Today we are welcoming back to Blooming.
Curious for the second time, Jessica Vance.
Jessica is a passionate inquiry educator and author, and today we're gonna talk
about her second and latest publication, Evidence of Inquiry, A Hands-On Guide to
Making Learning Visible and Building a Culture of Inquiry Through Learning Walls.
And Jess, I bet that says exactly what it does, on the can.
So welcome back, Jessica, and it's just wonderful to have you here
again and to talk about inquiry and of course this latest book of yours.
So congratulations on this publication.
Thank you so much, Edwina.
It's good to be back.
Uh, I can't believe it's almost been a full year since
I got to see you in person.
I know.
Time flies.
It does.
And being on the podcast before I was writing the book, um, and we were talking
about floor books and some other, um, parts, um, that nobody else around
the world was privy to, then even you.
So getting to have this book out in print and then reconnecting
with you is really special.
So thank you for having me.
Oh no, it's such, such a pleasure.
I can't wait to sort of dig into it.
Um, it's something that I've been talking about even on the podcast quite
a bit is, learning walls, and also the differences, but I'm hoping you're
gonna dip into that between a learning wall and a wonder wall, which I see
a lot of when I go into classrooms.
So let's talk about the title, which is really powerful.
Mm-hmm.
Can you unpack that a little bit?
And also.
Why you felt that this book had to be written now.
Obviously you've been writing it for a while, but it's just been published.
What, were your thoughts behind that?
So really the book, um, and if you open up, uh, the first Roots of Wonderings,
um, I, I talk about how and why this book came about and really it's from
my learners, the adults, whether they'd be physically with me or those on
social media, asking questions about my own documentation process that I
was tinkering with and playing with.
How do you do that?
Where do you put that artifact?
And the more questions that I got, the more patterns and trends that I saw that
this was an opportunity or just something that people were really curious about.
So just as all good inquiry educators do you follow your learners'
questions, um, which I thought would be a very simple small book.
Um, it started off with the sketch note, how to build a learning wall.
I had my amazing, illustrator, Ryan Bear put that together and I started utilizing
that with schools and with coaching.
And so I all thought this would be easy peasy.
I'll write a chapter on each of these steps.
And then a year and a half later, I found myself knee deep in so much
research, um, and some really great connections with other educators
tinkering with some of these ideas
Which you see in part three of the the publication.
Um, and so I think that's a little bit of the why, and, and when I go back to
look at my first publication Leading With a Lens of Inquiry, there's a very early
stages of some learning walls there.
And to see that and then now to see what it's progressed to, uh,
and what I see people doing with an authentic documentation process,
my goodness gracious, how I much I have learned and grown myself.
Um, and, uh, you know, I'd say in regards to the title, I was really
tinkering with, um, something around leading with a lens of inquiry.
I wanted to play with that idea.
And then I realized that I, it was really also important to be able to name the
thing that this book is about, right?
It's evidencing and documentation, and then of course connecting that to
inquiry and really inquiry can feel as, you know, sometimes this really big
ambiguous thing and how do we unpack it and make it something that we can.
Show and document the process of learning over time.
Um, hence the title there too.
So again, following my learners and then not being afraid to name what
it is, being a little bit bolder in this publication, I do have to say,
which comes, I think around having a second publication out there.
I, I kind of know the ins and outs of how to write a book and what needs to be said.
And then again, just being able to partner with phenomenal
educators and leaders, curriculum coordinators, you kind of name it.
They're in there and their feedback has just been really, really pivotal
in the putting together what you probably have on your bookshelf.
No, I actually don't.
Behind me, I have, I, behind me I have Leading With the Lens of Inquiry.
But I actually haven't got your book yet, so I'm waiting for that to arrive.
So I'm waiting for that.
Okay.
I thought I saw in the back, I thought I saw in the back there.
No, there's, um, Leading With a Lens of Inquiry is there.
Okay.
That's amazing.
But your newest one isn't there.
