My Inquiry (thus far)

My inquiry really began on May 5th. Until that time, I was not familiar with the concept of the "daybook." Journals, yes. Writing prompts, yes. But I was certainly not familiar with the epic gluing and writing and trimming of paper to fit into one's composition book. This process immediately felt very organic to me and I knew that I was going to embrace it in my own writing life.

Then we started talking about using the daybook with students in our classes. I could not envision using it in the way that everyone else would be...prompted by me...group writing time...handouts...etc. I knew this would not work for me in my non-traditional classroom. So how was I going to help my students embrace a practice and a way of thought that I knew would help them? Well, that's were my inquiry began.

One of the first things I did after the SI orientation was to read "Thinking Out Loud On Paper" by some of our fearless leaders. It was a great read. I enjoyed hearing about how the daybook worked in various types of classrooms and for different styles of teaching. I felt a bit freed, but there were still no examples of how I teach or what I would need to have happen in my classroom.

I decided that my best next step was to fully embrace the daybook in my own life as writer and as teacher and see what happened when I didn't separate the two. Generally, I've liked to put different types of writing in different books. I resisted that urge and found a feeling of carefree abandon. The entire time I was writing in my daybook I was always thinking about my students. How can I help them to embrace this? I can't really mandate it unless I want to grade it--which I already know I don't want to do.

Meanwhile, my principal asked me to in some way support and help with Biology instruction. WHAT? I know very little about science! I started thinking about reading and writing across the curriculum. I started thinking about vocabulary and I theorized about the reasons students struggled with the content of the course. Hmmm...root words...hmmm...special vocabularies...hmmm...writing.

Next, I really started thinking about my day to day interactions with my students and how many bits and pieces of our conversations I wanted to capture or come back to...but I would forget them! The daybook became the perfect space to record these notes and refer back to them when conferencing with the student at a later date. Students started to ask me what I was doing and we started having an informal dialogue about daybooks. Was this the key?

Fast forward to SI. My daybook became the key to my brain. Without that innocent composition book, I wouldn't remember what I had done or thought about during the course of each action packed day. As each day progressed and I engaged in deep, exhausting thoughts with other deep, exhausted people, I realized that the best way to use the daybook idea with my students would be to make it indispensable to them. I plan to achieve this not by making them do it for a grade, but by using it as a platform of our conversation. I can ask questions like: "When you were reading that article about homelessness, did you write any thoughts in your daybook?" Or, "I think that is a good line of thought, why don't you map that out in your daybook." And possibly, "Let's brainstorm together in our daybooks for 2 minutes and then meet and discuss where we should go with this idea." I also really like the idea of giving students the opportunity to personalize their books on that epic first or second day of school. I will provide fun materials and encourage it as a group project. Some won't want to do it. Some will think it's "baby stuff." That's ok. I will remain authentically enthusiastic because it's something that I'm excited about for my own life, not just a teacher-thing I'm doing.

I've gone back and forth and down a few rabbit holes during SI. I've questioned my inquiry and whether it was legitimate. (code for too easy) I've come out the other end with slightly more faith in my instincts about my learning environment and a lot more information to back those instincts up. So, to sum up my inquiry, I would deem it a success. I inquired. In fact, I wrestled. In that wrestling I came up with a plan that I'm comfortable with and that I think will enhance my student's learning. I think I will continue this inquiry with blogging as I introduce the daybook to REAL STUDENTS this year. I look forward to continuing to learn and grow with my students.