Inquiring into Grade 2 "Who We Are" Unit of Inquiry Vocabulary

Working within the framework of the PYP can pose challenges for not only our students who are learning English, but for English mother tongue students because they too are ACQUIRING cognitive academic language. Some of the vocabulary of the essential elements that frame our units, our pedagogy, our expectations, and the ethos of teaching and learning in our school is quite sophisticated. Students must peel back layers of these vocabulary words to gain meaning in a methodical fashion, reflecting on their growing understanding as they go.

Previewing the Big Ideas Behind the Unit

In Grade 2 this week and last, students began to really think about and analyse some very conceptual words as a result of planning between the Grade 2 homeroom teachers and the EAL team. Together, grade 2 students and teachers quickly read through the following statements:

Who We Are

An inquiry into the nature of the self; personal, physical, mental, and social health; responsibilities; what it means to be human. 

Central Idea

Our choices and mindset effect our personal growth and wellbeing.

Lines of Inquiry

The responsibility we can take for our wellbeing.
Ways that we can be personally, physically and mentally healthy. (function)

From these important central language components of the current unit, the EAL team distilled the following vocabulary we felt would be challenging for all students:

choices

mindset

personal

growth

wellbeing

responsibility

physically healthy

mentally healthy

personally healthy

function

inquiry

the self

social health

responsibilities

reflection

Students self assess their own proficiencies with unit vocabulary

In their homeroom class, we then asked students to reflect on what they could currently do with these vocabulary words by filling out a "knowledge rating chart", assuring them not to be upset if they found many of the words to be quite foreign. As teachers we also discussed with students how important it was to rate their knowledge at the beginning of the unit, as they could then compare this with a similar rating session at the end to see their own personal growth. We felt that understanding how we know little when we begin an inquiry but know much at the end of an inquiry would be important to the students' ultimate understanding of a growth mindset.

"Gallery Walk" strategy to begin collaboratively constructing meaning of vocabulary

Afterwards, students were placed into mixed English proficiency groups to complete a new task designed to help classes begin to construct meaning of these words. All of the identified vocabulary were printed in large font on A4 papers that were stuck around the room. Groups began at different spots in the circuit and rotated around these posted words, writing any bits of meaning that came to mind on sticky notes. Afterwards, the homeroom teacher discussed the information that students had posted.

It was intriguing to see how students were beginning to process these words slowly during these lessons. Further steps will involve adding to these gallery walk posters and knowledge rating charts as students ask themselves, "What have we learned?"