Professional Inquiry

Project Proposal
Amy Sauers

October 16, 2020

Inquiry Question: Can a combination of three different classroom procedures (learning
targets, self-reflection, and student-led discussions) assist students in becoming more
independently responsible for their own learning?

Activities:
Throughout my PSIII Practicum, I plan to research and implement three different
classroom procedures in ELA 6 and 7 classrooms. In each class, students will be given one to
three learning targets so that they are aware of exactly what they should be learning during
class. Each week, students will fill out a self-reflection relating to all or most of the learning
targets that they were responsible for during the week. This reflection will also ask them to
come up with a plan to learn any of the targets that they do not feel confident with yet-
whether that be: asking the teacher (me) for help, finishing or re-doing a related assignment or
activity, studying or researching on their own, or coming up with their own unique plan. On a
regular basis, students will prepare for and engage in student-led discussions. These discussions
will be class-wide discussions structured in such a way that I am not a participant in the
conversation. Instead, the students will prepare for the discussion, then ask questions and
share ideas with their classmates.

I will continue to research how to revise each of these classroom procedures in order to
best serve the students’ needs. I plan to look into professional literature and resources from EL
Education, Ron Berger, and other reputable resources. I also plan to look into blogs or
resources from educators that have tried these practices. Lastly, I will seek information and
feedback from colleagues and the students. Senator Gershaw teachers recently took in a PD
session with Ron Berger that related to some of these procedures and ideas, so I will be asking
for ideas and advice from the more experienced educators that I get to work with every day.
Occasionally, during the self-reflection, students will be asked questions about how learning
targets, self-reflection, and student-led discussion are impacting their learning and sense of
responsibility for their own learning. I will also engage students in conversation and use other
formative assessment practices to try to understand how to best use these procedures

End Product:
By the end of this project, I will have created a resource detailing the procedures that I
used. In it, I will explain how and why I revised each procedure. Finally, it will give a summary of
if and how each procedure impacted student learning and responsibility. This will be both from
my own perspective, and from the perspective of the students that I worked with.

Time-Line:
I have already begun implementing these procedures. I plan to continue to do research
and seek feedback from students and colleagues to revise and enhance each procedure to best
meet my students’ needs. I plan to complete my resource by December 4, 2020.