An online space to extend our classroom community...
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
September 30...Brainstorming Potential Projects
Here's the place for sharing ideas about topics for our Inquiry-to-Action
Projects. Please feel free to share any and all ideas and know that, at this
point, nothing is too outlandish for consideration.
Not sure if this would qualify as a Inquiry -to - Action project but I would be interested in seeing the results of reading to ESL parents/families to assist their children in learning English. It would be interesting to the impact, if any on the ESL learner. - Rae Clune
I think this is a great idea. We have discussed in our other classes the level of ESL students is on the rise, so to be able to implement something such as this would benefit the students as well as their families. Love the idea Rae, Thanks!
Given the fact that the VCU SOE is a top 25 education department in America, and we are located in the middle of one of the poorest performing school districts, VCU and RPS should be working together to find innovated ways to improve RPS, and education as a whole. There is real life experience to be gained to give VCU a unique cutting edge over their competition. Reading and math teachers can take service learning classes that benefits both the struggling RPS student, who score in the bottom 50% nationally in those subjects, and the future teacher. Additionally it could serve as on the job training and job interview.
I think this is a really interesting point. Are you saying that RPS teachers should take VCU classes or VCU students should be doing something in RPS schools? I did my Elem Ed Practicum in a Richmond school last semester. There are programs in place for those students, such as title 1. Richmond has also mandated a scripted reading program meant to help those teachers. Practicum students are encouraged to make suggestions of new techniques/ideas they learned in their classes, but that is not always an easy conversation to have with your cooperating teacher. -Caitlin Mewborn
I really like this idea. It's very interesting when you look at things that way, but it's very true. I like how this idea will not only benefit the RPS, but also the VCU students. Mandy
I like this idea, but I fear there are bigger issues there. My last semester for my undergrad I met a few early education majors that got together and with the help of VCU and the Virginia Mentoring Partnership they began a mentoring program with a RPS gifted school. The experience was terrible! The principal was no help, apparently missing many meetings with the people running it, and the only thing he really needed to do was provide busses for the kids, and he couldn't deliver. Over the course if the semester, I believe the kids maybe made it to VCU 3-5 times. It was really a sad moment.
On top of that it seemed like the neighboring schools were completely uninterested in working with the program. The people running it first targeted gen Edd schools and eventually started asking some of the gifted schools before they finally found one. I dont understand a principal that wouldn't like a mentoring program at their school.
So as much as I like the idea I just want to give you some caution -Chris Shores
I like Rae's idea a lot. I think that we could maybe even extend the idea and see if we could set up a mentoring systems that could help prevent bullying, lead to higher grades, higher self esteem, higher attendance in school, and maybe even lower neighborhood violence. We could involve the whole community.
I am very interested in learning about and creating ways to get our schools to recognize the levels of discipline. When a student gets suspended, it is almost as if he or she "gets his/her way." They don't want to be present in the classroom anyway so taking them out of the classroom/school is an action that they believe is benefitting them. Suspension for a student can also lead them to getting into more trouble since their actions during suspension are not being attended to. While there is in-school-suspension, I believe that a great Inquiry-To-Action project would be to come up with even more alternative systems of discipline rather than just out-of-school/in-school suspension. I feel like if we raise awareness by placing more emphasis on the importance of discipline levels in our schools, then it will benefit our schools and our students a great deal.- Brittany Maiden
I like this idea about doing some sort of inquiry to action group on discipline. I'm interested in alternative programs for students with high behavioral issues. I would be interested in participating in something like this for our project. I'm curious as to what exactly we would do.
I am also very intrigued by this idea. Alternative programs for students who have high behavioral issues are definitely an important aspect of any education system. Keeping them engaged in another type of program and off the streets which inevitably leads to more trouble and issues would be really excellent.
I really like this idea. I think that finding some way to make alternative discipline ideas beneficial to the students as well is important. Sometimes I feel like when we discipline children it's for us as the educators and doesn't help the student see what they were doing and why it wasn't the best option. I think that creating discipline options that are productive is very important.
I like this idea because it gets us working at the school level with administration. If we could work on a project that provides alternative discipline guidelines to schools and somehow show results, we could help change policies and show that strict discipline or high level discipline is not always necessary. I'm not sure how we would get this project going working at the school level though.
