North Carolina STEM Educators, Y3

I FEEL...

that we have discovered an engaging and exciting anchor text that tackles relevant, interesting and local information that will engage our students.

I WONDER...

how we are going to structure our unit plan to balance inquiry and supports for our students.

I feel...like we are building really interesting and diverse supplemental material. The whale alludes us though.

I wonder...if focusing in more on student outcomes may be the key?

I think this I wonder is important to keep in mind as we meet next Friday and get our creative juices flowing again. Let's refocus on what we want our students to get out of this as we finalize our anchor text and standards. 

I feel... that we successfully landed on our anchor text.  It is something that all of our group is excited about and there is a lot of content in it.  

I wonder... how that anchor text will be used throughout the project.  It has a lot of content and depth so it can drive the project in a lot of differen ways. 

I think we will end up using the anchor text as the initial basis to establish the guiding topic for inquiry.  This will lead our students to other texts and our topics.  I think we're on the right track!

I feel that we are slowly getting closer to finalizing what we want out of our anchor text and now we are in the stage of trying to locate an anchor text that fits our vision. It is important to use that it fits our topic, our goals, and will get the students interested in the project.

I wonder if our idea for what we want out of the anchor text will change as we continue to search for what we think we want. 

I feel we are moving in the right direction towards finding an achor text. I feel we have some great ideas about climate change and we have a much better idea of what we are looking for but we haven't quite figured out where to find it or just come across something that fits what we need. 

I wonder what our achor text will be since we have a lot of ideas but we aren't really finding exactly what we are looking for quite yet. I wonder how we might need to continue to tailor what we are looking for so that we can find something that will be a successful achor text. 

I feel like I know what I am looking for in terms of an anchor text, but have not come across "the one" that is going to hook students and get them excited about the project. 

I wonder if I need to take a different approach to finding the right text 

I feel as though we've identified an anchor text that is engaging and will lead to student inquiry.

I wonder if student inquiry will lead to the discovery of the next supplemental text and how that will guide them in their research into case studies related to water pollution and water quality issues. 

Based upon our conversations, I think we are going to use the critical challenges and the clean water act as supplemental texts for all students, but then hopefully, paired with the anchor text, this will them to their own case studies!

I feel...

like a lot of great ideas are floating around in this room.

I wonder...

how we can narrow these ideas down to help us better find an anchor text 

I feel... that we have gotten a good start on exploring what is out there for our anchor text. We have found some good sources that might work as good supplimental texts. There are many factors that need to play in to the anchor text and how it drives our lesson. 

I wonder... what else is out there to explore. We need to try and narrow our search so we are not exploring ALL the information in the world and find something that works really well with our topic. 

I feel...

a bit frustrated and concerned about the project.  I feel a bit lost at this point and I'm not sure if that is because we've worked so hard and I've become clouded or if I am truly lost. 

I wonder... how I'm going to find the sources I need. I am worried about that. I will be reaching out to the media specialists to find good sources for open educational resources. 

I feel... a bit overwhelmed on where to go and how to narrow down the search to just one text. 

I wonder... what is the best direction to go with the anchor text topic so that it interests the students, is complex, and allows the standards to be met through deep inquiry.

I feel...a little brain dead after sifting through so many websites and articles. There are so many general articles related to our topic, but the more specific we try to get, the more inappropriate the complexity level of the text becomes.

I wonder...if we are going to find a solid anchor text that aligns to our standards and is grade-level appropriately complex.

Based on the conversations with Dr. Cooper, I know we will find an amazing sold anchor text to use with this project. Together as a team we can do this!

I feel overwhelmed... We don't have any text to use as a starting point, whether or not we'd actually use it in the end as the anchor. I think we have a better idea now of what aspect of the standard we are going to focus on, so now it is searching and looking for texts.

I wonder how we're going to find an anchor text that sparks students' curiosity and provide a great base for the project. I know everyone is encountering this and facing this challenge, but finding relevant texts is one thing, but finding the perfect text is what is overwhelming. 

I feel...

I feel emopwered by the tools learned during the institute that we'll be select an anchor text that will be engaging, informative and meet the needs of our students.

I wonder...

I wonder, after learning the aspects of selecting anchor texts, how texts utilized in the previous assignments compare in regard to rigor and interest.

I feel that this activity and collaboration with my peers has enabled me to make an informed decision on three possible choices for an Anchor Text.

I wonder if my peers would agree on the choices I have made.

I feel like we never had our topic either narrow enough or broad enough until the end of the section. So, we have not found our anchor text as of yet. We definitely will find one, there is no doubt about that, and both Beth and I can easily spend time on this either at school or asynchronously (Google Docs, etc.).

So I'm not worried about having an anchor text yet.

I wonder why it took so long to come up with a good topic. 

I wonder how incredibly awesome our final product is going to be, given the collective genius of Beth Slater and myself.