This month our group read Chapter 4- Inquiry Exemplars: How
does a Lesson Look and Feel? We all
picked one lesson that was close to our grade and content level and discussed
what we noticed in the lessons. I had a
lot more questions this time then were answered. First off, is inquiry really just posing a challenging
question? Many of the math lessons just
posed difficult questions and allowed students time to discuss and think about
them. Perhaps I am already doing
inquiry without realizing it?? We always
have a question of the day, sometimes it takes us a few days to explore and
talk about. We write, discuss, explore
and question around these questions and maybe that is inquiry.
I used to think that moving towards inquiry was going to be
very difficult and time consuming. Now I
am thinking that I only need to change a few things and that we were already on
the path towards inquiry-I just didn’t realize it. I still have many questions and need to
continue working through some ideas and I think that the mini-inquiry approach
in math is where I will be starting. One
of the places I’m really feeling that I can work with to have more of an
inquiry approach is our question of the day.
We have been reviewing the thinking strategies much more explicitly as I
want them to start connecting with the ones they are using. For our questions of the day they can solve
them however they would like, my only requirement is that when we have finished
we take a few minutes to reflect on our work through writing and I want them to
start including the thinking strategies in this writing.
Another random thought/connection…This year I am working on
an action research project focused around student discourse. I found a very section in the book we are
reading called “Discourse (How are the environment and interactions structured?)”. It helps you take note of the questions that
you and the students are asking and the interactions taking place in the
classroom. I think that the questioning
taking place in our classroom is around the proficient inquiry (level 3) and my
goal is to move us towards the exemplary (level 4) type of questions. (pg. 100).
I am excited to see connections that I can use in other areas this year
and hope to continue finding more similarities.
Shannon,
ReplyDeleteWe had a similar conversation around our inquiry work in my group.. am I already putting structures in place that could be called 'inquiry?' We could settle on the fact that it is definitely workshop and maybe workshop and inquiry have some similarities that we already utilize like a short mini lesson, catch and release etc. I was working with a teacher in our STEM group who is relying ONLY on these cognitively challenging tasks to drive her lesson. I am certainly not there, but she claims she is having a lot of success with it. It certainly seems that at this point in the process they are really owning their learning and the process.
This book sounds great, I am going to come around to see if anyone wants to lend...
Shannon,
ReplyDeleteI too have found that I am using inquiry, just not having named it. I relate to your question of the day and I think too that when I pose an overarching or juicy question, I am asking the students to perform a mini inquiry of their own. The aspect of this is that I do not necessarily have a place to record their thinking, connections or findings. Perhaps as you mentioned, a daily writing or math journal might have good grounds to develop their thinking and see how it changes over time. The only aspect I take towards going public, are our carpet share outs. I wonder if this is enough, or if I should have a day or two at the end of our units to allow the kids to present their math learning.
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ReplyDeleteHI Shannon,
ReplyDeleteYour post really resonated with me. I feel like maybe I am over-thinking inquiry too. I have an inquiry based curriculum afterall and perhaps I only need to tweak my presentation in order for the connections to be made and for the children to go deeper. I also agree that so much comes from the reflection piece and your idea to extend this through writing sounds really promising.
Shannon,
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything Leslie said above. We do inquiry every day....Do not ever doubt yourself
Shannon,
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything Leslie said above. We do inquiry every day....Do not ever doubt yourself