I can honestly say that with the warm, low-teens temperatures and beautiful sunshine for this week in Mid March, I am starting to get into the spirit for spring! Being outside, enjoying the chirping of the bird, it really got me thinking about the process of transitioning from winter into spring and the types of changes our environment goes through. This further had me reflecting on the discussions we had in class last week regarding the importance of inquiry-based learning in the classroom, I even had some of my younger students asking me about the process of photosynthesis trees go through in the spring through to fall!
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| Katic, K. © (2015). Spring, Summer, Fall. |
This brings me to my first challenge of implementing an inquiry approach in the classroom, whereby it relates back to the Curriculum and the importance of building constant awareness of students' strengths and needs in the classroom. Going back to my photosynthesis example, I immediately started thinking about how this can be cross-curricularily integrated with science, geography and art; have students explain the process of photosynthesis, how it relates back to the physical environment, and create an accurate, realistic diagram.
Week 4#1
As stated in my previous blog post, my awesome instructor Zoe provided us with awesome resources for this topic. They are both produced by the OESSTA and I think the rawness of the videos truly adds to the realistic elements presented in the classroom. They can be accessed here and here.
After viewing these sources, it became clear to me that introducing and implementing an inquiry approach, while it can be extremely beneficial for our classrooms, I have identified two specific challenges to implementing this approach. The first challenge of implementing an inquiry approach in the classroom relates back to the Curriculum where, "Teachers continually build their awareness of students' learning strengths and needs by observing and assessing their readiness to learn, their interests, and their learning styles and preferences" (page 34-35). While this may seem to be an easy task, I know from previous experience that teaching Intermediate students on rotary, where you can easily see over a hundred students a day, it can be extremely challenging to get to know each and every one of your students on this level in order to achieve a successful inquiry approach in the classroom. This process would need to be ongoing throughout the school year, and a tool such as, "Get to Know You Sheets" may be good at the beginning of the year in order to assess what the students want to learn about, however, continually questioning what the students want to learn and constantly getting to know their strengths and needs, as well as areas of interest, is something that needs to be continuous.
Secondly, in the videos that were viewed, Pete (the Grade 4/5 teacher in the video) stated that students need to be able to effectively research and organize, interpret and analyze research throughout the day, and by the end of the school day they need to draw conclusions and communicate their research and ideas through presentation format. He insists that this is a great approach as there isn't always a teacher talking at the students and that they are learning from their peers. While I do agree that this is beneficial to the students, I have had experiences with students where presentations give them great anxiety, and while it is very important to be able to get our students to communicate effectively, I can see where this approach may be problematic. Therefore, I believe there are various ways for students to consolidate and communicate their understanding that isn't strictly in presentation format.
Fundamentally, I do believe that the inquiry approach to learning is an effective way to teach our students important skills; however, as each classroom dynamic is different, there may be various learning needs and challenges, so it is important to remain flexible in our instruction as educators and effectively meet the needs of all of our students.
References OESSTA (2014, October 14). How can I Start to Plan for Inquiry? YouTube Video. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5TgcuXdCjY&list=PL3xwSKk0KfrrHdxfp2DwgZR2OZABYoIaW&index=3
OESSTA (2014, October 14). What Might Teaching and Learning Look Like? YouTube Video. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c3PHJRpqm8&list=UUMIznCR6XAL8rmXbu0s4lpg
Ontario. (2013). The Ontario Curriculum: Social Studies, History and Geography. Grades 1-8. (6th Ed). Toronto: Ontario, Ministry of Education. https://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/sshg18curr2013.pdf
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