Sometimes we DO have to reinvent the wheel...

My work takes me into all kinds of schools with all kinds of curriculum frameworks designed to support inquiry learning.   Some frameworks allow teachers a great deal of latitude when it comes to selecting and planning contexts for inquiry and others provide pre-determined contexts for inquiry that may be repeated from year to year as part of a broad, more structured curriculum map.   Some schools expect a high degree of accountability to system curriculum standards while others approach the links to curriculum more loosely.  Whether a context for inquiry is fully emergent, negotiated or more tightly predetermined does not, in itself, make it more or less worthy.   It is, of course, what teachers and students do with these context that counts.    And what teachers and students do is, in turn, connected to the quality of the conversations had around the planning table. 

For me, the most potent element of the planning process for inquiry is the conversation about conceptual understanding.   Regardless of whether a school's framework already identifies a ‘central idea’ , an ‘enduring understanding’, ‘lines of inquiry’ or ‘essential questions’ …we are never ‘off the hook’  about the bigger picture.   Every journey of inquiry is a new one.   The simple question, “what is it that we hope students will come to understand more deeply?” has to be asked EACH TIME an inquiry is developed….even if this context for inquiry has been explored before.    Similarly, the questions “How is this inquiry relevant/important  to this group of students, this year?”  and  “Why does this matter?” helps us keep the teaching and learning fresh, authentic and purposeful.   Of course, the conversation at the planning table will always be fresh and relevant to students’ interests and needs if we are careful to invite their voices in.

When we take time to discuss the ‘understanding goals’ of any inquiry, we clarify our own thinking. When we have clarity – we ask better questions of our students and are better able to see opportunities to take their thinking further and deeper.   Establishing conceptual (rather than knowledge-level) goals further enriches the quality of this professional conversation.  As soon as the inquiry is more concept-driven, the conversation is energized - and the possibilities for transfer and connection present themselves more clearly.   As well as giving the team greater clarity and intention, this conversation nurtures ownership.  Nothing kills collaborative planning (and indeed inquiry itself) more quickly than the feeling that the plan is a ‘done deal’.  For teachers new to the team, in particular,  participation in developing the plan from ‘bottom up’  - with each other and with students - is critical. 

How do you ensure your inquiry journeys remain fresh and relevant to the current group of students? 

Just wondering...

Reflections on 'i-time'

One of the most interesting projects I have been involved in this year, is the introduction of personal inquiry routines into several of my partner schools.  We’ve been keen to look at ways to open up more opportunities for regular inquiry into personal passions.  Most of the teachers who have implemented some form of personal inquiry time already use a model that allows for ‘student led’ inquiry but this has tended to be within the scope of the ‘big idea’ the class is investigating.  While maintaining this, we have also been keen to explore the benefits of investigations that cater more specifically for the particular interests, ways of thinking, ideas, passions and curiosities. We have not been alone in this venture!  Increasing reference is made worldwide to such approaches –20% time, innovations days, passion projects, oasis time, genius hour – whatever we choose to call it, the intention is similar.  The term ‘I-time’ (which I first heard used by some teachers in the Sandhurst Diocese of Victoria, Melbourne) appealed to me – the letter ‘I” turned out to have a lot of potential being the initial letter for many of our favourite words...inquiry, independence, investigations, inspiration, initiative...as well as the obvious digital reference. itime wordle

Providing opportunities for personal inquiry has been an instructive experience for us all and has required teachers to have a strong inquiry mindset as we reflect on and strengthen the structures and strategies to ensure learning is rigorous and purposeful as well as truly owned by the students.  Students’ feedback and reflections have been the most useful source of learning for teachers. 

Recently, Michele Martin  - Inquiry learning leader and year 3 teacher at Elsternwick Primary school,  asked her students to reflect on how their views of ‘itime’ had changed since the beginning of the year.  Their honest and thoughtful comments show a growing insight into the nature of quality inquiry itself.  It reminded me of just how powerful learning can be when we allow time and space to ‘re-think’ and when we give them opportunities to express their thinking about the process learning itself.

