How do inquiry teachers….teach?

When I first became fascinated in inquiry-based approaches (too many years ago to say!), the focus for many of my conversations and indeed, my early research, was on how to plan.  Back then, learning about inquiry helped me shift my thinking from planning thematically – or even in a more genuinely integrated way, to planning with a learning process in mind.  Understanding inquiry helped me think more carefully about learning. Planning was no longer focused on making clever curriculum connections – it was about designing a process that would scaffold thinking from the known to the unknown, from shallow to deep  and that would place the learner at the heart of all we did.  My planning got better – much better. That approach to planning is now deeply embedded in my way of being as a teacher.  It is organic and fluid. I don’t need to have it all mapped out the way I once did – I can combine my understanding of process with the immediate interests and needs of the learners with whom I work.

 This emergent approach to planning is central to the inquiry teacher’s repertoire and remains a significant part of the work I do…but over the last few years in particular, I find myself thinking so much more about what happens when this plan gets put into action.  The planning and the teaching are certainly deeply connected but - too often, inquiry seems almost synonymous with ‘units’.   The cringe-worthy phrase “we do inquiry” usually means: we fill in an inquiry planner using a cycle/framework of inquiry – we document tasks in the boxes (even in an emergent way) and the tasks are student-centred  - such as visible thinking routines, etc.   

 However well a ‘planner’ reads – what really counts is what the teacher actually DOES with those plans.  If we simply list strategies or resources or the ubiquitous “discuss with children….” –have we thought sufficiently about how we will teach?     I have experienced, many times, teachers emerge from the same planning meetings, with the same broad intentions and indeed with some excellent, promising learning engagements…. only to see true inquiry unfold in one classroom and not another.

 Inquiry is not just about knowing how to plan – it’s about how we teach. It’s about what we say to kids and how we say it. It’s about the way we listen and the way we feel about what our kids are saying. It’s about knowing when to step back and when to step in.  The language we use and the silences we deliberately leave.  It’s about what we are thinking about what we are doing.  To one teacher “See, Think, Wonder” is an engaging learning task to be completed at the beginning of a unit – to another it is a window onto children’s theories, an opportunity explore how a student ‘sees’ a concept.   A ‘unit of inquiry’ is not worth the paper it is written on if we don’t know what it means to be an inquiry teacher.

 I have long been utterly intrigued by the question “what makes an inquiry teacher’ – why is it that some find it such a natural disposition and while others struggle SO much with sharing power or seeing a bigger picture?  But I’ll save my musings on that for another time….  Today, I am thinking about what inquiry means for the act of ‘teaching’ itself.   Here are techniques or approaches I observe inquiry teachers use.  A dozen of the best…..

 1. They talk less.  It’s that simple (I’m still working on that one myself!!) 

 2. They ask more.  The discourse in an inquiry classroom is rich with quality questions – inquiry teachers know how to use questions to help students uncover their own thinking and understanding.

 3. They relate – with the heart as well as the head.  The BEST inquiry teachers I see genuinely enjoy their students and know them.  Knowing your students is the key to successful facilitation – particularly of personal inquiries.

 4. They let kids in on the secret – inquiry teachers have a transparent style. It’s not just about putting learning intentions up on the wall – they constantly ensure their kids know why they are doing what they are doing.  Inquiry teachers often think aloud – they reveal the complexities and the joys of learning to their students by being a learner.

5. They use language that is invitational and acknowledges the elasticity of ideas.  Words like ‘might’ ‘could’ ‘possibly’ ‘wonder’ ‘maybe’ ‘we’ are used far more  than ‘must’ ‘is’ ‘will’ ‘I’.    They remain open to possibility…. and you can hear it in their voice.  Inquiry teachers speak what Claxton calls “learnish”  - and they help their students speak it too.

 6. They check in with their kids – a lot.  The teaching itself looks, sounds and feels like an act of inquiry.  They listen, observe and ‘work the space’.  They do not spend most of their time at the front of the room.  The teach beside – sometimes ‘on the side’ and not – for the most part – on the stage.

