Global Inquiry 1

Fourth graders are just starting to notice a bigger world than where they live. Often times,
they are getting older and are around when parents start watching the news. They come to me in
the mornings with questions about what they hear or see. I notice that they are concerned for
what they hear and question the opinions of adults on different places and societies. Because of
the availability of technology, I try and help them form their own opinions and ideas of places
around the world. Because of this, my job is to teach the effectiveness of the internet and to
provide resources and instruction on how to find information and show them that they are part of
the world. Also, once information is found and they understand the basics of using the internet,
my next job is to introduce them to how using technology will connect them to the world. I
believe that using different tools such as skype, social media, blogs, and videos can help students
understand their place in this world as well as understand other places and students around the
world. This leads to my compelling question of: How do students come to understand their place
in the world?
I decided to go outside of my comfort zone completely and make this a research based
web quest where the students are sent off with specific directions on what to do and where to go,
with some leeway to find some information on their own. My students were my sources for the
inquiry. I wanted to find out what they could come up with about their place or role in this world.
I worked alongside the school librarian/resource teacher to help find engaging and authentic
websites which the students would be able to find information about the children in another
country. Pairs were heterogenous so everyone could stay on task and complete the assignment. I
used www.sqworl.com to post the resources where students could research information because
they are familiar with it from previous assignments. I found this was best because they were
familiar, but it also keeps everything online and accessible. Finally, to incorporate more

Global Inquiry 2

standards into this project, I had created a class blog post where students would be practicing
typing up a blog. We discussed blogs and the safety of internet first, then when they realized they
would actually be posting something to the internet live, they became very excited. Technology
is something hard to incorporate because of timing and resources, so I wanted to make it a
priority with this assignment, especially since I was already out of my comfort zone.
My lesson for the project is:
Lesson Plan for Inquiry Question: What is my place in this world?
Objective: Students will be able to compare and contrast their daily life style/education to that of
another country. They will then present their findings and create a chart of the different styles as
a whole class. Then through a group discussion, we will produce a solution to the question of
what is my place in this world?
Materials:
Weebly website (Created by myself)
Promethean Board
Computers/laptops
graphic organizers/venn diagrams/rubric for final paper for students
chart paper
computer to record discussion
Procedure:
Day One: Review Malala Yousafzai and what we know about her through class discussion and
images/video on weebly.
Why is it important to learn about the world? What is my place in this world? Whole class
discussion.
Braintstorm a list of what is already known about other children in the world. (their culture, daily
life, classrooms, etc.)
Break students into pairs and assign a country from picking out of a hat. As a pair, they will go
off and brainstorm on a KWL chart what they already know from that country. Then they will fill
in what they want to know.
After a couple minutes, they will receive their rubric, their directions, and the timeline given to
them for completion of the project.
Day Two:

Global Inquiry 3

Break into pairs and venture into the computer lab for the research portion of the project.
As pairs, they will research, with the given websites, their country and the daily life of children
in that area.
They will have two days to research and gather information.
graphic organizers will be given to fill out, as well as venn diagrams to help students keep their
information organized and to continue to compare/contrast
Also, their KWL chart will need to be completed.
These will be essential parts of their final project
Day Four/Five:
Students will work together on a draft of a presentation on their country and the differences
between America and where they researched. Their final presentation will be to post on a
classroom blog a three-four paragraph response to what they learned about their place in the
world. They will also be responding to comparing/contrasting American children to their
countrys children. Finally, they will need to report as to what their place in this world means to
them.
Day Six/Seven:
This will be the final two days on the project. Students will take their draft and produce a final
blog post about their research and findings.
Finally, using the promethean board in the classroom, students will present their findings to the
whole class. During the presentations, we will record the main ideas and the different responses
to what is their place in this world.
In a whole class discussion, we will come together to find a common definition and discuss what
this means for the present, as well as the future.
All throughout this lesson, I will be reflecting and synthesizing my teaching strategies and the
students participation and findings.
Standards: Strand C- Writing: NC4.06, NC3.06, NC4.10
Strand D- Speaking and Listening: NC4.02, NC4.03,
Technology: 4. SI 1; 4. RP. 1; 4. TT.1

