The grade 5/6 students at Brevoort Park and North Park Wilson recently had the opportunity to work on an Inquiry Project. The grade 5/6 teachers and the teacher librarian collaborated on all aspects of this project. The goal was for students to develop a better understanding of the injustices that people face in their community. Students experienced how they can learn about these issues and bring awareness to others. They created various projects that showed their learning throughout the inquiry process.
Curricular Outcomes:Outcome PA6.3 (Power & Authority) Explore examples and explain how people, such as ethnic minority groups, the disabled, youth, and the elderly, may be affected by injustice or abuses of power
Outcome CC5.1 (Compose & Create) Compose and create a range of visual, multimedia, oral, and written texts that explore, identity, community, social responsibility and express personal thoughts shaped through inquiry.
Outcome CC5.3 (Compose & Create) Speak to express and support a range of ideas and information in formal and informal speaking situations for particular audiences and purposes.
Outcome AR5.1 (Assess & Reflect on Language Abilities) Identify Strengths in viewing, listening, reading, speaking, writing, and other forms of representing.
ELA 6
Outcome CC6.1 (Compose & Create) Create various visual, multimedia, oral, and
written texts that explore identity (e.g., Your Choices), social responsibility
(e.g., Looking for Answers), and efficacy (e.g., Systems for Living).
Outcome CC6.5 (Compose & Create) Use oral language to interact appropriately with
others in pairs, and small and large group situations (e.g., asking questions
to explore others’ ideas and viewpoints, discussing and comparing ideas and
opinions, completing tasks and contributing to group success).
Outcome AR6.3 (Assess & Reflect on
Language Abilities) Appraise own and others’ work for
clarity
The essential question that guided student learning was "How are people in our community affected by injustice?"
Collaboration Process – The collaboration process on this project went really well. Initial planning was started on GoogleDoc. Both teachers and the teacher librarian had the ability to access and edit the document as plans formed and changed over time.
All collaborators read Comprehension & Collaboration – Inquiry Circles
in Action by Stephanie Harvey & Harvey Daniels. We used this resource as
a guide to planning our inquiry unit.
Chapter 7 – Key Lessons in Comprehension,
Collaboration, and Inquiry “outlines the specific lessons we teach in
comprehension, collaboration, and inquiry. It follows the instructional
approach called the Gradual Release of Responsibility, which scaffolds kids
with modeling and guided practice as they move to independence.”
There are “twenty-seven
practical lessons that helps kids become thoughtful, independent readers,
thinkers, communicators, and researchers” (page 110 Comprehension &
Collaboration – Inquiry Circles in Action by Stephanie Harvey & Harvey
Daniels), and these lessons provided the framework for our inquiry planning.
We started with the Immerse Stage.
During this stage, considerable time was spent determining readiness to learn,
interest in topic, building background, and developing an inquiry stance.
Students formed sub-questions such
as:
"I wonder why people choose friends by how cool their clothing is?"
Each grade 5/6 teacher displayed a
wonder wall in their classroom. Students wrote their sub-questions and “I
wonder” statements on sticky notes and placed them on the wonder wall. 
Students categorized
their questions and “I wonder” statements into categories. Eventually, the
categories were labelled ABLEISM, AGEISM, CLASSISM, RACISM & SEXISM.
Students created a poster with their
sub-question using ComicLife. Our next step in the Inquiry process was the Investigate Stage.
During this stage, considerable time was spent developing questions,
searching for information, and discovering answers.
The students were given the opportunity to determine what injustices
affect their community. They looked deeper into the meaning of injustice. They also
investigated to determine how they could contribute to awareness of injustices
in their community.
Students brainstormed some of the injustices that occur in their
community. They realized that no matter where you live, there are social
injustices that occur. Students discussed things that they believe need to be
changed in their community. Over the next several days, students kept an eye
out for injustices that they were able to see in the community. They needed to
determine if others were aware of the injustices that they noticed.
We came up with classroom definitions for each of the “isms”. Examples,
articles, and images of ableism, ageism, classism, racism & sexism were shared
by staff and also by students. We determined that students were ready to
examine the basic rights of people, and in particular, the rights of children. Teachers
posted a KWL chart to determine what students already know, what they want to
know, and what they learned about the rights of children. 
Teachers used their document cameras to display The Charter for
Children books as they read them aloud.
The Charter for Children kit – by Dustin Milligan was
purchased for every elementary school in the division, and is “intended
to teach children the basic principles of the Canadian Charter of Rights and
Freedoms. Each fictional story is set in a different province or territory of
the country and each addresses a different right or freedom in the charter. At
the back of each title are notes for parents & teachers, also questions for
children. (Destiny summary note)”
Students were then required to use text and visual features to gain information. “At all stages of inquiry projects we want kids to think about and learn from the text and visual features as they research their questions and read for information (p. 119 - Comprehension & Collaboration – Inquiry Circles in Action by Stephanie Harvey & Harvey Daniels). Teachers provided nonfiction texts about various injustices at various levels. Students were encouraged to go through their text and find a feature. Students determined the purpose of each feature and then shared the features and purposes in a chart that they created using lino.
