Inquiry Project Plan main 

Inquiry Title:	Importance of Listening skills in language class rooms.	Time Frame	4days Class room activities	Inquiry Approach:	Design thinking
Name:	Anjali Amjad Zaheer	Subject(s):	English Language Arts	Grade(s):	4th

Inquiry Project Rationale & Overview

Why does this topic matter to students? Listening comprehension is the precursor to reading comprehension, so it’s an important skill to develop. Listening comprehension isn’t just hearing what is said—it is the ability to understand the words and relate to them in some way. Without comprehension, listening is a frustrating, pointless exercise in word calling. It is no exaggeration to say that how well students develop the ability to comprehend what they hear has a profound effect on their entire lives. A major goal of reading comprehension instruction, therefore, is to help students develop the knowledge, skills, and experiences they must have if they are to become competent and enthusiastic learners. Listening is important, but it’s not something that comes easily to many children, especially at a young age. It takes a long time for children to learn to control their attention. It involves many aspects of development, including physical coordination and control, the ability to control their emotions and defer gratification, and social and communication skills. Children’s listening skills will develop over time, and will always be better when they are interested and engaged with what they’re supposed to be listening to. At five to six years old, for example, they’re beginning to be able to filter out distractions, but can still only listen with focus for five to 10 minutes. By providing effective listening exercises and through regular practices the students will be able to listen in a better way and hold their attention for quite a long time. How does this lesson fit within the larger inquiry project?  Inquiry-based teaching is the art of developing challenging situations in which students are asked to observe and question phenomena; pose explanations of what they observe; devise and conduct experiments in which data are collected to support or contradict their theories; analyze data; draw conclusions from experimental data; design and build models; or any combination of these (Friesen,2007) . Instruction in this lesson should result in students achieving the following objectives: Whole -body Listening. Explain three modes of listening. Identify barriers of effective listening. Employ techniques for becoming a more effective listener. How does this lesson incorporate the inquiry cycle? Students may suggest a question(ask). The teacher poses one or give an activity based on the students’ interests to stimulate discussion. After this the teacher acts as a facilitator, asking challenging questions that guide students to delve more deeply into the topic and come up with a specific problem to be solved or a query to be answered (investigate). Students also begin to conduct research. In the next stage students analyze the information they’re gathering. Much of their learning occurs in a collaborative environment, rather than having students work individually. They form their own ideas(create). In going further classmates have multiple opportunities to share ideas and communicate what they have understood(discuss). Towards the last phase students use their prior knowledge to make a connection to the new idea(reflect). Alert and expansive consciousness, sensitivity and receptivity to people and situations, the ability to feel authentically and strongly, the capacity for sustained investigation, creative impulses, imaginative capacities for trying out different realities and vitality and enthusiasm.”(Heesoon Bai)

Key Questions For Inquiry About the Topic of Study

Core Question	Supporting Questions
For students How to develop listening comprehension? How to become a good listener? How might we become more educated and engaged citizens through listening comprehension? How to develop good listening skills and be more responsible and committed toward the community?	How to improve concentration during listening? How to understand the contextual meaning of new words? How to identify synonyms and antonyms? What are the distracting factors that affect listening? How to overcome the distractions? How to respond effectively after listening? What are the micro-skills in listening?

Inquiry Approach/Style and Rationale

This unit and the lessons help students investigate the skills of true listening. It is valuable to share with children some of the ‘micro-skills’ that help us be more attentive listeners. These skills include using body language (eg. leaning in), eye contact (if culturally appropriate) some encouragement (nods, etc), no interruptions, reflecting back what has been said, etc.   Both students AND teachers benefit from explicitly naming listening as a valued process in the teaching and learning. Great inquiry teachers know how to encourage students to share their thinking by being skilled listeners and by asking better (not simply more) questions. Questions – and how we ask them – can quickly shut down OR open up a conversation. The combination of the right questions and true heart-listening can yield our most powerful teaching and learning moments. Genuine inquiry compels us to listen – to the world, to each other and to ourselves. True listening is so often a victim of the talk-centered, busy world of teaching. How can we better ‘still’ ourselves to listen with our hearts, to hear what is said and unsaid by our students and our colleagues? Being mindful of the way we listen is very important to actually become better listeners. In listening classes, the learners are demanded to be critical thinkers who can identify something explicitly stated in spoken text. Identifying the main idea means the students are able to distinguish the main idea from supporting details, distinguishing fact, example, and opinion. This unit aims at examining the lesson plans of listening especially in identifying the main idea in spoken text. Listening as comprehension means that the main function of listening is to facilitate understanding of spoken text. Understanding the spoken text assumes the learner shared their background knowledge related to context. The characteristics of spoken text are spoken in different accents, different rate delivery, and different speaker; native or non-native. The classroom activities are designed in such a way to experience the possible varieties of listening materials so the students get acquainted with them. Students will share their knowledge, collaborate, understand and experience the situations inside and outside the classroom. There will be individual as well as group activities that help them to collaborate with classmates of various backgrounds. The approach is Design thinking that helps the students to generate and evolve ideas which leads to creative solutions. Though this approach the students develop the ability to be intuitive, to interpret, to work collaboratively, and to develop ideas on various aspects of listening.

