C53: Research Skills (Specialists\Supporting)

​Welcome back my specialist and supporting teacher friends.  Sorry for the delay the past few weeks, but I’ve been busy preparing for my school’s verification visit in less than a month.  I’ve been working crazy hours, but I’m still trying to make some time for the things I love, like being here with you and sharing more ideas. 

When I think of research skills, it’s more than looking something up on a computer or book.  It’s more about what we do with the information after we have received it.   Since it can be more labor intensive and cerebral, I think many teachers just pass it off as completing a research project.  Today, we are going to explore how we can take it a step further. 

If you are a coordinator, you will see many parts are the same, because they can apply to all teachers.  We will diversify a bit as we examine the sub-skills. 

When I read this list, many ideas pop into my mind.  First, we need to be intentional when planning inquiries to have a research focus.  That seems obvious, right?  Not so much, if you are focused on getting content taught.  Being mindful is key with the ATLs. 

How are we providing a range of tools, so students can research on their own and self-select based on the purpose of the inquiry?  Yikes, this sounds huge at first, but this could simply be presenting 5-7 visible thinking routines to our students and graphic organizers and teaching them how to self-select based on purpose.  Hmm...that sounds doable.  The key is to have all of these processes formally and informally documented, so the student is able to talk through it with their parents at the end of the year.

When we are teaching explicit research skills, we need to teach them about reliable sources and which search engines are vetted.  Oftentimes, fake news is taken to be real.  This is our chance to teach them how to vet these sources and accredit them through proper citations.  We don’t have to do this process alone, because we have our librarian and technology specialist to lend a hand too. 

Now, what will the students be doing during this time?  Let’s take a peek at the sub-skills they will be focusing on to become more independent researchers. 

• Formulating and planning
• Data gathering and recording
• Synthesizing and interpreting
• Evaluating and communicating
• Media literacy
• Ethical use of media/information

Now, let’s take a deeper look at one of the ATL sub-skills

Synthesizing and Interpreting

We like to truly understand what we are learning, which is why we like to synthesize and interpret information.  If you're like me, you might do this too much.  But, this process helps us to internalize information to create meaning. 

Sort and categorize information

​This sub-skill is more directed at our supporting teachers who work with our special populations.  You may be pushing into the classroom experience and this may be something to consider as you target certain types of texts.  I will try to provide examples of ways I’ve also seen some specialists use them in their practice.

Narrative

How are we teaching the form and structure of a narrative text to our students?  Are we solely teaching the plot diagram and character traits?  There is so much more to narrative than that.  How are we examining the language used to create a mood?  Can we capture events in our mind that give a sense of time and space?  How are we capturing voice? 

• Art:  apply these ideas to light, color, shape, and the mood you are trying to evoke. What story are you trying to tell? 
• Foreign Language:  what words are we putting together to share a story of our experiences? 
• Library:  how can we examine the various components of narrative through a read aloud experience? 

Explanatory

An information report can be dry and formulaic.  How can we ignite passion when writing and reading these types of texts?  We can use visible thinking routines to help us look at information differently.  Use graphic organizers and other visuals to help us sort and categorize information. The possibilities are endless.

• Science lab:  how are you explaining information in a meaningful way that is connected to everyday life, instead of an isolated topic? 
• Music:  how are inviting student curiosity about different cultures in the stories we share about music? 

Procedural

When setting up this type of text, we can use a lot of visuals to help us sort and categorize information.  We can have sequence cards to help students understand the step by step nature of this writing.  But is there more?  I think something that would be more powerful is having a sorting activity that goes to the heart of why procedural texts are important and how they organize our world. What that looks like will depend on you and your students. 

• Technology: How are we explaining certain processes so they are clear, motivating, and fun? 
• PE:  What ways do you encourage students to follow directions, but make it playful? How are they creating their own games and using their imagination? 

Data Handling

This last one can be examined by both specialist and supporting teachers, because it can be applied to any situation or topic.  It’s about how we use it to get the best results from our students.  Here are ways I’ve noticed specialist and supporting teachers use data handling
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• PE:  Track progress of a fitness program through daily graphing in a notebook
• Science Lab:  capture trials through a frequency table

Use critical literacy skills to analyze and interpret information

​I feel like we embedded this process into the above examples.  The key is how are we going beyond the factual content and getting students to take more ownership of the thinking?  How are they researching with the purpose to not only obtain new information, but understand and apply it?  This can only happen through open-ended questioning, use of a variety of reflection tools and formative assessments, and specific direct instruction that creates aha moments.  

Let’s try to be better at making the ATL research skills a more vibrant part of our teaching, rather than a formulaic process of gathering information.  Research is not one-size fits all.