My first “how might we…” question was about how I can increase student engagement and motivation in math by being more hands off and providing asynchronous, self-directed classroom time. This didn’t go so well because some lower students who were struggling with the curriculum were falling even further behind. They were already overwhelmed with the learning goals and targets and then they were confused by the structure of the class and what they should be working on. I decided to abandon this and we’ve moved to group/co-teaching structure to address the needs of our students.
My focus has now shifted to how might we increase overall classroom engagement through the citizenship and the production of a student-for-student newsletter. One thing we’ve been working on in Language Arts has been report writing and reading the news. My action plan now revolves around a student-for-student newsletter that comes out on a consistent basis. Here are the steps I plan to follow:
- Classroom provocation with the Grade 4 newsletter. Ask what was good about it, what a Grade 5 version would need, and how we could create this as a class.
- Gather knowledge by interviewing and expert in the building. Luckily, the Grade 4 teacher has an ongoing class newsletter so we will go to him for expert advice.
- Production of a newsletter. Idea generation, interviewing, and creating a product.
- Publishing to a meaningful audience by printing it and circulating it throughout the junior division. Also publishing an online version that can have digital links to podcasts or Videos (WeVideo or Soundtrap) that students can make. This offers differentiation to this project if students prefer his modality over article writing.
- Holding ourselves accountable by creating a publishing cycle and working together as a class.
I have linked a copy of the Grade 4 newsletter that I will use for the provocation on Monday.