 7. They collaborate with their students. They trust them!  The ‘asymmetry’ of power in the traditional classroom is challenged by inquiry teachers – they allow role reversal and are comfortable letting the learner lead.  

 8. They use great, challenging, authentic resources – not just the ones that are easy and on hand.  They are hunters and gatherers – looking for objects, people, places, texts that will bring the world to their kids.

 9. They are passionate and energetic.  And that includes some of the most calm and quiet teachers I have ever worked with!  I think that’s true of all the best teachers – inquiry based or not  - but these teachers are passionate about investigation, about the thrill of discovery, about seeing patterns and the learner ‘getting it’ – they are genuinely interested in the world and relentlessly curious.  And it shows.  

 10. They see the bigger picture – they have a good grasp of the significant concepts and skills relevant to the focus of students’ inquiry.   They may not know all the facts – but they DO have a ‘birds eye’, conceptual  view that is invaluable in scaffolding learning for children.  You can hear it in the way they question.

 11. They invite, celebrate and USE questions, wonderings, uncertainties and tensions that arise from their students.  They may not be the questions they expected – but they use those questions to scaffold learning.

12. Traditional pedagogy sees the teacher provide a set of instructions, make sure everyone ‘knows what to do’, explain everything and THEN students might be given some time to do a task themselves. It’s about 80% teacher led and 20% student.  Inquiry-based pedagogy gets kids doing, thinking and investigating – and the explicit teaching happens in response to what the teacher sees and hears.  The 80:20 ration is reversed. Good inquiry teachers know how to get more kids thinking more deeply more of the time.

In inquiry schools, we spend a lot of time planning and documenting. These conversations are invaluable and I am not for a moment, suggesting this is not important. But let’s remember that what counts the most, as Hattie and others remind us, is what we think, do and say when we engage with our students. Programs and planners don’t make inquiry happen. Teachers and learners do.

 What do you think it means to be an inquiry teacher?

 Just wondering….

And the word is?….

I have just finished a delightful week of inquiring with the elementary teachers at Zurich International school.   The work we were doing was very focused on ways in which we can elevate the ‘status’ of transdisciplinary skills as we plan, teach, assess and reflect.  As I have discussed several times on this blog, learning to think, collaborate, research, self-manage and communicate are central to what it means to inquire.  As an inquiry teacher, my aim is to help my students become increasingly aware of the skills and dispositions that enable them to approach ANY questions, issues, problems, challenges. I want them to learn to learn. Over the course of the week, the concept we returned to again and again was that of ‘intention’.  We explored what it meant to ‘teach with intention’ – and what those intentions might look, sound and feel like in the context of an inquiry classroom.   We recognized that our intentions may shift as we listen to and observe children but that, without intention, we missed teachable moments and we lacked clarity.

Much of our planning this week has been about clarifying intentions in response to students’ interests and questions.  We were reminded that this is the essence of quality planning and that helps us resist the urge to generate ‘activities’ rather than consider purpose.

Being intentional helps us be better teachers – but it is also a valuable disposition as a learner.   If I enter a learning experience in a mindful, intentional state – I get so much more out of it.  I might remind myself to ‘listen actively’ to what my colleagues are saying or ‘stay open minded’ when I think I am about to be challenged.  This ‘moment of mindfulness’ is something we can help our students learn to do. It’s not about completing a task or even about the content of the task….it’s about our intention,  as learners, to get the most out of that moment.  To notice.

For many of my colleagues in the southern hemisphere, a new school year is soon to begin.   What better time to think about our intentions.   Over the last few years, I have used a simple technique in both my personal and professional life, to capture the ‘essence’ of my intentions for the year.

Rather than identify a lengthy list of goals or resolutions, I have, instead, chosen a word.  Just one word.

This word acts a gentle reminder to me of what it is I hope to do or be  - as a person and as a teacher.  Working with teachers at the beginning of the year, I have challenged them to do the same….”What’s your word?”

