Last week, I spoke about the benefits to having both explicit instruction
and inquiry based, learning as part of a teacher's everyday repertoire.
I received some great feedback after the episode aired and I especially want
to thank Chaali at hands-on learning design on Instagram for your positive
and inspiring message, which really just reinforces to me that this podcast is
worth doing so thanks so much, Chaali
I so appreciated you getting in touch with me and leaving
that fabulous feedback for me.
So today I want to talk to those educators that are indeed curious.
That really want to make a positive impact on children's lives, and
also want to impact their own lives.
And I don't know about you, but I'm one of those people that gets bored quite easily.
I need a challenge in my life.
And when things are easy or monotonous, I lose interest.
And teaching can get easy and monotonous and boring too.
If you're doing the same things day in and day out or year in and year out, that will
eventually not only kill off any spark of joy for learning the children have,
but your own joy for that job as well.
It will make you boring.
And none of us want to be boring.
And it will just suck the life out of you.
So your working life makes up so much of your time,
so why not enjoy it right?
But now I know that there is this huge issue with teaching that's
causing so many teachers just to pack their bags and leave.
And that's of course the poor behavior and the disrespect that we
see from so many children nowadays.
And that's a whole other can of worms that we can unpack at another time.
But when it comes to inquiry based learning, I truly believe that
it gives you a new lease of life.
It makes teaching fun again.
Not just for our students, but for us too, it puts joy and
excitement back into your day.
And there are actually a whole bunch of nuances and tweaks that you make to
the process of inquiry that suits your individual situation and the different
types of learners you might have.
Now I could talk about that for days.
Inquiry based learning is a powerful strategy and it makes learning fun
even for those neurodiverse learners or those that usually are not interested
and even your gifted and talented learners, they even appreciate inquiry.
It's the hook that gets kids interested.
When I think back to one particularly challenging year I had with a class, that
had so many different needs and quite honestly, If it wasn't for inquiry, then
I don't know how I would have made it, because inquiry got me through that year.
It was that thing that flipped the switch for some of the kids that year
that I would otherwise have lost if I solely relied on worksheets and pencil
and paper to check for understanding.
So you could be thinking all that's all great,
I've had a PD about the benefits of inquiry, or maybe you're now
inspired to give it a go and integrate it into your teaching.
And so you sit down and you want to make your plans and you're thinking,
okay, now how the heck do I do this?
Where do I start?
And here's the good news guys.
I've just created a free planning template for you.
That you can use to plan an integrated unit of inquiry.
You go to resources dot Ed's lessons.com forward slash
integrating inquiry planning sheet.
I know it's a mouthful.
That's why I'm going to leave a link in the show notes so you can get it there.
And inquiry is about a mindset.
It's not a separate subject that you have to squeeze in to
already overcrowded timetable.
It's about teaching in a different way.
And as I said in last week's episode, It's not about throwing
out your explicit instruction,
you keep that in.
In fact, you teach the process of inquiry explicitly.
So kids know what they have to do.
You don't just throw them in the deep end and say, off you go inquire.
It doesn't work like that.
And that's the exact kind of thing that gives inquiry a bad rap.
But what that template will do is it will give you some guidance to think
about when you starting with inquiry.
So think about which two subject areas you can integrate.
And of course, English goes with everything, right?
So let's just say that this term you're going to cover how living
things grow and change in Science, and of course, in Australia, this
is not the best time to do that.
If you're looking at animals, spring's the best for that.
So if you're in America now is a great time to put that to work.
So you guys just go for it.
But if you're integrating growth and change Of kids, for example.
Which you should integrate by the way and include the whole year long, that
could be a whole year long project, where kids would be documenting their
own or perhaps a baby sibling's change.
But so now you've decided this is what you're going to do
you're going to integrate inquiry into this unit, so now the planning sheet, will
ask you to think about what you want your students to achieve in this study or this
unit or this concept, whatever it might be that you decide you're going to use
to just dip your toes in and get going.
So you can already see that when you're involved with inquiry, you
have to exercise your own thinking and your own curiosity too.
And isn't that more exciting to be thinking and wondering, instead
of just giving kids the same old worksheet, just to tick a box
and say, okay, I've done that.
The template will also ask you to think about what provocations
you're going to include.
So now you want to gather your pictures, your books, your website
links, your plants, soil, gardening tools, seeds, critters, whatever
it is that you'll need to spark, curiosity and wonder in these kids.
And of course, how are you going to document their prior knowledge?
And they're first understandings.
When you introduce this concept.
This is what Kath Murdock in her inquiry cycle calls the tuning in phase.
And the template is going to ask you to consider how you're going to ask students
to demonstrate their understanding.
And also to demonstrate the understanding, which is the final product.
So let's say you want them to write a report or a nonfiction text.
You going to do an inquiry into what makes a good report.
You'll be asking questions.
You will be giving them examples.
You'll be getting them perhaps in small groups to look at
elements of a good report.
Can you see how you're bringing inquiry into English?
