Narrative+Report


 * Maine Studies: A Narrative Report**

The whole idea of the project stemmed from two things: 1. My goal to make learning for my students authentic and intentional. 2. To step out of my comfort zone and collaborate with a classroom teacher that I don't usually collaborate with and focus on a part of the curriculum that I am not familiar with.

I often find myself working with the same classroom teachers because I already have a relationship with them, I comfortable with them, and I know their curriculum. For this project I really wanted to work with the fourth grade class on their Maine Studies and in doing that I have found that the resources available are not as plentiful as say, the Civil War or Ancient Egypt. But, I chose to stick with it because I wanted to find a way to engage the students in an authentic way. Now as I write this report I am continuing to think about ways to make this project 'real' for the students. Looking back over prior readings, Callison and Lamb remind me that when authentic learning occurs we should see "student-centered" learning, students conducting real research through survey, interviews, and/or experiments, and instructional collaboration through interchangeable roles (247-248).

Conducting real research is a very important aspect in student learning and inherently answered the question, "why are we doing this?" Looking back, our school's geographical location makes the idea of conducting interviews and/or surveys plausible. Being a small island school, many of our students are from fishing families. Interviewing a lobsterman or clam digger for their research would be a great way for the students to gather information as well as learning valuable interviewing skills. Many local farms make maple syrup presenting another opportunity for real research. There is also a local quarry that has many different minerals and gems which would be a great resource for research as well as a valuable and low cost field trip. Further up north there are many businesses/families that grow blueberries, potatoes, and paper mills. To access these resources the use of our video conferencing unit might work and we could simply talk with another school and some of their students about these products close to them.

To focus in on 'real' learning I chose to work with the products of Maine that are so familiar to us, especially here on the coast of Maine. By utilizing the Maine Kids Page from maine.gov the students are expanding on the resources they are already used to using. As I sit down to write this report and truly reflect on this project, I think a more authentic way of conducting this would have been to use an inquiry based model. As Leslie Preddy said "It is a way to get away from just reporting the facts and more toward developing the skills necessary for students to become independent thinkers with a self-awareness and ability to problem solve throughout life" (130). In //Student Inquiry in the Research Process// by Leslie Preddy, she has Question Worksheet Samples (135) and I think a more constructive way to begin the research of our Maine products would be to simply ask the students by the use of a Questioning Worksheet. I feel that this type of inquiry would add authenticity to the project.

Overall, I am pleased with this project and I have enjoyed working on this. Although, now that I have reflected upon my project there are many things that can be improved. It is so important to be intentional in our teaching and focus on student learning. I am excited to begin working on it and especially excited to incorporate some new ideas from my reflections. What's even more exciting is to see what the students create.


 * Works Cited**
 * Callison, Daniel and Annette Lamb. "Authentic Learning." //School Library Media Activities Monthly// XXI. 4 (2004) : 247-251. Web. 26 Nov. 2010. **

Preddy, Leslie. "Student Inquiry in the Research Process. Part 1: Inquiry Research Basics." //21st-Century Learning in School Libraries.// Ed. Kristin Fontichiaro. Santa Barbara: Libraries Unlimited, 2009. 130-132. Print.

Preddy, Leslie. "Student Inquiry in the Research Process. Part 2: Inquiry Research Orientation." //21st-Century Learning in School Libraries.// Ed. Kristin Fontichiaro. Santa Barbara: Libraries Unlimited, 2009. 133-135. Print.