Identifying a word that captures the essence of your ‘intention’ for the year ahead is surprisingly powerful. It has a way of sneaking in to your daily activity and it becomes part of the lens through which you make a decision.   I feel as if I, metaphorically, carry my word in my pocket as I journey through the year.  I challenge myself to inquire into it – and to live up to it.

Regardless of the way we do it, inquiry teachers believe in the centrality of ‘agency’ – in helping students see that THEY are the ones doing the learning – learning isn't something that someone does to you.  Taking time to consider goals, intentions, hopes and dreams -  is an important part of developing this agency.

Are you entering the teaching year with intention?

What’s your word?

 Just wondering…..

The Inquiry Diary - the power of collaborative documentation

Over the many years I have been involved in the field of inquiry based learning, there are a few ‘tried and true’ strategies that have stood the test of time.   I’m not sure where the idea of a class ‘inquiry diary’ came from. Perhaps it goes back to my early teaching days and what I learned about the power of language experience for teaching beginning readers.  This approach was then in its ‘hey day’ and taught me a lot about the need to give young language learners opportunities to connect the abstract world of print to the concrete world of lived experience. The resulting texts would be returned to over and over again by the children.  Books, wall stories, other shared texts created about our walk to the park, about the day the chick escaped and ended up in the dress up box, about the helicopter that landed on the oval were always the hottest items on the shelf when it came time to choose something to read!  Capturing our shared experiences in writing also gave me a constant source of rich yet familiar language I could harvest for literacy instruction.  We would comb our shared texts for spelling patterns, frequently used words and interesting linguistic structures and features (I only wish I knew then what I know now about word inquiry).  Our shared authorship helped us make meaning of experience AND gave us much fodder for inquiry into language itself. 

 As I became more enamoured with the inquiry approach, it seemed only natural to document our journeys of inquiry in a similar, narrative form. Many inquiries  follow the arc of a narrative – we begin in wonder, not knowing how it will evolve and gradually our understanding  widens and deepens as we find out more.  Our perceptions about what we are investigating may shift dramatically through the inquiry – just as a good story often lands us a surprise or two!  Inquiries include both the predictable and the unpredictable moment  - again, perfect seeds for narrative documentation.*

What is an inquiry diary?

Essentially, it is a large book (or digital equivalent – but more on that later) into which the inquiry is recorded as it unfolds - one of those big, spiral bound sketch books is ideal.  Some teachers construct a diary for each inquiry while others use a single diary for the whole year.  Some teachers reserve the diary for documentation of the unplanned, ‘spontaneous’ investigations that occur throughout the year (such as the sad death of the preying mantis at St. Fidelis Primary early this year!).  Entries can be made  at various times throughout the process - daily, weekly, sporadic or regular.  The teacher often scribes students’ suggestions or invites a small group to work on an entry.    Importantly, the diary gives us an opportunity to reinforce the language of inquiry and the transferable skills and strategies that are being used within it.  They can be as simple or as detailed as suits.  

 

Key features include:

 Documentation of the 'essence' of what the inquiry is about - the big question, understands goals and skills.  

• Use of the meta language of inquiry.  While the contexts themselves will change...children start to recognise similar processes through the repetition of language (eg: we began by tuning in to our thinking….we wondered….we needed to investigate so we….) Each time a new inquiry is documented – it is an opportunity to see both similarities and differences between different types of inquiry.

 

• Inclusion of photos and examples of what students are doing along the way. These photos help anchor children's thinking, provide a prompt for reflection, and are a practical way to hold onto the charts and other artefacts developed during the inquiry when they can't necessarily be kept on the wall.

• Naming of skills and strategies used to pursue the investigation

 

 Inquiry diaries can also become a lovely way to invite parents into finding out more about  this way of learning.  Once it is up and running, the diary can be displayed (eg: on an easel or music stand) near or in the classroom to be look at during drop off or pick up time. Some teachers choose to send the diaries home with each child in turn (a great way to learn about care and responsibility!) so they can share it with their parents - including a comments/feedback page in the back of the diary is a useful addition.