Core Principles of Effective Teaching 

Core Principle 1: Effective teaching practice begins with the thoughtful and intentional design of learning that engages students intellectually and academically. **How is the inquiry focused on building disciplinary knowledge and understandings?	Students learn by connecting new knowledge with knowledge and concepts that they already know, thereby constructing new meanings. Students connect knowledge most effectively in active social classrooms, where they negotiate understanding through interaction and varied approaches. The inquiry approach possesses great potential to benefit learners‟ English language skills. It integrates listening and speaking skills, with learners getting the opportunity to practise their listening and speaking through sharing their views in the classroom. In addition, the approach has the capacity to enhance learners‟ confidence to listening effectively and speak more with the approach.
Core Principle 2: The work that students are asked to undertake is worthy of their time and attention, is personally relevant, and deeply connected to the world in which they live. *What makes this inquiry valuable, meaningful, and “alive” for the students and teachers?	Students really explore the material, which keeps them engaged in asking questions and discussing ideas with their classmates and teacher. The goal of the learning process is engaging student curiosity about a subject and cultivating a capacity for deep thinking. The activities engage both teacher and students to collaborate with each other and understand the world around by exchanging ideas and by forming groups. Engages students in learning and exploring ideas, improving critical thinking skills, affective skills and collaborative skills. The participants are thinking together, and if they want their view to be respected, they will learn that they need to respect other viewpoints.
Core Principle 3: Assessment practices are clearly focused on improving student learning and guiding teaching decisions and actions. *How do I define learning and success in this inquiry? How is learning expressed and articulated in peer, self and teacher assessments?	Students learn and demonstrate different skills in each of the stages of the inquiry process and it is these skills that can be assessed when they are specifically connected to curriculum expectations. Learning is enhanced when students are offered multiple ways to demonstrate their learning, because the teacher is given more opportunities to understand students’ thinking and learning. Teacher uses various ways to collect assessment information about student learning, including a variety of observations, conversations and products such as the following. The students access and integrate information and ideas to build understanding (Friesen,2007). Formal and informal observations, Discussions, learning conversations, questioning, conferences, Tasks done in groups, Demonstrations, performances, Peer and self-assessments, Self-reflections.
Core Principle 4: Teachers foster a variety of interdependent relationships in classrooms that promote learning and create a strong culture around learning. *How do I connect students with each other, with experts in the field, with larger communities and nature, and across disciplines?	Various learning activities like workshops, seminars, field trips, indoor games related to the topic etc. will be held. Through group activities and discussions, they connect with each other and by inviting elders they are exposed to the knowledge, information and experience shared through the meetings.
Core Principle 5: Teachers improve their practice in the company of peers. *How do I reflect on the inquiry together, and/or collaborate with others?	Teacher updates the knowledge and find new ways to make the class live with the help of peers. Constantly working on the design that makes the class more active and asking opinions from the elders and collogues and through self-reflection.

BC Curriculum Core Competencies 

Communication	Thinking	Personal & Social
Students engage in informal and structured conversations in which they listen, contribute, develop understanding and relationships, and learn to consider diverse perspectives. This facet of communication is closely linked to the building and sustaining of relationships at home, at school, in the community, and through social media.	Students get creative ideas that are novel and have value. An idea may be new to the student or their peers, and it may be novel for their age group or the larger community. It may be new to a particular context or absolutely new. The idea or product may have value in a variety of ways and contexts – it may be fun, provide a sense of accomplishment, solve a problem, be a form of self-expression, provoke reflection, or provide a new perspective that influences the way people think or act. It can have a positive impact on the individual, classmates, the community, or the world.	Students who are personally aware and responsible have a sense of self-worth and a growing confidence in a variety of situations. They value themselves, their ideas, and their accomplishments. They are able to express their needs and seek help when needed, find purpose and motivation, act on decisions, and advocate for themselves.

BC Curriculum Big Ideas (STUDENTS UNDERSTAND)

Using language in creative and playful ways that help us understand how language works.Questioning what we hear, read, and view contributes to our ability to be educated and engaged citizens.

BC Curriculum Learning Standards

(STUDENTS DO)	(STUDENTS KNOW)
Learning Standards – Curricular Competencies	Learning Standards – Content
Comprehend and connect (reading, listening, viewing)Use a variety of comprehension strategies before, during, and after reading, listening, or viewing to deepen understanding of text Consider different purposes, audiences, and perspectives in exploring texts Apply a variety of thinking skills to gain meaning from texts	Students are expected to know the following: Story/text Students are expected to know the following: Story/textStrategies and processes • reading strategies • oral language strategies • metacognitive strategies • writing processesLanguage features, structures, and conventions • features of oral language • paragraph structure • sentence structure and grammar • convention

Indigenous Connections/ First Peoples Principles of Learning

How will I incorporate Indigenous knowledge and principles of learning?     The teacher provides opportunity to share and speak in the classroom. Help each child feel important and set a positive tone to the class. Search for students’ strengths and build on them. Put activities in your lesson plans that allow every child to feel a measure of success. The teaching strategies should be designed according to the capacity of the individuals. The teacher should have an idea about their prior knowledge and then plan the next level activities accordingly. The various aspects of language like vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation etc should be taken care of and the activities should be designed in such a way to deepen the knowledge in order to develop listening comprehension. Wherever possible seek to involving local Aboriginal community in class room activities as they are the best equipped and most appropriate people to teach Indigenous knowledge Engages students in both hands-on and minds-on learning experiences. People learn best when they can take in information using a variety of sensory inputs. Prior knowledge and experiences are primary factors in a person’s ability to learn new information. This is true because prior learning creates a bridge that helps learners link what they already know with what they need to learn. These connections help learners store, retrieve, and transfer new learning.