Synthesis of teaching:
Synthesis of Day One:
Today, I introduced the webquest and posed the question, "What is my place in this world?" to
my students. We started our discussion with what blogs are and was not surprised with the lack
of knowledge on them. It was a pretty average response of basic knowledge of the idea of a blog.
It will definitely be a first for all of them, which is both exciting and scary! Once blogs were
explained, we moved on to talk about Blake, the founder of Toms shoes as well as Malala, a

Global Inquiry 4

brave young girl who stood up for education in the Middle East. Through these two people, a
conversation started about their knowledge of the world. Africa and the Middle East were main
topics of the discussion, led by myself. The atmosphere of the classroom was one with a question
posed, and follow up answers from the students. Through their responses and my engagement
with them, I found that with some push, they knew the basic information about children and
education of other places like Africa and the Middle East. Once paired up, they were excited to
go underway with learning about their country. I also allowed the pair to pick a country together
that they would like to explore. I thought this was better than assigning a country so they are
sparked about learning and interested in the topic. Tomorrow we will be tackling the K and W
portion of the KWHL chart. Through this, I will be able to gauge their knowledge of the location.
Synthesis of Day Two:
Today the students actually broke into pairs and filled in the "what they know," "what they want
to know", and "how they will find the information." I found that many of the students were
questionable about the KWL chart. During whole group discussion, they made it seem as though
they completely understood, but once they broke out, they were confused. It would have been
more beneficial, if I went into further detail about the KWL chart as whole group before having
them break out onto their own. Once I went around to one on one interaction with each group
and explained how the part of the graph of "what they want to know" will be the most filled for
the day, they felt more comfortable with filling in the chart and coming up with questions they
wanted answered. I also realized that a majority of the students did not have a realization of why
they were going to research this or what the point was. Although I thought I explained it and put
the excitement out there, the purpose was not clearly stated. Tomorrow I will re-explain and
spend extra time to help the students feel more comfortable and excited with what they are about
to dive into. Tomorrow starts the research portion on the IPads.
Synthesis of Days Three and Four:
These days were hands-off for me and gave the students time to research and explore. They were
very excited to dive right into their countries and to find new information. The only technology
option available for us were IPads for research, which ended up working out great. As I observed
through monitoring and walking around, all students were engaged and very interested in what
they were finding. Many times, students were running up to me wanting to share something
fascinating that they found. The best was a student who said, very expressively, "Russia is
HORRIBLE! The kids go to school on Saturday!" I was nervous because of the hesitance at first
from the students, but once they were able to sit down and see that there are differences, they
really started to become engaged and excited. I also discussed with our librarian teacher the
project, and she provided an awesome resource to use which really helped on day four.
Tomorrow I am expecting a bit of a challenge, because I will be asking the students to look at
their information and start to organize it and chop off the "not as important" information.
Synthesis of Day Five:

Global Inquiry 5

Today students used highlighters to highlight the information that was the "most delicious" as we
say in my room. We use that saying to understand the important parts of what they found. At
first, I did not give them a long explanation as I thought they would understand what I meant and
what their job was, but I found some confusion. I gathered the class together as a whole group
and explained how they had to use information that was asked of them, not everything they
wrote down. Once I taught them this and showed them using an example of my own with a
highlighter, they caught on and then became independent with the activity.
Synthesis of Day Six:
Students were to have their graphic organizers filled out today and start on their draft of the blog.
They were very excited to post on a blog because it gets posted, "LIVE," as they pointed out
many times. I showed them using the Promethean Board how it would look to post and compose
a blog. Their excitement grew when I posted a simple, funny, example live to the web. After the
directions and showing them, they were off to write their own. I found that I wasn't clear on how
their information was to be formed into paragraphs. The graphic organizer was set up in bullet
points and many students had to go back to create paragraphs from their bullet points on the
blog. Tomorrow will be the final day for the whole class to work on. I assumed I would have
some stragglers who often turn things in late, and they will work on the blog during morning
work, as well as Daily-5 time in the upcoming days.
Synthesis of Day Seven:
Most pairs have finished their blog by this point. The toughest thing for the students to
understand was the question, What is my place in this world? I often replaced the word place
to role or part. The answer students wanted to give was their actual location in this world,
which was not the purpose. Once I changed the word to a more action verb, they became a little
more comfortable with answering. But, I still found hesitation, especially with pairs who
researched countries that did not need help or money for education. In these instances, I had to
walk through the students through a series of questions to help them reach a conclusion. Even
when they came to a conclusion, I did not get a feeling of understanding with them for this
question. The research and findings on different children of the world was very direct and clear,
but for them to dig deep and take their findings to produce an answer was a little abstract for this
age group. If longer time permitted, I would continue to discuss what they found and have them
continue to dive into the question. Many students commented on how they cant do much
because they are just in school and have no money. When this came up, we talked about
what they could do now in order to become successful in the world, and then once they are
successful how they could go out and help the world then. This is what most groups needed, but
some came up with some creative conclusions on their own as well. (See blog website attached
to bottom of this paper.) Overall, they were engaged and learned about other cultures, which is
what all of the cosmopolitans say is a start to creating a cosmopolitanism attitude: knowledge.
This was the first step for these children to appreciate, respect, and understand other cultures and
have global awareness.