And now as you're practicing report writing and you're explicitly teaching
them about report writing, perhaps you also demonstrating it using
a particular animal, which will then of course, link to Science.
You will be teaching this one step at a time.
So perhaps you're teaching them about first asking good questions or coming
up with subheadings, or perhaps you're already at the stage of writing
the first introductory paragraph.
So in the true spirit of explicit instruction you'll demonstrate
first, how to do that explicitly,
and then on mini whiteboards or scrap paper they'll have a go at
a sentence, for example, and then they'll go off and work on their own
project with the animal or the plant or the whatever of their own choice.
And they write their own introductory sentence or they plan their
subheadings or whatever that day's task is that you've set.
So by integrating your English and your science in this way you can see
how you're ticking off the science curriculum in your English lessons.
They're not separate blocks in your timetable, they mesh together.
And as you become more proficient, and you feel more comfortable with inquiry,
asking open-ended questions will become part of your everyday teaching.
And before you know it, everything becomes an inquiry.
And also just know that there are lots of different ways to test for understanding.
It doesn't always have to be a written report.
You can even give kids a choice.
So some might want to write the report.
Others may want to deliver a speech.
So that means you'll need to explicitly teach them how to deliver a great
oral presentation and what's needed to deliver a great oral presentation and
that might even be a whole inquiry unit
how do we deliver great oral presentations.
What do we include?
What do we do?
Or perhaps they want to create a model and then explain it using video.
Don't you think this makes teaching and learning so much more interesting.
The template will also give you or guide you rather to think
about how you'll display or make students' ongoing learning visible.
You might want to create a learning wall.
That's something that Jessica Vance does, and so you can follow
her on Instagram Jessica Vance.
I'll link to her in the show notes, she does a great job about showing you
how to use learning walls as sort of living, breathing documentation as you
go along an inquiry journey or process.
Or perhaps you want to go deep and you want to use a floor book, not only to
capture children's wonderings, but you want to use it as a planning tool to see
where you can take their learning next.
And by the way, I recently interviewed Dr. Claire Warden, the
inventor of the floor book approach.
So make sure you subscribe and follow the show so that you don't miss out on that
very insightful episode when it publishes.
Now, this template that I created for you is really a guide to help
you think about the elements to bring in when you're integrating
inquiry into a topic or a concept.
So go to the show notes when you're finished listening
and download it from there.
Now I also wrote a blog post ages ago, that takes you through a step-by-step
process of integrating and starting inquiry and I'll link to that post in
the show notes too, so you can check that out because that will also give
you a really good idea, how you can go about getting started with inquiry.
And I want to remind you that inquiry of course, is not a subject.
It's a mindset.
It's a way of thinking.
And it's a way of thinking and teaching.
But I realized that when you're new.
And you've never really asked deep questions.
Or invited children to explore or think about a concept critically.
This can be quite tricky.
And actually coming up with really good open-ended essential questions.
Is really something quite tricky and it takes time to learn.
But, so what I want to recommend you do is just to get started.
Link it purposefully to a topic, you know, and then just take it step by step.
I think the big thing here is that you need to come to terms with the fact
and be okay with the fact that things are going to be messy in the beginning.
And that okay.
You know what they say?
You can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs.
Like every well-run classroom, just before you start, take the time to
explain and make your intentions clear what you expect and what you
want to see from your students.
If they are clear, here's that explicit instruction again
about what they need to do?
It makes life so much easier.
Take the time to explain and model, be prepared with all the
resources and equipment you need.
And be honest also with your students, tell them what you're trying to
achieve and what you're trying to do.
And give them the steps that they need to get there.
And so together you go on this new learning journey.
And you give feedback and they give feedback.
And before you know it, you're the best thing since sliced bread.
And those kids that used to stand at the door like salt pillars, that'd be skipping
in there with smiles on their dials.
And trust me.
And trust yourself, it will happen.
Now before I go.
I want to let you know that if you haven't subscribed to my weekly newsletter,
where I share all sorts of tips and strategies and other juicy stuff,
be sure to go to Ed's lessons.com.
And by the way, I'm going through a rebranding exercise and soon
they won't be an ed lessons anymore
there'll just be blooming curious.
But sign up there to get the newsletter, because if you're on my mailing list,
I offer my subscribers recently a free one-on-one coaching session.
So if that's something you would appreciate as you get started
on your inquiry journey and you'd like help with inquiry,
sign up for the newsletter and then let me know you're interested and we'll set
up a coaching session and get you started.
How's that sound?
Okay.
So I hope you're inspired and ready to tackle the coming weeks with renewed
vigor and energy, and I really want to know how you're getting on with
adopting an inquiry mindset and inquiry based learning into your practice.
So seriously, let me know either by sending me a DM on Instagram or send
me an email@contactataidslessons.com.
I'll put it in the show notes.
Don't forget to get your free planning sheet by clicking on
the link in the show notes.
And if you like this show and why wouldn't you, show your love by following,
sharing it with everyone you know, and of course leave me a great review, which
will always put a smile on my dial.
So until next week, same time, same place.
Stay blooming curious, why don't you.