One easy way to encourage choice during reading groups is to assign research projects. I developed a plan that involves a separate research assignment for each month of the school year. The topic of the month is relevant either to the season or what students are learning about in class. For example, unit 7 in ELA is about earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis so I chose for students to research natural disasters around that time of year.
My brief notes on each topic can be found below.
In trying to decide how I would teach my next class how to research, I decided to use my current class as guinea pigs. I set up my six classroom computers with a variety of websites on animals, gave students a recording sheet that had a few prompts, and basically told them to have at it.
Even with minimal instructions or guidelines, students were extremely motivated. They read page after page of animal information, took lengthy notes, and begged me to be able to research more. From this experience, I was able to develop a pretty good idea of how to introduce research next year.
I would probably begin with a really random question that would make the class curious. Something that they are unlikely to know. Then I would ask them what we could do to find out. We would then talk about why it is important to be able to research and I would tell them that they will have a different project each month. The first project would be more guided. The students would each have a laptop and they would all be working at the same time so I can supervise. For the rest of the projects, unless I borrow a full class set of laptops, will be completed in reading groups. A group usually has six or fewer students and I have six computers in my classroom. If I ever have more than six students in a group, I can sign out a laptop or iPad.
For each topic I will have a recording sheet specific to that theme that will prompt students in what direction they should search. I found that the groups that had more guidance from their recording sheet usually wrote more than the one group that was just given blank paper.
When I had my students researching animals this week, I told them websites to read. Next year I want to teach my students to use Google to their advantage (meaning for third grade research, they will search their chosen topic + "for kids" at the end of it to try to keep the results at an appropriate age and reading level). I also want to make a custom google search engine to keep the search even more secure. In their research I want my students to use more than one source. I want them to make sure that the sources' information align. I would show them the tree octopus website and we would talk about whether it is fiction or informational. Most students (if not all) will think that it is real and they will be shocked when they find out its a fake animal. That alone should help them to understand the need to verify sources (at least at a basic level).
When students were working, some problems did arise. For example, one of the computers keeps freezing. I was able to unfreeze the computer by minimizing the page and opening it up again. I could keep an extra iPad on hand in the future in case a computer stops working. If I don't have an iPad on hand on the particular day where a problem arises, I can either have that student work with a partner and share a computer or have them finish the next day.
Other problems were behavior related. One student started playing games and others started talking. I can strategically assign seats at the computers so friends aren't next to each other in the future. I was clear at the beginning of the assignment that students shouldn't watch videos (no headphones available) and they shouldn't play games. Students who choose to ignore directions can be told that if they continue to abuse the privilege of using a computer, they will have to research using books instead of the internet for the rest of the project that month. Missing out while friends use computers should be a big motivation to follow directions next time.
The most common problem our technology has is that the internet sometimes stops. If that is the case, then the group researching can continue their research in the many books in our classroom. We have books on almost every topic on the list and book research is still an important skill to have. Students who are unable to use the computer to research can try again another day when the internet is working.
When students are able to complete their own research, a vast array of doors open up to them. They then have the skills to learn on their own. If they are having a hard time on homework, they then have an idea on how to find information that can help them. They will also need research skills for the rest of their lives.
I can see other teachers and grade levels finding student research useful. One example is in fifth grade. The fifth graders need to know a lot of information for the science MCAS. The students could each research their own topic as review and make a poster on that topic. They can present their topic to help their class remember everything they learned. I would love to see students make a poster and turn it into a video review on Explain Everything. Those videos could be compiled and posted online for students to review at home as a way to introduce study skills.
The potential in these projects is great and the possibilities are endless. I cannot wait to see what my class does with this research next year.
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