 Of course, this kind of documentation of an inquiry can also be done as a digital text.  Blogging or the use of tools like Weebly or even a simple powerpoint developed over the course of the inquiry  are great ways to share the journey and this also allows for the inclusion of sound and video.  The key to a successful inquiry diary is accessibility.  We need to be able to grab it, refer to it, dip in and out of it. Whether paper based or digital, the diary helps anchor learning and connect the learning moments from day to day. 

 

How do you document and capture your shared inquiry journeys?  

 Just wondering....

* Thanks to Michelle from Mother Teresa Primary School, Jenny and Annette from St Fidelis primary School and Karen Seaton from Castlemaine Nth Primary schools for the examples.  And apologies for my less than crisp photography! 

Do you know me well enough to teach me?*

A friend of mine called me recently, having returned, rather despondent, from grueling evening of secondary parent-teacher interviews for her eldest son in year 9 (you know the type – 5 minutes with each teacher, frantically rushing from room to room…) This boy is what most teachers would describe as a ‘good student’,  generally conscientious, well behaved  -but inclined to be on the quiet side.  When the time came for the interview with the science teacher,  the first comment the teacher made about him was that he didn't seem to be very interested in the subject and this was clearly a criticism rather than a question.  My friend asked the science teacher to explain what he meant and was told: “He doesn’t seem to be listening, he’s often daydreaming and he never asks any questions or makes a contribution. He needs to be more focused and show more interest”

Turning to her son who was looking rather mortified by this stage, my friend asked how he felt about what had been said (note – it was my friend who asked that  - not the teacher!)

“Um. I suppose I don't really say much but I do find it a bit confusing  - so I don’t really know what to ask sometimes”

The conversation continued rather haltingly.  ‘Average’ test results were reported together with a reminder to the boy to  ‘ask questions’ when he didn't understand and to stay more focused.  As they got up to leave,  the teacher noticed the boy was carrying a guitar case:

“Oh – do you play guitar do you?” he asked (perhaps he was sensing that things had not gone well!)

At this point, my friend said it hit her – he doesn’t know my son at all.  You see, this boy is a gifted musician. He is passionate about music, plays multiple instruments, composes and is heavily involved in the musical life of the school.  She was flabbergasted that the teacher did not know this about him.  It was such a strong part of his identity. She wondered what else he didn't know about her son…

In response, she simply said “yes – music is his passion – along with several other things” and walked out with a lump in her throat.

I asked her what had been so upsetting about this interchange. She said that she could not help but wonder about what effort had been made to connect with her son.  Why did he leave the interview with the burden of responsibility to ask questions when it seemed the teacher  had ever stopped to ask HIM anything about himself? His passions? His learning? It was nearly the end of the year! Shouldn’t this teaching and learning thing be a two way street?

You bet it should.

In order to do the best job we can of engaging students as learners – we need to know who they are as people.   Even a busy secondary teacher with multiple classes to teach, can take a moment to find out the most significant thing in each students’ life – especially those students who appear less connected and less engaged in their classes.   Imagine how much more engaged this boy could be if he were encouraged to enter the world of science through music! And once there – his confidence and curiosity would grow.  We all remember the teachers that made us feel valued – even in the smallest of ways – those that respected and knew us.  Indeed, it was some secondary teachers in my own life with whom I had the very best of relationships and who inspired me to learn (and later to teach) partly because they took time to relate to me as a person first.

 “Do you know me well enough to teach me?” The challenge within this question is profound and goes to the heart of what we do.  While I acknowledge that schools are not always structured in ways that allow for quality relationship building,  it’s too important NOT to give this priority.  Good teachers know that their job is all about relationships.   If we want our kids to ask questions – to show a passion for our subjects, to engage in the concepts we bring to them, we need to do more than simply tell them to ‘pay attention’.  Getting  to know who our students really are as people is surely a responsibility that comes with the privilege we have of teaching them .

What strategies do you use to find out who your students are? Do you know your students well enough to teach them?

…..just wondering….

