Inquiry Unit Plan Reflection

Through this inquiry unit, students are able to gain understandings and apply their knowledge as to how they can actively participate and contribute to their society as a responsible citizen of Canada. As our lessons provide several strategies for students to be engaged, it is of critical importance that we allow students to learn best by targeting their multiple intelligence's within our lessons and allowing them to explore differentiated instruction in each of the lessons. The focus of this unit is to allow students to inquire and explore and that is what we are aiming for. Lessons are comprised of teacher directed and mainly student centered learning with collaboration, hands-on, independence, cross curricular lessons and field trips in addition to including professional resources and parent/communication resources. In addition, blended learning and other types of learning are also integrated (dramatic roles).

This inquiry unit plan took a long path in terms of planning. We initially found it a bit difficult to understand how it would come together at the end but thankfully it came together and made a good fit. I found it surprising how well it came together at the end and how it “clicked”. This allows me to be prepared for doing a unit in the classroom as it taught me more about the backward design process (planning from down to up). I wonder if more education classes are going to move towards an inquiry directed approach?

For more information regarding the inquiry unit plan, please click here. 

Social Justice Theme

As our culminating inquiry project focuses on “People and Environments: The Role of Government and Responsible Citizenship” using “How is a responsible citizen created in Canada?” as our key inquiry question,  the prior lesson and culminating inquiry project could be connected to the social justice theme of Power, Authority, and Governance and Civic Ideals and Practices. 

This means that students will be understanding the development of structures of power, authority, and governance and their evolving functions is essential for the emergence of civic competence. In addition, all people have a stake in examining civic ideals and practices across time and in diverse societies, as well as in determining how to close the gap between present practices and the ideals on which our democratic nation is based. An understanding of civic ideals and the practice of citizenship is critical to full participation in society. Students are encouraged to visit this resource to assist them in their research within this inquiry lesson and culminating project.  This is  a great website developed by the Government of Canada to educate citizens on their rights and roles of their citizenship. Furthermore, it allows students to look into the history and laws of where these decisions come from and how it impacts their responsibility as a citizen.  

Social justice themes could be incorporated into the many strands of history, geography and social studies as different patterns of globalization could be observed through history (early civilization and nation/citizen relationships), geography (local or global location disparities) and social studies (how relations develop over time and what implications this has for today). This can look different from grade to grade depending on the approach educators take within the instructional strategies in the unit (ex. group work, individual work, inquiry, class discussion, project, etc...) The type of unit organization depends on the academic and social level of the class, where the teacher's discretion  must be utilized. 

Teachers are encouraged to have a range of instructional activities within their unit as this allows for student engagement to be high within the unit. It also allows for educators to target multiple intelligences within their class which ultimately allows for greater student achievement. Questions that should be addressed within the unit should be broad, open ended questions that allow students to make connections and apply critical thinking skills. 

Critical Literacy for Citizenship Role Lesson

This lesson is based on the big idea that to be active and effective citizens, Canadians need to understand their rights and responsibilities as well as how governments work. The curriculum expectation that is being addressed is from the strand “People and Environments: The Role of Government and Responsible Citizenship” which is B3.1 describe the major rights and responsibilities associated with citizenship in Canada. This lesson connects to our groups culminating activity as we had chosen our inquiry question from the strand “People and Environments: The Role of Government and Responsible Citizenship” focusing on “How is a responsible citizen created in Canada?” as our key inquiry question.

Teacher will begin by telling students to crumble up scrap pieces of paper and to sit at their desks. Students will be instructed to aim and throw their pieces of paper at the recycle bin (at the front of the class) when the teacher counts to 3.  The teacher will explain “The game is simple — you all represent the country’s population. And everyone in the country has a chance to become wealthy and move into the upper class. To move into the upper class, all you must do is throw your wadded-up paper into the bin while sitting in your seat.” The goal is for everyone’s paper to be in the bin. After students throw the paper, they will soon realize that not everyone will have a fair location to throw from.  Teacher will emphasize “the closer you were to the recycling bin, the better your odds. This is what privilege looks like. Did you notice how the only ones who complained about fairness were in the back of the room? By contrast, people in the front of the room were less likely to be aware of the privilege they were born into. All they can see is 10 feet between them and their goal. Your job — as students who are receiving an education — is to be aware of your privilege. And use this particular privilege called “education” to do your best to achieve great things, all the while advocating for those in the rows behind you.” (ecurious, 2014)

For the core learning activity, students will be divided into groups of 3-4 where they will be required to brainstorm the key roles and responsibilities of citizens on chart paper. Students may use their iPads or laptops to search for ideas and examples (inquiry). The class will then come together to share their ideas with each other as each group presents their information relating it back to why it is important (critical literacy). Teacher will use anecdotal notes for ongoing formative assessment. At the end of the lesson, students will be required to complete an exit card (formative assessment) whereby a brief reflection on what they learned will be submitted and any further questions they have. 

