Inquiry Lesson Reflection

Inquiry: A Divergent Path Towards Learning

Lesson Plan Date: 11/12/14
Lesson Plan Reflection By: Meaghan Brenna Foley

           My group's inquiry lesson plan proved to be quite a learning experience. Since we were only allotted half the time period (i.e., 15-20 minutes), it was very challenging to implement a 45-50 minute lesson. Although faced with a number of obstacles, I think my group did very well. I reviewed the students' prior knowledge of the factory terminology learned in direct instruction lesson. I made sure to assess each student's understanding by going from table to table. I learned to assess students' comprehension by telling them to put their thumbs up if they agree. In addition, I asked the students to put their thumbs down if they disagreed with something. During the introduction, I also provided the opportunity for the students to share something they remembered from the last class. This was an open-ended question; therefore, there was no one area in which the students had to direct their focus. My partner, Nick, asked the students to share their thoughts on what a problem was, while I wrote their responses on the board. This set the stage for the foundation of our lesson, which incorporated an element of technology (i.e. a Voki). Voki is a special tool that allows one to type, or record, text and have it read aloud by an animated character figure. The problem for our lesson was about helping Tommy the Truck Driver with his route from the factory to the store. Once again, my group and I were prepared with a typed up document containing the message from Tommy the Truck Driver. As mentioned earlier, backup plans are critical in all matters related to teaching!

          The students' task for inquiry was to recall their knowledge of the factory terminology and work together to draw routes on a map from the factory to the store. My group members and I believed that this was the most age-appropriate task to give to the students. After discussing the lesson with Dr. Smirnova, I understood that multiple choice questions should not be included in an inquiry lesson's independent practice. Therefore, I modified my lesson to include an independent practice where the students be provided with an interview task. Given an interview worksheet, I came up with the idea to have each student interview one of his or her parents. The student would have to ask his or her parent five brief questions about factories and record the answers on the lines provided. An interview activity is the perfect form of inquiry because it engages the students, requires them to recall prior knowledge, and has them question their reasoning skills. As the teacher, I evaluated the students' skills through their recollection of the factory symbols (i.e., gestures) taught during direct instruction. The whole purpose of inquiry is for the teacher to reflect upon the 5 E's of inquiry. The questions my group came up with were: 

• Was the issue at hand challenging enough for each student? YES
• Were my students engaged? YES
• Were the materials given (Voki, worksheets, map activity) effective for students to understand and come up with logical solutions / correct answers to the questions being asked? YES

  These reflection questions were indeed met because the students conversed with each other about the correct starting location and ending location on their group maps. After their presentations, I could tell that they accurately recalled their knowledge of factories, producers, consumers, and goods. Yes, the activity was engaging because the students were interested in the Voki and actively participated in drawing their routes on the maps.