Here's what some of them had to say... 

I used to think………..	Now I think …………..
You had to make stuff for every “I” – time                                                               Oliver S.	I know I have a big choice and even though I like making, it’s much more challenging if I ask questions and do research.
That you already had to know the information and that you couldn’t research it.                                       Also, I wasn’t very organised and forgot to bring things in to help me!                                                   Elinor W.	You can research, so that lets you choose anything at all so you try new things! I now ask for help getting resources (like I asked MM to bring in some of her cook books) and I remember to bring my own when I can.
I thought that you could just choose a random thing to learn about.                                                           Lucy O.	You should choose something that you want to learn about!
I thought that you needed to do something really simple and you only needed one question.                                                         Bethany	You need to choose something that challenges your learning. You need more than one question to challenge yourself. You need to ask yourself ‘open’ questions, not yes/no questions.
I didn’t really get why you needed a question.                                                               Will	Questions help you learn!
I thought you could just get other people’s words from the computer or books and cut them up and paste them on.                                                   Liam and Lucy D.	That when I summarise what I have read, by writing my own words, it helps me understand and it helps my audience when they read my thinking and learning.
That to find information you must use a computer.    Alice	You can use people (experts / primary sources) and books.
Only I had to understand what I had found out.   Sequoia	It’s good if other people can understand your information.
I thought I was so smart because I did easy things that I sort of knew about.                                                            Oliver L.	I’m challenging my learning and it’s harder to find the information, but I’m not giving up. I’m persisting!
It’s just writing some simple information (a tiny bit!).                                                                        Chloe	Finding more complicated and detailed information challenges me to learn more
11% of the time I focused. Most of the time I just wandered around. I wanted to do things but I got distracted.                                                       Spencer	70% I am totally focused and it’s increasing! I think about what I need to do, like going to the library or bringing something from home to help me.

 We should regularly check in with students about how their views of themselves and their learning is growing and changing.  And what better context for exploring the self as learner then open, personal inquiry!  Do your students have a similar opportunity? Do they have the time and permission to change their thinking?

 Just wondering….

The question of learning intentions

One of the most significant changes in our practice as teachers in recent years has been a move towards greater transparency in relation to our objectives.   Once,  what we wanted students to learn was ‘secret teachers’ business’ ,  now we are much more aware of the power of sharing our intentions.    One of the most popular vehicles for sharing learning intentions is through the use of “WALTs”   (‘We Are Learning To) statements. The full blown version of this approach includes TIB (This Is Because) and WILF (What I am Looking For).   A colleague in New Zealand wryly observed to me the other day that she felt kids were in danger of ‘death by a thousand intentions’ as she noticed the explosion of WALTS crowding the classroom walls. I’ve never been a huge fan of WiLF , in particular .   The suggestion that I am the one looking for the learning rather than the students themselves has never sat right with me -  although I played with it for a while.   More recently, I have been feeling similarly uneasy about the subtext of the phrase “We are Learning To”.    Announcing what we will be learning to do/understand is uncomfortably declarative and certain whereas inquiry treats learning as more complex and emergent.

Don’t get me wrong, I am all for sharing learning intentions.  I like the word ‘intention’ as it signals a general desire or expectation but falls short of being an absolute.  Our intentions help us set the scene, give us direction and sets us on a path.   In an inquiring classroom, teachers are highly intentional  - they are guided by clear principles, they avoid time wasting activities and are driven by a powerful sense of real purpose.

But I’m re-thinking my even sparing use of ‘WALTS'.  When we announce to students what they WILL be learning – are we not, even subtly, reigning in the potential for discovery?  If inquiry teaching is about giving students agency and helping them construct and create understanding - then I think need to be cautious about such declarations.