Students developed inference skills when their teacher read the book The
Enemy: a book about peace – by Davide Cali. The book ignited student
discussion about how people are more alike than different.
Students were able
to connect this discussion to what they have already learned about the ‘isms’.
“Every morning I shoot at him. Then he shoots at me.” The words
and pictures are minimal in this picture book, with just a short sentence and a
small khaki-colored ink drawing on almost every white page. A uniformed soldier
in a hole shoots an enemy in a hole on the opposite page. The soldier knows
from the manual that “the enemy is not a human being,” that the enemy will kill
families and pets, burn down forests, and poison water. The spare
trench-warfare scenarios evoke World War I as the soldier crawls to the enemy’s
hole and discovers their connections, including loving family photos and battle
manuals filled with untruths. In eloquent contrast to the close-ups of the two
small holes and barbed wire are the big double-page views of what the soldiers
share: the starry night and the stormy sky. The elemental peace message will
spark discussion. (from Booklist)
Students reflected on their learning and created a word cloud using Tagxedo. They needed
to choose meaningful words. They used visuwords to find words connected to their
thoughts & ideas. They then created visual representations of their writing
using Tagxedo.
Student representations - 
-Our
checklist for teaching and learning strategies / scaffolding for the
investigate stage included...
-what are the qualities of a good question-how to find reliable sources,
-how to credit sources (text & images)
-how to determine importance & take notes,
-we had to teach saving protocols (how to save to particular drives, folders, label their work, etc.)
-students also needed extra practice with basic keyboarding skills
We were then ready for the Coalesce Stage.
Students combined their understandings in order to construct, blend, and
build new knowledge.
· Intensify Research· Synthesize Information
· Build Knowledge
In this stage, students planned "What can we do about it?” Students
reflected on everything that they had learned about injustices in their
community.
Brevoort Park students joined North Park students for an extraordinary
day of learning together. NPW hosted a student workshop with spoken word poets
Zondra Ray and Ahmad Majid. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art describes spoken
word poetry as “poetry
that is written on a page but performed for an audience. Because it is
performed, this poetry tends to demonstrate a heavy use of rhythm,
improvisation, free association, rhymes, rich poetic phrases, word play and
slang. It is more aggressive and “in your face” than more traditional forms of
poetry. (Nelson-Atkins)
This
was a powerful day. The students learned more about injustices from the spoken
word poets Zondra and Ahmad. They wrote throughout the day and learned more
about choosing powerful words, expressing thoughts and opinions, and performing
in front of others. We were impressed by the courage students displayed. They performed
their spoken word poetry throughout the session. What a great day of learning!
In the afternoon, students worked on writing their own poem. They had to use the information they learned to construct, blend and build new knowledge. They needed to synthesize what they had learned and then determine how to effectively make others aware of the injustices that people face within their community.
Our final stage in the Inquiry process was the Go Public Stage.
Students showcased their learning to their intended audience in order to
enlighten others about a specific topic. Characteristics of this stage
included:
· Share Learning· Demonstrate Understanding and Learning in a Variety of Ways
· Take Action
In the Go Public Stage, our checklist for teaching and learning strategies / scaffolding included...
-student reflection & articulation of learning process
The students wanted to bring awareness to injustice in their community. Students wrote a poem connected to ableism, ageism, classism, racism, or sexism. Each student wrote the poem as if they had experienced the injustice.
They decided which words and phrases in their poem were the
most powerful, and created a visual representation of these words and phrases using Tagxedo. Students were recorded as they read their spoken word poems.
Videos were created using photostory. The videos were posted to each school`s YouTube channel and were then showcased on the school LibGuides.
Videos were created using photostory. The videos were posted to each school`s YouTube channel and were then showcased on the school LibGuides.
Student learning was displayed and shared with the school. We created an interactive bulletin board to display student learning. Students and parents were encouraged to scan QR codes posted on the bulletin boards. The QR codes linkedstudents and staff with the students’ digital projects.
Students, parents and teachers have been scanning the QR codes with their smartphones and listening to the student spoken word poetry. This inquiry project was meaningful and engaging for our students. There is no doubt that students are now able to answer our original inquiry question; "How are people in our community affected by injustice?"
Students, parents and teachers have been scanning the QR codes with their smartphones and listening to the student spoken word poetry. This inquiry project was meaningful and engaging for our students. There is no doubt that students are now able to answer our original inquiry question; "How are people in our community affected by injustice?"