I like the idea of a mentoring system. I think it would be stepped up as well and we could use lessons in the classroom to improve community in the classroom. I have recently learned about a curriculum called Project Adventure. It is used in the physical education classroom to aid in activities that get students working together and becoming a community in the classroom. I think that this may also aid in the decrease in bullying and this can spread from the students to the families. -Julie Gottfried
I recently heard of a sponsor for the YMCA looking for graduate students who would be interested in creating a “curriculum” for the after school program that incorporates a way to teach the students about the benefits of their garden. I think this would be a good way to get the kids involved and have an opportunity to be hands on in their learning. So many things could be done with a curriculum plan such as life/water cycles, parts of the plant, and, most importantly, healthy eating. This could possibly be stretched even further and incorporate the community into it somehow as well.
That sounds like a great idea. Teaching cooking skills along with healthy eating would be fun for kids. Starting a garden and introducing all types of produce is a good way to turn kids on to healthy food that they didn't realize they liked. I would be interested in participating in a project like this. -Caitlin Mewborn
I really like this idea. My mom is an avid gardener and she always let me help when I was younger. It would teach the kids about responsibility as well as teach them something they normally would not learn in school. I would love to help with a project like this. -Meagan McGee
I love this idea as well. One thing I value in the education system is purpose and usefulness. If students are engaged in a way that they understand why they are learning about something and how it relates to them, then our job as teachers have been done. This is a great opportunity to do exactly that. I remember sitting in school learning about plants and thinking who cares, it's a plant, this is dumb.....but if I had been engaged in learning in this type of atmosphere that shows the ways it affects our daily lives (like eating) then I would have gotten so much more out of the time as well as learned more than the standard "required" materials that needed to be taught by the lesson. A possible way to get the community involved may be to cook something up for parents using some of the plants? or maybe set up a stand where the community can purchase some plants and the students can have posters about the benefits and engage them in conversation about them? Just a quick thought.
Sounds interesting, I have never done gardening, but I have done many different kinds of yard work (planted trees, mowed the lawn, removed dead bushes, set up walk-ways, etc). I used to be good at cooking, but then I got lazy and focused on baking, so this program sounds cool. I guess I will join in.
This idea sounds awesome. I feel extending the curriculum outside of the classroom can have many benefits to helping students find what they are interested in and create a friendly social environment of commonality. A lot of outside hobbies and interests can be an helpful addition to what students learn within the classroom whether it be the chemistry behind cooking or the narrative devices within a comic book. If we as teachers are able to give students an accessible way to apply what they learn in the classroom to the outside world, it can be a helpful way to encourage even more engagement within the classroom along with helping their social growth in a group setting. -- David Vanderford
I like this idea the best. I think its a great idea to teach the kids cheap, easy, and sustainable living, while encouraging healthy eating habits. I think this would be another great opportunity to make a bigger difference by selling the food at the farmers market and donating the money to a program that helps underprivileged children! -Chris Shores
Some of you guys might want to look into partnering with the Neighborhood Resource Center in Fulton Hill. They are working on establishing an organic garden and teaching people about cheap and healthy food. http://test.nrccafe.org/cafe/ -Elise Sale
I am a big fan of this idea. It is a shame that while we want to teach our kids about healthy eating, man do not have the resources and many school cafeterias are severely lacking in this area as well. This would be fun, educational, and health conscious.
I think any after school program to help students acquire skills to build their self esteem and keep them out of trouble would be a great idea. Even though it may be taking on a lot but maybe combining a couple ideas like community gardens, along with a nutrition seminar to educate, and teaching cooking could benefit students and the community. Along with Jake's idea I think maybe we could try to revamp some cafeteria options and have resources for schools and students to have resources to better healthier, and affordable options.
Ryan D. - Amy I really like this idea. I think in addition to it, it would be cool to have to collaborate to help them create community gardens. I've seen them in some parts of the Fan and in Churchill and I think they can be good for helping create a sense of community.
Came across this proposal for a pre-K through 8 Montessori School in Fulton Hill http://chpn.net/archives/montessori_fulton.pdf when I was looking up the link to the Neighborhood Resource Center. Montessori has a really great stance on respect and interesting ways of teaching and learning that seem to align in many ways with teaching toward freedom. The Neighborhood Resource Center was able to set up preschool but it seems very different from the original proposal. Are people still working toward the original idea? If so I'd like to help in some way. Maybe seeing about putting together some kind of Montessori in action event. Montessori can sound kind of crazy but maybe if people saw examples of it in real life they would be more inclined to support such a school. -Elise
I like this idea. I thing it would be interest into see how such ideas have evolved in that kind of setting. Especially since there seem to be a lot of changes from he original ideas. I was also thinking that a neat inquiry group idea would be to survey schools in surrounding areas about the number of inclusion classes versus traditional separation of general ed and special ed. -Maria
I really liked the idea that one of the groups last year did, which was making a booth for the teachers to have discussions about testing, etc. I think it would be a good idea to build a booth somewhat like that, but for students. The students could have an opportunity to discuss their feelings on the SOLs or even topics in which they are responsible for learning. Their could be a teacher in the booth to hear the students out. This could be for maybe upper elementary, middle or even high school. I think it would be extremely interesting to hear the students' views on all this testing.
