WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.429 Welcome to another episode of Blooming Curious. 00:00:02.820 --> 00:00:07.350 You know that moment when a student asks a question that stops you in your tracks, 00:00:07.620 --> 00:00:12.330 not because it's complicated, but because it's so beautifully simple and curious 00:00:12.330 --> 00:00:16.860 that you realize they're doing exactly what we've been trying to teach all along. 00:00:17.175 --> 00:00:18.825 They're inquiring naturally. 00:00:19.335 --> 00:00:23.055 But here's the thing, somewhere between essential questions and 00:00:23.055 --> 00:00:27.495 driving inquiries and all the other terms that we throw about, we've made 00:00:27.495 --> 00:00:29.834 inquiry sound like rocket science. 00:00:30.539 --> 00:00:34.739 Today, I wanna strip away all that jargon and show you how to make 00:00:34.739 --> 00:00:40.230 wonder work in your real classroom or homeschool environment with 00:00:40.230 --> 00:00:43.080 real children starting tomorrow. 00:00:43.830 --> 00:00:48.330 Inquiry isn't about perfect questions or elaborate protocols. 00:00:48.929 --> 00:00:53.325 It's just about genuine curiosity, meeting practical learning. 00:00:54.304 --> 00:00:59.605 I'm gonna give you five down to earth inquiry strategies and at the end 00:00:59.605 --> 00:01:00.834 I have something special for you. 00:01:00.894 --> 00:01:03.894 So make sure you stay to find out about that. 00:01:04.824 --> 00:01:09.384 Number one, start with real problems, not textbook questions. 00:01:09.744 --> 00:01:13.465 Instead of asking, oh, what are the three branches of government? 00:01:13.735 --> 00:01:19.615 Try out, what do you think can happen at school if we change the lunch menu? 00:01:20.190 --> 00:01:23.880 But some kids want pizza and others want healthier options. 00:01:24.179 --> 00:01:26.399 How should we make this decision fairly. 00:01:27.059 --> 00:01:30.359 The difference is real problems have stakes. 00:01:30.539 --> 00:01:34.499 Children care about the outcome because it affects them. 00:01:34.499 --> 00:01:39.990 If you wanna teach kids about fractions instead of, you know, giving them a 00:01:39.990 --> 00:01:42.479 piece of paper divided up into blocks. 00:01:43.455 --> 00:01:48.435 Make an actual pizza or bring in cupcakes and say to the kids, how do 00:01:48.435 --> 00:01:53.865 we make sure that we get a fair share for 24 kids with these three pizzas, 00:01:54.195 --> 00:01:56.475 and suddenly fractions become real. 00:01:57.015 --> 00:02:03.015 So look at your next lesson and find one place where you can replace a hypothetical 00:02:03.015 --> 00:02:07.515 scenario with something that actually is happening in your children's lives. 00:02:08.219 --> 00:02:10.829 Number two, embrace the messy middle. 00:02:11.190 --> 00:02:13.890 Here's what nobody tells you about inquiry. 00:02:14.130 --> 00:02:17.190 It does get messy before it gets clear. 00:02:17.610 --> 00:02:20.099 Students will go down rabbit holes, they'll ask you 00:02:20.099 --> 00:02:21.899 questions that you can't answer. 00:02:21.899 --> 00:02:25.140 They'll pursue dead ends, but this isn't failure. 00:02:25.530 --> 00:02:27.209 This is learning in action. 00:02:27.269 --> 00:02:28.620 It's doing the learning. 00:02:29.190 --> 00:02:33.390 I learned this when I decided to give my students time to investigate topics 00:02:33.390 --> 00:02:37.589 that they were interested in, but I wanted to make sure that I still met the 00:02:37.589 --> 00:02:40.170 outcomes just in case admin walked in. 00:02:40.680 --> 00:02:44.730 So I said they could investigate anything they wanted, provided 00:02:44.910 --> 00:02:48.030 that it met our outcomes, which were all written on the board. 00:02:48.685 --> 00:02:49.915 They were reading. 00:02:50.065 --> 00:02:54.385 Some were building structures, others were creating clothing pieces, learning 00:02:54.385 --> 00:02:58.364 to measure, cut out patterns of their designs and sew them together in 00:02:58.364 --> 00:03:00.674 their exploration of French fashion. 00:03:01.304 --> 00:03:03.945 It was busy and it was definitely messy. 00:03:04.320 --> 00:03:09.439 But there was also deeper learning than any textbook could provide , or 00:03:09.439 --> 00:03:12.949 what I could provide by giving them dry facts from the curriculum. 00:03:13.789 --> 00:03:17.479 In fact, here's a story about, one boy came up to me and said he wanted to do 00:03:17.479 --> 00:03:22.549 a project on the influenza virus, not the flu virus, the influenza virus. 00:03:22.554 --> 00:03:23.779 This was pre COVID. 00:03:24.199 --> 00:03:27.349 And I said to him, well, does it fit with one of our learning intentions? 00:03:27.349 --> 00:03:27.949 And he said. 00:03:28.230 --> 00:03:28.980 Let me think. 