I used to think...
that inquiry was going to be very time
consuming and difficult and that as an educator I wasn’t sure I was ready to
take it on. It seemed like a scary word
that brought things like chaos, time consuming and too much planning to
mind.
Now I think...
that inquiry is what I have been using to teach
for a very long time-I just didn’t name it that. I have come to realize that I use the
mini-inquiry model combined with workshop to help my students think deeply
about what they are learning. The
biggest change for my classroom this year is the way that my students interact
and discuss with EACH OTHER. As I have learned
to fine-tune my teaching methods and really connect with who I am as an
educator I find that I first focused on my classroom management, then the way
that I questioned students and used the thinking strategies in our math work;
and this year I focused on how to facilitate my students having the
conversations with each other that allow them to deepen their
understanding. Although this year things
really have come together, I feel as though without the work of my previous
years it would not have been possible for my students to get where they are
now. It was as though this year all the
pieces started fitting together and I had an outline to my puzzle and the picture
became clearer as we put more pieces in throughout the year.
Hi Shannon!
ReplyDeleteYour post completely resonated with me because of the focus on collaboration and conversation. This is one of the biggest areas of growth for me. I want to control the academic language, the content, the protocols of listening,sharing and building on each others ideas... but I want it to feel natural... Uhhhh! It is hard for me to spend time on lessons of conversation, but that is exactly what I need to do. What lessons worked the best?
Val