Well, well, well… we’ve made it to the end of my inquiry journey. Though this is a bitter sweet ending, my inquiry journey is not complete. Rather than writing some lengthly post and putting a lid on this inquiry process, I will continue to explore this topic in my personal life and in my practicum.
Due to the scope of this assignment, I will be looking back on what I have learned and accomplished during my free inquiry. Feel free to take the next few minutes to glance over my blog over the semester before reading this post.
- Middle School
- My Experience
- Outdoor Cozy Corners
- Horror Stories
- Implementation
- Why do we need them?
- So what?
How it started
When I initially heard we would be completely a free inquiry on WHATEVER we wanted, I was pretty excited. I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to focus on something close to my heart or more educational. Thus, I picked a topic that would fit into both categories: cozy corners.
I initially described cozy corners as:
“A comfortable space in a classroom for students to deescalate safely that is equipped with stemming tools”
Jade Nemeth
However, with research and reflective thinking I would now define a cozy corner as:
“Any comfortable space for people to use when they need a body break, to check in with themselves, to resolve challenges, or to take space that is equipped with comfortable decor, stemming tools, and or feeling charts”
Jade Nemeth
Unexpected learnings
Though I would like to say that I predicted the outcome of my inquiry and that I was able to answer all the wondering I had, that I would be far from the truth. I ended up coming up with more questions than answers… So I thought I would compose a list of all the lingering questions and unexpected learning that I have.
Unexpected Learnings
- Cozy corners can be created in any environment regardless of available tools
- Cozy corners need to be co-created and negotiated with students
- Cozy corners do NOT benefits all students, if they are not tried out and created as a class
- Cozy corners can be used with any age range
Lingering Questions
- Why is it so hard to find any negative reviews or experiences with cozy corners?
- Why are some educators still pushing padded rooms as a comfortable space for students who need to de-escalate?
- How do you create a space that feels inclusive to ALL students when every students has such different needs and preferences?
- Is their pushback from parents about implementing cozy corners?
- How do educators find the time or resources to create this space?
Now what?
Now that Ive gone through and listed my journey and unexpected learnings, where do I go now? What do I do with all this knowledge I’ve acquired? For starters, I can now make a somewhat decent blog post. WOOHOOO!!!! I started this journey by barely being able to add a heading and now… now… I can:
- Embed videos
- Create 3D designs
- Hyperlink Resources
- Create interactive videos
- Use features like slow motion
- Do basic coding
- Link back to previous blog
- Insert Images
- Make posts inclusive
- And much much more…..
In short, I am forever grateful for the technology knowledge I have gained in this course and all my inquiry findings. With all this information, I am going to push myself to ask my practicum teacher, if I can add to the already established cozy space in their grade 6 classroom. I will also be challenging myself to make my own classroom blog for my practicum. That way parents and students will have access to all the materials and information I am sharing in my 6 week journey.
Resources
If you are still here reading my blog, I wanted to share my favourite resources and images Ive collected over this free inquiry journey, to hopefully inspire you to create your own cozy corner.
Videos
Articles
- Vanessa’s blog
- Starr article .
- SCDC website
- Katie Doherty article.
Images
I hope you’ve enjoyed my journey!
Jade
