tried different terms, and we tried different search engines along with a large district research database. Viola! The transformation was HUGE, making a big difference in the quality of information they found.

I'll take it as a huge victory considering the time constraints. We need to ration our time, and undoing some bad habits that have festered just isn't the highest of priorities. Undoing the "we were told to copy and paste then rewrite in our own words" (note: my quotes, not theirs) message is paramount. As I scratched the surface of that, I found that was an instructional message some kids had received somewhere. The message is essentially: don't worry about reading it, assume you agree with the writer, copy it and paste it, and rephrase to put in your own words when you're "research is done". I nearly fell out of my chair. Give the kids a little credit, they can do the work. Expect them to do it because,ultimately they'll surprise you.

CBA Introduction Redux

This past week I introduced our Social Studies CBA (see this post here for the plan behind it). When it was all said and done, my hope was that students would be selecting issues that genuinely concern them. The more difficult part is crafting a question related to that issue, which you'll try to address in a presentation.

I presented kids with images (Internet not original, largely due to lack of time) of wetlands. The first one looked like your standard undeveloped empty lot- a mixture of standing and fallen trees, plants, shrubbery, etc. The second one looked far closer to that of a wetland, with water and grasses mixed in. I had also brought up the point that Redmond has a growing population, illustrated by our school population increase. With those pictures, and their preliminary observations, we made the gentle leap to "What should happen to this land?" How do you accommodate the people who live there, and those that want to live there? Google Earth does a great job of providing satellite views of an area, in our case showing the vastly developed area with mixed in underdeveloped land.

The range of responses to the question above was precisely what I was aiming for. As kids traversed the possible scenarios of a wetland nature preserve and an area shopping mall, the body language (and oral response) was quite striking. "Ohhh no! You couldn't tear that down for a MALL!" Again, this was by design. We talked about who the stakeholders might be, and why they would want a say in what happens there.

Ultimately this produced some great questions...

• (Food in Schools) Can we make school lunches healthier?
• (Smoking in public) Can we stop people from smoking in public?
• (Smog/Greenhouse Gases) How can we lower car pollution?
• (Skateboarding) Why isn't skateboarding in public legal?
• (Gun Control) How do we keep people safe from guns?
• (Video Game Violence) Do violent video games make kids violent?
• (Drugs) How do we stop drug dealing and usage?
• (Racism) How can we stop racism?

The difficult part in this whole process is not having a preconceived argument. The kids need to work from their research instead of crafting their essays/presentations and finding research to support them. Research is also a difficult process, as it requires a degree of patience that I want them to have but that they often lack (at least to the extent that I'd like it). I am encouraged by the start, and hope that they week yields some great stuff. My guess is that, because of the other events taking place in the coming weeks, we're about done with the historical end of things. But I walk into next week cautiously optimistic.