I+wonder......

**I Wonder ... ** 

 
 **Strategy Description:** On a piece of paper the students write “I wonder” and then fill in what they wonder about on a specific topic. For example, if you are talking about ducks, the students may write “I wonder how ducks get their food?” After that is done, they draw a picture about what they wrote. After reading on the specific topic, the “I wonder” question is answered by writing “I learned that ducks get their food in the water.” Lastly, they finish the activity by drawing a picture of what was learned.

This strategy was used in a 1st and 2nd grade special education classroom consisting of 5 students ranging in academic levels from beginning first to middle second grade level. The student’s disabilities consist of OHI (Other Health Impairment), DD (Developmental Delay), and SLP (Specific Learning Disability).
 * Course Implemented:**

I chose this strategy because I wanted to know what my students knew about a specific subject and what they wanted to learn. For the first graders the informational topic I chose for them was ducks and for the second graders the topic was Kangaroos.
 * Rationale:**

 ** Diverse Learners: **  The students were engaged and active while doing this strategy and seemed to enjoy writing down their thoughts. I believe that the strategy reached all learners and their styles. All students responded in the same way to this strategy which was a little different for me. I do not know if it was because it was a new strategy or just the day. I do know that they like to draw after they write so maybe that is what made this strategy more effective and the reason they responded so well. It is a great strategy for the visual learners because they are able to see what they are writing and get to draw the picture of what they think it might be like. The tactile learners might have a problem with this strategy because there is not much hands on learning going on with the strategy. I would like to have the students be more in depth with their responses and really think about what they want to wonder or think about. They wrote down the easiest and shortest questions and I would like them to think more deeply about what they want to know. An issue could be that the students do not know what to write down because they do not have the background knowledge on the particular subject. It may also be too hard for them to think outside of the box for such questions. Harvey, S, & Goudvis, A (2007). //Strategies that work: Teaching comprehension for understanding and engagement//. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.
 * Procedure:** 
 *  The students were told that they were going to be learning about different animals. I then told them what their chosen respective animals were.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;"> I modeled the “I wonder” strategy with a different topic.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">I gave the students construction paper folded into fourths to write their “I wonders” on and had them write their “I wonders” on the top two squares.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">They drew their I wonder on the bottom of each square.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">We talked about what they wrote.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">We read a book about their animals and talked about the information they learned and if they learned the answer to their I wonder question. If they did not find it we went and searched on the internet for the answer.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">The students presented their findings to the class.
 * Potential Issues:**
 * Reference:**