A practice that sits much better with my inquiry principles is to share intentions in the form of questions rather than statements.  I want our learning experiences to remain intentional and transparent – but it feels better when I articulate this in question form.  For example, I might once have said to students that, as self managers, they would be “learning to devise an effective action plan to meet a goal”.  Now, I pose a question: “How can we devise effective action plans to help us meet our goals?”   As with ‘WALTS’ these intentions-as-questions may be lesson-long or may run through the course of an inquiry.

When I pose this question, I immediately invite my students to be researchers.  As they go about the task of designing and working with their action plans, we all try to notice what we are learning about the process.  If an intention is framed as a question, we naturally gather data, share and reflect.   We can create dot points that easily become success criteria.   And it’s not about getting the right answer (ie  - the teacher creates a kind of ‘sham’ question with pre conceived answers) - when we set intentions as questions, there is more room for discovery, for the unexpected and for debate between students and that makes for a much more satisfying learning experience all round.

Clarifying our intentions through questions does not have to be teacher-led.  Why not ask students what THEY think the question/s might be that drive a particular learning experience?:  “What questions might we carry into this?”  “What might this help us learn more about?”  Establishing intentions as a conversation between teachers and learners again sees a better ‘fit’ with the core principles of the inquiry classroom.

Generic skills and dispositions within the areas of thinking, communicating, researching, self managing and collaborating provide fertile ground for intentions-as-questions.   Here are some examples:

How can we record our observations accurately?

What roles can help a team function smoothly?

How can we show someone we are really listening?

What strategies help us manage our time more effectively?

What helps me stay more focused on a task?

How can we edit our own writing more effectively?

How can we determine the most relevant parts of a text?

How can props be used to power up a presentation?

How can we use creative thinking to help us problem solve?

How can we give each other useful feedback when working in a team?

What are some efficient methods to take notes when viewing clips for information?

The examples here still express a learning intention - but they invite the learner to investigate and construct their own ideas in response.

The tension between what we hope students will come to learn and our openness to the unexpected and unplanned is what makes inquiry teaching so intriguing and satisfying.  A question  rather than statement can help us stay in that lovely, intriguing space – and doesn’t make us any less intentional.

How do you share or construct intentions with your students?

 Just wondering…..

What would it be like to be a student in your classroom? Walking in the learner's shoes.

A question I often encourage teachers to ask themselves is: 'what would it be like to be a student in your classroom?'   Empathy  (simply defined as ‘understanding and sharing the feelings of others’)  is a disposition we all want to nurture in our students and one we MUST continue to nurture in ourselves. Empathy builds relationships and relationships are the key to quality teaching. One of the characteristics of great inquiry teachers is their ability to ‘read’ their students.   The questions we ask, the way we scaffold learning, the expectations we have, the degree to which we step in or let go are micro-skills that are strengthened by quality assessment  - and also by empathy.    Empathy grows when we challenge ourselves to stand in the shoes of those we teach.

In the approach to inquiry I use, I emphasise the importance of ‘tuning in’. This is all about tuning in to the student and allowing the student to tune in to themselves – what they think, feel and wonder about the context for inquiry they are launching into.   When we hear students’ misconceptions, when they articulate beliefs or ideas that confront us or even when they show a negative or flippant attitude at this stage -  it can be a challenge to remain empathic!   In other words, when we tune in – we don't always like what we see/hear!   Careful, genuine questioning, taking time to listen, standing back and watching allows US to better inhabit the space the child is in at that moment and seek understanding.  As a teacher I need to ask myself:  “What are they telling me without telling me?”  “Why might they be feeling/thinking that?” “Have I ever felt like that about something? Why?”  ‘What can I do to understand this feeling/belief/position more deeply?'    Empathy requires us to take a more inquiring approach in our everyday interactions with students - to be wary of assumptions and to care about where the learner is at.