Global Inquiry 6

Synthesis Conclusion:
As a conclusion of my teaching with this web quest, I learned that when discussing global
knowledge and having students think about this inquiry, they need more direction and
clarification. My original thought was that they would be able to come up with a conclusion
based on what they found, but that was not the case. To make this quest stronger and more
valuable, I would have a longer introduction lesson/discussion on significant people who have
found their place in this world and are making a difference to give the children more example. I
also would bring them back as whole class after day three and four of research to help organize
their findings. They worked well together and pairing them off was a good idea. I also found that
highlighting important information was a positive tool for them to physically see what they
should include in their final blog. I gave the students a little too much freedom with the inquiry
itself and next time would be sure to help guide them with a more specific approach.

My goal for this whole project was for my students to realize that children around the
globe do not do the same things as them, but all are children in general and if they look close,
similarities can be found and relationships/connections can be formed. Students in my class are
aware of the poor children in Africa, or the children they see on television who are asking for
donations, but they often are not exposed to countries such as Egypt, Brazil, Germany, Russia, or
Japan. These were some of the major countries I wanted them to learn about for different
reasons.
One reason it is important is because knowledge closes the gap between cultures and
ideas. If I could open the eyes of these children, a certain amount of respect becomes apparent
because of the differences. One pair, researching the country of Thailand learned about a game

Global Inquiry 7

similar to the America version of volleyball, except they use all body parts except hands. The
glow in the boys faces learning about a sport that is different from anything they have heard or
seen was awesome. It was clear they will remember that and the picture/video they saw on the
web. It was relatable to their interest of sports, which impacted them. Another student, who
struggles with school came running up to share how Russia attends school on Saturdays. He used
the word, horrible! with a look of disgust, but, when he was organizing his final blog, his
sentence that he produced was about how smart they are and how strict they are about learning.
That pair even mentioned the fact that they didnt know other countries were learning a lot like
us, if not more. Finally, a girl studying Africa remarked on the fact that they learn their schooling
in French in one of the countries they looked at. These different examples were a few of the
many I heard and was confronted with throughout the project. I think they show that children are
interested in other places and cultures, and given the opportunity to expand on this, they could
learn to appreciate and respect new places and traditions.
Another reason I varied the countries being researched was for the comparison for the
whole group discussion as well as the difference responses for the question of, What is my place
in this world? Starting with the whole group discussion, students went back and forth with their
findings. I set the classroom up in a circle for everyone to see each other and we discussed our
most fascinating findings. Students started out with small findings, such as sports or food but as I
continued to question them deeper, responses changed into what they learn, how strict their
schooling is, what the government is like, and money situations. Soon we moved onto their
answers for the inquiry question and everyone was excited to hear what others thought of. A
sense of respect was really felt as pairs discussed what they thought their place was and we all
realized that there are so many different places or roles for children of America. Some

