Inquiry Developments - Three Units Down

Over the past few weeks of the course the idea of inquiry has 
changed. As I began to understand that inquiry looked different from teacher to teacher, lesson to lesson, and class sections and levels, I also developed the idea that inquiry could have a different definition and meaning every 80 minutes of my school day. However, at its core are questions, investigations, and curiosity. These things drive the lesson and allow students to develop a greater level of knowledge by simply following the steps like the scientific method. I felt that inquiry was taken to another level in some example lessons as students applied what they learned to real life situations or information that they already knew.  

As we looked at several case studies and categorize them based on what we learned about different types of inquiry, I could not help but critique lessons that I felt did not meet the set standards and objectives.  These flaws are easy to see from the outside looking in, but were probably difficult for the teacher to identify until the class was over.  I also worry that looking reflectively and after the classroom time allotted: are there things in the lesson that should have been diverted differently; is it too late to go back and fix these flaws; is there enough time in the school year to redo what went wrong?  The greatest thing that I learned looking at several examples of inquiry lessons is that you have to be ready to anticipate students’ shortfalls or wrong directions and be ready to redirect them, but in a way that does not give them the answer.  With proper planning and an end goal in mind, it is possible to master these skills.  Overall, I enjoyed looking into classrooms and realizing that I am an inquiry teacher to different degrees, and that is great because it provides an engaging environment for the students an also myself.  When a student is genuinely interested and engaged, it reminds us of why we became teachers in the first place.

Images:

http://www.worldpgl.com/en/inbound-inquiry-handling-solutions/inbound-solutions-multilingual-inquiry-handling-services-wpg.html

https://iarslceproceedings2012.wikispaces.com/Optimizing+reflection+as+a+teaching+and+learning+tool