Through Project Learning Tree last semester we made a garden in a glove. I think if we could get the resources and teach the students to grow their own veggies because it does not take much room and just stays in a plastic glove hanging in the window. Later in the spring the vegetables would be transferred into pots or gardens. This shows students that even though they may live in an urban setting that they can still experience growing their own food source.
I love your idea Rachel and coincidentally, I am in the process of developing a "botanical garden" mathematics unit that combines the science and practical application of creating and designing a greenhouse with the study of its relevant mathematics.
First off, I would like to point out that I love the ideas being thrown around involving gardening and its incorporation into curriculum. I feel every class could involve gardening in their lesson plans to a relevant extent. I am currently creating a mathematics unit called "Creating your own botanical garden" that will teach many facets of gardening to include the structure of a greenhouse (geometry), costs associated with our garden (finances and number sense), soil and atmospheric conditions (logarithms, exponents, percentages, ratios, etc), nutritional value of our crops, watering schedules (rates, volume, time), etc. The facets are seemingly endless in this regard. Most importantly, it would teach a practical and important skillset that our children need to have as our world population (and demand for food) continues to logistically grow (exponential growth).
Maybe, we can create an inquiry-to-action group that stresses the importance of imbedding a gardening unit into different types of subject matter to include biology, mathematics, art, etc.
Everyone seems interested in gardening which is great! I didn't think so many people considered it outside of science, and your unit for mathematics sounds very interesting. I love the idea of working with gardens and wanted to use it as a part of my science classroom in the future, but I could get interested in exploring tying gardening to other subjects and showing the benefit to students' personal lives.
Not sure if this would qualify as a Inquiry -to - Action project but I would be interested in seeing the results of reading to ESL parents/families to assist their children in learning English. It would be interesting to the impact, if any on the ESL learner. - Rae Clune
ReplyDeleteI think this is a great idea. We have discussed in our other classes the level of ESL students is on the rise, so to be able to implement something such as this would benefit the students as well as their families. Love the idea Rae, Thanks!
DeleteGiven the fact that the VCU SOE is a top 25 education department in America, and we are located in the middle of one of the poorest performing school districts, VCU and RPS should be working together to find innovated ways to improve RPS, and education as a whole. There is real life experience to be gained to give VCU a unique cutting edge over their competition. Reading and math teachers can take service learning classes that benefits both the struggling RPS student, who score in the bottom 50% nationally in those subjects, and the future teacher. Additionally it could serve as on the job training and job interview.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a really interesting point. Are you saying that RPS teachers should take VCU classes or VCU students should be doing something in RPS schools?
DeleteI did my Elem Ed Practicum in a Richmond school last semester. There are programs in place for those students, such as title 1. Richmond has also mandated a scripted reading program meant to help those teachers. Practicum students are encouraged to make suggestions of new techniques/ideas they learned in their classes, but that is not always an easy conversation to have with your cooperating teacher.
-Caitlin Mewborn
I really like this idea. It's very interesting when you look at things that way, but it's very true. I like how this idea will not only benefit the RPS, but also the VCU students. Mandy
DeleteI think that is an awesome idea Rob. It would be a really great opportunity for RPS and VCU.
Delete- Eric
I like this idea, but I fear there are bigger issues there. My last semester for my undergrad I met a few early education majors that got together and with the help of VCU and the Virginia Mentoring Partnership they began a mentoring program with a RPS gifted school. The experience was terrible! The principal was no help, apparently missing many meetings with the people running it, and the only thing he really needed to do was provide busses for the kids, and he couldn't deliver. Over the course if the semester, I believe the kids maybe made it to VCU 3-5 times. It was really a sad moment.
DeleteOn top of that it seemed like the neighboring schools were completely uninterested in working with the program. The people running it first targeted gen Edd schools and eventually started asking some of the gifted schools before they finally found one. I dont understand a principal that wouldn't like a mentoring program at their school.
