Growing Pains

Well, it's not a weekly reflection as I hoped it would be, but 1 month later, here I am.  I have to remember to breathe, take small steps, take it one day at a time, and all those expressions that basically say its okay if it doesn't happen right away.  Keep plugging away and in no time, it'll become a regular habit.

Boy, I'm trying to push myself to be a better teacher and person this year.  I wonder if I'm overdoing it.  I really liked how SBG worked last year. So far this year, it's smoother since the students have had one year under their belt and know how it works.  The new students are going through their learning curve.

So my issue that I'm facing these past few weeks is working on becoming a better inquiry teacher.  Working so hard on developing questions that will challenge students.  I also get so frustrated sometimes when students aren't able to arrive at a conclusion.  So I'm asking those who are reading this for advice.  Do students struggle to comprehend because they are not given enough direction to begin with or is it because they are struggling with higher level thinking skills?  I want to jump in and just give them the answers!  I know this won't help them in the long run, though.  It makes me want to pull my hair out of my head!!!!!


For example, here's a question I posed to them.  Lots of the students were interested in pyramids.

               "What is the latitude and longitude of the pyramids in Chichen Itza?"   I gave them a list of
                vocabulary words that included latitude, longitude, equator, and prime meridian.  I asked them to
                find the answer to the question and in their reports, they were to incorporate the vocabulary given.

Most of them just looked up the meanings and wrote down the latitude and longitude of the place.   That was it.  I don't know what I was expecting, but I didn't expect it to be so bare bones simple.

So lay it on me -- how was that for an inquiry project for them?  Too little to start with?   What was it supposed to look like?   Any feedback you can give me will be great.  You won't hurt my feelings, I promise.  I want to hone my craft.  Iron sharpens iron!


Thanks to all who give feedback!