11 Ways to Make an Inquiry based Classroom You became a teacher not to pontificate to trusting minds, but to teach children how to succeed as adults. That idealism infused every class in your credential program and only took a slight bump during your student teacher days. That educator, you figured, was a dinosaur. You’d never teach to the test or lecture for forty minutes of a forty-five minute class. Then you got a job and reality struck. Until the inquiry-based classroom arrived where teaching’s goal was not the solution to a problem, but the path followed. One step at a time, and here are fifteen you can take. Flip the classroom The night prior to the lesson, have students read the lecture materials so you can spend class time in hands-on discovery. Don’t answer student questions–show them how to do it themselves. When students have questions, you guide them toward answers. Listen when students speak It’s tempting to think you know what students are going to ask/say. Encourage questions. That’s OK. “Tell me and I’ll forget.
The Best Resources For Learning About Effective Student & Teacher Assessments As I’ve mentioned, I’m part of a group of teachers working with The Center For Teaching Quality that’s preparing a policy report on Teacher Working Conditions and how they relate to student learning. I’ve previously shared some of the materials I’ve found useful in my research — see The Best Resources For Learning About The “Value-Added” Approach Towards Teacher Evaluation. You might also be interested in The Best Posts For Learning About The NEA’s New Policy Statement on “Teacher Evaluation and Accountability.” Also: The Best Resources On The Newly-Released California Educator Excellence Task Force Report. I thought I’d share some more resources in this new list. Here are my choices for The Best Resources For Learning About Effective Student & Teacher Assessments: Today, Jay Mathews wrote a column in the Washington Post titled Intriguing alternative to rating schools by tests. NEA Partners With Teach Plus & Creates Online Rating System For Student Assessments Here’s an excerpt: Wow!
Why Should You Care About Badges? Jump to Navigation Why Should You Care About Badges? How are we using badges to enable a complex, robust ecology of learning to support more just & equitable social futures? About The Speaker(s) Cathy N. Resources Video: What Is a Badge? Ways to Participate Back to top Part of a Series: Opening New Pathways to Opportunities Add to my calendar Live Sep Sign up for our Newsletter Sign up for our monthly newsletter Share related resources Catch all our webinars Discover valuable news Hear from DML experts Connect to the DML field Give us feedback Who Is Behind This Site > Community Guidelines Terms of Use Supported by the MacArthur Foundation
The Inquiry Approach to Learning - Early Learning 1. systematic instruction in skills students need to learn2. investigative approach to USE these skills in another context. The inquiry approach really focuses on the HOW we learn/find out rather then just focusing on content. It is concerned with acquiring the skills of learning. The approach is centred around finding possible solutions to a problem. Often the teacher is the questioner. How do you know this? An adventure with the Inquiry approach in Year 1 Year 1 at Regents Park investigated life cycles by following the progress of chickens hatching in their classroom. This topic evolved from the HSIE/Science focus which was on investigating "Living Things" and lifecycles. The Year 1 teachers began this real world investigations approach by using EKWQ... E is for EXPERIENCE K is for KNOWLEDGE W is for WONDER Q is for QUESTIONS Firstly the teachers wanted to find out about the experiences of the students - what they already knew about the topic. Defining the topic Investigating the topic
Six Steps to Master Teaching: Becoming a Reflective Practitioner Becoming a master teacher takes continuous effort. To avoid the loss of enthusiasm or static practice, teachers need to focus on their own professional development. Notably, the single most significant indicator of student success is an excellent teacher; nevertheless, no one can be professionally developed without his or her consent. To remain vitalized, teachers need to spend time outside the classroom with other dedicated individuals. The educational mandates from state, federal and local legislators are not targeted at improving teaching and learning. Although many are well-intentioned initiatives to assist school success, they are not sufficient for improving teaching excellence throughout an entire professional career. The Need for Mentors Over the course of a lifetime, master teachers are continuously improving their craft, listening to their students, re-tailoring lessons and finding the gaps in instructional practices. Think of great athletes. 4) Design Curriculum That Works
How To Teach Critical Thinking Using Bloom's Taxonomy The various levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy are well known to teachers, students, and the rest of the education world at this point. You need to slowly ascend the pyramid in order to effectively reach your goal(s). That’s great. But what happens when you try to apply other time-tested methodologies to the famous taxonomy? This happens. The visual guide you see below is from Flickr via Kris McElroy’s Pinterest board (she shares a lot of fabulous resources so check ‘em out!). Level One From the base knowledge level of the taxonomy you can see that you start with the usual ‘who’ ‘what’ ‘where’ and other questions. Level Two You’re asked to re-tell and dive in a bit deeper into the topic you’re researching or discussing. Level Three How do you actually apply the skills you’re learning? Level Four Like a good scientist (this is close to the Scientific Method after all), we must analyze the results that are now coming forth. Level Five Time to remix and synthesize some new ideas or formulations. Boom.
The Inquiry Process Explained Visually for Teachers Learning is all about being curious and inquisitive. It is a process in which learners explore the unknown through their senses using both sensory and motor skills. Being involved and engaged in the learning task is the key to a successful learning journey and to elicit this kind of engagement from learners, teachers need to nurture a learning environment where students take responsibility for their learning and 'where they are only shown where to look but not told what to see'. Such environment definitely requires a solid approach and an informed strategy to learning one that is dubbed: inquiry-based learning. Inquiry-based learning is essential in developing the most solicited 21st century skills : problem solving and critical thinking.As a teacher, you might be wondering about ways to inculcate the precepts of strategy into your teaching and lesson planning.
How High-Performing Nations Teach Global Skills By Heather Singmaster Education specialists have been looking to practices in other countries for quite some time. Many of the questions remain unchanged: What explains the Finland phenomenon? What is it about Singaporean math? A far deeper question is starting to emerge: how do high-achieving nations teach global skills? Here is a summary of what four nations have done: China In China, there was a major overhaul of the education system in the mid-1990s. China is currently involved in another round of education reform, the 2020 education reform plan, which will update the curriculum to meet real-world needs. China also has announced a new plan to send 50,000 principals to study successful schools in other countries in order to gain new perspectives and learn best practices. Singapore In 2010, the Singapore Ministry of Education announced a plan to strengthen their curriculum around a framework of 21st century competencies. Competencies for a Changing World: Korea India