And really the difference was, um, your Leading With a Lens of Inquiry is really
more publication for leaders, wasn't it?
To get school leaders on board with, um, evidencing learning and even
learning of their own learners, which are the teachers in schools, right?
Mm-hmm.
Whereas this book is more, I have been reading up about it and,
and getting all the information.
This one is more about actual teachers and educators and how they actually physically
use learning walls in their spaces.
So I think that's really powerful because I think teachers need as many
tools and as many arrows in their little toolkits as they possibly can get.
So I think from there, you know, when I go into classrooms, 'cause I do
a lot of substitute teaching still.
I still see a lot of wonder Walls where children's wonderings are, and I actually
have made a podcast episode about this because I often think it's where their
wonderings go to die, um, because they put them up there, but then nothing happens.
So I guess I want you now for everybody listening to explain the difference
between a learning wall and what its function is and how teachers
actually use it to mm-hmm document, um, and to make learning visible.
Mm-hmm.
Because I think it, it, it's a powerful tool, but like all tools, unless you use
it properly, it doesn't have much value.
So, and learning walls are just such a great, powerful.
I guess a visual representation of what's going on in children's
minds and in that space.
Mm-hmm.
So maybe you can unpack that a lot better than I can for those that are listening.
Of course, you know, I started with a Wonder Wall too, when I first jumped into
the world of inquiry teaching, um, in an elementary classroom at a PYP school.
I had a program of inquiry up there because that was our checklist.
We had to have that up there.
Um, then I had my Wonder Wall, because you were supposed to, but just like
you said, the Wonders just sat there and then oh my goodness, it's been six
weeks and I totally forgot about it.
Right.
Yeah.
Um, so a, a common misstep and I'd say, you know, there's, yeah.
A few things that, um, you know, with a learning wall look and sound
different than some of the classrooms that you've described, or even the very
classroom that I had many years ago.
Um, and that a learning wall is not static.
A learning wall is something that's active, um, and both the teacher or the
educator who's facilitating the learning is utilizing it to be able to document
and gather evidence across some sort of time, whatever that learning narrative is.
And a learning narrative could be two weeks, it could be a term, it
could be a whole entire year long.
You get to decide and determine like, what's your intention and what is
that learning narrative gonna be.
Now I will have to say that as, um, you know, a school leader, it's
okay that your adult learners aren't interacting with it all of the time.
The key here though, is how is it not static?
How are you collecting evidence to help you learn about your learners,
to be able to guide next steps?
Same thing for classroom teachers as well.
I'd say that's, you know, a really big difference with a Wonder Wall.
A Wonder Wall is a really great start.
I even actually talk about, um, what a learning wall is and what a
learning wall is not in part one of the publication, and I do say that a
Wonder Wall is not a learning wall.
'cause a Wonder Wall is one noted.
It's usually where we'll put up some wonders, they'll hang out there.
Maybe we'll kind of glance at them.
Um, hopefully not.
That's how you're utilizing your Wonder Wall.
But typically that's how they are used.
And I find that a learning wall, maybe with a Wonder Wall near it or kind of
part of that process helps us pull up a chair to the thinking, if you will.
Um, to be able to look at the evidence and ask ourselves, you know, where have
we come from and where are we going?
And what might be some artifacts or evidence or things that my learners
need, some universal supports or scaffolds in order for us to get there.
And so utilizing, um, you know, reflective questions like this, help us think
about the artifacting and evidencing process a little bit differently than
perhaps if you have listeners who are at an IB school and have their, you
know, PYP wall or their IB wall, which I had an educator, uh, playfully just
call it, um, IB wallpaper, which I definitely kinda see that there too.
Um.
And, and I'd say, you know, one more thing just to kind of add to, and I,
I mentioned it kind of briefly is, you know, how might you ask or invite
your learners to go use the wall?
And if this is not a practice that our learners or ourselves aren't really.
Used to then how might we think about structures and systems that help our
learners see the four walls differently?