One of the best strategies for developing one’s empathy is to create opportunities to ‘walk in the shoes’ of another.  If I ask teachers to consider what it would be like to be a student in their class, then surely I need to ask myself what it would be like to be a participant in one of my workshops!    As someone who spends most of her time presenting or facilitating learning, I rarely have formal opportunities to do this.   Of course, I learn every day – WITH teachers and kids – but it is a treat to find myself as a workshop participant.

I have been very grateful for three such experiences in recent times – one with Lynne Erickson in Hong Kong, another with the wonderful Perry Rush of Island Bay Primary School in NZ and my latest (today!)  - a delightful morning, with Sam Sherratt and Chad Walsh of 'Time and Space Education' here in Melbourne.  In each case, my thinking about inquiry was stimulated and developed but it was the experience of inhabiting a different ‘space’ and identity in the room that was so important for me.

When I experience the role of participant,  I notice things about myself that help me remain empathic when I next facilitate.  I notice when I am intensely engaged and when I am less so, I notice how I respond to the request to work with people I don't know, I notice how feeling hungry or tired affects my engagement, I notice how where I am sitting in the room and indeed how the room is set up makes a difference, I notice when I want to talk and can’t or when I don't want to talk but am asked to.   I notice what distracts me and what I do to stay focused. I notice how I get in my own way at times. I notice how fantastic it feels when I can make a connection between my prior learning and new ideas.  And watching someone else teach makes me think about how I teach – it's such a powerful form of personal inquiry!

I know each time I do this, I return to my ‘classroom’ with a palpably different feeling about and empathy towards my learners.  I want to stay more tuned in to their experience.

In inquiry classrooms, the distinction between teacher and learner is blurred.  Children teach other and the teacher is guided by the students and so on but we do, for the most part, remain ‘the teacher’.  When we truly put ourselves in the learner’s shoes…when we seek others who can teach us, when we participate in learning something new – alone or with others we can consciously remind ourselves of the joys and the challenges of learning itself.  And we walk back into our classrooms  with greater empathy and insight.

Many teachers have regular opportunities to attend professional learning workshops, peer led staff meetings or other situations where they are ‘the learner’.  Regardless of the content, I suggest we can always make the most of this time to inquire into ourselves as a learners – how we respond, how we behave and how we feel.  In turn, we can become more empathic teachers – and better learners.

When was the last time you walked in your learner’s shoes?

Just wondering…

Moving on from the KWL chart : student questions and inquiry

Lately I have found myself questioning questions.   They are indeed the heart and soul of inquiry. Questions give voice to our passions and our curiosity.  When we bravely release a question into the air – we are vulnerable, open and ready to learn.   Where once, question-asking was the teacher’s territory, in an inquiry classroom, students’ questions are as important - if not more-so than the teacher’s.  The presence of students’ questions  (orally and visually) in a learning space is one of the first signs that I have entered a zone of inquiry. Many of the sessions I have recently facilitated with students have focused on the art of question-asking.  I regularly hear teachers voice their frustration with what I think of as ‘sham questions’ – those designed to teacher-please or simply to fulfil a requirement - frustratingly narrow, irrelevant or poorly constructed or students who ask no questions at all.  Part of the problem can be that we have failed to move beyond the linear notion of inquiry that framed our previous thinking (“What do you know? What do you want to know....?”) and to embrace a more invitational,  organic and cyclical approach.  In short, we need to move on from the KWL chart.

A couple of weeks ago, I worked with a lovely group of year 6 students who had been busily drafting questions for personal inquiries following their shared inquiry into Australia’s connection with Asia.  While the interest was high,  this was no easy task for many of the students.   We soon realised that some kind of “success criteria” were needed to help them figure out what would constitute an effective question for this particular kind of task.

