Here's what I want you to know.
Even before we get into it, the fear is real.
The fear is valid, and the fear makes complete sense because the
first time you open up a lesson for genuine inquiry, it genuinely does
feel like you're walking a tightrope.
You've worked hard at creating a calm and productive classroom, and you know
your routines, and then someone suggests that you hand over more of the thinking.
To the children and suddenly your brain goes straight to climbing on
tables, everyone talking at once and absolutely nothing getting done.
I get it.
I have thought those same things,
but here's what I've learned after years of being in a K to two classroom.
What teachers mostly imagine losing control looks like and
what actually happens when inquiry learning is structured
well, key words are two very different things.
So today, let's talk about that gap.
When most teachers say they're afraid of losing control, what
they're actually picturing is chaos.
Full, on noise kids doing whatever they want.
No learning happening, kids running around, maybe one chasing another
of a ruler, and then you're standing in the middle of it helpless.
Do you get the picture?
Well, that's not inquiry learning, that's the absence of structure.
And those two things are not the same thing.
Real inquiry, learning, the kind that works in real classrooms with real
children still has clear expectations.
It still has routines.
It's still guided.
The teacher is still very much in the room paying attention and guiding the thinking.
What does change is this, instead of you doing all the talking and all
the work, the children do more of the working and more of the thinking.
Instead of you delivering the answer, you ask the question.
And yes, it is noisier than a silent worksheet, but it's productive noise.
It's the sound of children actually engaged, and it'll give
you such a warm and fuzzy feeling like you've never had before.
And once you know this difference between productive and unproductive
noise, you will never go back.
Here's an example in a traditional lesson.
Let's say on floating and sinking, you might explain the concept demonstrate it.
Have children record the result.
It's structured, it's predictable, it's controlled.
In an inquiry version of this exact same lesson, you might put a bucket of water.
And a collection of objects on each table.
And you might say to the children, what do you notice?
What do you wonder?
And yes, it's louder.
Children will surprise you with where they go, but real learning is happening.
And it's happening because they are genuinely curious
about what they're discovering.
That's not losing control.
That's actually gaining something much more valuable.
But I want to get practical because this is where it counts.
Before you stick those buckets of water on the table, you need to first listen
to this because this really matters.
Inquiry learning doesn't mean open slather.
The teachers that do well have four key structures in place, and I wanna
walk you through each one of those.
Number one is a clear entry point.
Every inquiry lesson, needs a clear beginning, a provocation, something
that sparks their thinking, whether it's an object, an image, a question on the
board, a story, or a simple hands on task.
Children need to know what they're looking at, what they'll be doing, and what you've
expect of them in that first five minutes.
A clear entry point sets the tone for everything that follows.
The second structure point you need is to define the roles and the norms.
Before you even begin.
Children need to know what inquiry looks like and sounds like in your room.
What does it sound like when they're thinking and talking together?
What do you do when you disagree?
What happens when you're stuck?
Just like any other well structured, explicit instruction lesson, you need
to be explicit about your expectations and the norms around inquiry lessons.
And once children know them, they largely police themselves.
Structure Number three, you need a visible thinking framework.
And this is a big one.
When children are exploring or investigating, they need
a scaffold, something that holds their thinking in place.
It might be something as simple as a recording sheet with I notice, I wonder,
I think it might a diagram, it might be a question map or a group discussion
framework, like a think, pair share.
But the framework keeps the children anchored.
It also gives you something to assess and a structure for you.
I will leave a link for you in the show notes, uh, or the description
of some of the graphic organizers in my resource library that you
might find valuable for this.
Structure four is you need a strong close.
Every inquiry lesson needs to come back together.
This is where you as the teacher do some of your most important work.
You draw those threads together, you name what you discovered, you
connect it to the learning intention.
Children need that landing and honestly, so do you.
It is where you can see that they've actually understood where you can
correct any misunderstandings or misconceptions and where you can
celebrate the thinking that happened with those four structures in place.
Inquiry learning doesn't feel like a tight rope.
It doesn't feel like chaos.
It feels like a really good lesson.
Now, I wanna say this clearly, you do not need to overall everything
you do, if the idea of a full inquiry unit feels overwhelming
to you, start with five minutes.
Five minutes at the beginning of a, of a science lesson where you put
something on the table and you ask what do you notice before you teach
anything or five minutes at the end of a maths lesson where you just asking,
did anything surprise you today?
Does it always work out?
Can you think of a time it might not work out?
Or just five minutes of wonder time, a weekly time slot where children
can write or draw something that they're curious about with no pressure
to find the answer on that day.
And I've spoken about this on other episodes where we can use
those wonder questions and I'll link for you in the show notes episodes
where we spoke about what you can do with those wonder questions.
Inquiry is a muscle.
For you and for your students.
And like any other muscle, it gets stronger the more you use
it, but you don't build a strong muscle by lifting the heaviest
weight you possibly can on day one.
You start small.
You notice what happens and you build from there.
Now, if you're sitting there thinking, okay, I wanna try this,
but I need something to get my hands on to get started, well,
I've got several resources for you.
I'll leave links to them all to help you get started straight
away in the show notes and episode description, they're all tried and
tested and they worked brilliantly with K to two, even three kids.
Listen, if this episode resonated with you today, I'd love you to share it
with a colleague, a teacher, or a parent who's curious about inquiry learning,
but hasn't quite taken the step.
Sometimes all it takes is hearing someone say.
The fear is normal and here's what to do with it.
Thanks so much for spending time with me here today and like always take care
of yourself and be blooming curious.