Inquiry-Based Learning -- I'm "ALL EARS!!!"

 

Inquiry-based learning has always been present in the classroom.  The difference is the role that the teacher serves in order to facilitate it.  I agree completely with Diana Laufenberg!  Where to obtain the information in order to learn has certainly changed over time.  Not only has the location changed, but so has the amount of information available, too!  This goes back to the week where we discussed "Information Overload"!  As a teacher, I must teach leaners how to develop a "growth-mindset", using "credible sources", and keeping in mind "digital citizenship"!  All things that we have read about and studied in FRIT 7234!

Inquiry-based learning in my fourth grade Math and Science classroom can take a variety of forms using a wide range of resources.  The FIRST place that it needs to be present is in the planning phase for each unit or topic in which I must research, collaborate, communicate, question, problem-solve, and understand what needs to be discovered by the students.  Once I know what should be expected out of the students, I must discuss with them and develop their learning goals together.  After we layout what evidence would prove that they understood and learned, the students would take control of the research and discovery of the content.  Next, the students would present evidence of learning to me in creative and informative ways.  Finally, we would all discuss and critique as a class in order to elaborate on what was learned and correct any misconceptions that may have developed!

In my opinion, what I just described above sounds like the ideal inquiry-based environment that fully facilitates learning!  However, in my experience, the classroom cannot look like this from day one.  It takes lots of training on procedures and routines in order to get to this point!  It also takes a behavior management system in your classroom that promotes respect between the teacher and students, as well as respect amongst peers.  Because of this, many teachers are sometimes "Inquiry-based learnophobes". (copyright pending!)  They are often scared to "Let Go!"  The reality is, if we were to fully adopt the principles of an inquiry-based model as a school, we would see the growth and improvement of our students.

Ideas For My Mini-Lessons:

• Each mini-lesson must start with a problem or question that will grab the students attention and ignite questions of their own. 
• These questions that the students develop should be used to guide the students in a discussion of ways to incorporate different resources and methods that may provide the answers to their questions. 
• A culminating task should be developed together in order to insure that the students know what is expected of them, and what evidence they will need to show in order to prove that learning occurred.
• During the learning process, students will use a set of curated resources in order to insure the resources are credible and contain information on the students' individual level. 
• Students should reflect on what was learned during the process and evaluate themselves on how close they are to completing their learning goals.  These reflections should communicate that the students understand the What, How and Why of learning that is taking place.
• Finally, they will complete the assessment and receive targeted feedback that should direct the students' future improvement.
• Throughout the process, students should display ethical citizenship.

No one likes a "Know It All"!

Having the growth mindset is very valuable!  I have had many students throughout the years that believe that they know it all and cannot learn anything new.  I also have had several students that believed they would never learn or succeed at anything.  Instilling the motivation for students to challenge themselves is one of the most important things that a teacher has to do.  Another major task is to make sure that students have the ability to accept failure and learn from their mistakes.  This is very important, especially when the RIGOR is the term I have heard more than any other in this past year!  I have had many teachers complain about how hard my class is and how hard my assessments are.  Many have said that they just cannot give their students such bad grades, especially those that are not used to making so low.  I have been asked, "Don't you feel like you are hurting your students confidence?"  MOST CERTAINLY NOT! I feel like the relationships that I build with my students and the conversations that we have after tests and challenging activities actually boost my students' confidence!

My goals at the beginning of this semester were to learn about new technology tools and utilize them in my classroom.  I feel that I have already used several tools that I have learned about.  I have used InstaGrok and Symbaloo to create different activities for my students.  I also have taken several things away from my PLN (lesson plans, strategies, tools, etc.) and implemented them in my classroom!  I think that having a growth mindset about my all of my grad school classes will help me through them.  Realizing that things are not always going to be easy, and I have to put lots of effort in order to learn the most out of each assignment will only help me in the long run.

Letting Go

I  enjoyed listening to the webinar and reading the blog post this week.  Teachers at my school  just finished reviewing and discussing the first FIP module.  This module had to do with summative and formative assessment, as well as student involvement during the learning process.  I have tried so hard to implement a variety of strategies to facilitate formative assessment practices and student directed learning throughout the year.  I was really excited to hear one of the men in the webinar ask about what to do with students that are on a different skill or developmental level when they arrive in a teacher's classroom.  The question ended up getting pushed to the side and not ever really addressed.  That has been my biggest problem this year as I try to implement effective teaching practices.  As a fourth grade teacher, my students have been pinged around to different teachers throughout their previous four years.  This causes my students to arrive with wide range of skills.  I would equate it to having one soccer team for the whole school.  On one end, you have the players who could make it professionally, and on the other, you have players who have never seen a soccer ball.  This makes it very difficult to "scrimmage", much less play the "game"!

The webinar said it best, "teachers are very uneasy right now".  It is hard to convince teachers to move away from the traditional model of teaching.  Telling them to "let go" and give the students more responsibility is like telling some to jump off a bridge.  Bottom line is, if we as teachers do not move toward this way of "school" and, instead, choose to stay where we are at, then we will, in a sense, move further away.

My favorite quote to end this post came from toward the end of the webinar when one of the men said, it is going to take "boots on the ground" to fix this, and that positive change was "NOT going to come from the top."