What will we build? An inquiry into culture building inspired by Oliver Jeffers.

AS I write, teachers around my home country of Australia are preparing to begin the school year. Others are returning after their winter break or perhaps after a prolonged period of remote learning. Regardless of the reason, returning to school is an opportunity to ‘reboot’ and refresh - to ask ourselves and our students important questions about the kind of learners we want to be and the kind of learning community we want to build. 

 ‘Building’, ‘constructing’, ‘growing’, ‘creating’ … these are all words that align beautifully with the ethos of inquiry.   As inquirers, we value the process as much as the content or product we might be working towards. As inquiry teachers we see learning as a process of construction, building on prior learning through investigation, analysis and reflection  And we relish that building process in collaboration with our students.  

 So, as we begin the new school year or return after a break, we might ask ourselves and our students ‘What will we build together?’ 

 When I came across Oliver Jeffer’s new book ”What We’ll Build” late last year, I was immediately captivated by it as an allegory for the collaborative journeys of inquiry we take with our students.  It is a book about parenting – a loving letter to Jeffer’s daughter and has all of his wonderful hallmarks – gentle prose, symbolism, glorious illustrations, humour and big ideas.  

As a full-time classroom teacher, I ALWAYS made sure that on our first day together, we connected through at least one really sensational book.  I know of no better way than to commune with children than through powerful literature. If I were starting the year now, I think this is the book I would choose.  Revisiting it yesterday, I imagined the questions it might prompt me to ask myself, my team and my kids. I imagined how it might help us “make plans for our future together”. I imagined , perhaps returning to the book each day. Page by page, question by question. 

 Because that is the way classroom culture is built. Word by word, action by action, minute by minute , day by day.  As teachers, we are culture builders. And this culture determines the way our children come to see themselves as learners and how they see learning itself. If we truly want to build a culture that nurtures curiosity, agency, courage and compassion – we have some important questions to explore from day one. And this beautiful book might help you get the ball rolling. Here are the questions I played with, in response to the text… 

What shall we build, you and I? 

 Take time to ask your learners what they hope and indeed IMAGINE their classroom community will look and feel like. How might the physical space be arranged? What kind of space will support learning? What kind of relationships do students hope to have with each other? With their teachers? What is your vision for your team?  How will you build a wonderful, collaborative team this year? 

Let’s gather all our tools for a start

 What skills and disposition will help us learn together?  What is already in our toolkit as learners? Do we have the tools to manage ourselves, communicate, collaborate, think and be awesome researchers?  What do effective learners DO? What dispositions or attitudes can we cultivate? Do we have the language to talk about these tools for learning? 

 For putting together – and taking apart

How will we help ourselves stay resilient and strong?  How will we view mistakes and failures?  Are we willing to take things apart and start again?  What might we want to ‘take apart’ from the past and put back together in new ways? What might we let go of this year? What needs to change? 

Let’s build a door where there was none

We’ll build a house to be our home

 How might we create a safe and supportive community where we ALL feel we belong?  This is more than a classroom or a school – this is a community. How can we make this a truly inclusive place where each person feels seen? 

I’ll build your future and you will build mine

 What can we offer each other? What are your goals as learners? What are my goals as a teacher? What gifts can we give each other? How can we help each other grow? 

We’ll build a watch to keep our time

 What might our days look like? How can we co construct a routine or timetable to allow for flexibility as well as predictability and routine?  How will we document our journey together? 

We’ll build some love to set aside 

And build a hole where we can hide

 And what about those times when we need to be alone? Is there a space in our classroom that we can go to when we need time with ourselves? What might that look like?  How can we ensure we all get that time out when we need it? 

A fortress to keep our enemies out

And higher walls for when they shout

But you don’t always lose and you don’t always win

So we’ll build a gate to late them in

We’ll build a table to drink our tea and say

“I’m sorry,” “me two”, “me three”

 Conflict is an inevitable part of living and learning with others. We need to be OK with our differences and we know that will help us learn and grow. How might we manage conflict? What do we consider to be our rights and our responsibilities in this learning space? What agreements can we draft to help us learn together? How might this extend to our teaching teams? We need vigorous debate and different perspectives? How will we both ensure and manage that? How can we stay open to new ideas?  Different voices? 

We’ll build a tower to watch the sky

And other worlds to pass us by

 How will we stay connected with what is going on in the world? How can we connect with people and ;places beyond our school? Can we make more use of the outdoors this year?  How will we record and share our wonderings and be relentlessly curious about the world? Let’s make this a place where curiosity is welcome!

Let’s build a tunnel to anywhere

Let’s build a road up to the moon

Let’s imagine where we want to be at the end of this week, this term, this year. What are our goals? How might we help ourselves get there?  How will we stretch and challenge ourselves as learners? 

Let’s build a comfy place to rest

For we’ll be tired soon.

 Rushed, frantic classrooms do not make good learning environments. How will we help ourselves slow down and take more time to notice ourselves and our learning? How will we pay more attention to what’s going on and be more present in our day? What routines will we create to ensure we regularly reflect on what we are learning, doing and feeling? 

Let’s build a boat that can’t be broken

That will not sink, or be cracked open?

 What do we really believe about learning? What do we understand about how we learn?  What are the foundations of this classroom community? What are the things we can all agree are important? What do we value? 

A place to stay when all is lost

To keep the things we love the most

We’ll put these favourite things beside

The earlier love we set aside

 How will we ensure that school is a place where our true passions (as teachers and learners)  and interests are nurtured?  How will we introduce new possibilities and ensure we widen our horizons? What do we want to learn more about? What do we want to learn to make, do and be? 

I think that we might want them later 

When times are hard and needs are greater

 And will the learning that happens this year be the kind of learning that travels with us for life?  What do our students think is important for them to learn? How can we close the gap between school and the world beyond school? 

