The Inquiry Teacher

Tuning in: before we go any further in examining the structures that help teachers implement inquiry-based learning, Trevor brings to life the dispositions of the inquiry teacher. As you will see, the way teachers show up for inquiry and their own constructivist tendencies shape how students engage in the planned learning experiences. Regardless of how well-planned, structured, or intentioned we may be, inquiry will fall short if teachers are not mindful of these dispositions and aspiring to embody more of them more often in our teaching.

Learning objectives include:

  • to create a deeper understanding of inquiry-based learning.

  • to explore the dispositions of the constructivist educator.

  • to reflect on areas in which you can continue to grow in your inquiry practice.

Pause and reflect: after viewing, please consider

  • what are your green lights, yellow lights, and red lights?

  • For your green lights, what evidence illustrates your reflection?

  • What is your ongoing disposition goal?

  • In sharing with your colleagues, what evidence did you hear that is aligned with and impacts your work towards your disposition goal?

  • What are your next steps in working towards your disposition goal?

Share and make meaning together: as prompted in the video, share your reflection with a colleague, your team/department, or if prompted at a staff meeting. As you engage in this critical discourse, consider how what you are hearing could impact your practice and help you more fully embody these dispositions.

Once you have set a personalized Inquiry Teacher goal, download the Interactive Inquiry Teacher resource below. To explore the resource simply hover over an icon and click on the PDF that surfaces. Each disposition has an adjoining resource/PDF. Start exploring by clicking your goal disposition. Reflect on how you may implement some of the ideas in the attachment. Plan for experiences over time that will allow you to grow in this area. As you do so, consider adding another disposition goal to the mix. Plan, implement, reflect, and repeat. Enjoy!

Extend your learning: take your reflections and your new understandings and consider sharing them to the PLN platform of your choice using the #inquirymindset hashtag. Consider using this image as you share a disposition strength and the evidence of this disposition. If you are compelled, you could also share your goal with your PLN.

You can also make these reflections visible with your team, faculty, or staff. Before you begin be sure to have some stickers such as these at hand and print off a few of the Inquiry Teacher sketchnotes. Place these on tables for teams to use or on walls so staff can stand on interact with them throughout the activity.

After engaging in the Pause and Reflect from above, you will now engage in a more publicly displayed traffic light reflection. For the dispositions that you possess, you will place a green sticker on or near the disposition on the sketchnote. For the dispositions that you somewhat possess, you will place a yellow sticker on or near the disposition on the sketchnote. For the dispositions that you do not possess yet, you will place a red sticker on or near the disposition on the sketchnote.

After each colleague has placed their stickers on the sketchnote, take a moment to pause and notice what the data tells you. Where are the most greens? What do you notice about the yellows? Is there anything interesting about the reds?

Hold on to these skecthnotes and revisit them after a month of working towards your disposition goals. How could the stickers be changed now that growth has occurred?

You can take this community goal setting further by utilizing a visible goal setting structure like Holy Trinity Primary School in Curtin, Australia. This school has posted several of the sketchnotes from the Inquiry Mindset Portal in their staffroom and staff learning commons. Each sketch has a different visible goal setting commitment. Whether a staff photo or staff name, making the learning visible helps create a community of learning, support, and collaboration.

Although the sketches Holy Trinity uses are different than that focused on in this module, you can easily replicate this structure at your own school.

Resources:

Download the Inquiry Teacher sketchnote here.

Download the Interactive Inquiry Teacher resource here.

Read this article by Trevor titled Cultivating Competency Development: Tools for Constructivism, Inquiry, and STEM

Bonus offering:

Watch this short reflection as Trevor shares thoughts with Press Play on Inquiry Moves.