Inspiring Excellence, Part 2 & 3: Working Towards Independence

Jun 3

Jun 3 Inspiring Excellence, Part 2 & 3: Working Towards Independence

Part 2: Building Motivation and Skills Through Whole-Class Research

“When we do a case study it’s not really just about getting kids to learn about snakes; it’s actually asking them to do the kinds of thinking that researchers and professionals in the field do.” —Jenna Gampel, Second Grade Teacher, Conservatory Lab Charter School

Teacher Jenna Gampel understands that preparing students for success means equipping students with the skills needed for success. From the video, it is clear that Jenna's own goals for her students go beyond producing snake experts. Rather, her goal is to produce researchers who can clearly articulate their understanding. The difference is profound, for it is not "snake information" that is most important, but rather the process of how one maximizes one's search for information, the engagement of one's thinking, and the conclusion of one's efforts.

The following considerations play a prominent role in how Jenna prepares her students for independent research by first engaging in a whole-class case study:

Is there a clear goal? Do students have a clear understanding of what they're expected to learn?
- A broad topic such as "learning about snakes" is broken down into smaller concrete categories (habitat, physical features, etc.) that can guide investigation with a specific purpose.
- Students' own questions motivate the quest for understanding.
How do experts in a similar field work? What thinking moves will help students transform information into meaningful content?
- Notice how Jenna highlights inference-making and provides students with opportunities to practice what this looks like with guidance, and later, on their own. Rich "thinking language" is incorporated (evidence, schema), which can lead to other thinking moves such as hypothesis-building or justifications.
What methods and materials are useful for the learning process? How can students keep track of their learning?
- Expedition journals are created so students can not only record their own learning along the way, but can also revisit and make adjustments as their learning expands.
Are the standards of quality made clear? Do students have a way of assessing their own work according to agreed-upon standards?
- Existing models can serve as a guideline of the expected requirements of a specific genre. Here, students analyze the features of non-fiction texts to make sure they satisfy the general components of research.

Part 3: Building Motivation and Skills Through Independent Research

“There is a turning point in the research process for kids when they all of a sudden build those skills of research and they can take on investigation by themselves, and a parallel turning point for teachers when they realize kids have those skills and they can start offering kids more sophisticated texts and also more sophisticated text analysis tasks than they could at the beginning of that investigation.” —Ron Berger, Chief Academic Officer, EL Education

By preparing students for their own independent research through a whole-class investigation, Jenna was also creating a space for students to revel in the success of their own accomplishments. Process, though filled with dead-ends, obstacles, and revisions, is also filled with moments of hard-earned satisfaction: the construction of a sentence that led to a chapter; the form of a figure finally emerging from a sculpture. These along-the-way accomplishments serve as fuel for the journey of process.

In Part 3, we see students engaging in their work with an understanding of their materials and methods for putting together the content of their e-book. We can follow the big ideas present in Part II and see how they apply to independent research:

Is there a clear goal? Do students have a clear understanding of what they're expected to learn?
- In this particular phase of the project, students were being asked to apply the skills gained from their whole-class effort to independent study. Thanks to the whole-class case study project, students had a clear idea of their research goals.
How do experts in a similar field work? What thinking moves will help students transform information into meaningful content?
- Students continued to extrapolate relevant information by making inferences and justifying their conclusions.
- Jenna also introduced the importance of citing one's materials. As demonstrated in the video, Jenna adapts the technicalities of citation appropriate for her students' grade level.
What methods and materials are useful for the learning process? How can students keep track of their learning?
- Students were able to articulate how they accessed information from multiple sources (books, online, maps, including specific tools such as table of contents and indices). Organizational tools such as bibliographies and the "Habitat Note-Catcher" provide additional methods of sorting information.
Are the standards of quality made clear? Do students have a way of assessing their own work according to agreed-upon standards?
- Students understood the expectations of quality research and meaning-making from their whole-class case study project. Had this feature not been available to students, students would have had the double burden of researching while also learning how to research.

Additional Resources

To continue exploring how Jenna's second graders transform their research into a multimedia e-book that incorporates critique and feedback, scientific illustration, expressive narration, and much more, read both Inspiring Excellence, Part 4: Role of Revision and Feedback and Inspiring Excellence, Part 5 & 6: Towards a Product of Quality.

Visit the EL Education website to discover a range of videos, high-quality student work from all grade levels, and even professional development tools for teachers to explore topics such as student-engaged assessment, supporting English-language learners, or using data.