00:03:29.369 --> 00:03:32.579 He went away and he came back and he said, well, we're learning about 00:03:32.609 --> 00:03:36.689 how to stay healthy in health so I can show everyone how we can protect 00:03:36.689 --> 00:03:39.119 ourselves from getting influenza. 00:03:39.779 --> 00:03:40.739 I couldn't argue. 00:03:41.070 --> 00:03:44.760 This kid went on, he researched, he made the most incredible 00:03:44.760 --> 00:03:46.724 model of the flu virus. 00:03:46.724 --> 00:03:50.880 He wrote a report on it and he gave simple ways that people could 00:03:50.880 --> 00:03:53.099 protect themselves from catching flu. 00:03:54.089 --> 00:03:56.070 Now, doing that, what do you think he learned? 00:03:56.349 --> 00:04:01.269 He covered English, writing, science, health, technology, inquiry skills, as 00:04:01.269 --> 00:04:05.559 well as how to work with others since he was doing this project with a partner. 00:04:06.309 --> 00:04:07.629 So here's the practical tip. 00:04:08.109 --> 00:04:12.519 When students veer off your planned path, ask yourself, are they 00:04:12.519 --> 00:04:14.529 still learning something valuable? 00:04:14.979 --> 00:04:18.459 And if it's yes, allow them to explore for a bit. 00:04:18.849 --> 00:04:23.679 Set a time limit if you need it, but don't stop their genuine curiosity. 00:04:23.729 --> 00:04:27.959 Tip three, make learning visible with simple tools. 00:04:28.439 --> 00:04:32.609 You don't need fancy digital platforms to make inquiry work. 00:04:32.789 --> 00:04:38.459 Some of the best inquiry happens with basic tools like sticky notes and chart 00:04:38.459 --> 00:04:41.099 paper, and just a good conversation. 00:04:42.049 --> 00:04:46.900 Try the, the notice Wonder next method where students look at something, a 00:04:46.900 --> 00:04:51.849 photograph, a data set, an artifact or a problem, and they simply note what 00:04:51.849 --> 00:04:54.640 they notice, then what they wonder. 00:04:55.070 --> 00:04:57.349 And then what they want to investigate next. 00:04:57.859 --> 00:05:00.919 I've seen this in my pre-primary or kindergarten class. 00:05:00.950 --> 00:05:05.180 Kindergarten for those of you in America, learning about lady birds, and then going 00:05:05.180 --> 00:05:10.190 on to explore how ocean animals move through the water and with year five 00:05:10.190 --> 00:05:14.330 students collecting data on the amount of hours they sit, stationary are desks. 00:05:14.380 --> 00:05:16.599 It's the same simple structure. 00:05:17.200 --> 00:05:18.790 But with different depths. 00:05:19.300 --> 00:05:20.530 Here's your practical tip. 00:05:21.010 --> 00:05:25.150 Create a classroom poster or area with your three columns. 00:05:25.510 --> 00:05:31.560 Use it regularly, not just for special inquiry projects, and even five minutes 00:05:31.905 --> 00:05:38.685 of notice, wonder next can transform how students approach new content. 00:05:39.315 --> 00:05:42.255 Number four, build on student questions. 00:05:42.255 --> 00:05:43.395 Don't replace them. 00:05:43.995 --> 00:05:46.125 Asking good questions is a skill. 00:05:46.545 --> 00:05:49.905 As educators, it's our job to ask good questions. 00:05:50.385 --> 00:05:52.275 But inquiry flips this. 00:05:52.604 --> 00:05:56.354 We need to help students ask their own good questions. 00:05:56.715 --> 00:06:00.224 This doesn't mean accepting every random wondering. 00:06:00.555 --> 00:06:04.094 It means teaching students to refine their curiosity. 00:06:04.664 --> 00:06:07.065 When a student asks, why is a sky blue? 00:06:07.455 --> 00:06:09.945 Don't immediately launch into, you know, rally. 00:06:09.945 --> 00:06:12.585 Is it called rally scattering instead? 00:06:12.585 --> 00:06:13.094 Try. 00:06:13.544 --> 00:06:14.565 Well, that's interesting. 00:06:14.745 --> 00:06:18.010 What do you notice about the sky that makes you wonder about the blue? 00:06:19.065 --> 00:06:24.344 Help them build on their natural curiosity rather than replacing it with your agenda. 00:06:24.914 --> 00:06:26.085 Here's your practical tip. 00:06:26.835 --> 00:06:32.655 Keep a parking lot of student questions visible in your classroom, and then 00:06:32.655 --> 00:06:37.875 regularly return to those questions and help students see which ones might 00:06:37.875 --> 00:06:42.224 connect to your current learning or could become mini investigations. 00:06:42.735 --> 00:06:47.020 In fact, in my interview with Tonya Gilchrist, she spoke about this. 00:06:47.940 --> 00:06:51.990 We can't veer off piste every time a student comes up with an interesting 00:06:51.990 --> 00:06:57.000 question that may not be relevant to what we're learning about at that moment, but 00:06:57.000 --> 00:07:02.310 you can just park those questions on a wonder wall and then choose one or two of 00:07:02.310 --> 00:07:05.550 those questions once a week to explore. 