But first things first, let’s build a fire

For we’ve planned a lot and now we’re tired

It’ll keep us warm like when we’re born

Then we’ll say good night , as all’s all right

 Where will our ‘campfire’ be? Do we have a gathering place? Would rituals and routines might we develop as a class to bring a gentle, connecting rhythm to our days? 

These are the things we will build, you and I

What does it mean to be in true partnership with each other, with learners and with families? 

What will we build? 

Beyond the power of this text to stimulate thinking about building classroom community, this text is about hope and about agency. The agency we all have to  onsciously and thoughtfully build our future together. 

“What We’ll Build” is available here

A trailer for the story is here

You can find out more about the inspiration for this book here

 So….

 What (and how) will YOU build with your students as you create a culture of and for inquiry?

Just wondering…

Staying awake to the world: taking time to inquire into and build our own "background knowledge"

We’ve just passed the winter solstice here in my part of the world. In Victoria, teachers are in their final week of what feels like the longest term in history. Many colleagues  are visibly exhausted from months of remote teaching and adjusting to new ways of working back at school. My overseas colleagues are also now counting the days down until the school year comes to an end in the northern hemisphere.  This past weekend was the first one for almost four months in which I had not worked in some capacity – either delivering online workshops, writing or planning.  We are all, undoubtedly in need of some time out.  Immersing ourselves in things that take us away from the world of teaching is vital for rejuvenation: for our physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. This past week, I have also been reminded of how important our engagement with the world beyond teaching is for, ironically, nurturing the quality of our teaching.

 One of the most profoundly important elements in designing for inquiry learning is the dialogue we have around the ‘planning table’ about the concepts and big ideas that lie at the heart of any inquiry journey. If the journey is exploring the ‘way living things adapt to changing environments’ it is not enough simply to find a few resources and develop some activities – we need to interrogate our own thinking about this big idea.  What do we really understand about adaptation? What background  knowledge do we bring to this?  If our inquiry is into the ‘role that the arts can play in changing the world’, we must ask ourselves how we feel about this statement? What lived experience do we have of this phenomenon? What examples have we heard about? Read about?  If we are supporting children to inquire into the ‘relationship between sustainability and materials’, what decisions have we made recently about choices of materials in our own lives? What do we really understand about the science of materials? If we are designing a journey of inquiry to examine the concept of exploration, how far have we come since our own impoverished education about our history? How many of us might have made the same mistake as our Australian Prime Minister did recently when he claimed we 'did not have slavery in Australia?  

When we engage learners in a process of inquiry, we most often begin by spending time tuning in to their prior knowledge. We identify their ‘first thinking’, theories and ways of seeing the ideas they are inquiring into.  But do we do this sufficiently for ourselves?  How often do we give ourselves time, as a team, to discuss our own experiences, positions, perspectives and understandings of the very things we are inviting our learners to inquire into?    And how often do we take the time to inform ourselves when we feel less secure in our understandings of the issues that sit at the core of the conceptual understandings we have designed for learners?   In my experience, the stronger inquiry teachers – the ones who question with most dexterity and bring a more intentional disposition to their observations, are the teachers who have the better grasp of both the concepts and the ‘content’ the learners are exploring.   I have always been wary of the glib phrase: “Inquiry teachers can learn alongside the children”.  While there is certainly truth in that (I have learned SO much simply being part of an inquiry journey with groups and individuals) it doesn’t mean we are ‘off the hook’.  Our ignorance can prevent us from asking better questions, helping learners make connections or pointing the way to critical information that can help struggling learners make meaning.  In fact I have often observed in my own teaching that the deeper my understanding of something is, the better I am at listening, waiting, questioning and holding back to support the learner.   Even when we might be assisting learners in a personal inquiry that goes well beyond our own field of interest and expertise, we need to know enough about how to connect to and locate others with the expertise … and that, in itself, requires us to stay awake to the world around us. 

 At the very least, taking time to inquire into our own understanding and experience of the conceptual landscape into which we are taking our children can help fuel our own curiosity. True inquiry teachers have what Susan Engel (2015) so beautifully calls “hungry minds’. They become fascinated by the questions children are raising, they are curious about their own ways of thinking about and seeing the material they are sharing with the class. They are voracious learners with open minds and open hearts Spending time connecting with our own experiences and understanding of and questions about the field our learners are inquiring into is time well spent.  It doesn’t mean we need to be experts on every discipline. Primary classroom teachers are generalists by nature. But that doesn’t excuse us from being informed.   So what might this look like? How can we stay more awake in the world and keep our minds hungry?

 Some ideas…

• Prior to a planning meeting, ask each person in the team to locate a clip and/or reading to share with others. These might not be resources you use with students but may fuel your own thinking about the issues.

•  If you design inquiries under a compelling question (broad/open ended/conceptual and non-googleable) go round the table sharing each of YOUR initial responses to the question.  How have your individual life experiences shaped your view of this big idea? How might that impact on your dialogue with learners? 

•  Consider having staff book/movie clubs using texts that are not directly about teaching. Imagine a whole staff here in Australia reading and discussing Bruce Pascoe’s “Dark Emu” or collectively viewing the documentary “The Australian Dream” about Adam Goodes.  What a fantastic way to bring the spirit of inquiry and powerful dialogue into the staffroom! 

• Share your favourite podcasts with each other - the ones that help you really grow your brain. Watch some Ted talks together.

•  If as a team, you are feeling less confident in your background knowledge, invite someone with expertise to come and spend time with you or ‘zoom them in’ to your planning meeting. Be inquirers. Most people with expertise in an area are delighted to have an opportunity to share their passion. 