* the title of this blog post was inspired by Stephen G Peter’s book titled: “Do you know enough about me to teach me?: a student’s perspective ” (2006)

Being the subject of your own inquiry: learning to inquire within

 For many years, the context of my inquiry work with students has been, broadly speaking, the disciplines of science, the humanities, technologies and the physical aspects of health and wellbeing.   When I look back over years of designing rich “units of inquiry”, the big ideas generally encourage students to investigate the social, physical, natural and built landscape.  Our  goals have been framed around concepts that help students understand continuity and change, systems, culture, diversity, cycles and other significant, timeless themes.  So often, these inquiries have engaged students in finding out about something ‘out there’ – something that, while connected or relevant to their lives in some way, still remained at arm’s length from their inner worlds.

 More recently, my interest in reflective thinking and the centrality of ‘learning to learn’ has added a layer of meaning to these inquiries that was missing in my early work.   I now see every journey of inquiry – whatever the question – as an opportunity to inquire into how we learn. By ensuring that students  and teachers bring a reflective lens to all they do, we  gain such powerful insights into the process of inquiry itself and, in Guy Claxton’s terms, we ‘strengthen learning muscle’.

 But I think I need to take it even further.  Alongside my growing interest in inquiring into learning itself, I have been strongly drawn to the concept of mindfulness and the increasing importance of helping students to  ‘notice themselves’ as they learn.   

Towards the end of term – just before I was to board a plane to do some exciting work overseas for 10 days,  I spent a morning with some teachers planning a unique inquiry into the concept of resilience.   We were interested in seeing what we could do to take this concept and work with it as inquiry teachers: to try to avoid the kind of well-meaning but essentially activity based approach that had been used in the past.  It was such a fascinating and powerful planning meeting.  Essentially, this is an inquiry that will encourage the students to ‘inquire within’.   Sure – we will share stories of people who have successfully faced challenges and the students  will interview others about challenges in their lives – but the most important source of ‘data’  will be the students themselves. 

 My hope is that throughout this inquiry, the students (through journals, circle time, simulations, video play-backs and other routines) will ‘notice’ themselves more.   I want the students to sit on their own shoulders – watch themselves, notice their responses and listen to their self-talk.  I want them to slow down, press the pause button and review their actions. I want them to ask: “what am I noticing about myself in this?”  “What did I just do/say?” “What is this telling me about myself?” “What could I do differently?” I want them to bring an inquiry stance to learning about themselves as people  and I want them to carry that disposition into the rest of their lives.

 Ah, the irony.  At the end of that week, health issues (not life-threatening ones) forced me to postpone travel and cancel my overseas workshops.  I found myself doing my own inquiry into resilience!    Like so many teachers, my life is tightly scheduled, the work is intense and I love it with a passion.   To be suddenly unable to travel and in a state of uncertainty has been enormously unsettling.   I can't make plans, I can’t see what’s ahead – I have to wait and allow things to unfold.  Ironically – the challenge of not knowing; of being  ‘in the fog’ and waiting for it to lift; of expecting the unexpected….these are phrases I say every other day in relation to what it means to be an inquiry teacher!!    

Despite the enormous frustration and the horrible experience of letting people down, the week HAS been an opportunity to be reflective and to inquire into my own way of being.  I’ve been the subject of my own inquiry and – like all challenging events in one’s life – I’ve noticed and learned some interesting things about myself.  The concept of perspective keeps emerging again and again as my most valued ally.  Perspective builds resilience but perspective (for me) takes enormous discipline. I’m working on it.

One of the PYP’s overarching themes is, of course, ‘who we are’.  I know I will now bring a fresh mindset to inquiries planned within this theme in PYP schools -  here is where we can really put the spotlight on learning about ourselves.   But we can also encourage a more mindful disposition simply through the questions we ask across the day and the self talk we model.  Inquiry learners ‘notice’ – the world around and within them.  Noticing yields insight and insight helps regulate our responses to life’s disappointments and opportunities.   Having an inquiring disposition  - when directed inward – helps us know who we are and, even more importantly, who we can become.  As we teach our students to be inquirers,  let’s not inadvertently send the message that the skills they are gaining apply only to what’s ‘out there.’

 Do you encourage your students to inquire within?

Just wondering…

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...