Becoming Curators: First Nations Inquiry

I'm learning as I refine the inquiry-based learning model how to structure in accountable talk (talk that is on topic and that involves high level critical thinking and discussion).  Today I put my grade 6 students through a simulation.  

We had a fabulous whole class discussion about exhibits and museum displays and what makes certain exhibits more engaging than others.

I then divided them into groups.

Each group was given a photocopied sheet of a particular element of First Nations culture: hunting, food, clothing, transportation, medicine ...

The groups were also given this: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pwxyaShntz6cUL10PLWPtifcmmKk2RMlGRm6ttGH8BQ/edit a sheet on what to think about when planning an exhibit.

They then read the material with a purpose: how would they create an exhibit of this minitopic?

Students read, marked up the texts, drew, made notes, brainstormed, debated approaches, made decisions, bounced ideas off each other, sought feedback from others, asked questions of me and generally acted in ways that any exhibit planning team might act.  Of course, there were a few who needed reminders to focus, but overall I was thoroughly pleased by the quality of the talk.

The beauty of structuring an activity in this way is that I did no "teaching" of content and yet because the students had to read the text and make decisions about the material in the text, an inordinate amount of content was learned and shared with others during this process.

While students worked, I wandered from group to group, observed their planning skills and prompted where needed. I helped them refine understanding of what to think about when creating an exhibit. 

This was practice; every student now has a good understanding of the kind of thinking and discussion that needs to occur once they choose their inquiry topics within the boundaries of our First Nations unit. 

The students are thoroughly excited and can't wait to begin.  How lovely is that?