Inquiry in the Primary Classroom

In week 10 of this course we discussed the importance of using inquiry as a learning tool in the primary classroom. When I thought of inquiry prior to this discussion, I thought of it as asking questions to your students that generates discussion, but in reality inquiry is much more than that; it provides students with the ability to investigate, explore and search while enhancing their learning through involvement in a community of learners (Kuklthau, Maniotes & Caspari, 2007). I believe that inquiry-based learning is a great strategy to use in the classroom at any age because it allows students to explore their learning and gives them some freedom to drive their own learning which has the ability to lead to them being more engaged in the classroom. Although inquiry gives students some opportunity to drive the direction of their learning, it is not solely student driven. It is important for teachers to act as a guide; to direct learning and to introduce ideas that are not brought up in discussion (L. Lane, personal communication, March 16, 2016). As discussed in lecture, I believe that a great way to start literacy based learning is to introduce it at the beginning of the school year and develop a basis of respectful classroom discussion that teaches students how to take into account different perspectives and teaches them about constructive criticism. Once a basis of inquiry and its respectful use is put in place, a unit can begin with inquiry by introducing the topic students and having them generate questions about what they want to learn from that unit and ways that they could find answers to these questions through discussion, research, experimentation or investigation.

Another important aspect of inquiry is reflection. In all forms of learning I believe that it is important to provide students to the opportunity to reflect on what they learning as this allows for them and the teacher to monitor progress and allow learning and understanding of a topic to deepen. Reflection on inquiry can be done through a journal, by completing the “L” in a KWL chart about what they have learned since they posed their questions at the beginning of the unit, or by having students complete exit cards about what they have learned from the lesson of the day and what they are still unsure about.

The above video shows an example of inquiry based learning in a second grade questions where students are looking to answer the question “what businesses are in our community and what services do they provide?” This question comes from the social studies curriculum and lead to media lessons, research and presentations using iPads and by collaborating with their peers. 

Teaching Financial Literacy

With the curriculum of schooling ever growing, and the definition of what is considered literacy constantly expanding, being considered a literate person has become far more complicated than just knowing how to read and right. As 21^st century is literacies is broken down in my previous blog, and has continued to be done in my courses at Brock, I have come to learn that the about nine forms of literacy that must be addressed in the classroom. Although most of these literacies are topics and skills that I myself as a student have gained, at least in some form, throughout my education, one literacy that have very rarely been taught about myself is financial literacy. As a future teacher, this is a topic I fear, one that I feel I am not prepared teach as I still struggle myself to understand what is involved in finances and can barely imagine learning how to do them. Financial literacy was not something that was discussed throughout my primary and secondary educational experiences. We were taught about how to save money, how to invest, about taxes or mortgages, which are things that are important for my future students to understand; so how will I teach it?

http://moneyasyougrow.org/
This website provide students with financial literacy based on their age and provides a guide for teachers about what students should know at what age to be financially intelligent. 

According to Blue, Grootenboer and Brimble (2014) the importance of financial literacy education is to create a foundation for effective decision making. It is the job of schools and educators to teach students about earning income, buying goods and services, saving, using credit, financial investing and protecting and insuring. The goal here is to create able students who plan and set goals when making and assessing decisions. financial education is the key to creating financially literate youth and it needs to begin in primary and secondary school as today children and youth are growing up in a society where money is increasingly invisible through the use of debit and credit cards, and money is able to be spent at all hours of the day as a result of online shopping (Blue et al., 2014).

With the teaching of financial literacy education becoming mandatory and the substantial knowledge that students are expected to know I am left feeling more uncomfortable and unknowledgeable as ever. Although I understanding what is involved in the financial literacy curriculum, I still do not know how to teach it or explain it in terms that make sense to primary students.

The below video provided me with some perspective on how to start teaching financial literacy early in education, and how to engage students in learning by making it relevant to them. It discusses how financial literacy can teach young students about financial literacy can break the cycle of poverty. The school presented in the video teaches financial literacy to their students by relating to their everyday life, to decisions they have to make or will have to make in the future. For example in this school in the first grade they discuss personal finance, in the second grade is a combinanation of economics and personal finance and third grade is about monetary policy and what money is, while in older grades it becomes more fluid to make the information relevant.

Although my knowledge has expanded I still believe that it is important that teachers are provided with professional development to ensure that they are teaching financial literacy properly, and that this professional development is kept up to date as the economy changes. 

References

Blue, L., Grootenboer, P., & Brimble, M. (2014). Financial literacy education in the curriculum: Making the grade or missing the mark?. International Review of Economics Education, 16, 51-62. 

21st Century Literacies

In the first week of this course a quote was presented to us that I believe represents the meaning of literacy in a 21^st century learning environment. According to Carrington and Robinson (2009) “literacy is not just about decoding marks on a page, it is also about performing social acts of meaning, where meaning and practices vary according to context.” In my opinion this quote brings up a more complex meaning of literacy that looks beyond the basic definition of reading and writing and rather at the implications of literacy that come from reading and writing and extends beyond into social contexts. To me this means that upon learning the basic skills of literacy, students must learn to apply literacy into multiple contexts including global, financial, critical, environmental, media, etc. In order to this, students must have an understanding of social contexts so they are able to interpret a situation and apply their knowledge effectively which will allow for their actions to become more meaningful.

http://www.emergingedtech.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/21st-Century-Skills.jpg

In the beginning of every Ontario curriculum document, 21^st century learning is discussed with the government saying “today and in the future, students need to be critically literate, in order to synthesize information, make informed decisions, communicate effectively and thrive in an ever changing global community.” In reading this section it makes me think of the practical application of students learning. I believe that this quote is stressing the importance not only of teaching the required the curriculum, but also of providing children with real world examples that they are able to relate to their own lives to show them how what they are learning could be useful. By making students critically literate, and making lessons more suited to the needs of individuals I believe that students are more likely to be engaged in their learning and therefore will become more aware and contributing in different social contexts.

The above video discusses how literacy has begun to expand beyond understanding languages into multiple categories. Understanding these different literacies is becoming important due to the fact that people are beginning to communicate and interact internationally more often in ways where all kind of literacies are relevant in understanding social meaning. This video also discusses the importance of teachers keeping up with technology due to the fact that it is constantly changing and this will help students understand how to appropriately connect with the outside world.