The overlying theme that
I came away with after reading the articles is the simple idea that a teacher
should follow the students’ lead when it comes to what you teach and how.
And this needs to go further than collecting quantitative data to guide your teaching,
which has certainly been a focus in my schools over the past six years. I
see this happening by watching students, engaging in talk and providing an
environment that values and capitalizes on past experiences and allows and
encourages children to develop their knowledge and follow their interests
through inquiry-based learning.
This is where I see my
interest shifting to. In the last few years when I was teaching in the
classroom, I believed I was running a fairly solid program, especially when it
came to literacy. I certainly knew I had lots to learn and try out, but I
felt good about what I was doing. Within a few short months in this
program I am already rethinking many beliefs and ideas that I hold and am
questioning why I have done things the way I have. I am feeling inspired
to try to new things and I have reaffirmed some things I am already doing.
What currently seems to
be standing out to me the most is inquiry-based learning and how I can
implement this in my own classroom next year. I have heard and read about
it and seen it in action in relation to kindergarten programs, but I have yet
to see it implemented in a primary or junior classroom. I am intrigued
with the idea that an entire year of learning can occur by following what the
students are interested in and then making the curriculum work within this.
I first heard about a similar idea many years ago in relation to the Reggio
Emilia approach to teaching and most recently I read about it in an article
during our research course. I strongly believe in the asset model where
all students come with a wealth of knowledge and experiences and are full of
ideas and questions. I appreciate how an inquiry-based classroom would
value this idea and would try to capitalize on it. With that being said,
I will admit that I like planning units and trying to create lessons/plans that
will motivate and capture all students’ interests and allow for multiple ways
of demonstrating understanding and growth. I use backwards design and big
ideas to develop these plans and spend time reflecting on and reworking them.
I would like to further delve into the idea of student-led inquiry and see how
I can utilize my strengths and interests to facilitate this type of learning in
my classroom.
I think that this type of
learning also allows for ‘curriculum as conversation’, the idea of the ‘real
curriculum’ and the need for students to identify patterns and anomalies to
learn. Inquiry-based learning would support students to develop their
current understanding and interests, while exposing them to new ideas that they
are able to link to their current knowledge and allow them to build on.
Looking back to when I was teaching in the classroom, I don’t think that I
fully understood this idea. I believe I was trying to build on what
students already knew, but when there were times when I was teaching the same
thing to everyone at the same time, there is really no way that this could be
possible. And as we talked about in our last course, were the students
even learning what I was teaching? I think that for my best intentions
and all of the modifications, varied assessment and authentic learning
opportunities I was doing, I was still providing a teacher driven curriculum at
the heart of it, and I was actually teaching ‘curriculum as text’ in many ways.
I have had lots of ‘ah ha’ moments so far.
While I am looking
forward to trying out the inquiry-based learning, I am still unsure of several
things, most importantly, how to ensure that at least the ‘big ideas’ in the
curriculum are being met. I am also not sure how/where to start. Do
you pick a unit of study to start with and hope for the best or do you have
backup plans just in case? Do you jump in with both feet or just dip your
toe in with one area of study, e.g., science? As mentioned above, I have
seen similar ideas in action in a kindergarten classroom, but have not yet seen
it in a primary classroom. Hopefully I will be able to make a connection
with someone who has engaged in this style of teaching and learning and be able
to speak with them or observe it in action. I will also begin to actively
look for articles about inquiry-based learning and how I can use this to
provide authentic experiences and learning that allows children to develop
their literacy skills in all areas of study.
