The Great Exhale: Interdisciplinary Inquiry With Ninth Graders in a City High School

• In Event: Tilting Toward Inquiry: Implications for Teaching, Learning, and Professional Development

Abstract

Purpose
An interdisiciplinary, collaborative inquiry by four teachers involved working with 31 ninth graders from a small urban high school with a high proportion of low-income and special needs students. The purpose of this presentation is to share student learning results in targeted areas, including engagement, as well as to offer reflections on the power of collaborative, interdisciplinary inquiry work.

Theoretical Framework
Grounded in the inquiry aspects of the Common Core, this unit aimed to improve academic language (Zwiers, 2006, 2008) and communication skills through participation in a guided research project (Bonnstetter, 1998) in writing, social studies, art, and science classes and explicit instruction in language function and content vocabulary. Focused attention on communication and language were deemed necessary to help these students negotiate the terrain of academic discourse and “code switch” appropriately (Delpit, 2002).

Methods and Data Sources
Pre/post student work samples were collected and compared with standardized test scores. The culminating event, including students’ perspectives, were captured on video. Grounded in an action research tradition (Mills, 2003) but facilitated as a teacher inquiry process (Weinbaum, Allen, Blythe, Simon, Seidel, & Rubin, 2004), these data were analyzed to share results.

Results
Analysis of student results demonstrated that 18 students, of a total of 31, grew in all areas of their academic communication through writing; however, academic vocabulary seemed to be the area of slowest growth – surprising, but not discouraging, in light of the team’s explicit focus on this area. Unanticipated growth in terms of attitudes among students were also observed. Five students who usually did not participate or complete homework presented at the culminating museum and rehearsed for their performance. The majority of students exhibited their pride by dressing up in formal wear for their museum display presentations. Teachers noted that gains in writing were due to the fact they were writing more, as a result of the project.

The study also reveals the relationship between the teachers’ inquiry and their students’ inquiries. The parallel inquiries fostered shared meanings and functions of key terms while uncovering where the problems existed in language use for students. Students’ writings and rehearsals directly shaped the teachers’ refinement of their inquiries and their abilities to motivate and equip students in using difficult language. Helping students make connections between content and their personal lives constituted the “great exhale” that teachers felt along with their students when engaging in this work amidst the current environment.

Significance
This study provides a perspective on interdisciplinary inquiry in the context of urban reforms. We used the inquiry process to deepen and raise expectations for communication among students and teachers. The inquiry process became a place where both students and teachers managed the necessary risk-taking of enacting this ambitious way of teaching and learning. Teachers’ perspectives on how they combine knowledge of content, pedagogy, and language to create meaningful learning experiences for their students are rare and necessary to understand the impact of curricular changes and the types of professional development that support them during current reforms.

Authors

• Teresa Bologna, Bronx High School for the Visual Arts

• Jim Nordlinger, Bronx High School for the Visual Arts

• Nancy Rinaldi, Bronx High School for the Visual Arts