Right now, most students probably look at the four walls and be like,
well, these are the teacher's, these aren't necessarily mine.
And just 'cause we point to an anchor chart or we say this is important, does
not hold the same value as pulling up a chair with our learners or asking
our learners to go to the learning wall and grab some evidence to support
them while they're engaged in some writing or reflection with a peer.
So again, that static is not only in the artifacts moving and changing
and ebbing and flowing, but also how are we using them differently
than a traditional display or as you shared before, a Wonder Wall.
I just had two thoughts as you were talking there.
One, in terms of the Wonder Walls, when I, I actually had Tonya
Gilchrist on the, on the show
some months ago.
Mm-hmm.
And she was saying about those wonder questions, which are a great start to
inquiry, but then she's, those are often the questions that are very, um, off
piste, you know, so they might be a little bit different to what your curriculum
or what you're doing, but they're great questions to give kids agency.
So she said you could make some time once a week or however much time you
wanted spend on it and then just pull out one or two of those questions and
those kids feel that their questions have been honored that they have some agency.
So I always thought that was a really nice way of actually
utilizing your Wonder Wall.
You don't have to answer all the questions, but at least you know every
week you could address some of them.
Um, and the other thing when you were talking about, you know, how children,
and I've experienced this in my class, you know, you've made massive displays.
It's, do you think it's just the fabulous thing, and kids don't even look at it.
And so what I've realized was that like with all good instruction, you
have to explicitly teach kids how to use that display or that learning
wall, you've gotta physically mm-hmm.
Well, I can speak only from an elementary point of view.
Mm-hmm.
But I found that you have to sort of model how to use it.
You've gotta model, oh, so we're doing this.
We are gonna put this up and if you wanna know anything, this is where you go look.
Or I think you have to be very explicit in your modeling of how to use it,
because otherwise children won't.
I dunno if that's what you're advocating for it.
Um, when you evidencing and when you're inviting children
to interact with the wall.
I've always said they don't know what they don't know, so you actually
have to show them, 'cause sometimes they might think, oh, like you said
before, it is the teachers and I can't go there and I can't touch it.
Mm-hmm.
I love that you're lifting that up Edwina.
Um, and know that doesn't just belong in the elementary space, uh, that that
explicit teaching also lives in our middle school or secondary spaces.
There's a, a school in Shanghai, China that I was supporting this year.
And they have been focused on authentic documentation.
What does that look like and sound like?
And that was this, um, barrier that they kept running up against,
well, shouldn't our students know how to go do this already?
They're X, Y, or Z Age.
They said, well, have you showed them?
Well, no, not yet.
I said, okay.
So what are the collaborative structures?
What are the routines?
How have you baked how you want your learners to be able to interact with
the wall into your lesson design?
And so that explicit teaching, um, was a necessarily a change that they had to
do in regards to their lesson planning.
And then as they started modeling that, you know, then the students begin to see
that, oh, okay, this is a space for me.
They begin to flex that agency and utilizing that wall.
We model the model, if you will, right?
Going up to the wall, pointing to the different artifacts.
We're conferring with the student.
We can say, Hey, come over here.
Let's go take a look at a couple of these anchor charts that we created together.
How might some of this language help you in what you're working with now that
modeling that conferring is essential, you know, and it makes me also think of Trevor
McKenzie's types of inquiry pool, right?
And we're starting with that like guided inquiry.
It's necessary for that explicit instruction.
And as we move across the pool, we'll have learners who are more
independent know what it means to be able to activate that voice and choice
and ownership over their learning.
And of course, some students.
Get to that deep end and not all, and that's okay too.
But are they in the pool?
Right?
Are they engaging with this evidencing process and practice so that they see the
value of these resources and they know how to think about them critically to be
able to, um, scaffold and support what next steps that they have as it relates
to deeper learning and connection making?
I think it's just where inquiry teachers are really different to other teachers.
As you said, you know, you, I think your enthusiasm as an inquiry
teacher has to come through.
