MIT - 5 Whys for Moonshot Proposal 2020

After creating our proposal for Manaiakalani Innovative Teacher we buddied up with another participant for the critical thinking stage of the proposal. Two heads critiquing are always better than one. We had to wait for each answer before asking the next question. Or we may find the question was answered. Trying to come up with 5 Why questions to help us dig deeper was challenging. One thing that made this process easier was using dynamic emails, as you could access the whole conversation in a larger form in Gmail, without having to open the link to the slide and scroll through the comments.

The 5 Whys

Is a repetitive interrogative process,used to explore the cause and effect relationship underling a particular problem. The method has no hard and fast rules about what lines of questions to explore, or how long to continue the search for additional root causes. Thus, even when the method is closely followed, the outcome still depends upon the knowledge and persistence of the people involved.

My problem is - Engaging Year 5 boys with writing.

My buddy, Sarah asked some interesting questions, which helped me to dig deeper and made me think about the proposal. Am I asking the right question? Is this really the problem I need to address?

In our area children and families often speak in broken English. When writing we expect full sentences and a more formal register to be used. So as teachers we are teaching sentence structure to encourage full sentence and the use of more formal language but it can still be a challenge. Reading is often modelled more frequently, and teachers try to teach writing using formulas like, 

 In the weekend or Last week...

 It could be a hindrance to their creativity. However, without structured sentences (and sometimes with) the meaning of what they are trying to say can be lost. I was trying to read a piece of work yesterday and misinterpreted words partly because of spelling and partly because of the way the sentence was written. Personally, when including dialogue I love to have it written like they'd say it at home adding personal voice to the piece. We often use models from books which isn't necessary formal register but the structure is more formal. Especially as students learn the difference and understand as they get older, how to construct a sentence and the way they talk at school is different from how they talk at home.

 Our literacy is based on our inquiry so if we are investigating a scientific phenomenon, then we might look at reports on that area. Personally, I like to encourage students to write using imagination during this time too where they have to pretend they are in the spacecraft visiting the planet (or some such). I wondered if teachers find teaching this sort of writing (report/ transactional) easier as there is a formula to the writing. Whereas the narrative is slightly less, although is you through in a problem growth of character, twist and the final solution you can write a narrative using a formula. Maybe it is because it can be so personal and we don't want to judge the content we find this type of writing more challenging to teach.

I do believe some students struggle to use their imagination. There are many possible reasons for this it can be harder to teach. "Close your eyes and imagine," if it is not something they do often, they won't get it. Life has changed and although students may roam streets they are not playing up trees, making huts, dressing up and meeting a range of people (sometimes this may happen through experiences at school). Personally have read a lot and being exposed to different experiences throughout a long life these experience make it easier. Students are being encourage to read a wider range but this doesn't happen until they can read fluently. (Which is fine) And their life experiences can be limited, as they can spend numerous hours in front of the Xbox, PlayStation etc, hindering the opportunities to use and stimulate their imagination at times.

I do believe it is a skill that can help in many situations. By using their imagination they could be the next great inventor creator of a vaccine or just a way to survive what life throws our/their way. They may even become a teacher and by using their imagination inspire the next generation. Not all through writing, however. But by learning to explore their imagination and develop the detail they are more likely to be prepared to think outside the box and be creative.