Today marks five weeks we have spent in stage 4 lockdown here in Melbourne, Australia. Prior to that, we were in stage 3 for weeks. So time actually IN schools is indeed becoming a distant memory! I remain incredibly grateful to the many educators who have been willing to continue our work together in the remote context. As I have said before, this has been the steepest of learning curves and I – like so many others – am still on it. For years I have banged on about inquiry classrooms being places where teachers and learners learn to live with uncertainty, where we need to expect the unexpected and where we plan in response to what is needed. Never have those features of an inquiry-based environment been more relevant. (Although, to be honest, a little bit of certainty would be more than welcome right now!!)
A month ago, I posed a question on this blog. When working remotely, how can we continue to work in the dynamic, interactive ways of the inquiry teacher? In the weeks since, it has been fascinating to explore this question with teachers and students alike. It has meant a lot of reflection, experimentation and risk taking. My inquiry muscles have most definitely been getting a work out.
In my last post, I explored the way I felt the pedagogy of inquiry’ could transfer to the remote setting by considering five of the 10 inquiry practices I have found useful when working with teachers and learners. In this post I continue that conversation by examining the remaining five. As always, I am indebted to the teachers with whom I have been working – particularly those in my partner schools who help me think more deeply and creatively about what’s possible. So, how can we continue to bring an inquiry stance to our work – even when we can’t physically be with our students?
Keep it real: Inquiry teachers harness real contexts for learning
There is no doubt that when learners are engaged in inquiring into something they care about – something that is real and relevant to their lives, they are more invested and committed to the process. Time and time again, teachers and kids tell me that the journeys of inquiry that have stayed with them have been the ones where they felt they made a difference. – and where they were connected with real people, real places, real issues.
On the surface, this is a huge challenge for remote teaching. Gone are those field trips that instantly motivate and engage the learner, gone are the hands-on materials, the guest speakers, the spontaneous walk around the neighborhood…. Well, yes. For some learners this has been the case. Not withstanding the fact there are still some schools and communities that do not have sufficient access to decent wifi/internet, I have been dismayed by the stories I hear from friends about their children being issued with endless worksheets and cute ‘activities’ without ever engaging with teachers through video conferencing (especially when the option to do so exists) or even a simple phone call. By contrast, I am seeing and hearing many wonderfully authentic inquiries happening while in lockdown. Field trips still happen – albeit virtually and there have been expert guests in abundance! Students at St Bernadette’s primary School in the western suburbs of Melbourne have forged connections with several designers/makers who have been designing and constructing facemasks. The designers have shared their processes and the children are now using what they have learned to consider a design challenge in their household or neighborhood. As part of their iTime, students at Mother Teresa Primary school have been investigating a wide range of authentic projects from how to set up a frog enclosure when back at school to investigating coping mechanisms for remote learning across the world. Journeys of inquiry need purpose and passion. It is even more imperative that we help our learners see the worth of what they are inquiring into. So, keep it real:
Encourage kids to find everyday problems, challenges and issues in their household or neighborhood about which they could inquire. You may be inspired by some of the suggestions made here.
Use the house, yard and local streets as the basis for learning. Shameless plug for my resource about cultivating curiosity in the garden and home available here.
Virtual field trips can add a wonderful dimension to your inquiries. There are LOADS of these available – and you can go global in ways you never have before. There are a few examples here but a simple search will reveal more.
I am a fan of the naturecam! Checking in on the progress of various animals around the world is in itself a beautiful ongoing inquiry.
Be authentic – share your own inquiries – what have you been exploring or teaching yourself while in isolation? Share your own learning journeys with your students.
Play: Inquiry teachers know the power of play
When we think of play – we often associate it with something light- and even frivolous. And it certainly can be (nothing wrong with that!). Throughout the last 6 months I have noticed how much being able to play with possibilities, play with ideas, experiment and tinker has helped me learn. So as you engage students in remote learning:
Allow yourself to play with possibilities as you explore the online environment with and for your learners. This means being prepared to fail! I have had to let go of my tendency to want to get it right before I try something new online and to dive in. Such important modelling for our learners.
Play is a powerful community builder. So playing games together as you meet in the virtual space is hugely connecting. Those of you beginning your year will be acutely aware of this. The morning and end of day meetings can be the perfect opportunity to explore ways to take favorite classroom games and adapt them to the online space.