• If there are places you might take your students as part of the inquiry (gallery/zoo/museum/parkland/historical site) why not have your team meeting at the site after school or on the weekend? 

• Read. Or watch some clips. Or listen to some podcasts.  Or talk to people that have passion and expertise in this area. Come to your planning meeting ready to share some case studies or examples of the big ideas that will drive the inquiry.

•  When planning, as yourselves: What is it that we hope our students will come to understand as a result of this inquiry?  And commit to documenting these as full statements (students will understand ….) not dot points/questions/phrases.  It is easy to generate questions like “What is sustainability?” or “How do people express their culture through the arts?” or “What does it mean to be healthy” and never actually discuss the conceptual understandings that might be developed through those questions.  

• Most importantly, give this work time.  I would argue that these conversations are just as important as the design of learning tasks.  They help us connect to the why. They help us get clarity about our own thinking. They help reveal our biases, our blind spots and our confusions which can pave the way for poor questioning and missed opportunities when we are engaging with children. 

While there is a strong emphasis on learning processes in inquiry, it remains the case that powerful inquiry is fuelled by content of significance.  We can’t get to those conceptual understandings without exploring case studies and examples that gradually help us see patterns and make connections.  As inquiry teachers, we need to remain awake to the world around us. We need to have hungry minds that stay relentlessly curious about the way the world works and the way we understand the world. We need to keep pushing ourselves out of our “comfortable knowledge bubbles” and be prepared to be the geographers, historians, scientists, authors, mathematicians and artists we hope our students will be. And when we don’t know, we need to experience the thrill of the hunt – to yearn to know more. 

So my wish for you – as so many of you take a much deserved break, is that you can spend time revelling in the joy of your own learning about things that go beyond teaching.  So go find those podcasts, visit that museum (even if online), talk to your engineering/landscape gardener/pharmacist/builder friend about their job, listen to some music you have never listened to before, go look at some art, read some long form articles, take a walk in the forest and ask yourself what you know about the ecosystem around you, catch up on some documentaries…and enjoy cultivating your own curiosity.   You’ll be a better inquiry teacher for it. 

How do you ‘stay awake to the world’ amidst your busy life as a teacher? 

 Just wondering

Relinquish, restore and renew: three questions to take on your journey

It has been an intense few weeks here in Australia – indeed all around the world.  As I said in my previous post, I have found myself steeped in the very practice I have spent my professional life researching advocating – inquiry.  When I am asked what inquiry might “look like” in a remote teaching and learning context, my first response is that it looks like what it IS right now!   We are all asking questions. going into the unknown, exploring, gathering data, figuring out what is working, what isn’t, changing our thinking, asking more questions…at a ‘meta’ level, we are undertaking a huge, collaborative inquiry.  And I would argue that we are also each moving through a very personal inquiry too – as individuals within our personal communities - beyond our role as teachers.

A lot of people are talking about the opportunity for reflection as our lives are forced inward - both literally and figuratively. As someone who has long championed the vital role that reflective thinking plays in the classroom, I couldn’t agree more. Somewhat paradoxically, for these past 3 weeks, I have found some of my own reflective practices falling away.  I routinely write a journal entry each night – I have done for years. But for the last 3 weeks my journal pages are empty. I only just picked it up again yesterday. Maybe it was the shock of it all, maybe the fact that I have spent most of my days writing (rather than teaching/facilitating) or maybe my routine is just out of whack.  Regardless, the call to reflect might be too soon for many of us who are currently scrambling to “pivot” (word of the month) our lives from what they were to what they are now. 

Here in my home state of Victoria, teachers had just 3 days prior to their holidays to pull something together in preparation for school closures.  Hardly time for thoughtful, reflective, deep engagement.  But now, on the eve of my local schools beginning term 2 (with a strange mix of schools being open but families urged to keep kids at home) -  I am wondering about where our inevitable reflections might lead us? 

The weekend before we moved into a level 3 shutdown, I watched a fascinating clip by the scientist Jem Bendell whose work focusses on the concept of deep adaptation particularly in response to Climate Change (remember that global crisis?).  Watching this clip through the lens of the current pandemic made it even more fascinating. So many of the points he raised about our response to climate change were just as relevant to this crisis. 

 “We are not in control anymore  - and we will act without knowing whether we will be successful in this very uncertain time” 

 In the quest for deep adaptation Bendell poses three questions. 

•  What is it that we most value – what do we want to keep?

• What is it that we must let go of ?

• What is it that we could restore? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAZJtFZZYmM&vl=en

 There is much more to these questions and his framing of them than I will do justice to here - but I urge you to watch the clip.  It certainly gave me food for thought. Bendell’s questions made me wonder. What questions am I noticing myself asking as I am suddenly forced to live a VERY different existence? What questions might help me make meaning as I ponder the possibility of returning to schools at some stage in the future? What questions might we ask ourselves as we move through to the ‘other side’ of this (we need to start asking them now – regardless of how far away that time might be.)

So, here are my 3R’s, as questions they may be of help to you too – in your thinking about teaching or even in your life aside from teaching. 

Relinquish

What might I let go/give up? What is this teaching me to do without or release? 

In my persona l life,  I am challenging myself to reconsider my insanely busy schedule. Can I relinquish the busy-ness that dominates my life as an educator?  As an inquiry educator I wonder if this experience will help teachers relinquish control? Will it help them see the power of really trusting learners? Can we relinquish our need to make all the decisions FOR learners that they can make for themselves?    

 Restore

What might I restore that has been lost, forgotten or compromised?