So as much as I like the idea I just want to give you some caution
-Chris Shores
I like Rae's idea a lot. I think that we could maybe even extend the idea and see if we could set up a mentoring systems that could help prevent bullying, lead to higher grades, higher self esteem, higher attendance in school, and maybe even lower neighborhood violence. We could involve the whole community.
ReplyDeleteCheck out my response to Rob. I was part of a mentoring program with VCU and rps. Complete failure.
Delete- Chris Shores
I am very interested in learning about and creating ways to get our schools to recognize the levels of discipline. When a student gets suspended, it is almost as if he or she "gets his/her way." They don't want to be present in the classroom anyway so taking them out of the classroom/school is an action that they believe is benefitting them. Suspension for a student can also lead them to getting into more trouble since their actions during suspension are not being attended to. While there is in-school-suspension, I believe that a great Inquiry-To-Action project would be to come up with even more alternative systems of discipline rather than just out-of-school/in-school suspension. I feel like if we raise awareness by placing more emphasis on the importance of discipline levels in our schools, then it will benefit our schools and our students a great deal.- Brittany Maiden
ReplyDeleteI like this idea about doing some sort of inquiry to action group on discipline. I'm interested in alternative programs for students with high behavioral issues. I would be interested in participating in something like this for our project. I'm curious as to what exactly we would do.
DeleteI am also very intrigued by this idea. Alternative programs for students who have high behavioral issues are definitely an important aspect of any education system. Keeping them engaged in another type of program and off the streets which inevitably leads to more trouble and issues would be really excellent.
DeleteI really like this idea. I think that finding some way to make alternative discipline ideas beneficial to the students as well is important. Sometimes I feel like when we discipline children it's for us as the educators and doesn't help the student see what they were doing and why it wasn't the best option. I think that creating discipline options that are productive is very important.
DeleteI like this idea because it gets us working at the school level with administration. If we could work on a project that provides alternative discipline guidelines to schools and somehow show results, we could help change policies and show that strict discipline or high level discipline is not always necessary. I'm not sure how we would get this project going working at the school level though.
DeleteI like the idea of a mentoring system. I think it would be stepped up as well and we could use lessons in the classroom to improve community in the classroom. I have recently learned about a curriculum called Project Adventure. It is used in the physical education classroom to aid in activities that get students working together and becoming a community in the classroom. I think that this may also aid in the decrease in bullying and this can spread from the students to the families. -Julie Gottfried
ReplyDeleteI recently heard of a sponsor for the YMCA looking for graduate students who would be interested in creating a “curriculum” for the after school program that incorporates a way to teach the students about the benefits of their garden. I think this would be a good way to get the kids involved and have an opportunity to be hands on in their learning. So many things could be done with a curriculum plan such as life/water cycles, parts of the plant, and, most importantly, healthy eating. This could possibly be stretched even further and incorporate the community into it somehow as well.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a great idea. Teaching cooking skills along with healthy eating would be fun for kids. Starting a garden and introducing all types of produce is a good way to turn kids on to healthy food that they didn't realize they liked. I would be interested in participating in a project like this.
Delete-Caitlin Mewborn
I really like this idea. My mom is an avid gardener and she always let me help when I was younger. It would teach the kids about responsibility as well as teach them something they normally would not learn in school. I would love to help with a project like this.
Delete-Meagan McGee
I love this idea as well. One thing I value in the education system is purpose and usefulness. If students are engaged in a way that they understand why they are learning about something and how it relates to them, then our job as teachers have been done. This is a great opportunity to do exactly that. I remember sitting in school learning about plants and thinking who cares, it's a plant, this is dumb.....but if I had been engaged in learning in this type of atmosphere that shows the ways it affects our daily lives (like eating) then I would have gotten so much more out of the time as well as learned more than the standard "required" materials that needed to be taught by the lesson. A possible way to get the community involved may be to cook something up for parents using some of the plants? or maybe set up a stand where the community can purchase some plants and the students can have posters about the benefits and engage them in conversation about them? Just a quick thought.
DeleteSounds interesting, I have never done gardening, but I have done many different kinds of yard work (planted trees, mowed the lawn, removed dead bushes, set up walk-ways, etc). I used to be good at cooking, but then I got lazy and focused on baking, so this program sounds cool. I guess I will join in.
DeleteThis idea sounds awesome. I feel extending the curriculum outside of the classroom can have many benefits to helping students find what they are interested in and create a friendly social environment of commonality. A lot of outside hobbies and interests can be an helpful addition to what students learn within the classroom whether it be the chemistry behind cooking or the narrative devices within a comic book. If we as teachers are able to give students an accessible way to apply what they learn in the classroom to the outside world, it can be a helpful way to encourage even more engagement within the classroom along with helping their social growth in a group setting. -- David Vanderford
DeleteI like this idea the best. I think its a great idea to teach the kids cheap, easy, and sustainable living, while encouraging healthy eating habits. I think this would be another great opportunity to make a bigger difference by selling the food at the farmers market and donating the money to a program that helps underprivileged children!
