Communication

The discussions for this week (week 2) have me thinking about parent-teacher communication and how I can improve upon it. I am currently sending home a newsletter once a week and I have experimented with a blog and a website. I have also tried emailing the newsletter.

With parents who are not fluent in English, maybe I should translate my communication.

Inquiry Units

Reading about the inquiry-based units got me wondering if inquiry-based learning would look different in a heavy ESL population like I am currently teaching. I mean, obviously it is different, but I am interested to see how an "expert" would go about teaching my class and how it would differ from the way I teach.

That got me thinking about the way I question my students and the sometimes blah responses I get. I wonder how I can get them more fired up about learning and about their education. It seems that motivation could trump language ability when it comes to inquiry learning.

Diffferentiation

How to better differentiate?
How to better assess for prior learning?
How can I differentiate without taking up too much time?
How can I differentiate without ignoring at-risk students?

Why

I wonder what's going on with me. I feel really unmotivated recently and am finding it hard to push myself.

I started a calendar to keep track of assignments. I am going to start checking in on the class more regularly - everyday if I can.

Inquiry

When I think of "inquiry" I think of digging deeper by asking questions. This is a big world and there are many things here that require more thought.

Recently I have read some chatter online about how Google is turning people of conversation and turning them into looking for the quick answer. I am guilty of this myself. I often jump online to find the answer to a question I, others, or my students might have. I think that inquiry has an element of wondering/pondering/taking time to think of the answer when possible instead of jumping to it.

When I thought about it more, and slept on it, I think that inquiry is finding answers through a journey. Much like Dorothy in Oz and her initial quest to find out how to get home, at the end of her journey she had learned much more than that. Students can also go on a journey in their studies and the result could be learning much more than they intended.