Drafting some initial criteria for questions

We spent the best part of an hour exploring the question “What makes a good question?”  Of course – the answer is “It depends”.   We need to be clear about the purposes and nature of the task.  Through conversations, trial and error, design and feedback -  we eventually devised some success criteria to guide the formulation, self and peer assessment of their questions.  Even with the criteria available, however,  some students still struggled to articulate their interests beyond a general sense that they ‘wanted to learn more about….’   It reminded me how often I am in this exact same position with my own learning.  And even when I think I know what I am looking for – what I end up finding out prompts me to re-think my original intent.  Whether or not I begin with a question depends on the nature of my investigation.  I mostly end up asking something…but certainly not always from the outset.  I read this recently and it really struck a chord:

• “The best way to find out things, if you come to think of it, is not to ask questions at all. If you fire off a question, it is like firing off a gun; bang it goes, and everything takes flight and runs for shelter. But if you sit quite still and pretend not to be looking, all the little facts will come and peck round your feet, situations will venture forth from thickets and intentions will creep out and sun themselves on a stone; and if you are very patient, you will see and understand a great deal more than a man with a gun.”  Elsbeth Huxley 1959: 272 *

Developing the capacity to ask questions remains a significant part of the inquiry teacher’s role BUT to make this work we need to attend to two things.  Firstly (and somewhat ironically)  we need to acknowledge that inquiry does not need to begin with a question…they can pop up along the way or even at the end of a process of investigation.  Secondly, we can spend time exploring the art of questioning itself.   We need to inquire INTO questions  - empowering students to frame and reframe questions as needed. Here are a few tips that may help you move beyond the tyranny of the KWL chart

• Invite rather than insist on questions early on in an inquiry journey.

• Try using the term ‘wondering’ rather than ‘question’.  Wondering’ has a softness to it that invites risk taking.

• Encourage/display/celebrate questions about all sorts of things – not just those things associated with a “unit of inquiry”.

 “Why do possums sleep in the morning?” a five year old’s personal wondering 

• If you are using something like a ‘wonderwall’  help students see it as a work in progress – a dynamic space that allows for questions to be taken down, added to, refined and grouped throughout the journey

• Share YOUR questions – model curiosity and the art of framing questions by actively and authentically participating in the process yourself!

• Allow students time to play with the material about the area under investigation.  Contradictory as it sounds, we often need to do some finding out before we know what we want or need to find out!   Use provocations to stimulate questions.

• Avoid demonising the ‘skinny’ or closed question.  Most researchers need to use a combination of both to guide their investigations. Help students notice the way different kinds of questions are needed for different purposes.

• Challenge students to find a question as a result of their investigation – a question can be a conclusion!

• Recognise that the impetus for investigation may come more from a desire to make/build/design/create.  These generate questions but often through the process.

• Devise compelling questions to drive rich inquiry (I have blogged about this previously: http://justwonderingblog.com/2012/10/28/walking-the-world-with-questions-in-our-heads/)

• Finally, spend time inquiring into questions themselves. They are fascinating linguistic expressions!  Play with questions – when students DO generate them, examine the different ways they are structured. Ask students to group them in different ways. Some of the challenges I have given students recently include:

Which questions do you think will be the easiest for us to answer?

Which will be the hardest? (Why?)

Which questions are you most excited/least excited about?

Which ones are open/closed?

Let’s group them according to best ways to find out about them? Which are google-able? Which are not?

Most-least important? 

How flexible are we about our students’ questions?  How much time to we spend reflecting with students on the nature of questions themselves?  Can powerful inquiry happen if we DON’T ask questions?

 Just wondering….

* Huxley, E (1959) The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood Penguin

Teacher talk in inquiry classrooms

I’m sitting in a café at an airport in New Zealand – scanning through emails while I wait for my flight.  My attention is drawn to a young woman’s voice at the window behind me, “ Wow – isn't it amazing to watch this!  I look at these HUGE planes and it makes me wonder how they fly so high in the sky when they are so heavy…”

Having contemplated the same question many times, I turned around to see who my fellow 'wonderer' was.  She was crouched at the window staring out in awe at the planes taking off and landing . She was not alone. Beside her were about 6 children who looked to be about 4 years old.  Proudly laden with pre-school back packs and bright yellow t-shirts, they too were staring out the window, their little hands splayed like starfish on the glass, their eyes wide with excitement:

 Child: “I can see another moving thing!! Look!”