In my personal life, I feel like my commitment to my own health and wellbeing is undergoing a kind of ‘restoration’  - I am walking regularly again and I am practicing yoga for the first time in many years.   What could be restored in the service of inquiry learning?  I would love to see the restoration of the permission to be spontaneous. Veteran teachers often become a little ‘misty eyed’ when I speak of seizing the moment. It would be lovely to see it restored.  AS authors share clips of themselves reading aloud to kids around the world, I long for the central role that reading beautiful literature aloud in classrooms once had. Is it my imagination or are we doing less of that these days?  Restoration is not about harking back to the past…(thank goodness we have moved on from so much of what was NOT good inquiry). It is about ensuring that things of VALUE are not lost.

Revolutionise

What might I change? 

People all around the world are revolutionising their practice in response to his emergency. I wonder – what might look different when we return?  What is already different? This is a time for restoration but it is also a time for renewal. My family has had to completely revolutionize the way we use and share our house. We now have a recording and a dance studio in what was once a bedroom and a spare room. And it has been an amazing creative opportunity. We may never change it back!   What might be revolutionalized in your classroom? What is already new and more effective in the way you are working remotely? I am already hearing teachers noticing the power of kids being able to have more control over their days and their timetables. Perhaps you might revolutionize your approach to timetabling to ensure greater learner agency.

 Some people have started to refer to this moment in our history as ‘the great pause’. I love that metaphor. A ‘pause manifesto’ was recently posted on the ‘dolectures’ website:

 “Do you give yourself permission to pause? And if not, why not? That is a big question, but if you can create small pauses, you might be able to start to get some perspective on that and grow the sense of space and the feeling of agency you have over your own life.”

 https://www.thedolectures.com/blog/the-pause-manifesto

 Pressing the pause button may mean we stop to ask ourselves some beautiful questions  - and have the time to listen to the answers.  So thanks to the inspiration from Jem Bendall, these are mine:

What will I relinquish?

What will I restore?

What will I revolutionise? 

For those teachers embarking on this strange, new journey (my heart is with you fellow Victorian teachers!!) would these question be helpful to take with you?

Just wondering  

7 Lessons from deep in the inquiry trenches...

Who else is flexing their inquiry muscles right now? As we all rapidly transition to teaching online or trying to support our learners at a distance (not all kids around the world have access to internet and devices #justsaying) teachers everywhere are immersed in personal inquiry. I am no exception. In this post, I am sharing some of the things I am noticing as I inquire - and how they are serving to remind me of some essential ingredients of this beautiful, messy process. It can be easy to reduce inquiry to a shallow set of strategies or an easy cycle to spin through or a bunch of characteristics and platitudes…I’ve been guilty of that myself at times. But the reality- when you are IN it, is complex, nuanced, layered and rich. And frustrating too. Some thoughts from my own internal ‘trenches’ this week!

1. I’m noticing: I have a real need to inquire – I am motivated by purpose. 

 In just two weeks my 2020 work schedule went from having a long wait-list to a few tentative, online workshops and what feels like the vain hope of a resumption of work later in the year. As the family ‘breadwinner’ this unexpected situation prompted a sense of real urgency for me to be creative, adaptive, agile and most of all to INQUIRE.  My driving question was easy to formulate “How might I effectively transition the work I do face-to-face to a distance learning context?”  I sure am curious and motivated (panicked?).  I NEED to find out about this – I have a purpose that is not only for me but, more importantly, my purpose is about supporting my family.  Would I have a sustained interest and desire to learn about online facilitation had there been no real purpose for me? Probably not. Would I have fully engaged with this inquiry if some well-meaning ‘teacher’ told me I had to?  I doubt it. I am doing this because I can see the value and purpose in it. 

Reminder:  Powerful inquiry is driven by real purpose and the learner’s desire to make a difference to their lives and the lives of others.

2. I’m noticing: My learning journey is messy – but I am moving through a process. 

I certainly did not map out a step by step sequence of tasks to support myself on this journey so far (oh to have time to plan!) BUT when I reflect on what I have been doing, I can see how I have engaged in the elements I so often share with teachers and kids.  Of course, I have had to tune in to what I already know. I have spent time assessing what I CAN do (I have used ZOOM and padlet before, I am OK with social media, etc.etc.) This prior experience is so important in giving me a starting point for my inquiry.  I have found out in so many different ways – trial and error, viewing clips, reading posts and articles, asking experts (thank you Dr Jennifer Wathall, Becky Carlson and Karen Boyes ) crowd sourcing (thank you twitter and facebook). I have needed to use a diverse range of research skills but there is no WAY my inquiry would have been successful if I simply googled everything. I really needed to ask questions of people that know about this. Primary data sources have been the most helpful so far.  Time to sort out, process, reflect and meaning make has been essential.  I have done this mostly through talking with others. My husband does a little facilitation work on line so he and I have been reflecting on and talking through our respective discoveries. I have also found myself making lists, diagrams, notes, charts….I have had to STOP every so often, slow down and really make sense of what I am learning alone and with others.  I’ve had to let go of some ideas and embrace new thinking.   One of my most helpful moments this week was an ‘unhurried conversation’ facilitated by Johnnie Moore that allowed fellow facilitators to reflect and share in a really lovely, spacious way. Reflection like this helps deepen my learning. And I am certainly needing to take action – sooner rather than later.  I’ve already conducted a half day workshop.  My action has been as much a part of my ‘finding out’ as it has been application (the cycle is two-way). I have needed to jump in and test out what I am learning in order to feel like my inquiry is worth sticking with. So far so good.  

Reminder: Powerful inquiry is not linear but there is a process. Recognising that we are ultimately moving forward, making meaning and applying our learning is vital in order to feel success.

