Collaboration!

I loved the activity today and I will be taking it back to the classroom. Teaching research papers is hard. And even though I am referencing the traditional type of paper, this activity can still be applied. Should be, applied. One of the early stages that I teach is to create questions to guide your research. Students have a hard time digging in and getting started. I have students who agonize for hours over their thesis. I liked that Sherri forced us to put it down in writing. Yes I felt rushed, but it made me make a decision. It may be the decision of the moment; it may look very different later in the process but it was a place to get started. Then the collaboration was brilliant in two ways. First, each student is getting multiple ideas to get started on this process that is very murky in the beginning. Thirteen different perspectives have already weighed in on my inquiry project and are giving me insights on how to get started and what are the different type of angles that this paper may need to consider. Secondly, I liked getting a feel for the assignment by seeing what my classmates are doing. Felt like another good exercise in community.