A workshop for teachers who want to take inquiry further and who believe in the power of personal passions! (NE-year 8)
“ Whatever your circumstances, you need to find time to be in your element – to do what gives you energy rather than what takes it from you.” Ken Robinson, 2013
There has been growing interest in ‘personalised learning’ for many years now. Increasingly, schools are making arrangements to provide more opportunities for learners to learn to be self-directed and to have their needs and interests met through the curriculum. An inquiry-based approach is an approach that recognizes the importance of learner voice and choice and of linking new learning to the existing knowledge, experiences and interests of the learner. When we provide opportunities for learners to inquire into things that are personally meaningful to them, we also have a unique opportunity for authentic integration of learning areas AND for the development and application of transdisciplinary skills and dispositions.
So, how might we design learning experiences that both within and beyond the ‘unit of inquiry’ that truly honour the interests, questions and passions of our learners? How can we take the kind of experience already offered through ‘exhibition’ and extend it to all learners across the school? How can we do this in a way that is not overwhelming for learners or for educators! And why is this so important and what is the role of the educator in a more personalized inquiry experience?
Based on over a decade of exploring approaches to personal inquiry, Kath Murdoch share her insights into and help participants explore a range of ways that inquiry can be made more personally meaningful to learners.
We will explore the following questions with practical tasks and lots of recent examples from classrooms:
Why is personal inquiry important? What’s our purpose?
What is the teacher’s role in this and how can we apply quality conferring skills to scaffolding learner thinking in connection with their personal investigations.
What can ‘personal inquiry’ look like as learners move through the school?
How can we help learners identify their interests? How can we inspire wonderment and curiosity?
How can we help learners design effective questions for their investigations?
How can we make sure personal inquiry time is appropriately stretching? How do we help learners challenge themselves and go beyond the known?
What skills and dispositions do learners need to make this work? How can we teach these?
How can we make this manageable? What systems and routines and classroom set ups make it work?
What resources are available to support this way of working?
I would also recommend you come with at least one other colleague so you can collaborate on an action plan for your return to school.