We’ve been hearing a lot about inquiry based learning in our program and for the longest time it sounded like a buzzword to me. Up until this point I honestly didn’t know that the practice of inquiry was based on constructivist notions, but after hearing Trevor speak about it… of course it is!
What I appreciated about Trevor’s approach is his focus on the learner, not the approach. So much of what we have learned about is focused on inquiry itself, not the point of inquiry… what why behind the process.
As teachers we have the power to help shape our learners identify, their self value and even self worth. With this in mind, it is so important for teachers to show humanity within our teaching, to teach responsively and co-construct what amazing learning looks like WITH our students, with students as partners in learning. Often it seems teacher focus on the content to heavily and forget we are teaching HUMANS… and we are a large part of their lives. Do we want to teach our students that grades matter or that learning matters? Do we want to teach them that what they get as a grade at the end of the class matters more than the student themselves?
Get to know your students, teaching is about relationships, not disseminating information.
Guiding Questions:
– what do you think?
– what makes you say that?
– can you tell me more?
– what makes you wonder?
– tell me more about that (about the learner and their processes)
On average, we have 12 minutes to keep our students engaged. What will you do to extend that 12 minutes?