You know, it has to come through in that you just, oh, come over, look over this
and come over here and check this out and see if you can add something to this.
I think we have to be that, you know, we are the catalyst for inquiry,
and I think that if we're just.
Flat, then the learning is flat, and I think that's what
makes inquiry really exciting.
Because it needs enthusiasm and it's not that, oh, just go free range,
do what you want, kind of thing.
It's really explicit and it has lots of modeling in it because I,
we've gotta teach kids the skills.
And they don't often have them.
So including that skill of how do you go to the learning wall and
how do you use the learning wall?
So that I think is super powerful and a great tip, I think is that whole
model, the model of how you want the children to actually interact and use it.
So thanks for that, Jess.
Now I know, that there will be educators out there thinking, how do I start?
And obviously the first place to start is to get your book, but if they don't
have the book, um, how would you always, or how do you go about when you go
into a school and you're trying to get them to, use learning walls, how
to evidence their students' learning?
Where do, where do people start and how do they, how do they go along with that?
Yeah.
Starting sometimes is the hardest part, isn't it?
Edwina?
Um, I, I'd say, you know, when we build a learning wall, we really have to be
intentional, not only the ways that we've outlined already with utilizing it.
But what's your intention for documentation?
And there's a lot of different choices, which I know might feel
really overwhelming for your listeners.
Like, ah, just tell me something.
Um, your start could be an essential question that comes
straight from your curriculum.
I've done that with many teachers who don't really have a lot of agency to
move things around in their curriculum.
So, okay, let's go take a look here.
Where and what might be important that we can directly pull up.
So the essential question becomes maybe like the center
point of our learning wall.
If we're using kind of more of like a spider web diagram or
maybe we use a timeline and we're starting with an essential question
and we can move across a wall.
Um, I've seen learning walls, um, be able to be used for, um, academic vocabulary.
Tier one, tier two, tier three vocabulary.
But really how are we invite, it's not a traditional word wall.
Remember, how are we inviting our learners to interact with it?
Um, add to it, move things around, if you will.
Um, so that's, again, straight from your curriculum.
Um.
A provocation is another right one as well too.
Edwina.
If you have maybe a provocation that's a series of photos and you've done a
chalk talk or you've had students say the things that they've noticed and
wondered, could you use that as the start?
I've seen teachers do that both physically and then also those of
them who have like a, a, a panel.
They're writing directly on kind of like a digital panel and then
that becomes their learning wall.
So provocations are really great.
Student questions are really great.
Um, and, and I'd say, you know, if thinking about the structure of
your learning wall is also really essential, you can put a bunch of
things up, but that's also might feel really messy and really overwhelming.
So one of the structures that I shared is, you know, a spiderweb diagram
where just kind of that traditional like graphic organizer that we use
to help students brainstorm ideas.
That's a structure we've used in a different setting.
Like, let's go use that here.
Let's not reinvent the wheel.
Use something that they're familiar with.
A timeline is another favorite one.
Um, I'm a little bit more organic when I build a learning wall, but I
also feel really comfortable with it.
I find that that organic kind of nature helps me be more playful with it.
But, um, I also understand that some teachers that feels really messy.
So I've also seen like week one, week two, week three.
Oh, okay.
Just to be able to have a little bit of that structure.
There's nothing wrong with it.
Again, it's how are you asking your learners to make those connections?
Um, and there's, uh, on my website, if your listeners jump over there on
the evidence of inquiry page, there's a PDF companion guide that has color,
um, images of all of the learning walls that are in the publication.
That way you can kind of get a peek at what these look like and sound like.
They're not all gold stars, but they're a process.
They are a start and hopefully motivation for other educators or leaders to
be able to feel inspired and, and know where they might begin next.
Oh, that's fantastic.
I will, I'm just writing that down so that I remember.
Yeah, I will put that link in the show notes for everybody so that
they can go and get that right there.
