The Evolution of My Inquiry Question
September: 1984 and Antigone
When the school year began, I was observing two 12th grade English classes which were working through a short unit on George Orwell’s 1984, their summer reading, and discussing the year’s themes of image and identity. We spent only a few weeks on the novel and then quickly transitioned into Antigone. There was little explanation as to why we were reading the play or what elements of the play connected to the big ideas of image and identity. Much of the reading of the play was in class, and interspersed between reading were small analytic or interpretive activities and assignments that the students often worked together to complete. I quickly began to notice that some of the students in the two senior classes were frustrated at the work that was assigned for class and homework, and did not understand the reasoning and rationale behind some of the foundational tasks given in an English class, like being asked to find quotes from the text to support their arguments, or use proper grammar every time they wrote something.
October: Inquiry into Public Education
My students’ (and my own) brief feelings of exasperation and frustration were augmented when we began our next unit, an inquiry-based research project on public education in Philadelphia. This unit was inspired by a discussion the students had on the budget crisis in the city and the lack of adequate funding for many public schools. My classroom mentor thought that because the students had such a great conversation about a related newspaper article, and because the originally scheduled unit on Hamlet had to be delayed, we should plan one during which students would have several discussions on public education and the problems they see in Philadelphia, develop questions about the public school system, research those questions, and produce a final research paper. Despite my initial excitement and the learning goals I had imagined, the unit itself did not at all go the way that I had hoped or expected.
On the first day of this unit, there was no actual introduction or explanation as to what the students would be embarking on over the next few weeks, and many of the students were confused and unsure of what our discussions and research were leading to [Lesson plans from first day of unit]. We immediately launched into a discussion on the general history of public education, guided by the facts students had found for homework the night before, and an over view of some of the problems that the students saw with the public education system.
When the school year began, I was observing two 12th grade English classes which were working through a short unit on George Orwell’s 1984, their summer reading, and discussing the year’s themes of image and identity. We spent only a few weeks on the novel and then quickly transitioned into Antigone. There was little explanation as to why we were reading the play or what elements of the play connected to the big ideas of image and identity. Much of the reading of the play was in class, and interspersed between reading were small analytic or interpretive activities and assignments that the students often worked together to complete. I quickly began to notice that some of the students in the two senior classes were frustrated at the work that was assigned for class and homework, and did not understand the reasoning and rationale behind some of the foundational tasks given in an English class, like being asked to find quotes from the text to support their arguments, or use proper grammar every time they wrote something.
October: Inquiry into Public Education
My students’ (and my own) brief feelings of exasperation and frustration were augmented when we began our next unit, an inquiry-based research project on public education in Philadelphia. This unit was inspired by a discussion the students had on the budget crisis in the city and the lack of adequate funding for many public schools. My classroom mentor thought that because the students had such a great conversation about a related newspaper article, and because the originally scheduled unit on Hamlet had to be delayed, we should plan one during which students would have several discussions on public education and the problems they see in Philadelphia, develop questions about the public school system, research those questions, and produce a final research paper. Despite my initial excitement and the learning goals I had imagined, the unit itself did not at all go the way that I had hoped or expected.
On the first day of this unit, there was no actual introduction or explanation as to what the students would be embarking on over the next few weeks, and many of the students were confused and unsure of what our discussions and research were leading to [Lesson plans from first day of unit]. We immediately launched into a discussion on the general history of public education, guided by the facts students had found for homework the night before, and an over view of some of the problems that the students saw with the public education system.
While the students were engaged in the discussions and were interested in talking about their educational experiences, they were unsure as to how this would tie into their research projects.
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