Meaningful Inquiry into Student’s Lives- Tamicah Owens

Goals:
 To identify potential funds of knowledge (including culture and family dynamics)
 To explore meaningful inquiry techniques that allow teachers to understand their
students’ home lives
 To discuss the importance of meaningful inquiry into student’s lives to improve
teacher-student relationships

Teaching and Learning Strategies:

1. Introduction: Jimmy Kimmel clip “What’s the Worst Thing Your Mommy Has Ever
Said?”
2. Journal Activity: Take a moment to write down one thing you wish your teachers had
known about you. You could focus on one specific teacher and a specific context, or you
could focus on something that you feel most teachers overlooked.
3. Discussion: What kinds of sociopolitical, economic, and historical contexts may be
important for you to know about your students’ families and homes?
4. Background Information: Funds of Knowledge and Meaningful Inquiry
5. Activity: (Pair/Group Discussion) Describe 1 activity that can be used in your classroom
to better understand your students. Working with a partner, write a description of a short
activity that can be done within a classroom or community setting that would allow a
teacher to learn more about the cultural or personal background of students.
6. Summative Assessment: Students will share their ideas with the class. We will discuss
and evaluate the pros and cons of the activities.
7. Formative Assessment: Create an assignment in your concentration that will allow
students to demonstrate their funds of knowledge.

Methods/Techniques Citations:

1. I will begin with a funny clip to gain students’ interest (Nilson, 2016, p. 154). Humor is a
wonderful tool to engage students and to garner attention. It can help to break up the
mood of the serious issues I will raise about student’s personal lives and the importance
of meaningful inquiry into students’ lives. The video’s purpose is to show how open
some small children are to share information about themselves. We can also analyze
their responses to gain some insight into their personal lives.
2. I will begin the discussion with “a controversial question” (Nilson, 2016, p.
159). “Should educators inquire into students’ personal lives? Does the age of the
students dictate what you should know about your students?” This question will lead
students to explore the value of learning about students, but it will also detail how
students feel about sharing their personal life with educators. I will also make
counterpoints to some arguments to further explore different aspects of the issue
(Weimer, 2017).
3. Background Information- Give students a definition of student funds of knowledge. I
will detail reasons why teachers should make meaningful inquiries into their students’
 lives. I have an expressive style, so I think it will work to further gain student interest in
the topic (Nilson, 2016, p. 142).
4. Summative Assessment: Students will work in pairs to create a classroom activity that
will allow teachers to make a meaningful inquiry into students’ lives (Nilson, 2016, p.
148). This will allow them to have time to explore the topic while creating an assignment
for future. It will also allow me to gain insight into their understanding of the topic. This
activity will also allow them to learn from peers. While creating this activity, students
will share information about the kinds of information that they view as relevant to
improving student learning outcomes. This will help to present more ideas for
consideration to each member of the group (Elements and Practices of Learning-Centered
Environments).
5. Formative Assessment: Create an assignment in your concentration that will allow
students to demonstrate their funds of knowledge.

Sources:

Nilson, Linda Burzotta. (1998). Teaching at its best: a research-based resource for college
instructors. Bolton, MA :Anker Pub. Co.

Weimer, M. (2017, July 27). Facilitating Discussion: Five Factors that Boost Student
Engagement. Retrieved from https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/effective-teaching-
strategies/facilitating-discussion-boost-student-engagement/

Elements and Practices of Learner-Centered Environments. (n.d.). In Center for Teaching and
Learning: The University of Texas at Austin.

Post Lesson Reflection:

I think the lesson went well, and I was excited to hear feedback about areas that I could improve
upon. This is the first time that I have received feedback on my teaching from a student’s
perspective, so I was excited to hear it. I received wonderful comments of praise which helped
to build my confidence in my teaching abilities. I read the suggestions for improvement closely.
I plan on using them to improve future lessons. A common suggestion was that I provide a clear
beginning and ending. I agree that students should be able to identify the flow of the lesson plan
easily, so I will review future lessons to make sure that my conversational style still encompasses
clear transitions. Another common suggestion was about the visuals, I don’t want to rely on
PowerPoint slides because it causes students to focus on the slides instead of the discussion. I
also feel like PowerPoints are boring, but I understand that students are comforted by the
familiar. In my own experience, PowerPoint presentations are used consistently in classes.
However, my instructional design courses taught me that they are largely ineffective as a visual
aid. This suggestion made me wonder if students are conditioned to depend on PowerPoints and
if they view classes that do not rely on them as inefficient or casual. I agree that my presentation
needed more visuals, but I am still searching for PowerPoint alternatives.

The video allowed me to be a student during my lesson. I have never seen a video of me teaching
to a group, so it was exciting (and weird) to see my lesson from a student’s perspective. I was
able to see how constantly pacing could be distracting for some students. I will focus on when I
should be static (during lecture) versus when I should circulate the room (during question and
answer periods, group work, etc.).

Dr. Oughton’s commentary was encouraging and helpful. I appreciate that you are able to see
my love of teaching. I work very hard on presentation, but I am still working on creating strong
lesson plans. I agree that I needed to give clear instructions for the group activity. In the future I
would give detailed written instructions. I would also read the instructions and survey the room
for additional questions before allowing students to form groups.