3. I’m noticing: Skills and dispositions are my most important assets right now!

I am so acutely aware that sustaining this inquiry depends on my capacity to manage myself, collaborate with others, communicate well, think critically, creatively and reflectively and, of course research.  I have needed to be curious, courageous, persistent, resourceful, patient and compassionate (towards myself and others).  My learning skills and dispositions have been the greatest assets I could have right now. And I can feel those “learning muscles” getting a real workout too. When we are on a true journey of inquiry we both depend on AND grow the skills and dispositions we need for all learning. I will be a better learner as a result of this (and a better teacher I hope) 

 Reminder: Powerful inquiry is not just about WHAT we learn but HOW we learn.

4. I’m noticing: I don’t know what I don’t know

Sure – I had some basic prior knowledge and a ‘big question’ to begin with – but as to what I really needed to find out?  Well that was all pretty foggy at the beginning. (And I still consider myself in the fog ..it’s just a little clearer now).  The thing is, the questions driving my inquiry are coming up AS I inquire.  This is something I often notice with kids too, especially when they are engaged in personal inquiry projects.  Somewhat paradoxically, it is not until they start finding out that they know what they need to find out.  Well – that’s been me this week.  I have more questions after I watch a tutorial or read a post than I did before. Inquiry begets inquiry. If I was posting my questions on a wonder wall – it would have started off pretty empty and be really full by now! 

Reminder: Powerful inquiry is driven by questions… but those questions keep emerging throughout the process. We can’t expect kids to define all their questions up front.

5. I’m noticing: I really wrestle with feeling incompetent and uncertain

 Inquiry is all about going into the unknown.  My journeys into the unknown this week have been exhilarating at times – and also really challenging at other times. Last night, during a 3 hour online workshop with a bunch of fabulous educators, there was a point where we were toggling between our zoom screen and another online document. My zoom screen disappeared altogether and I had NO idea how to retrieve it. Meantime, the conversation raced on … as I struggled with my technology, I stopped listening and fell behind really quickly. What an awful feeling! I could feel the motivation draining out of me.  I finally fessed up and admitted I was lost  - but even that was hard.  Inquiry learning is full of moments when the learner is inevitably thrown off course, feeling lost and confused.  Creating a safe space in which learners can say “Hey – I’m lost, I don’t get this, help me out” and slowing down to accommodate those moments is so important.  The inner critic we all have can be very loud at times like these  - I am learning to be kinder to myself.  

Reminder: Powerful inquiry inevitably involves some failure, wrong turns and the need to re-route.  Sustained failure is demotivating.

6. I’m noticing: I don’t want to be talked at for too long. I want to be able to find things out for myself and THEN ask for help!

I have had a few moments over the last week where things have been explained to me … at some length. Like a distracted child, I have found myself doing the online version of rolling around at the back of the mat or daydreaming about something while I ‘listened’.  Lengthy, webinar monologues have not worked for me.  Too much teacher talk.  It has made me think about the oft- used excuse for too much teacher talk/direct instruction early in an inquiry (“We front-load the kids so they have background knowledge and then we let them inquire”). What I have benefited from most is information at the point of need.  I needed people to allow me to ask questions, to check that I understood, to let me play and try and figure things out – THEN explain things that I couldn’t figure out for myself. I loved the moments in Jennie’s workshop yesterday where she would say “Let’s have a play with this – see what you can figure out, help each other out….” Gradually we would work it out together but we did NOT need her to give a lengthy, detailed direct-instruction style monologue – we needed to get in there and play. 

Reminder: Powerful inquiry is something the learner does – not something done to the learner. 

7. I’m noticing: I have welcomed being able to manage my time and learn at my own pace.

It has been so interesting to notice the way I have (and haven’t) managed my time over the last week.  I have gone from being someone who has weeks chock full of scheduled meetings, workshops, flights, collaborative planning sessions. – all mapped out ahead, all organised and timetabled. Suddenly, I have the rare experience of a lot to do BUT, more or less, control over when (and where) I will do those things.  Don’t get me wrong - deadlines have been important.  I will be facilitating workshops on iTime online tomorrow afternoon which in turn has helped me structure my day today. That is keeping me on track to a degree. Bit sometimes I have been able to stay focussed for hours on end and other times I have closed the computer, unable to stick with it …and made myself a cup of tea, hung out with my dog …( or washed my hands …again) before being ready to get back to my learning.    Self pacing is hard- even for me as an adult but it is also welcome. I can’t imagine engaging in this inquiry with a tightly imposed timetable. 

Reminder: While check points/deadlines are helpful, powerful inquiry journeys flow at different paces for different learners.  

 I am hesitant to join the (slightly annoying) chorus of those that champion the benefits the COVID-!9 pandemic is gifting us.  I am far too aware of the tragedy unfolding, the dire circumstances of so many people and the loss from which so many will struggle to recover. I know I am incredibly privileged to even be in the position to write this and to have a moment to reflect.  But while I acknowledge the devastation, I can also acknowledge the lessons I am still learning. The things I need to remind myself.   I can feel myself learning and becoming a better inquiry teacher –  and a better learner.

As teachers, we are all inquiring right now. Let’s notice what’s happening within us as we do.  I’ll keep reflecting and I’ll keep sharing because- as everyone keeps so rightly pointing out – we are all in this together.

 Stay safe….care for yourselves and please - keep wondering. And if you have the energy to share - what lessons are YOU learning about inquiry right now….?

Just wondering…

Inquiry in the mist – and midst – of troubling times.

I am writing this post many thousands of miles from my country – Australia.  I left Australia the day after Christmas to share a long planned and much anticipated fortnight with my younger daughter in Europe and then to travel on to work here.  While I have been away two events have happened that have made it harder than ever before to be away from home. A dear friend – who was terminally ill but doing so well before I left, had a fall and died. It has been heartbreaking to be away, to say the least. And parts of my country, my beautiful Australia was (and continues to be) ravaged by fire in ways we have never seen  before.  I have thought long and hard about cancelling work and returning early and have been faced with an enormous, personal dilemma…  but on balance, I decided to stay. There is much work still to do when I do return.   And some of it is grief work.

