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Shifting the Classroom, One Step at a Time
Why Every Student Needs a Teacher Champion
Teacher's Most Powerful Tool: Piquing Students' Curiosity
Ready to Learn? The Key Is Listening With Intention
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1. START WITH ONE UNIT
Start with creating one inquiry unit in one subject. You can jump in and change
everything at once like I did, but thats slightly crazy. Instead, if you design one unit in one
subject, at the end of each day, or week, you can analyze what worked and what didnt.
While teaching doesnt always leave a lot of time for luxuries like reflection, it really is the
key to figuring out inquiry learning, and as the teacher, its one of your most important roles.
Remember that inquiry learning is an emotional
process.
Sometimes you may not understand why certain things arent working. Ask your students.
Im often surprised by how much they know and how adept they are at articulating what they
need.
Two of the best resources Ive found for creating an inquiry classroom are Carol
Kuhlthaus work and Alberta Learnings Guide to Inquiry Learning.
If you dont know how to create an inquiry classroom, ask me. Im happy to help. You can
begin by posting comments here. If you need resources, I can probably point you to some.
Over the pastyear, Ive had the opportunity to email, Skype and, if distance allows, have
teachers, administrators and superintendents visit my classroom to see what we do.
2. TALK ABOUT LEARNING
Talk to your students about their learning a lot. Especially in the beginning, I talk to
my students about why my classroom is structured differently than every other class in our
school. I show them Ken Robinsons talk about how the 20th century school system doesnt
really prepare students anymore. I also show them Chris Lehmanns TED-X talk
emphasizing how education is broken and Karl Fischs Did You Know?.
I tell my students that essentially Im preparing them for jobs that dont currently exist, that
will use technology which hasnt been invented yet, to fix problems were not currently
aware of. They get the point. Its about developing skills and habits of learning, and we use
content to do that.
But I also talk to my students about stuff like how their brain works, and how neural
connections need to be made. That often, in order for students to learn something new, it
needs to be attached to things they already know. Just before the recent break, during the
last week of school, we talked about cognitive dissonance and Vygotskys zone of proximal
development. They like to know theres a reason for the way they feel when they dont get
it. And they like to know that everyones zone of development is different. In fact, they were
amazed to find out everyones brain is different.
And, yes, I use the big words. I simply explain what they mean. I dont use them to sound
smart. I use them because it makes my students feel smart; most of our society doesnt
treat our students like theyre capable of understanding or doing much. I do.
3. MAKE TECH WORK FOR YOU
Embed technology in ways that are authentic to the learning process. The first tools
that I teach my students are Google Docs, Diigo or Delicious to bookmark their research,
and Symbaloo to house their tools.
Experience has taught me that the first day I introduce a class to Google Docs, we will get
nothing done. To them, its the most amazing thing ever. They usually spend most of the
class typing back and forth to each other in the doc. No big deal. However, eventually, my
students open Google Docs without me telling them to. I have students who literally use
them for every lab, essay, and assignment. And the ability for a group to work on and edit
the same document at the same time, more than makes up for the initial class we lose.
The social media tools we used to show our learning in our slavery unit seemed like the
most natural and logical tools to use. As a learning community, we want our learning to
extend beyond the four walls of our classroom. So we have a discussion, or likely multiple
discussions, about what that should look like. We also want our projects to have real world
implications. Whats more real world than advocacy against modern-day slavery using
social media?
Essentially these are the two criteria we use to assess the product were going to create.
How do we extend our learning beyond our classroom and how can what we do here
make a difference to the real world? Our tool selection is guided by the answers to these
questions.
4. EXPECT TO HIT THE WALL
Remember that inquiry learning is an emotional process. Each stage of learning has
specific emotions attached to it, and at some point, you and your students will likely hit the
wall. Thats normal.
Ive found that we need to talk more as an inquiry class. My role is to be well aware of how
my students are doing emotionally, especially when were dealing with a weighty,
overwhelming topic like slavery. While this may not matter much in a traditional classroom,
it can completely blow apart a community learning through inquiry.
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