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Challenges

Sometimes I may consider a photo or video can spark curiosity but the students think otherwise.

Too many a time, my hands are tied due to the disruptions due to school programmes (FSBB, Nationwide exams, sch-wide AoL) that limit the curriculum time to deliver an engaging lesson package.

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Write your name for your post.

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Watch this video for Kathleen Murdoch's take on what does it mean to be an inquiry teacher.

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Watch this video for Kathleen Murdoch's take on what does it mean to be an inquiry teacher.

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What does it mean to be an inquiry teacher?

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Watch this video on a lesson conducted by our Outstanding Educator in 2019

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Watch this video on a lesson conducted by our Outstanding Educator in 2019

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Watch from 00:00 to 22:56.

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OEIR Susan Caldis (Geography) Lesson Conduct  (full)

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Engaged students:

Think - about issues that matter to them or they are curious about.

Say - they spoke with passion and confidence as they are clear of what they are talking about. This stems from the fact that they took ownership of the issue & they have done their research on the topic.)

Do - Self-directed with minimal supervision. They discussed the issues together and worked in groups to do research on different sub-topics of the issues. Teachers were there to prick their thoughts eg why would we care about ..?

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Inquiry teachers:

Dispositions:

the belief that in inquiry based learning is the way forward.

Knowledge:

Repertoire of 'tricks in the bags' to design the lessons and nibble enough to adapt & anticipate disruptions.

Skills:

Questioning skills

Skillful in guiding students to the issue focus to make them think that they are the one who identify the issue(give them ownership)

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Engaged students think of personal questions that are related to the topics being taught. They do not ask straightforward or textbook questions. Instead, they make use of their limited prior knowledge on the topic and try to make sense of the new knowledge gained and add that to their current level of understanding, so they may ask questions that are "out of the book". They also display a lot of interest and are continuously engaged in class.

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Disposition: Every student is innately curious and wants to learn. The responsibility of the teacher is to sustain that interest meaningfully so that students will continue to want to learn i.e. be curious even in the absence of the teacher.

Knowledge: Vast knowledge on the topics. Teachers must be aware of the different angles that a topic can be studied from, because the lines of inquiry from the students can cover various points of view so in order to engage the students meaningfully, the teacher must be aware of all of these.

Skills: Facilitation skills to keep the discussions going because discussions may go "off topic" or students may be stumped and need to be guided for them to make the links between what they know and the necessary lesson outcomes. Teachers must also be patient because an engaged class may likely mean a class with (useful) noise and movement so the teacher must be ready for that as well.

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Time constraint is one thing. Also, a homeroom system will make it easier where I can prepare the physical layout of the class to suit my classroom activities. Student profile is also another factor where students' prior knowledge is generally very low so I would have to start the lesson by giving out information which ends up with didactic teaching.

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Engaged students

Think: they tend to think a little out of the box sometimes, pulling instances from personal experiences to help them "see" the concepts more clearly. They also relate classroom info to real life situations and draw connections, which may or may not be correct. But most importantly, engaging students are thinking.

Say: they will ask questions (they will ask why) or respond to teacher questions. they are confident about their answers

Do: they will feel compelled to research on what they do not know. engaged students are willing to discuss the issue further with classmates.

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Students thinks critically, often challenging their own assumptions. They are actively constructing new knowledge. They do not just receive knowledge. They tend to struggle in coming up with the Big Idea.

Students usually ask more questions to seek clarification and understanding.

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Dispositions: patience and an exploratory mindset. inquiry teachers should go into the lesson believing that students are capable of deriving answers, and take up the role as guides to guide students to the learning objectives.

Knowledge: good content knowledge and a vast knowledge of how to approach the content - teachers should have lists of questions that can be asked and how to scaffold these inquiry questions to help students learn. teachers should also know how to design a lesson with appropriate flow so as to "scale up" learning.

Skills: socratic questioning skills, ability to facilitate and draw responses from different students

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Challenges - Time constraint and the pressure to cover the syllabus adequately is a huge challenge to inquiry based learning. As geographical content is vast, I often do not have time to make my lessons inquiry based. Certain topics also require more scaffolding and students have less prior knowledge, so student readiness is also a factor which determines if the lesson is a success. I am constantly trying to make my questions and instructions sharper and clearer, in order to guide students in the relevant direction.

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Dispositions: Inquiry teachers listen attentively to students. They are clear in achieving the learning objectives. They challenge students understanding. They create safe spaces for students to ask questions.

Skills: They are able to raise questions that develop students' curiosity about an issue. I see Susan capitalising on a real-life inquiry question on "What are the basic resources you need in a household?" This is a question that all students can relate to, thus creating an authentic learning experience. Inquiry teachers have good questioning skills which is organic and fluid in nature. Inquiry teachers are able to create experiential learning. He/she makes conscious efforts to allow all students to participate in either data collection or class discussion. Lastly, they actively seek feedback on their teaching.

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Finding time to plan inquiry-based lesson. Sometimes need to find inspiration to get started.

In rushing for the next lesson, I often skip getting feedback from students, which I know is essential to close the learning loop.

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Think: Engaged students are constantly relating and making links between what is presented in class, to their own ideas that they already know from personal/life experiences.

Say: Engaged students ask deeper questions and questions that matter to them. They are also not afraid to add on to classroom ideas and content presented by their teachers and peers.

Do: They are reflective and passionate, taking ownership of their own learning.

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Dispositions: They see students as co-creators of knowledge. They listen, observe and respond.

Knowledge: An expert in curriculum knowledge and a repertoire of strategies

Skills: Questioning, knowing how to scaffold

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Time constraints is the main challenge, with limited number of periods and the large amount of content we have to cover.

Differentiated instruction- some classes have such a large gap between the strongest and weakest that it is tough to ensure every one is learning at a pace which they learn best.

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Big questions are very important to create engaigng lessons and for teachers to deepen our own understanding to the issues. Audrey

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Big questions are very important to create engaigng lessons and for teachers to deepen our own understanding to the issues. Audrey

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I used to think it was a more straight-forward process using the inquiry cycle. Now I think… it covers much more depth and breadth, with a multitude of strategies, tools and way of thinking to incorporate. It got me thinking!

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I used to think IBL is tedious in planning but now I think it’s do-able.

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I used to think that IBL can be done in a bite-sized manner but now I think it has to be planned in an overarching way, and cannot be done on a weekly basis for example.

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I used to think that facilitating IBL is mostly about good questioning and teaching inductively; Now I think that IBL requires a lot more - starting from looking @ the topic overview and thinking through what is the key takeaway students should have, and planning your lesson activities from there

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I used to think: planning for a series of lessons is key to facilitating IBL.

Now I think: planning key questions is key to IBL. No doubt planning for a series of lessons is necessary, but having the key questions link together is more important.