Shari Miller

September 17, 2014

Professional Inquiry Project: Proposal

The Selected Focus of the Project
Throughout my experiences in professional semesters I and II, I found that I struggled with
using a variety of strategies in my classroom. Having said that, I never really sat down and
wrote a list of all the strategies that I used so part of me feels as though it is possible that I am
not seeing the bigger picture. One of my goals for my own professional growth is to provide
an environment that allows individual students to learn in a way that suits them by providing
a wider variation of effective teaching strategies including small group work, games, songs,
hands-on activities, role-plays, etc.. In addition to that, I am part of a Professional Learning
Community (PLC) that meets every few weeks to discuss the strategies and assessments that
were used as learning outcomes were taught. For my Professional Inquiry Project, I will be
compiling different classroom strategies and using them in my classroom. After they are used, I
will write an explanation on what I thought the strengths and weaknesses of the strategy were.
I want my focus to be on student engagement and learning.

Focus Question
How do different teaching strategies affect classroom learning from the perspective of the
teacher AND/OR from the perspective of the student?

Activities, Events or Processes
1. Brainstorm and research a list of possible classroom strategies that could be used in a
junior high science classroom.
2. Ask other teachers for strategies that they use.
3. Include these strategies throughout my lesson planning.
4. Implement strategies throughout the semester.
5. Record strengths and weaknesses of each strategy.
6. Share my results with other teachers, my mentor, my university consultant.

Timeline of Events

Date Event
October 3, 2014 Have a list of strategies that I would like to implement into my classroom
this list should be from my own brainstorming and research as well as
from questioning other teachers. Additionally, I feel this list should be
exhaustive.
October 20, 2014
and Weekly
Have strategies placed throughout lesson plans within the first week or
two, I should have a basic idea of how many strategies can be
implemented per day or per week (perhaps I can do some daily, perhaps
some are more once-a-week type of strategies)



Shari Miller
September 17, 2014
Daily/Weekly Reflections on strategies I feel like it is important to reflect very soon
after the activity or strategy is used. It may be fun to have an immediate
reflection and then another reflection a week or two later. Maybe you
did not think that it worked, but once you assessed the students, you
learn that your strategy was very effective (or you may discover the
reverse).
November 21, 2014 Compile information in a neat and organized fashion into a binder as a
final document available for teacher mentor and university consultant
December __, 2014 Share information with teacher mentor, school administration, university
consultant, etc. in final meeting


End Product
At the end of the project, I will have a folder of teaching strategy ideas and how I can use them
and even how I can improve them. I know that they will need to be tweaked based on the
students in the classroom, but I am hoping that is something that I will come to learn
throughout the process. I will also have reflections on how the strategy worked for me as well
as for my students. I have a feeling that some strategies may work for me but not for the
students and vice versa. My final product will explain why it did or did not work for me as well
as for the students and this can guide my future teaching practices. In addition to all of this, I
will feel like I have worked hard toward my own professional growth which, as previously
stated, is one of my goals to be focusing on throughout this experience.