Be bold and don’t forget the power of the unexpected, playful moment. A friend of mine had a sudden ‘glitch’ with technology during a lesson last week. She needed a minute or two to try to fix it. Instead of having her students stare at her on the screen while she did so she said “OK guys, out of your seats, run to your front door run back, run around your chair three times then sit down. First one back wins! A silly, spontaneous moment that had them all laughing …and gave her a minute to sort her tech issue.
USE MATERIALS. Just because you are working online does not mean you or your students can’t get your hands on materials. Invite children to share their thinking by making and creating using household items.
Be playful. Humour is one of the most powerful ways we have to diffuse tension, build connections and help learners to relax into a space in which they are ready to learn.
Collaborate: Inquiry teachers value collaboration between learners and regularly collaborate with other educators.
Many schools are ensuring that our precious team meetings remain part of our weekly schedule even when working remotely. Teachers have reported to me that they feel collaboration has strengthened in response to the situation. So it may go without saying – but stay connected to each other!
It has been amazing to watch teachers and students forging connections with others in the community albeit within the virtual space. Perhaps as we become more comfortable with using online meeting tools, we ae realising the ease with which we can, in fact, collaborate with someone on the other side of the world!
In an inquiry journey, we can act as ‘brokers’ helping learners connect with experts in the areas they are inquiring into. Use this opportunity to collaborate with experts online. Authors, historians, biologists, artists, musicians – inviting them to share their passions with your students is only a click away.
Collaboration is also about teachers collaborating with learners to co construct agreements, assessment criteria and the design of tasks. This can continue to be the case even when we are physically apart. Remind yourself to ask rather than tell when it comes to learning agreements.
Think Big: Inquiry teachers design and teach with concepts in mind.
Teaching remotely brings with it the temptation to parcel learning tasks up into neat, bite sized activities. The abundance of ‘choice grids’ so popular in the 90’s is a case in point. Of course we want to find ways to allow learners to make choices and manage their time more independently but the down side of activity grids is that they can simply be that – a bunch of things kids DO rather than a connected flow of tasks that promote deeper learning.
As we design learning tasks with and for our students, let’s keep concepts in mind and resist the urge to provide what amounts to ‘busy work’. It makes sense to consider the concepts that are particularly relevant to this time. The context of living in a time of a pandemic can help us explore wellbeing, interdependence, freedom and responsibility, equity, community, empathy, global citizenship, rights and responsibilities, perspective, media influence and ethics just to name a few!
We are living in a time that necessitates big picture thinking. The very concept of ‘schooling’ itself is being closely examined as our historically ridged institutions are being faced with this massive challenge. Ask your students what they think are the big ideas they should be exploring right now.
Grow learning assets: Inquiry teachers help learners develop skills and dispositions for life long learning.
If there is one thing that this situation has offered us, it has been the chance to put learning itself in the spotlight. Whatever language you use to talk about learning with your students – make sure it is amplified when working remotely. For IB/PYP teachers, it will be the profile attributes and the approaches to learning. Others may use Art Costa’s Habits of Mind or Guy Claxton’s Learning Powers. For me it is what I call the Learning Assets to be more successful as learners.
Ask your learners to reflect on the similarities and differences they are experiencing when they experience remote learning vs classroom learning. What skills and dispositions are they finding they need to draw on more?
Continue to share intentions for learning using the ‘split screen’ metaphor where we identify not just what we are learning about but HOW the learning us being done – how we are building learning muscle as we learn
Notice and name the skills and dispositions your learners are demonstrating in your observations and feedback. This is not simply about completing assigned tasks – this is about growing ourselves as learners.
Invite learners to talk about what they are noticing about learning itself - what challenges are they experiencing in this contexts? Is anything working better for them as learners?
And, as always, BE the learner you want to see! Be open and vulnerable. Talk about the skills and dispositions you are needing to draw on as you teach in this new environment. Share your reflections on yourself as a learner with your students.
My heart goes out to all those teachers beginning the year – some in new countries, new roles and with new students and so many without actually being in the same space as their students! Teaching is such a relational profession – and being so disconnected is anathema to the way we love to interact with our kids. But we are all surprising ourselves with what is possible and this experience can help us understand even more deeply that inquiry is not a subject. Inquiry is not just ‘the unit’. More than ever before, inquiry is a stance – a way of being that most definitely helps sustain our positivity, our growth and our learning amidst a sea of uncertainty. have
How are YOU sustaining the art of inquiry teaching as you engage children in remote learning?