So it sounds to me very much like learning walls also have to mimic your personality.
It's not something or your teaching style, right?
It's, it's not a one size fits all, but the most important
thing is to just start and
start somewhere.
I must say I really am probably quite, I dunno, I think
I've changed over the years.
I was, probably very structured and wanted everything perfect and neat in
the beginning of my journey, and then discovered that it's so much more fun
just to let it go and, and to be organic.
And I am a very big fan of those spider webs and
mind maps, so to speak, because I think mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
I just discovered that's how my mind works and that's how I teach, and
that's how I've trained children.
So, and that is a, a favorite, a favorite strategy anyway.
And I think that that works just fine.
But we all have to find what works for us and what we are comfortable with.
You say, you know, you use them as a tool to support, reflection
and agency and deeper thinking.
Okay.
I'm trying to put myself into the shoes of educators and think what
they would be asking and thinking, how would we use the Wonder Wall to help
or assist us in our own assessments?
And when it comes to reporting or even meetings with parents
or administrators, mm-hmm.
How would you say the learning wall is a tool that can easily be used
to help us with our assessment of children's abilities and skills?
Can educators use it that way?
Yeah.
You know, I'd say that baked into this process of collecting
evidence is assessment.
It's that backwards design.
So when I said we set an intention and we're intentional, we should
have that backwards design in mind.
Now I will say, sometimes I start a learning wall.
I'm not sure where I wanna go.
That's just kind of tinkering and playing, and that's okay too.
But yeah, assessments are part of our day to day.
And what does that look like and sound like?
Um, you know, there's a secondary teacher who built a learning wall
or co-constructed a learning wall alongside his learners um, knowing at
the very end of a novel study, they were gonna have to write an essay.
So all of the artifacts that were collected across time, whether it
be, you know, um, topic sentences that really captured the students,
or some figurative language or maybe some character description,
all those things that he knew,
they would need to be writing about, he collected some sort of
evidence or asked the students, you know, at the end of a chapter or
to turn and talk with a partner.
So guess what happened at the very end of the novel?
Well, there was a bunch of evidence on the wall to support them.
Write that essay.
And wouldn't you think that they could write much richer and deeper
thinking essays because they had that evidence to refer to?
So a richer assessment practice, because there was formative assessment
really mindfully and intentionally baked within his lesson design.
Mm. Um, and that was in the secondary space.
Um.
I've seen some elementary teachers and middle school teachers as well
utilize a learning wall and then ask and task their students to be able
to reflect on a couple of different pieces and parts, some of those
coming straight from their curriculum.
So you know, what are some of those standards and the students have to go find
some evidence to be able to speak to that.
So a couple of prompts, maybe three to five prompts.
They could use, you know, some types of, you know, apps that they have on their
computers or other types of devices.
Of course, the teacher can simply pull up a chair and do a little
bit conferring, have a five minute face-to-face conferring, using a little
bit of that checklist of things that they have to put in their marking.
Um, and I've seen some, um, uh, really amazing early years educators.
I, I know I keep saying pull up a chair.
Because we gotta pull up a chair to be able to look at what
they've collected across time to do their narrative reporting.
And if they've been mindful and intentional, they have the evidence
right there to be able to show growth over time or some strengths
and stretches within their students.
Um, and so those are some of the few things that stand out to me right away.
Some easy, tangible ones.
But again, notice too that backwards design, it is baked in why we're
collecting the evidence and what the evidence might be used for.
Um, you know, I'll share one more, uh, especially if you have some school leaders
on here who are listening to your podcast, um, or some coordinators of sorts,
Have some strategic plans or goals, and that's the framework or that's
the start of their learning wall.
And so when they add evidence and artifacts up there, those are used as,
um, an assessment of whether or not they, they've met their goal or how they've
made progress towards those goals.
So again, modeling the model, what we're doing in the classroom is what
we should also be doing as leaders.
