Wednesday 19 February 2014
Inquiry: Going for Gold
We continue to work through our inquiry - "How do we achieve our dreams?" One of the qualities that people need is courage. The story of one of our Canadian Olympians, Joannie Rochette, exemplifies courage. Students read the story with a partner and then marked their thinking using post-it notes.
Some of their thoughts are recorded below:
- No one can make your dreams come true but you. You have to be courageous and show who you are.
- She had to focus on her dream, even though her mother passed away. That takes courage.
- It takes courage to stay fit while your friends are having fun.
- It takes courage to perform on the ice with the pressure of everyone watching.
Afterwards, students worked in small groups, going back through the article for a second time noting all of the ways Joannie made her dream come true. Students shared their ideas at the carpet and then we made a class list as a whole group. Here is a sample from a student's notebook:
Students will continue to act like "text detectives" - sifting through information and pulling out ideas that apply to our inquiry. Although we are focusing on Canadian Olympians, it is my hope that students will be able to apply these qualities to their own lives.
Students will start thinking about their dreams and the qualities they will need to make them come true. I want them to be able to write about their dreams and explain how they plan to achieve them. There is so much frontloading needed before we can expect students to write with quality. Stay tuned!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments
(Atom)
-
We have been discussing how important it is to be a responsible user of technology - especially when online. I decided to show a video crea...
-
We have been working very hard this week getting back into the swing of things. I decided to read the story, Finding the Green Stone by Al... -
We continue to discuss and analyze a variety of texts as a whole class, in small groups and individually. I want students to read a text us... -
Studying the work of various authors is an important component to my writing program. As a young girl, I loved reading these little boo... -
To begin our inquiry, we read a wide variety of books (picture books, chapter books and non-fiction) to get us thinking and to allow thoug... -
Recently, I found a wonderful idea via Twitter! Someone posted a photo of parents filling out a paper tweet to show support for their child... -
Explain Everything is the perfect tool to capture students' thinking. I wanted students to assess their dream writing by taking photog... -
I can’t believe it! In two days, Regie Routman will be in my classroom for a weeklong residency at Strathmillan School! I am so... -
The 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics is now over, however, our inquiry, "Going for Gold", continues! We have been reading many books an... -
How can I create a caring, nurturing environment for all of my students while meeting their individual needs? Through art and writing of c...
0 comments:
Post a Comment