In starting to create my MGRP I am getting frustrated (in a good way) because I feel that I could research this project FOREVER! I started small. Got a few articles, which lead to a few more, which lead me to drop some articles and then pick up some more. In our reading for the MGRP she describes the time commitment that the project takes on. It is easy to see why students would take months to flesh out their ideas. I would love to take a week just to read different types of multicultural literacy of all ages. Then I would need a few more weeks to figure out how to categorize them in a way that is helpful, thus needing to research different ways in which I could categorize them. I would also love to research the different roles of the teacher, school, the students and the families play in multicultural literacy in the classroom.
One thing is for sure it has helped me discover more of my passion for the topic and my curiosity.
This will be a good reminder for me to allow my students space in which to truly delve deep into their topics. This is another vote for student centered reading as opposed to text centered reading. Ohhhh see, another branch that I could spend weeks exploring!
I feel the same way about researching! I have spent way too much time reading various articles and getting lost in the internet as I look for more resources. Then, there's the struggle to include only the pertinent information necessary to complete the assignment, although I feel that there is so much more that I'd like to add! That is one thing that I especially appreciated about our MGRP text, also - she allowed for plenty of time to complete the project. Imagine what we could accomplish if given infinite time to explore . . .
ReplyDeleteFortunately (or maybe unfortunately), many of our sources referenced each other. So, we ended up using a lot of sources because we liked the way one author worded the same idea over another author. I wouldn't say we padded our bibliography, but it sure looks that way.
ReplyDeleteYes, the research was fun. I can't imagine picking a topic to study for 3 months in an elementary school, though, maybe because I know how much I liked to jump around to different topics when I was a kid. I'll just have to find out if it works when I try it!