Michelle+Grant-Arastu+-+Student-Designed+Instruction

Early Adopter: Inquiry & Design Challenge
My Destination Postcard: 



Name: Michelle Grant-Arastu
 * =====Campus: Memorial Middle School =====
 * =====Grade Level(s): 7th =====
 * Discipline: Language Arts
 * =====Topic: Student-Owned Learning =====
 * =====Focus Question: How will students manage their reflection piece at stations: why they chose this topic, why they chose this mode of learning, what they learned, and where they plan to go next. As well, how will I respond to student reflections?=====
 * Resources: //s// //earch for existing resources (articles, websites, blogs, videos, etc.) - please be sure to add them to our [|Diigo] //
 * Working on the Work
 * ===== Activity: =====
 * 1) Individually, design a student resource, activity type, or mini-challenge to try in the classroom over the next month to test. Then, get feedback from partners.
 * 2) Try out resource, activity type, or project during the month(s), documenting plan, process, execution and reflection and collect student work samples.
 * 
 * < // please add link to Round 2 activity // >
 * < // please add link to Round 3 activity // >
 * < // please add link to Round 3 activity // >

//e//


 * Mining the Effort**
 * What artifacts of your personal learning have you been collecting? These reflections and my thinking. I'm also keeping more notes than before about things to do differently next year. Relationships with people.
 * What process shifts do these suggest in your practice? I'm thinking more ahead than I used to.


 * What artifacts of student learning have you been collecting? I have online artifacts like pinterest, kids work (their writing), and their closing activities - what I have learned. This is my stress because I feel like there is a lack of artifacts with my pinterest - how do I know kids are using this productively? The monitoring is still in development. How much should I monitor? Should I monitor it all? Could the kids monitor themselves somehow? Should I develop a way that the kids (or should the kids develop a rubric themselves that could be used together) in order to monitor this? Maybe it could be an option? But then the kids who need it the most probably won't take that option - it will be the higher achievers and the lower achiever sometimes need it the most...so then what?
 * What process shifts do these suggest in their practice? Kids are starting to see the connection between thinking about their learning (metacognition) and its results.

How is your journey like that of a storyteller? In the beginning I didn't know exactly where I was going - but there was a character and a setting. There have been rising actions, climaxes and I hope no falling actions (haha). I hope I don't reach a resolution, though. So I'm not sure if this analogy totally works. Of a researcher? I've always been a researcher but this journey is totally that - coming up with questions that intrigue me based on a real problem, finding solutions that lead to more questions and so forth. The thesis develops rather than starting with one...
 * An Opportunity in Overalls **

What question did you start out to find answer(s) to?
 * What tweaks, edits, modifications have you made to your focus question? I wanted a variety of ways for kids to work on grammar and then I narrowed it to Pinterest. Well first we started with a wiki but then they said we had to pay (and it looked kind of boring) and the kids came up with the idea of pinterest so we went with it.
 * What question(s) remain? How do I add accountability to this piece and ensure that the kids who need it the most are on it or should they have a different way to do their work?
 * What new questions have surfaced as a result of your exploration this far? The above.

As a researcher:

What are you measuring? Kids improvement in grammar.
 * What patterns are surfacing? accountability again and again.
 * What themes are emerging? accountability and measurability
 * What does your data suggest? not sure if I have data...that is a problem too.

As a learner:
 * Where have you allowed yourself to be vulnerable in this process? I'm sharing this with others - usually I stick with only a few close co-workers. I'm sharing this with more people than usual.
 * How are you allowing yourself, your professional learning to be 'seen'? It is online and a large copy of it is going up on my wall as a board assignment - it will also work as a bulletin board advertisement for other kids and teachers in the school to follow us.
 * In what way(s) have you found the courage to be 'imperfect'? I've always had this courage. That's the only way we learn.
 * What //a-ha!// moments, elements of a 'spiritual awakening'/"breakdown" have you experienced? I don't always have an opportunity to slow down and think (usually I do it in the car on the way to work). This is giving me that time. What might these insights suggested to you? I need to slow down more often - perfect one project and reflect on it.

What story is unfolding from your research?
 * I'm learning about all of the great online resources that are already out there - teachers pay teachers, etc. So I don't always have to create everything myself - I have to spend some time researching what is already out there.
 * I'm learning from this committee how many common thinkers are on my campus.


 * Defining Your Focus**
 * Collaborative Glossary (@http://tinyurl.com/EAvocab)


 * Considering the bigger picture...**
 * What IS Early Adopters? Early adopters is learning a process of thinking further into the future and learning to think differently about teaching and learning.
 * What is Early Adopters NOT? Early adopters is not just creating a project.
 * What examples from your/your students practice might you offer others to "show" this? Our classroom is in charge of their pinterest board and we've posted the pinterest and the assignments up on large butcher paper so anyone walking by in the hallway can see that the kids are in charge of this learning.