- If we create a curriculum guide that looks like most have looked, then teachers will teach like they have been teaching. Whatever we create needs to have a structure that reflects and supports the shift to inquiry-based learning.
- How can we create guides that support both new teachers and veteran teachers?
- How can we give examples while avoiding some teachers and admin using those as step-by-step plans that do not take into account the unique skills and needs of their students?
- If we create typical multiple-choice assessments, then teachers will continue to teach to the test and focus on regurgitating information. Our “assessments” need to take into account the fact that that inquiry-based learning is messy, and they should, as Holly Clark states, “disrupt the culture of one right answer.”
- How can we create assessments that reflect our understanding that all students do not learn or demonstrate their learning the same way?
- How do we provide our teachers with the guidance, support, and time to help make this type of assessment a reality?
- If we want teachers to understand the benefits of inquiry-based learning, then we need to create PD that allows them to experience inquiry-based learning. It makes no sense to preach about the advantages of inquiry learning in a PD session that has a typical one-size-fits-all, sit-and-get structure.
- How can we create effective inquiry-based PD that honors the varying degrees of experience amongst our teachers?
- How can we create learning experiences for teachers that model the type of experiences we want for our students?
We just wrapped up our first week of school! I really enjoyed meeting and getting to know our new 5th grade students! Here are some of the activities we did to start building our classroom culture and learn more about each other: "All About Me" Google Drawing Students learned how to use some of the basic features of Google Drawings by creating a Drawing about themselves. The basic requirements were that they include their name, a picture of themselves, and text/images that describe their personalities or interests. I created an example to give them an idea of what it could look like. I used this activity last year, and I really enjoyed what my students created. However, I decided this year to give them more time to just play with and explore the tools in Google Drawing. I feel like this really paid off because students were able to discover how to use some of the tools and share with each other instead of just relying on me to show them how to use it. ...
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