Suzanne's Mindlab Blog

I am using  Osterman and Kottkamp's Experiential Learning Cycle (2015, p.70) to reflect upon the changes in my practice since undertaking the Mindlab course. Stage 1: Problem Identification The problem I initially identified was how students were unmotivated to produce quality work, which I put down to having no audience for their writing.  I planned to increase engagement by creating an audience for the students by publishing their stories online for parents to see, also with the hope that learning discussions would take place at home and strengthen what is happening at school. As I look to my next independent stage of this inquiry, I have identified that there are still four children who have not found the processes undertaken during my inquiry beneficial, in that they are no more motivated to work harder, and that their work is not being discussed at home. Stage 2: Observation and Analysis My observations of students initially took place in my last years class roo...

Step 1: What is the observed impact after the ‘Take Action’ phase? As I am teaching a new year level this year, I have no previous students to compare what I was seeing with the students currently in front of me.  Both schoolwide and nationwide data shows that writing is the weakest of the three core curriculum areas, and that the level of achievement decreases further in Years 5-8.  (Gadd, 2019)  A problem I had identified was that children often had no audience for their writing, and so why would they be motivated to produce a high quality of work if no-one was going to read it.  And so it became necessary to try something different to improve this. The student's pre-inquiry data told me that those who struggled with writing had a negative mindset about it.  However all students were keen to try something new in terms of digital publishing,  When I look at the post-inquiry data, there are still a minority of students who reported that the inquiry did...

Step 1: Describe the data you have collected As per my Action Plan, I have chosen to collect qualitative data, the ideas and opinions of my stakeholders.  At the start of the inquiry, I surveyed both parents and students to find out their feelings on writing, and the home/school relationship.  Many parents chose to not respond to the survey at all, but were happy for their children to be included in my inquiry.  The students were surveyed and were given the option to remain anonymous or to put their names on the survey.  As expected, those who responded with negative feelings about writing were those who struggle and are borderline with achieving what would have been National Standards expectations for their age.   As the inquiry nears its end, I sent out a parent post-survey on Class Dojo, querying the use of Class Dojo as a e-Portfolio forum, their understanding of their child's learning goals and processes, their willingness to comment online and di...