Um, the, the learning wall that I built last year, we had our strategic
goals for three years and we collected evidence across those years and
we're able to really report to our district, , the, ways that we grew over
time really authentically and richly.
And what was really amazing about having that for us as leaders
is when we had parents come in,
they could see that we were entrenched in this documentation process and really
learning about who we were as a school and how we were trying to get better.
And so it really was something that not only helped us kind of check
the box, if you will, and also too invited our school community to
see, um, school in a different way.
So it really sounds like that if somebody really wants to start dipping their toe
into inquiry, which everybody should, if you want to teach the whole child,
I feel really strongly about that.
If you say that you wanna teach the whole child, then you have
to be an inquiry educator.
But if you wanna just start and that even with that, it's so important,
just dip your toe in and have a go.
Because one part of inquiry is of course, the student Voice and student agency.
And it sounds from what you're saying, that the learning wall is a perfect
place if you don't know how to, you know, bring that in for you just to
start, because, and if you're modeling the model, and I've always found that
when you're learning something new and you share that with students and
you tell them that you're both on this learning path, that you're both learning,
they really get on board with that.
And so I'd say that if you're just starting out a learning wall is one of
the best tools to use because not only is it going to give children that voice
and that agency, but also it's going to get them out of their chairs, out
of their seats, and being the kind of learners that they naturally want to be.
Learning how to use a tool where it's almost metacognition, right.
Where they can then see how they're learning and that's, mm-hmm.
Very powerful.
So, mm-hmm.
I think our message to all educators out there is to get on board.
Don't be left behind.
If you wanna stay ahead of the game and you want to be advocating 21st century
learning, then this is the way to go
people.
There really is no other way.
Well, it gives us a little bit of the bumper, right?
Like when we hear agency, that's big and scary.
Yeah, exactly
when we hear, you know, follow your learners or co-construct,
those are big, scary words.
And so I'd say, yeah, learning walls are an avenue for that.
Thinking routines, of course, do something similar as well too, and so
giving you that pathway forward and then also helping you slow down and make
sense of what's happening before you so you don't have to waste your time on
things that don't necessarily matter.
And you can really spend time on the things that really do matter
and you want your learners to be able to retrieve across time.
Yes.
I remember last time you were on the show, you talked about, it's stuck in
my head ever since you told us, uh, how, you know, how this issue with children
that they can't connect across subjects.
Mm-hmm.
And I remember you giving advice about that and how a learning wall helps you
make connections across subject areas because it's not just, okay, this is
what you're gonna do in literacy, and this is your math and this is your, um,
social studies or whatever it might be, that there's a learning wall can help you
bring in all your subjects and mm-hmm.
Get children to make connections across curriculum areas.
So I always thought that that was really powerful because one of the things
to obviously see where the children can take the learning and then uh,
transfer to other areas has always been really important, and then sometimes we
don't know how to do that, but I think that the learning wall really gives
us that opportunity to explore that.
So I hope that's right.
Do you agree with that?
Yes.
Yeah.
Uh, you know, I'd say that connection making, sometimes we'll
do with a string, physically across the wall, across subject areas.
Um, and really when we do that connection making, that's where we
get to the deeper learning, right?
That's when we're really like synthesizing and, and making new meaning with the
facts and kind of figures that we've heard
across time.
So I'd say, yeah, um, learning walls have a way of doing that.
I do that constantly.
I did today I have a virtual learning wall that I've built across this last
year that I've kind of been capturing different projects that I've been working
on and being able to zoom in and zoom out.
Helps me see different connections that I might have missed if I didn't
necessarily document things in that way.
And I'd say the same thing goes for our learners as well too,
of the documentation process.
Mm-hmm.
Um, allows it, it more easily allows learners to be able to see it because
we can settle and we can sit in it a little bit more, if that makes sense.
Yeah.
And what have you used for your virtual learning wall Jess?
Yeah, I mean, I definitely favor an in-person learning wall, but sometimes
that's kind of what you have, and I also do love the way that I can kind of
link things that I'm, I'm working on.
