Model Pond Snapshots Evolve Into the Hudson River Case Study

     The students have mastered the model ponds! Models serve as a smaller and more manacle version of what one is studying. In our case, our models are a small version, or snapshot, of bodies of water like the Hudson River. Due to the proximity of this river to the school and the prior knowledge students have on it, I chose this river as our case study for the inquiry lesson. The Hudson also worked great because it is an estuary and marine ecosystems were the only topic left to tie into the class unit.
     Given websites with information on a topic having to due with the Hudson River (tides, salinity, water animals, land animals, birds, and plants) and a task to research one of the assigned topics using the inquiry process, the students worked together to create a powerpoint slides about their topic in the class slideshow. The students were excited to use technology and were also excited that they were researching a topic they were familiar and comfortable with. This background knowledge also bumped up the level or quality of information the students were able to use. 
I wish I had taken the time to stand in front of the class and present my example and model and had a slide with it written as well. I should not have walked around and passed out papers while doing the model at the same time. The papers should have been passed out after the model was completed and questions were answered. This is a mistake I will never make again, one I'm glad I learned, and one I wish I could change.
The project was structured as a jigsaw project so that each group got one subject to research and create slides for and then would teach it to the class so that by the end every student had heard all of the information. This sharing part of the lesson went well for some groups and not so well for others; it was dependent on the group individuals.  
This evaluation and check for metacognition was rushed and I wish we had more time for it but a few groups were asked to explain their metacognition. For the independent practice the directions and expectations for the letters seemed clear and the students seemed excited to hear back from a real Aquatic Ecologist. This outside and professional addition made a world of difference for the students. They worked harder and felt that their work was important. 
I wish there was more organization in the lesson, I wish the model was given more time, and I wish that we had more time to ask about metacognition. Everything else went well though and I really enjoyed this lesson and the students were so engaged. Students enjoyed hearing feedback on their hard work at the science fair. Jack was very good at giving answers such as “that is one” “I have never heard of that before. Thank you” and not answers like “yes, you’re correct” I wish there had been a slide with pictures and information on Cary Point as well. These are all things I can improve upon for the next time I teach it and good behaviors I can model in my own teaching. My colleagues seemed to enjoy the lesson as well and all commented on the level of engagement they noticed in the students.