Starting the Inquiry with Background Knowledge

Patrick Tomasso

I was listening to the Principal Center Podcast and the guest was talking about reading comprehension and how students need background knowledge.

Cool. I can give students more background knowledge, I thought.

[Principal Center Radio Podcast – The Principal Center] Natalie Wexler—The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America’s Broken Education System—And How To Fix It #principalCenterRadioPodcastThePrincipalCenter https://t.co/up8G5vDwPl via @PodcastAddict pic.twitter.com/4abeErXrzr

— Thomas Hammerlund (@thammerlund) October 5, 2019

Then today I was attending a PYP Workshop on assessment and the ATLs. We did an activity on the skill [ATL] of observation. We observed raisins moving up and down in a glass of 7-Up.

The words and concepts we were using (ie, surface tension, carbon dioxide, buoyancy, floating, sinking, absorbing, etc.) would be really challenging/impossible for an EAL student to come up with or describe.

This had me thinking about the next unit and how I could incorporate more background knowledge.

I thought back to a strategy I heard from a now-defunct podcast where you give all students an article and tell them to come up with one question. Then have the students make categories out of the questions.

From there the students do research.

My plan for the Tuning In phase of the next unit is to do the above in a few periods and present their findings. From there I will build on what they find and address any misunderstandings.

That's the plan until it changes.

This may be an obvious thing, and I used to do this, but somehow I got out of the practice. Somewhere along the line ...

"The Fall" a Small Moment Example

We are inquiring into small moment stories now in the writer's workshop, and it just so happens that something happened to me that is a small moment. So I wrote about it.

Click the above image to access the book.

Building Understanding of how it all Fits Together

On the top is the unit's central idea. 

On the left are the skills we are focusing on. 

On the right, the unit concepts.
In the middle are the activities we have done (at this point in the unit we have done three).
As we do activities, we have discussions about how the activities are or aren't related to the skills and concepts we are focusing on.

Beware the Phishing Emails

This morning I opened my email and went to check the spam folder as I do when I see there is something in there. I always check spam just in case something got filtered in there by mistake.

This one, however, I found in my inbox. This is a [very poorly made] phishing email saying it is from Apple.

I immediately thought of some of my Tech Crew students or even my homeroom students who sometimes come to me with questions.

What better way to teach than with a real example, so I took a screenshot and added comments to it so my (or any) students could use it as a way to know what to look for if they find a scary email. (I find myself reading these very carefully just to make sure.)

Anyway, grab the poster here. Or better yet, build on it / improve it.

The Shock of What Students Really Think

A few weeks ago I sent a survey to my students to see what was on their mind. It connected to our learning with Google tools and I wanted to see what they would say.

After a few days, I checked in and was feeling good because I was rated highly and most kids said they liked school. I thought, "I got this."

Today when I was updating our Google Classroom, I saw the survey post in the class stream, so I decided to check.

When I looked at the bottom of the comments there was the following ...

If I had a problem and I say it to my teacher he always says "Ok I will tell them"and when I be good friends with them and I ask did Mr.H told you some thing then they always says no.

I know that students are not always the clearest when they talk. They are also prone to hyperbole, but this comment really shocked me. While I know it is not an "always" occurrence, if it is happening sometimes, that feeling can stick with students and make them feel like it is always.