This was my second time attending the Inquiry Celebration and this time went much more smoothly than last year! Last year I got lost and I'm pretty sure I was in the wrong places and didn't take much away from the sessions. However, this time around was a much better experience.
I attended the first two morning sessions which was nice. It was hard for me to select a session to sign up for because none of the inquiries really relate to my content area. This is mainly due to the small amount of foreign language teachers, however, I wish there were more opportunities to see inquiries that related to my studies better. However, I observed Evan in the first session. He is an intern at my PDS Morgantown High School. He discussed whether or not having daily quizzes was helpful or not for students. He decided that it was helpful but he wouldn't recommend doing them for too long of a time or a full year.
The second session that I attended was a female intern who stated that she wanted to bring cultural understanding and empathy into her classes. I thought that this would be a very good session to attend. She taught social studies and wanted to incorporate cultural understanding and diversity into her classroom however the only research she discussed was that she put her classes into circles for socratic discussions. She never mentioned how she brought in cultural diversity or understanding into her classes, just that she like putting her class in circles for socratic discussions and used "QTIPS." Her findings were inconclusive and I think that it's because her research didn't match her inquiry.
I liked Evan's presentation however I'm not sure that I would use daily quizzes unless I thought that it was necessary. I would have liked to have gotten something from the other girl's presentation however I thought that the study was irrelevant. I'm nervous for next year when it's my turn, however I'm also excited that it'll be my turn to present. I'm also looking forward to doing something that will be specifically tied to foreign language so that the other FL students can see something that will relate to them.
I agree with you on your conclusion of Evan's presentation, Molly. I feel that quizzes can be beneficially used, but if they are used daily, students will get tired of them more quickly. I think that some of his results reflected that they may not be beneficial to do daily, as well, but I am glad that he still seemed optimistic and planned on continuing his pursuit of this action research question.
ReplyDeleteAs for you, you are incredibly bright, innovative, and approachable, so I have NO doubt that you will do a fantastic job with your research topic! I look forward to seeing what you choose to do and your results next year! I hope you have a wonderful summer and am very glad that the Inquiry Celebration was an enjoyable experience for you!