 Grief work is something I am sadly familiar with – most of us are in one form or another.  But grief is important work and many teachers in Australia will be facing the challenge of engaging in this work in some way over the coming weeks and months.  It might feel like the wrong word to describe the impact of the fires but, for me, the deep sadness,  sense of loss, the bewilderment, the helplessness, the anger, the hunger for community, the longing for what was and the uncertainty about what is to come are as true for my feelings about my country – and about our Earth – as they are for my friend. 

 The overarching purpose of this blog is to explore what it means to bring an inquiry stance to teaching and learning.  Underpinning all my posts are the  values of curiosity, wonder, open-mindedness, courage, open-heartedness, compassion, deep, critical thinking, exploration and agency. I can think of no more important context than right now, this time, to champion these things and to place them firmly at the centre of our work with children. Most importantly - our own bewilderment, anger and uncertainty have the potential to lead to helplessness, disconnection and even cynicism.  Deliberately nurturing our own curiosity, optimism, courage and compassion can help avoid that trap and offer a more constructive way forward. Grief leans on compassion in order to recede  - compassion for self, others and the planet. 

 As I write this, I am gazing out the window of a hotel room in Zurich. When I woke this morning, I could see nothing but fog (eerily like the images of smoke filled vistas that I have seen in news from Australia). Gradually, as the morning progresses, the mist is slowly clearing and the view becoming more apparent. I can now see the detail on the houses directly in front of me while those on the hills further away remain shrouded. I trust that in time today, the fog will lift and I will see more clearly.

This is what grief work is like. Indeed this is also what inquiry as a process is like. It requires trust. It requires the understanding that we CAN’T see it all at once. We don’t know where it will go but, gradually, we see the path and trust in our instincts. We stop, we reflect, we get feedback, we question some more, we check in, we move forward and our understanding grows. We both allow the path to emerge AND we help construct it. 

In returning to our classrooms in the coming weeks we will need, in part, to trust that the learners will lead us – if we take time to listen.  Of course we will need to make some plans, and think ahead about what and how to manage the opportunity and the challenge but if we plan too tightly (even with the best of intentions)  we may miss out on the most important element in the inquiry process – tuning in to the thinking and feeling of the learners themselves in order to get gradual clarity about the best ways forward.  So ask your kids – ask them for permission to have the conversation in the first place, ask them how they feel about talking about it and – if they want to – ask them to share their wonderings and allow yourself to ask “What does this reveal to me? Where might we need to go next?”  

Bringing the spirit of inquiry to the beginning of the school year in Australia may well mean we change what we had intended to do.  If every cab driver, waiter, shop assistant, flight attendant, etc. I meet here on the other side of the world has questions/opinions about the fires – I can only imagine how present it would be at home.   For the remainder of this post, I want to offer some thoughts that might support the discussions you are having.  as teachers ahead of those vital first days and weeks and also link you to some resources

1.     Stay truly open to possibilities. 

 It won’t be until you meet with your learners that you will have a sense of what they night want and need to explore. This will vary enormously across classes, age groups and of course across schools. Some schools are sadly in the very thick of the fire experience while others have not been as directly affected.  Be mindful of “units” and other activities that are offered on the topic. Some will be just right for your learners while others inappropriate for your context.  Inquiries are best born of the interests, questions and needs of your students.

2.    Invite rather than assume

 IF your learners are OK with this, invite them to share their questions but don’t feel that the questions must be answered. Many of the questions associated with this time are not easy, googleable, questions. This is a good opportunity to allow questions to unfurl, to be explored, discussed, pondered – but to also help children understand that the question itself might be all that is needed for now. 

“I suggest that we balance our moral ferocity with humility and tenderness. First, we need the humility of consistent self-examination. This requires us to do something very countercultural: Celebrate questions even when we do not have answers. Our culture rewards certainty, confidence, and definitive answers. By celebrating questions, we increase the likelihood of identifying the potential harm we might do in the name of our values.” (Rabbi Doctor Ariel Berger, 2019) 

3.     Provide options.

For some children, having direct conversations about the situation. might be too confronting while others will be desperate to talk about it.  There may also be teachers who feel more capable of facilitating these conversations who might offer to work with kids on an opt in basis. It is unlikely to be a one-size-fits -all approach. 

4.     Start building a bank of resources

There are so many clips, articles, images) that you MAY find useful depending on the needs of your learners.  - so many incredible stories that illustrate the goodness in humans. The work being done in animal shelters, the fund raising efforts, the day to day compassion and kindness shown to those in need. These are powerful case studies that can inspire and reassure.

5.     Commit to a slower, more open culture in your classroom

Big issues, big questions take time. The NEED time and space to be explored properly.  Know your curriculum for the year really well so you can see how the pathways you might take actually support the curriculum. The general capabilities (especially personal, social and ethical thinking) are central to this work. 

6.     Think conceptually.

“Topic level” inquiries like “natural disasters”  are not necessarily the best way forward with this. But the issue abounds with potential connections to powerful concepts and big ideas.  These are some of the questions that may emerge or be useful to provide a broader conceptual frame:

• How do people make a positive difference to their lives and the lives of others?

• How can we respond to challenges in our lives?

• Who’s got the power? How are decisions made in this and other communities? 

• How do people use their talents and passions to change the world? 

• How have innovations in science changed the world?

• What can we learn from other cultures to strengthen our own?

• How are we connected to the earth?

• What makes places special/unqiue? 

• What is the role of the arts in bringing about change?

• Are we a sustainable school? How can we be even more sustainable?