But, uh, virtual learning walls I love, fig Jam, , is, uh, an app that I use.
Um, and then I also, Miro is another favorite of mine as well too.
So those are two that I use a lot.
Um, I have also used Padlet.
Um, there's a sandbox feature on there.
Um, yeah.
The Sandbox feature allows you to build something a little bit more organic, and I
love that for our younger learners because everything is a little bit more, um,
contained, if you will, Figma, um, can get a little bit expansive
and it can get easily lost.
Um, uh, so those are the ones kind of I favor for now that
I've been tinkering with.
But there's educators who all the time will see me at conferences or work that
I'm doing with their schools and say, can I show you what I'm trying now?
So there's always things that kind of bubble up across time, but again, that's
an intentionality around the tool.
Does it fit?
How are you asking your learners to be able to reference it and utilize it?
So um, yeah not, saying no to virtual learning walls.
Um, it's just that intentionality around as well too.
So, and I'll make sure that I share with you um, there's a virtual
learning wall resource that I also have linked on that website page too.
Oh, okay.
That has a couple of features Yeah.
For teachers to use.
'cause I didn't want those who, maybe that's the only pathway
and avenue that they have to say, well, I can't go do that.
Mm-hmm.
You know, my, my thought and feeling about a Yeah, but.
To me, the barrier is the way, and so I don't avoid that.
Uh, I playfully say yeah, but okay, let's, yes, and together.
And how might we do that?
So there's a virtual learning wall, a resource that I created, um, that has,
little like virtual sticky notes and some string, if you will, just like you
were saying for that connection piece.
Some phases of inquiry cycle, some numbers, and maybe
some other playful icons.
So, um, we'll make sure that your listeners also have
accesss to that as well.
I do think though, that in, uh, an elementary school, there's nothing
better than a physical learning wall.
We need that.
But I was just thinking if people are in middle school and a high school, and
maybe you're an educator that travels,
I mean, I've seen examples that you've done.
There are ways to, uh, overcome that with big roll of paper.
But if you were a traveling educator, you could have something,
digitally if you weren't mm-hmm.
If you didn't have the space in you borrowing a classroom.
Mm-hmm.
You know, something like that.
Mm-hmm.
So, again, there's no barrier.
Right.
We just find a way, a workaround.
Jess, your book is full of real examples mm-hmm of learning walls, can you
share a favorite moment or story from a classroom that really captures the
power of learning walls in action.
Oh I don't know if I can choose one.
Um, while I'm kind of, you know, noodling on it.
You know, part three of the publication has educators all the way from the,
um, early years classroom all the way up to the collegiate level, and
even some school leaders as well too.
Talking about their process of building a learning wall, um, and,
and kind of walking you through their thinking, their missteps, the things
that they learn, those aha moments.
And so, um, you know, I, I definitely tapped on the shoulders of these educators
just because I really appreciate, their vulnerable sharing and, and how they
were tinkering with maybe an idea that was not really, um, common practice
within their school or was just kind of something that was newer for them.
So these are definitely a lot of my favorites.
Um, you know what I'd say, uh, one of my favorites actually comes
from an early years educator.
Um, she ended up built building a learning wall just on that sheet,
uh, a roll of butcher paper, um, for a two week unit of inquiry
focused on the concept of movement.
Um, and I really love how she intentionally not only attached
different types of artifacts, even kind of some 3D and tactile ones,
but here's the thing, it wasn't the actual building of the learning wall
that stands out that it's my favorite.
It's because of what happened afterwards.
So she didn't have a whole lot of wall space.
She would, um, unroll this sheet of butcher paper.
Take new magnets and put it onto her, um, whiteboard and then take it down.
And then she ended up just rolling this out and keeping
it in a little bit of a bin.
Um, and then she collected these across the school year.
Well, at the very end of the school year, she had student led conferences.
Her students who were learning English as a second language, and they now
could read and share their own learning journey to their families, and they
got to choose which of their learning journeys spoke to them the most.