(Teacher) Oh yes!  I wonder what that’s for?

Child: “It’s for the bags. The bags go in the plane”

Teacher: “Tell us more…”

Child “ They have to put the bags inside for the people”

Oh – I see… I wonder which part carries the bags?

Another child: “It’s joining up!”  See! 

Child “Not for the bags. It is for the people to get out” They go down the stairs

 (The teacher stays silent for a while…the kids take their cue and watch…)

Teacher:  "Wow –  you have some interesting ideas guys.  I’m going to watch for a bit longer and see if I can figure out what it might be for...”

Child: “It IS for the bags”

TEACHER It might be, yes, won't it be interesting to see what happens…you’ve got me thinking about how they get people and bags on. I wonder what else has to go on the plane?

About ten minutes later the group reappears in front of me. Once again, the teacher crouches down so she is ‘eye to eye’ with her students. I strain to listen…noticing how gently spoken she is – none of that nasal, unnecessarily loud teacher tone we can inadvertently develop:

You have noticed so many moving things here.  James mentioned that he wanted to see what is down below us. I wonder how we could get down there?

“Those moving stairs!!”

“Can we go on the moving stairs?”

(Teacher) Sure! That’s one way we can get down.  I noticed there is also a lift over there –

“I want to go in the lift and press the buttons!”

“Me too!”

“I want to go on the stairs thing”

(Teacher) “Hmmm. So some of us want to do one thing and some of us want to do another but remember we agreed that we need to stay together. What could we do?

“Do a vote” (they’ve clearly done this before…)

 (Teacher) “Great idea – OK. So have a think about what you would like to do, Moving stairs or the lift?" 

 The children vote on the escalator. Only one child wants to use the lift. I am intrigued to see what she will do…

(Teacher)" Hey Connor.  Can you see what happened?"

 (Child) Yes – we’ll go on the stairs

( Teacher) That’s right. Most of us seem to want to do that – so thanks for coming along.  OK team – let’s get moving!  I wonder what this will feel like….?’

And off they go – hand in hand, chatting, focused, happy and collaborative.

It so happens, I had been revisiting one of my favourite books earlier that day – Peter Johnston’s “Opening Minds”.  This beautiful book reminds me of the power of words:

 “(The teacher’s) words change the life of the classroom. They change the worlds the children inhabit, and consequently who they can be, what they will feel, what they can know, and what will be ‘normal’ behaviour”

He also offers a powerful metaphor for the language of the inquiry teacher – ‘conversational jazz’.  A great inquiry teacher is a highly skilled improviser, carefully using his/her talk to scaffold thinking, honour the child, model curiosity, respect difference and most of all to ensure the student owns their learning. This conversation happens in response to the moment – through careful listening and on-the-spot decision making.

In this precious ‘airport vignette’ I was privileged to watch a skilled inquiry teacher in action. The words she chose – and indeed the way in which she chose to communicate them – told me a lot about what she believed about how children learn and about what her role was. Her words:

• valued and ignited curiosity and questioning
• respected and validated (rather than judged) the children’s theories
• gently suggested new possibilities without privileging one idea over another
• activated deeper thinking
• modeled ways in which we manage difference and negotiate within a community of learners

Her language is tentative and open…’wonder’ ‘might’ ‘could’ …. And her non-verbal language is inviting, respectful and warm.

The words we use (and choose not to use) – and how we use them hold enormous power. Much of what it means to be an inquiry based teacher lies in classroom discourse. Just as classroom furniture arrangements and  wall displays reveal a great deal about what we value and believe – so does our choice of words.

What do your words – and indeed your students’ words – say about you as a teacher? What might  we expect to hear being said (and not said) in an inquiring environment?

Just wondering….