• What does it mean to be part of a connected community?

• What can we learn from the past in order to shape the future?

• What does it mean to be a leader? 

• What kind of community do we want to be?

• What does it mean to be resilient? 

7.     Take action

Many of us feel more positive about challenging situations when we feel we are taking action – when we have some agency to make a difference.  Your students may wish to explore some of the many ‘actions’ being carried out by people within communities all around the world and be part of these,  This is a great time to make real connections with individuals, community groups, and organisations and empower your students through involvement in real projects. 

 8.     Focus on community building.

This is something we do at the beginning of the year anyway but it is so very important in these times. As Brene Brown says “Rarely does a response make something better, what makes something better is connection”.   This is a powerful time to inquire into the relationships we have with each other and to think deeply about the kind of relationships we want – in our classroom, in our teams, in our staff room, with our leaders, with each other and across the world.  Strong, respectful, caring relationships will be the key to recovery. Of that I am sure. And schools are places in which young people learn about relationships – for better or worse.  Let’s champion kindness, let’s commit to showing kids what it means to truly have each other’s back. Lets model respect and compassion.  In times like these the petty conflicts that seem to pervade some schools have no place. 

 9.     Keep it balanced.

It hardly needs saying but of course none of us wants to inadvertently overwhelm children or exacerbate anxiety.  For many children,  school might be a place that allows them to voice their concerns and curiosities but is also be a place that is an emotional refuge from what they have been hearing/seeing and thinking about over summer.  Routine, a focus on the things that bring us joy, play, continued inquiries into all manner of fascinating things … help bring balance, perspective relief and hope.  

10. Stay connected to nature

 Finally – and most urgently, I want to encourage you to do whatever you can to get your kids out INTO the natural environment and to do whatever you can to foster the deep connection with and love for the earth we all need.   For decades, environmental educators have offered this simple adage that we need to teach children about, for and IN the environment.  This situation could easily create an image of the natural environment as something to be feared and avoided.  It certainly needs respect – but it also needs our love. We are more willing to care for the things we are deeply connected to.  Explore the incredible work of Bush Kindergartens, contact the environment officer in your local council, see if there are walks/tours run by Aboriginal educators and elders in your community,  commit to creating greener spaces in your school grounds, check out the beautiful work done by https://www.natureplay.org.au  or https://www.gould.org.au.  Invite parents and children to share some of their most treasured outdoor places.  Use the outdoors as a context for inquiry. 

As our return to school becomes ever closer, there is a growing number of offerings on this very subject for teachers.  I have shared my thoughts here but you can also find some great thoughts here: 

https://www.smore.com/hcw1t

 and, if you go to my facebook page and see the post there…there are dozens of suggestions  and links to more articles and reflections from teachers to add to my own:

https://www.facebook.com/KathMurdochConsulting/

https://sites.google.com/uldtraining.com/bushfireseduhelp/contacts-map?authuser=0

Finally – one of the most amazing things about this time has been the incredible offerings by artists (writers, singers, dancers, visual artists…)  to help make sense of things and to raise funds. I am unashamedly sharing my daughter’s offering – using her role as a singer and songwriter to make a difference. All proceeds from this song go to Greenmusic which is working hard to make that industry more sustainable

https://open.spotify.com/album/1dpZNak4zAmCvYXwH7a1Eu

 So….

 Are you still with me? If so – thank you for reading through such a long post. I feel that this has been part of MY grief work – processing, clarifying and making a connection to you - the amazing community of inquiry educators who read this.  Outside, the mist has indeed lifted a little more but there remains an unseen, unknown element in my view. I need to trust that this too, will become clear in time and that my heavy heart will lighten. May yours also. 

“In this encounter lies hope for the future. If we can educate new generations to balance ferocity with humility and tenderness, questions with responses, then our encounters with darkness, whether in the study of history or the daily news, can galvanize thoughtful, compassionate action. And maybe one day, when it is very quiet, we will hear, not the cries of the suffering, but laughter.” (Burgur 2019) 

How do you see your role in these challenging times? 

What other thoughts do you have about way an inquiry stance can help us do this important work

Just wondering…

Reference: https://www.globalonenessproject.org/library/articles/learning-and-teaching-heart-troubled-times?fbclid=IwAR2L9vgCnhS2eCE-2fJVz4xxHaWbS9VFKjCsI3DqYH1oSX6u6FKdmmGEp8g

Guest Post: The Role of Personal Inquiries (iTime) in an Agentive Learning Community

I first met Graham at the International School of Manila many years ago and was struck by his thoughtful, reflective disposition. Graham has been ‘inquiring into inquiry’ ever since - working with children in Manila, Japan and now Saudi Arabia. After hearing about the innovative work he has been doing with his young learners, I invited Graham to write a guest post for this blog.  A keen documenter of his own learning, Graham shares with us some of the insights he has gained as he works on nurturing agency in is learning community. In particular, insights drawn from the experience of ‘iTime’ which offers young learners opportunities to design inquiries into their interests 

From Graham:

Much discussion has taken place in my current, and previous, school about the best place/time for personalised inquiries. Perhaps these discussions are taking place in your school too. Are they necessary? Are personal inquiries using up ‘learning time?’ What do students actually learn? Do the students learn anything? Each year after my first visit to Reggio Emilia and thinking more about the purpose of documentation, I record the story of the class that I work with. The documentation usually reveals a ‘bigger picture’ theme and some unexpected outcomes that challenge assumptions and reveal new possibilities.

I have learned that through listening to the children, valuing and supporting personalised learning, we co-create opportunities for deep, connected understanding. Personalised inquiry helps shine a light simultaneously on the what, the how and the why of learning. 