So I'd say that is definitely a favorite just because of that empowering experience
for these students who couldn't speak English at the very start of the year,
and how they just felt so confident and proud of who they were as a
learner and how they got to participate in this practice that we always
or sometimes I should say think is for older students.
Um, and just that flexibility and that playful mindset and that practice,
that explicit teaching that she kept going back to across the year, um,
ended up in, in such a powerful, um, experience for learners and
also for their families as well.
Jess, that's just beautiful.
That's almost made me emotional.
Ah, that's a good one, isn't it?
Geez, that is, that's pretty good.
That's pretty good.
Jess, listen, I think it's almost getting time to finish up here.
So let's think about wrapping up and let's finish with, what do you hope teachers
take away from Evidence of Inquiry,
your, your latest publication, and how do you see this work, transforming classrooms
and the culture in classrooms over time?
A great question.
Edwina.
Um.
Gosh, I think that I want educators to feel empowered.
I think the same theme ran true with my first publication.
I wanted inquiry and I want inquiry to feel tangible.
There, of course, is a depth and complexity to it.
I'm still learning so many things, and I've been practicing
as an inquiry educator
for quite some time.
Um, and also I want everybody to feel like they can take that first step.
So, um, I was really adamant with the learning walls that are here to not always
be those gold stars and to have spelling mistakes and to be these imperfect, um,
works of, of authentic documentation so that way everybody could see themselves
within this publication.
Um, and I think that, you know, beyond this, I hope that this is a provocation
for educators to think about their documentation practice differently for
school leaders to think about how they're documenting, how they're modeling the
model, um, maybe a little bit differently.
Um, and then of course, you know
there's amazing educators who I'm following with this publication, you
know, like Mark Church and Ron Ritchart and their work with thinking routines.
Just, you know, super grateful and honored that Ron, um, wrote
an endorsement for the publication and find such value in the work.
And, you know, of course Kath Murdoch and the work that she's done in
schools for so many years, I mean, the list definitely does go on.
And so just, um, inviting other educators to, of course, connect
with those leaders in this space who maybe they are not familiar with.
And then also the amazing educators who are in this book who don't have their
own publication, but getting to be inspired by them reaching out to them
and staying connected and, and sharing our learning walls in spaces with each
other, whether it be on LinkedIn or in Instagram or or wherever it might be.
Sending them my way so I can share them a little bit more broadly.
We really are all better together and, um, like I said when we started
today's, um, podcast, like I have gotten better because of other educators
teaching me and tinkering with ideas.
And so I hope the conversation doesn't stop after, um, your
listeners, you know, finish up this almost 400 page publication.
I hope that the continuation of the conversation, uh, you know, is just,
um, the beginning, if you will.
Jess, is there another one in the pipeline?
Do you have another one up your sleeve?
Uh, never say never.
Um, I do have some ideas, but I, I am gonna push pause for a little bit.
Um, but yes.
There, there will be more sometime.
Right now I'm just savoring and enjoying all that, that,
um, publishing a book brings.
So, yeah.
Jessica Vance, thank you so much for everything you do for education, uh,
especially in the space of inquiry and your publication, which is now in print.
It's a book, it's a physical thing that we can see and hold, and I really
encourage everybody out there to go and get it and to just dip your toe in and
have a go, just like all of us have.
Uh, and it will be the best thing that you've ever done
for yourself and your students.
So thank you so much for being the lighthouse and for your inspiration
to all inquiry educators and actually just to all educators out there.
I hope that if anybody listening will be inspired to just start this way
of learning and teaching, which is just so powerful for our students.
Thank you so much for adding to the joy.
You are very kind, Edwina.
Thank you for having me.
And if you have listened to the end of this podcast, grateful for you all.
And yeah, please stay in touch.
You can say hello, um, share your learning wall and yeah, um,
hopefully I'll get to come back with whatever I have next Edwina.
Thanks again.