Facilitating Student-Centered Work in Upper Elementary

Recently, I began to reflect on all the steps that go into a successful inquiry and how this process elevates the learning experience. As I looked over journal writings from past units, many questions emerged: How do we manage the process? How do we support students as they document their findings? How do we guide our students in the creation of a driving question? In this article, I’ll share my perspective on the many little things that go into facilitating an inquiry.

Launching A New Inquiry

In their book Essential Questions: Opening Doors to Student Understanding, Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins discuss the educator’s role during this process. They refer to the teacher as the “facilitator of inquiry.” By switching into this mindset, the teacher can encourage more questioning.

When launching an inquiry, I find value in implementing a primary source activity, which is an opportunity for the students to begin to analyze material and formulate questions. During the activity, I place photographs on the classroom tables, as if we are in a museum, and the students walk around the room making observations. I then ask the students to write about something they noticed and something they are wondering about. These thoughts are recorded on sticky notes and placed on an anchor chart.

The students participated in this kind of primary resource activity during our unit on the California Gold Rush. After the students wrote down their thoughts, I guided them in a discussion about their observations. Some of the popular questions were “What were the ways people traveled to the West Coast?” and “Did everyone who came out West find gold, or did they make money in other ways?” This led to a discussion about other jobs during this time period. As that discussion progressed, the students asked, “Who was really doing the digging?”

The students began to group the questions. Naturally, some of the questions were similar, such as those about prominent figures from the period. As a result, the students believed it was important to study all the important people from this period.

At this point, I guided my students in a discussion about the broader Gold Rush themes they were interested in so we could create a driving question. A driving question should be broad enough to incorporate the questions the students are interested in. It should also give you the flexibility to meet the standards you are working on. During the inquiry process, you will very likely be able to integrate standards from a variety of subject areas. For me, the California Gold Rush opened up an opportunity to work on language arts standards, social studies standards, and speaking and listening standards as well.

Eventually, my class’s conversation shifted toward how we could display our learning. Over the years, I have had students want to create a museum, publish a book, or even design board games. This particular group had an active interest in art. So the driving question became: “How can we, as artists, show our understanding of the California Gold Rush?”

Planning The Unit

Now that the students had settled on a driving question, I did a little backward planning with them. They planned to display their knowledge as artists. To achieve this, they would need to build up their knowledge prior to the creation of the art exhibit. I considered which articles and read-alouds would support their learning, and the students agreed that they would take notes on them.

Using their notes, the students participated in circle conversations, in which they speak freely to each other while I coach them. Some people refer to these circles as “hands down conversations” or “grand conversations.” Honestly, this is my favorite part of guiding the process. At the end of these conversations, we would see which questions had been answered or what new wonderings they had for our inquiry. This was a successful way to work on speaking and listening standards.

The students were also in agreement that there should be a writing component. The writing piece would be in the form of an essay that explained what they learned in the unit. Knowing that my writers have varying skill levels, I began to plan small-group strategy lessons to support their growth.

I listed two writing strategies on the board and asked the students to sign up for one of them, which gave them more autonomy over their work. This is also a teaching strategy I frequently use to build enthusiasm during our writing workshop.

Before launching into the creation of their art pieces, the students created a rubric with me. The rubric discussed what information the art pieces needed to display. The students also felt strongly that the rubric should have students explain the economic and social changes in California during that time period. Some students began to discuss creating watercolor paintings to display their knowledge, while others thought about using other materials.

The students also presented their project to a small group of their peers. Every unique piece of artwork came with an essay, so other students could understand what was created and how it met the expectation of the rubric. I also had them give themselves a self-assessment, which gave me another chance to witness their growth.

A Student-Centered Approach In Other Academic Areas

A student-centered approach to learning can be implemented in other subject areas as well. During an election year, the students came up with the driving question, How can we, as reporters, cover the election? For a unit on social and emotional learning, it was How can we work out conflicts in the yard or in the classroom using a calmer body, a calmer heart, and an open mind?

When the learning process feels like an exciting journey, students become extremely engaged. When you move to a student-centered approach, you’ll create an authentic learning experience that inspires critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity.