Inquiry: 10 Essential Tips

 In this blog, I will share 10 tips that will help you start your career as an inquiry-based teacher:  

1. Be an inquirer and a role model. You can’t teach in an inquiry-based learning classroom if you are not curious and a lifelong learner. Share your journal, portfolio, or reflections with your students. Start learning something new: a language, cooking, swimming, or anything you want. You need to practice it before modeling it.
2. Build a community of learners and create a safe learning environment. Inquiry means making mistakes and learning from mistakes, so without a safe learning environment, inquiry can’t take place. Watch this video with your students and discuss it. Know your student’s strengths and areas to improve, passion, and interest.
3. Ask questions, open-ended questions and provocative questions. These days, we come to school not to find answers, but to learn how to ask good questions, to learn how to learn, and to learn 21st-century skills. Make sure your timetable is based on conceptual questions. Use the learners’ questions posted on a Wonder Wall to inform your planning and teaching.
4. Join a network of teachers; ask a colleague. You can’t do it alone. You need support, and you need to collaborate with others and exchange ideas. Reach out, and don’t feel shy or overwhelmed. It’s a journey, and it takes time.
5. If you use an inquiry cycle at your school, post it in the classroom. Unpack it with your learners and remember that the cycle is not linear; you can start anywhere.
6. Establish routines and co-create essential agreements with the students. Introduce visible thinking routines and make sure that reflection is embedded in the learning. The learning journey is more important than the product.
7. Ensure the parents are on board and know what inquiry-based learning means. Share a short video or article with them. Invite them to join a learning experience. They are an additional resource.
8. Remember, you are not the source of knowledge anymore. All knowledge is available now on the Internet. You are here to guide the students to suitable resources and learn from them.
9. Ask yourself why I’m teaching this. If you can’t find the answer and your students cannot find it, then what you teach is a waste of time. Remember that what you teach should be relevant, engaging, significant, and authentic.
10. Nurture a culture and environment for inquiry. Collaboration once again is the key with members of your school community so you can learn together and take action to create and sustain the conditions for inquiry-based learning and teaching to thrive.

Remember to start small and step by step… If you want to discuss this more, contact me for a coaching session.