Book Talk

When planning instruction, lesson/unit organization can be based upon the following factors:

• Theme or Survey: Organizing instruction around a historical or contemporary event (ex. A local election) or phenomenon, a place (local, national or international) or a particular time period. Many curriculum guidelines and textbooks are organized around similar themes.
• Generalization: A broad relationship statement (ex. People adapt their environments to meet their needs and they, in turn, adapt to their environments)
• Concept: How a particular concept (ex. Equality) relates to a particular example (ex. The treatment of disabled people in Canada)
• Issue: focus on an issue of concern (ex. What should be done to deal with climate change in our community?)
• Inquiry: a question that is answered by the students (ex. What rules govern our community?)
• Problem: focusing on courses of actions concerning what oneself or others ought to do to solve a particular social problem (ex. What can we do to make students more globally aware?)
• Project: Organizing instruction around the creation of something tangible (ex. Mural, video, newspaper, website or drama)
• Narrative: organizing instruction around a story or other narrative such as a biography (ex. Biographies/autobiographies/development of a city or an invention, etc…)

Whichever method is chosen, teachers need to map out what would be required to study the theme, answer the inquiry question, and so on. Webbing tends to be a very powerful tool to do this: 

• Semantic mapping: Diagramming the information and concepts  students already know (useful for assessment for and as learning)
• Webbing: Diagramming the elements of a topic and their relationships

Educators are advised to consider these factors and options when planning a unit as it may assist in planning through a backwards design whereby the final assessment task is at the heart of the instruction. Teachers are encouraged to have a range of instructional activities within their unit as this allows for student engagement to be high within the unit. It also allows for educators to target multiple intelligences within their class which ultimately allows for greater student achievement. Questions that should be addressed within the unit should be broad, open ended questions that allow students to make connections and apply critical thinking skills. 

Please click here to view the full book talk.

If he can do it...so can YOU!

A New Type of Civic Engagement: The Digital Revolution

This was a recent topic which was brought up in a social studies classroom experience that I was observing. There is a large held notion that youth nowadays are disengaged from civic activism... but is that truly the case?

When posting anything online, we can examine there are significant implications to these actions. When a citizen is able to post a valid opinion online, they automatically have the ability to reach hundreds or even millions of individuals nationally and globally. There are several opportunities provided for citizen journalism and/or social activism that are afforded by social media. Citizens are able to voice their perspective through many mediums including many events or trends/patterns. Some of these mediums include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and various blogging websites.  Some of these events can include world news or global/national/local politics. An example of how politics and the World Wide Web intersect can be seen through “The Digital Revolution, the Informed Citizen, and the Culture of Democracy”. As Henry Jenkins and David Thorburn (2003) explain,

 “…the World Wide Web is already a powerful influence on many aspects of American political life: on the public's access to government documents on candidates' communication with their constituencies, on voters' behavior in elections, on political activists' efforts to circulate their message, and on the topics that enter into national debates among candidates” (Jenkins & Thorburn).

In addition, we can see how a large event such as Fukushima and the nuclear accident was significantly reported on the internet through several mediums:

 “The Internet made an enormous amount of information on Fukushima available, far more than was provided by the media during the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl accidents. While journalists contributed much of the news about Fukushima, citizens actively participated in blogs and on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, exchanging views and directing others to important news articles or videos. The Internet also gave the tra- ditional media many opportunities for better coverage, with more space for articles and the ability to publish interactive graphics and videos" (Friedman , 2011).

Prior to my university experience, I was always convinced that the modern youth are not as engaged in civic events like they used to be in the past. Perhaps I felt this way as the majority of my local youth were disinterested in politics and civic duties and engagements. Throughout my university career, I was surprised to learned that through various classroom experiences, our current youth was found to be definitely still engaged with civic duties and democracy. It is only the forms of engagement that has changed. By this, I mean there are new formats which allow our current youth to be active citizens in order to be civic ally engaged. Through these new formats and forms of engagement (due to advancement in technology and the internet), we can see the emergence of these new opportunities are encouraging youth to participate in more citizen journalism and/or social activism. While many youth are choosing not to use traditional forms of citizen engagement such as voting, they are being active citizens through technology and the internet as a means of civic and democratic engagement. 

 Teachers should connect the social studies curriculum in a meaningful way for students. I encourage all students to be participating more directly in citizen journalism and/or social activism through whichever mode they feel connects to them most. The modern advancements in technology are one of the (and probably the best) most effective tools for change within citizens and the global, national and local states. Please click here for a more comprehensive in depth look at Civic Engagement for "Youth: Indifferent or Just Different? The Political and Civic Engagement of Young People in Canada".

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Please do not hesitate to contact me at my email: fm10yp@gmail.com if you have any further questions and continue to check this website on a regular basis to stay updated :)

Miss Mamo