With the children, we built our understanding of what personalized inquiry, or iTime, meant for us.  This understanding grew and changed as we gave ourselves opportunities and structures to reflect and notice how, what and why we were learning. What became clear to us is that the benefits of iTime were layered, varied and extensive. ITime played a pivotal role in our class community. For us, iTime was about finding a purpose and exploring it independently or in small groups. Children selected projects guided by some prompting questions that led us to consider our purpose, who we were helping, what skills and dispositions we were developing and what connections we were making to other areas of learning. ITime projects were varied throughout the year. The projects ranged from researching and designing class logos and t-shirts so that we could find each other more easily on field trips, to building a wooden ramp for our rabbit cage in our learning space so the rabbits could get more exercise, to designing and building iPad holders so that we could photograph and video the books we read steadily and have free hands to turn pages and operate the iPad, to making movies of stories that had been recently written.

iTime allowed these young learners to inquire into authentic projects of their choice

 The benefits of iTime were, I think, partly a result of the work the children and I did on creating individual schedules for their day. Through observation, reflection, argument, data-collection, discussion and negotiation, they decided on daily schedules that suited their brains and bodies and other relevant considerations. In this context, each child selected a time they would devote to their iTime project.

Nurturing agency by involving learners in designing their day

“With the value and time placed on our iTime, the class community, including the teachers, was able to get to know so much more about each other. Initially, during these times, I was an observer. I was eager to see how the children responded to the proposal of using time to inquire into materials, tools, and projects. Documentation of these sessions was frequent and came in the form of photographs, videos and noting the voices of the children as they interacted with these materials, spaces, peers and tools. Standing back led me to see the children in a different light. Having time to discuss projects and proposals as a community led the children to see themselves and their friends differently too. Connections were made. Inspiration was given and received. Collaborations emerged.

I then began to conference with the children, and it became clearer what their passions were. It became clear what they were curious about building, designing or researching. It was also valuable for us to reflect upon how long projects lasted and how invested the children were in these projects. Noticing and talking about this with the students led us to more discussion about stamina, perseverance, desires, interests and resilience. 

“I just do what she (her friend) is doing. I don’t have an idea (for a project) yet.”

“I do a project each day. It is short. I think… I think that if it is longer it could be better. Like his ramp. Mine is okay but not so good.”

 These iTime projects were also part of what really helped us become more aware of the interconnectedness of our learning. Having our iTime projects structured and supported with our personal data-collection documents, and our self-documentation planning and reflection sheets was helping the children see how what they were learning in different parts of their day was transferable and applicable in other, new ways. For example, "We needed to measure something for our project and then we were learning about measuring in our math and we could measure so much to make our iTime project." We then looked together at our mathematics standards to see how this was connected and realized that what we were learning about was what the standards wanted us to understand. We continued to find out more about measuring through exploration of measurement tools and through applying what we were finding out to the project that prompted the initial inquiry. Interest was sparked and soon others were eager to find out more about measurement.

Planning, documenting and reflecting on personal inquiries is key - individual and small group investigations are the perfect opportunity to highlight the ‘how ‘as well as the ‘what’ of learning.

One concern I had initially about how this whole experience would turn out was that it would perpetuate the idea that learning needs to be segmented into discipline-specific times. On reflection, the opposite may be true. Having our iTime projects play such a huge role in the class and placing such high value on that time has given us reason to notice and act upon the connections that exist and are emerging.

 Providing regular opportunities for young learners to explore their interests and passions has been a vital part of our learning community. For others considering something like this with their students, I offer a few suggestions that have arisen from my own learning:

• Listening: Step back and observe what children’s words and actions are telling you they need. This can be prompted by questions about how, when and why we learn best as a part of inquiring into learning itself. Listening can also help us avoid assumptions and learn more about prior knowledge and experiences of our learners.

• Documenting: Record what is happening in the space. Notice as patterns and themes emerge. What are they telling us about the learning? How are they influencing the next steps? What are they telling us that children need from us? What is surprising? What did we not expect? How are our assumptions being challenged?

• Valuing personal inquiry equally: To paraphrase Ron Ritchart, what we value is what becomes valued by those around us. Our iTime became an equally valued part of the day alongside mathematical learning, reading and writing. We had mini-lessons, conferences, reflections and goal-setting, just as we did with other areas of our learning - reassuring for me as a teacher as I do this for other disciplines every day.

• Building routine and structure: Contrary to some misconceptions about inquiry/agency-based learning, this is an important factor. Creating structures together that offer visible reflection, data collection and connection making opportunities helps us reflect, notice, wonder and move to next steps.

• Sharing the focus between the how, the what and the why: As well as reflecting on and celebrating the content (new technical skills, knowledge, conceptual understandings) - place an equal spotlight on the learning assets (skills and dispositions), and the reason for the learning. This provides students with the reason to reflect and with increased ownership over decisions made about learning. Guy Claxton’s ‘Split Screen’ learning intention and reflection technique is a helpful way to make this happen.

• Helping make new learning and connections visible: Help learners notice how all areas of their learning are connected. Use reflection and visibility tools to notice and help make connections visible and clear.

• Trusting and becoming comfortable with different types of learning happening simultaneously: Trust that your systems for documentation and conferencing will ensure that you are regularly in conversation with students about purpose, goals and next steps. Trust that the reflection systems, thinking routines and planning structures in place will help the students dig deeper in an independent and purposeful manner.

• Valuing ALL mistakes: It is something we all say, but occasionally we only value the types of mistakes that we are comfortable with. Reflecting on, for example, how little balance a student is in their learning decisions, can lead to deep and thoughtful dialogue about the decision-making process, responsibility, accountability and so much more.

• Using common language: Building a shared understanding of important vocabulary helps us to understand, question and share coherently in relation to our projects.