Delete-Chris Shores
Some of you guys might want to look into partnering with the Neighborhood Resource Center in Fulton Hill. They are working on establishing an organic garden and teaching people about cheap and healthy food. http://test.nrccafe.org/cafe/
Delete-Elise Sale
I am a big fan of this idea. It is a shame that while we want to teach our kids about healthy eating, man do not have the resources and many school cafeterias are severely lacking in this area as well. This would be fun, educational, and health conscious.
DeleteI think any after school program to help students acquire skills to build their self esteem and keep them out of trouble would be a great idea. Even though it may be taking on a lot but maybe combining a couple ideas like community gardens, along with a nutrition seminar to educate, and teaching cooking could benefit students and the community. Along with Jake's idea I think maybe we could try to revamp some cafeteria options and have resources for schools and students to have resources to better healthier, and affordable options.
DeleteRyan D. - Amy I really like this idea. I think in addition to it, it would be cool to have to collaborate to help them create community gardens. I've seen them in some parts of the Fan and in Churchill and I think they can be good for helping create a sense of community.
DeleteCame across this proposal for a pre-K through 8 Montessori School in Fulton Hill http://chpn.net/archives/montessori_fulton.pdf when I was looking up the link to the Neighborhood Resource Center. Montessori has a really great stance on respect and interesting ways of teaching and learning that seem to align in many ways with teaching toward freedom. The Neighborhood Resource Center was able to set up preschool but it seems very different from the original proposal. Are people still working toward the original idea? If so I'd like to help in some way. Maybe seeing about putting together some kind of Montessori in action event. Montessori can sound kind of crazy but maybe if people saw examples of it in real life they would be more inclined to support such a school.
ReplyDelete-Elise
I like this idea. I thing it would be interest into see how such ideas have evolved in that kind of setting. Especially since there seem to be a lot of changes from he original ideas. I was also thinking that a neat inquiry group idea would be to survey schools in surrounding areas about the number of inclusion classes versus traditional separation of general ed and special ed.
ReplyDelete-Maria
I really liked the idea that one of the groups last year did, which was making a booth for the teachers to have discussions about testing, etc. I think it would be a good idea to build a booth somewhat like that, but for students. The students could have an opportunity to discuss their feelings on the SOLs or even topics in which they are responsible for learning. Their could be a teacher in the booth to hear the students out. This could be for maybe upper elementary, middle or even high school. I think it would be extremely interesting to hear the students' views on all this testing.
ReplyDeleteThrough Project Learning Tree last semester we made a garden in a glove. I think if we could get the resources and teach the students to grow their own veggies because it does not take much room and just stays in a plastic glove hanging in the window. Later in the spring the vegetables would be transferred into pots or gardens. This shows students that even though they may live in an urban setting that they can still experience growing their own food source.
ReplyDeleteI love your idea Rachel and coincidentally, I am in the process of developing a "botanical garden" mathematics unit that combines the science and practical application of creating and designing a greenhouse with the study of its relevant mathematics.
DeleteRyan Goulet
First off, I would like to point out that I love the ideas being thrown around involving gardening and its incorporation into curriculum. I feel every class could involve gardening in their lesson plans to a relevant extent. I am currently creating a mathematics unit called "Creating your own botanical garden" that will teach many facets of gardening to include the structure of a greenhouse (geometry), costs associated with our garden (finances and number sense), soil and atmospheric conditions (logarithms, exponents, percentages, ratios, etc), nutritional value of our crops, watering schedules (rates, volume, time), etc. The facets are seemingly endless in this regard. Most importantly, it would teach a practical and important skillset that our children need to have as our world population (and demand for food) continues to logistically grow (exponential growth).
ReplyDeleteMaybe, we can create an inquiry-to-action group that stresses the importance of imbedding a gardening unit into different types of subject matter to include biology, mathematics, art, etc.
Ryan Goulet
Everyone seems interested in gardening which is great! I didn't think so many people considered it outside of science, and your unit for mathematics sounds very interesting. I love the idea of working with gardens and wanted to use it as a part of my science classroom in the future, but I could get interested in exploring tying gardening to other subjects and showing the benefit to students' personal lives.
Delete