Reviewing, Reflecting, and Moving On!

Well folks, here I am again at last! I don't know if any of my fellow bloggers will be reading this since the project is over, but this is what happened to me. My husband and I received some damage from the recent hurricane's strong winds in our area. My husband, Bill, has a physical disability, so there's a limit on what he can do. We can't afford to hire much done while I am not working. So, most cleanup fell on me. It took several days, and I got behind on my four very demanding classes. Annette was good enough to let me extend my project for another week. So, as I said, here I am! Thanks again, Annette! I really appreciate it! Are you sure you're not a Mormon because you could have fooled me! I asked for an extra day (which would have been impossible actually), and you gave me a whole week! If I burn the midnight oil tonight, I should finally be caught up!:)

I just spent some time reviewing what I have done so far and thinking of how this definitely simulates what might happen with students at my school! We only have one computer room and three to four computers (usually at least one of which is out of order) in our classrooms. Everyone has to share. Plus we sometimes have some kind of training sessions going on out of the blue without prior notice (you just show up with your kids in the computer room and find out you can't use it) and we have standardized testing (Scantron) eight weeks out of the year. Therefore, it just might happen that you start an inquiry project that you have to get back to after a time lapse. Difficult! I don't even think I have the same enthusiasm or momentum! This is now so yesterday! I'm afraid of the reaction the kids might have, seeing as how they have about a two-minute attention span! They do really love to do things on computers, though, so it might be all right. If not, I know just what will work. If they break our #1 classroom rule - Thou shalt not whine - I will say, "Well, let's go back to the classroom then, and I'll give you some seat work to do." Then they will say, "Oh no, Mrs. Brown! We're sorry! We love you! We won't whine anymore! We want to do this!" And they will dare anyone to open their mouths. "Mission Rejuvenation accomplished!"

Something else I noticed while I was reviewing is that I forgot to mention what I did with the information I found on my search at familysearch.org. I organized the information I found into a family tree in my genealogy book. The Church already has forms available for this either in the Church Family History Center or from the Church Distribution Center in Salt Lake. I could have printed off a family group sheet already filled out from familysearch.org (That's how the information is organized on there). However, I kind of like filling blank forms out by hand for my working documents. I think what I have found for my family tree so far is all I will probably use at this time for my project. I have a pretty good foundation. I would like to branch out now with some new questions:

1. Will the software I found on familysearch.org be sufficient and user-friendly enough for making a colorful family tree for my family history book and class project?
2. Are there any free, user-friendly sources for making a family tree online?
3. Are there free downloadable scrapbooking papers available online, or will I have to buy scrapbooking papers and scan them into a document?

One eventual goal I have is to make our family genealogy and family pictures available for all the members of my family in some format. I don't know what that will be yet. It depends on what I find.

You know, I really like having the choice to do an inquiry on anything I want. It does make a difference in my enthusiasm for the project. I noticed that on page 63 of our book The Blue Book where it talks about I-Search, it says "Frustrated with student papers that dealt with topics of little interest to the students or to him, Ken Mcrorie (1988) moved the typical research paper into a personalized learning experience." It stands to reason that a research project loses authentic application if you're not doing it because you're interested in it or need to know something. However, as far as teaching in a school setting, I just can't get past all those overwhelming standards for which we are responsible. I just can't get past thinking that guided inquiry is the only way of getting through what the kids are really supposed to know. Sadly, there's just not enough time for a lot of personal inquiry. I think there's some wiggle room for making choices within guided standards-based broad topics, but I just don't really see much time for the kids to have free reign. I think, at this point, that's the main difference I see between the kids and myself. There may be some topics they will either have to investigate on their own time or wait to investigate due to need when they are an adult like me. For school, I discovered they can usually identify something they find personally interesting under the broad academic topics. Providing them copies of the standards and having them track what we do helps them to settle down also because they understand how many expectations there are and what needs to be accomplished. They become accountable for how many of those darn standards they can check off.

Ok, let's sum up what I've done so far. I'm looking at the 8Ws now on page 54 of our Blue Book. Watching: check. I explored possible topics to research. Wondering: check. I found my area of focus in family history and came up with some questions. Webbing: check. I organized information into a family tree. Wiggling: check. I think I'm stuck in this stage right now. I'm not quite sure where I'm going. I need to look for more ideas. So, here I go getting started at almost midnight on September 29, 2008. Be patient. I might need a power nap here and there. But, by golly, there will be a Project 1 to submit tomorrow!

Sandy