Global Inquiry 8

became passionate about wanting to help the country they researched. They became attached
after the time spent reading, watching, and listening to their area.
As we discussed as a whole class the project as a whole, I received feedback that all
students enjoyed the project. Sitting in a circle was new to them and we all came up with a rule
that hands did not need to be raised, instead we would have a discussion and hear everyones
findings. They learned a lot more rather than having each pair present to the whole class their
research. Children bounced ideas off of each other and it was very inspiring to see. After we
shared our interesting facts, our likes and dislikes, our new information, and the information for
each country, we pondered the question at hand, What is my place in this world? At first,
everyone wanted to come up with a way to help the poor countries, which was expected. This is
the only global awareness I find that children have these days, which is not bad, but does not
portray the globe as a whole. After we let everyone share their opinions on this, I posed the
question, Would you be raising your own money or your parents? Would it cost more to send
the money you earn at a lemonade stand than how much you earned? How many items do you,
personally own? With these questions in mind, my fourth graders quickly grasped on that those
answers were not directly answering the question of their role/part/place in this world. As time
progressed and more discussion and questions were thrown at them to think they came up with a
conclusion together. A shy girl raised her hand and shared, Miss Rosinski, I think we need to be
the best students we can be because other countries dont have it and something good can come
out of it if we are the best students we can be.
With this statement, I realized that at least one pair caught onto the importance of global
knowledge and realized what they, as fourth graders have control over. I firmly believe that
children want the knowledge of other places and are concerned, we as adults, have to give them

Global Inquiry 9

the chance and opportunity. After Erin stated her answer I responded, Erin, I couldnt agree
more. All of the students agreed, and I was left with nothing else to explain. They did a great
job and really pushed their minds and hearts.

The directions given to the students:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ly7TDcww4Sm3Or1c7mdfVczFsYnkxNo1n0gw9DD6lg/pub

This is the web document I published onto my Sqworl page for students to access for
resources:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PiKQtREcf-eK0reaQ3sEON3_TqYyw_9kxZIXjaNRIg/pub

This is our blog that we created as a class:

http://4bgloballearning.weebly.com
Pictures are below and rubric is found on page 14.

Global Inquiry 10

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Global Inquiry 12

Global Inquiry 13

Global Inquiry 14

CATEGORY

KWHL Chart

-completely filled
in -significant
amount of
information
-handwriting is
clear

-one portion of
the chart is not
filled in
-information is
there, but is
missing important
facts

-two portions of
the chart are not
filled in -lack of
information
-handwriting is
not clear

-3 portions of the
chart are not filled
in -no information
on topic
-handwriting is not
clear

Graphic
Organizer

Graphic organizer
or outline has
been completed
and shows clear,
logical
relationships
between all topics
and subtopics.

Graphic organizer
or outline has
been completed
and shows clear,
logical
relationships
between most
topics and
subtopics.

Graphic organizer
or outline has
been started and
includes some
topics and
subtopics.

Graphic organizer
or outline has not
been attempted.

Quality of
Information

Information
clearly relates to
the main topic. It
includes several
supporting details
and/or examples.

Information
clearly relates to
the main topic. It
provides 1-2
supporting details
and/or examples.

Information
clearly relates to
the main topic. No
details and/or
examples are
given.

Information has
little or nothing to
do with the main
topic.

Internet Use

Successfully uses
suggested
internet links to
find information
and navigates
within these sites
easily without
assistance.

Usually able to
use suggested
internet links to
find information
and navigates
within these sites
easily without
assistance.

Occasionally able
to use suggested
internet links to
find information
and navigates
within these sites
easily without
assistance.

Needs assistance
or supervision to
use suggested
internet links
and/or to navigate
within these sites.

First Draft

Detailed draft is
neatly presented
and includes all
required
information.

Draft includes all

required
information and is
legible.

Draft includes
most required
information and is
legible.

Draft is missing
required
information and is
difficult to read.

Paragraph
Construction

-All paragraphs
include
introductory
sentence,

-Most paragraphs
include
introductory
sentence,

-Paragraphs
included related
information but
were typically not

-Paragraphing
structure was not
clear and
sentences were

Global Inquiry 15

explanations or
details, and
concluding
sentence. -No
spelling or
grammar errors

explanations or
details, and
concluding
sentence. -3-4
spelling or
grammar errors

constructed well.
-5-6 spelling or
grammar errors

not typically
related within the
paragraphs. -8-10
spelling or
grammar errors