Respectful Relations

How will I invite students of all backgrounds, interests and skills into the inquiry?           When there is a positive classroom atmosphere, students learn better. Every student must feel safe and important in the class in order for maximum learning to take place. A positive classroom environment does not just happen; the teacher creates it. Lead your students by example. Changes can happen with the teacher’s positive caring attitude and thoughtful construction of the physical environment. By devoting time to the students and by giving them individual attention. Designing activities that children from all the backgrounds can follow. For example, playing, singing etc. The aim of the teacher is to orient the children in discovering the world and the environment around. With the help of storybooks, playing and singing, and need to give the students a wonderful learning experience.

Project Overview 

Time Estimate	Teacher and Student Activities	Assessment Activities
Ask Investigate Create Discuss Reflect	Day 1	Topic-Whole-body listeningAdjective draw,Story TellingTeacher plays a music and asks the students to listen. Teacher asks general questions to check the listening ability of the students In general. Teacher introduces the topic ‘Whole body listening’ Encourages students to ask questions. Discusses various types of activities and allows interactions that connect them with the topic. Activity 1; Teacher makes the students play the game ‘adjective draw’. Teacher gives instructions and gives a list of descriptions with adjectives. Eg. Draw a big black elephant without tusks. Gives some time after each question for the students to draw. Allows the students to show their pictures after the activity. Activity 2; Teacher explains the story telling activity. Divides the class into 5 to 6 groups and make them sit face to face.  Students listen to the instructions given by the teacher and follow them. They complete the work within the time limit. They share their work with the group. Students use their existing knowledge to find more details about the characters in the picture.Students create their own ideas and gather more knowledge about the topic.Students discuss the gathered information, shares the ideas, asks doubts, clarify their confusions with their group members. Students share their experience with the teacher and the classmates. (Students get creative ideas that are novel and have value. They value themselves, their ideas, and their accomplishments.)	Teacher in between the activities says a ‘clue word’ to assess the comprehension skills of the students. Teacher writes down the new words and make the students pronounce it.
Ask Investigate Create Discuss Reflect	Day 2	Topic- Three modes of ListeningStudents after receiving the primary knowledge about the three modes of listening ask questions to the teacher.Teacher provides a paragraph to the students with many new words. After silent reading students ask questions From their gathered information they form their way of answering,Students form small groups and discuss the answers. With the help of the teacher all groups provide answers At the end each group shares their experience.(Students engage in informal and structured conversations in which they listen, contribute, develop understanding and relationships, and learn to consider diverse perspectives.)	Teacher observes and listen to the answers provided by the students.
Ask Investigate Create Discuss Reflect	Day 3	Topic-Barriers of ListeningDraw ThisTeachers writes some words and draws a picture related to the words and students asks questions related to the picture.Teacher provides key words and asks to develop their own images related to words. Students gather maximum images.Students create meaningful images from their knowledge which are related to the key words. Share their challenges and discuss about the barriers that they have identified.Students sit in pairs and share their ideas behind their images and gather new concepts from their partner after listening to their ideas.The experience and the new concepts that were gained are discussed at the end of the session.(An idea may be new to the student or their peers, and it may be novel for their age group or the larger community. It may be new to a particular context or absolutely new.)	Teacher asks the students to draw images following the instructions and guild lines to check the accuracy of their listening skill.Discusses the barriers and challenges in the completion of the task.
Ask Investigate Create  Discuss Reflect	Day 4	Topic-Techniques for effective listeningQuiz (synonyms and antonyms)Students are encouraged to ask maximum questions related to a given topic.Students gather maximum knowledge regarding the topic.With their existing knowledge and with the gathered in formation students create new ideas.The whole class is divided into 4 groups and are asked to discuss and share ideas on the topic. Students share their learnings and experience with the class.(They are able to express their needs and seek help when needed, find purpose and motivation, act on decisions, and advocate for themselves.)	Teacher asks questions which are well framed and the groups will take turns in giving the answers.
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Materials and Resources (use APA citation format)

Pictures, images, printed notes, black board, placards, audiovisual aids, audio tapes.

Extensions

Teacher plans the next level of the provided activities or repeats the same as per the progress of the students.

Reflections (to be completed after Project Completion)

What did I learn about Inquiry Based Pedagogy?What challenges and successes did I experience?What would I adapt for next time?What questions do I still have about Inquiry Based Pedagogy?