00:07:06.135 --> 00:07:10.905 This way you also honor children's agency and everyone learns 00:07:10.905 --> 00:07:12.255 something new and interesting. 00:07:12.565 --> 00:07:16.635 I'll link to a previous podcast episode about that too, where I've spoken 00:07:16.635 --> 00:07:22.095 exactly about how we can use Wonder Walls as actual tools in our classroom, 00:07:22.305 --> 00:07:25.095 not where just wonderings go to die. 00:07:25.545 --> 00:07:30.285 Number five is create low stake sharing opportunities. 00:07:30.300 --> 00:07:35.730 You know inquiry dies when students feel like every question has to lead 00:07:35.730 --> 00:07:37.980 to a perfect presentation and project. 00:07:38.670 --> 00:07:42.750 Create informal ways as well for students to share their thinking. 00:07:43.050 --> 00:07:46.020 You can do think pair shares, you can do gallery walks. 00:07:46.020 --> 00:07:50.400 You can do just check-ins or even just get them to talk to the person next to them. 00:07:50.940 --> 00:07:55.050 Allow students to quickly share one thing they figured out or 00:07:55.050 --> 00:07:58.380 one thing they're still wondering about, or one connection they made. 00:07:58.765 --> 00:08:01.345 Without any pressure, no grades. 00:08:01.584 --> 00:08:04.314 Just genuine exchange of ideas. 00:08:04.885 --> 00:08:05.965 Here's your practical tip. 00:08:06.715 --> 00:08:11.005 Build in sharing moments throughout your lesson, not just at the end. 00:08:11.485 --> 00:08:16.015 Let students process their thinking out loud regularly, and you'll be 00:08:16.015 --> 00:08:18.564 amazed at how their inquiry deepens. 00:08:19.695 --> 00:08:21.525 Now, how do we bring all this together? 00:08:22.335 --> 00:08:26.835 Inquiry really doesn't require big budgets or special equipment. 00:08:27.225 --> 00:08:32.025 It just requires a willingness to follow children's curiosity, and your own. 00:08:32.685 --> 00:08:37.784 Inquiry isn't about having all the answers or implementing the perfect framework. 00:08:38.294 --> 00:08:43.875 It's about creating space for genuine wonder and giving students the tools to 00:08:43.875 --> 00:08:46.155 pursue their questions systematically. 00:08:47.530 --> 00:08:48.704 Now, here's my offer. 00:08:49.244 --> 00:08:54.494 If you are ready to bring more authentic inquiry into your classroom and you want 00:08:54.494 --> 00:08:59.295 practical support, then right now you can go and get the Curiosity Toolkit, 00:08:59.655 --> 00:09:05.025 which is a planning framework that helps you plan across the curriculum so that 00:09:05.025 --> 00:09:07.604 you can weave inquiry into your lessons. 00:09:08.100 --> 00:09:09.930 It's just a simple tool. 00:09:09.990 --> 00:09:14.190 It's a framework to help you tweak the way you approach your planning. 00:09:14.700 --> 00:09:19.080 There are also meta cognition question starters included, that can help you 00:09:19.080 --> 00:09:23.340 get students thinking about their learning and provocation station 00:09:23.340 --> 00:09:30.185 prompts as well as 33, yes, 33 picture book suggestions across eight broad 00:09:30.210 --> 00:09:32.820 themes with wonder questions included. 00:09:32.940 --> 00:09:38.170 And when you purchase this for the mere $10, you get free access to 00:09:38.170 --> 00:09:42.460 the Blooming Community, which is my private group, where you can ask 00:09:42.460 --> 00:09:47.500 questions and get the support you need from other like-minded educators. 00:09:48.010 --> 00:09:54.130 To get the toolkit, you just go to go.blooming curious.com/curiositytoolkit. 00:09:54.490 --> 00:09:56.440 I'll leave a link in the show notes for you. 00:09:56.920 --> 00:10:00.970 Remember, the best inquiry starts with one simple question. 00:10:01.335 --> 00:10:02.055 What if? 00:10:02.655 --> 00:10:07.695 What if your next lesson began with wonder instead of objectives? 00:10:08.325 --> 00:10:13.275 What if your students left class with more questions than answers? 00:10:13.755 --> 00:10:17.445 What if learning felt as natural as curiosity? 00:10:18.135 --> 00:10:20.625 Your students are already full of wonder. 00:10:21.165 --> 00:10:23.415 Your job is simply to let it grow. 00:10:24.435 --> 00:10:25.695 Thanks for listening today. 00:10:25.695 --> 00:10:27.375 I really appreciate you. 00:10:27.525 --> 00:10:31.395 Please get in touch if you have any questions or wonderings, and 00:10:31.455 --> 00:10:35.145 please click on that share button and send this episode to a friend or 00:10:35.145 --> 00:10:37.725 colleague so that this show can grow. 00:10:38.265 --> 00:10:42.165 Until next week, take care of yourselves and stay blooming. 00:10:42.165 --> 00:10:42.855 Curious.