From a student teacher with a lucky lesson about inquiry for student learning and as it turned out, for her learning as well.
If I had to pick a theme for the beginning of this semester, it would be “Trial by fire.” Basically from day 1, {my clinical teacher} had me teaching and taking over the 6th grade. It has been awesome! However, there are definitely some challenges and I have come to see (in a small way) how intense teaching can be. Take the other day for example. I was teaching population pyramids. I read the content through thoroughly, but still was not fully getting how to communicate it to the kids, nor was I even really understanding the content. So, I began “inquiry based teaching,” aka asking the kids to define it for me so that I could start to plant my feet. They begin to answer and give their definitions of population pyramids and even began to delve into some of the issues that countries face with population.
This was such an interesting moment for me. As they were answering, I began to see that having them teach it to each other was so neat! Instead of me giving the textbook definition or following the curriculum fully, by having the kids direct the conversation, it was so much richer. Now, I can’t take full credit for this, mostly because I went into this “inquiry based teaching,” hoping to get some clarity for myself so that I could use the curriculum, but my eyes were truly open to the power of students taking owenership for their own learning.
As I continue on this semester and keep taking on more responsibilities and planning, I want to carry this experience with me and remember to not be that teacher who lectures and supplies all of the textbook answer. I want the classroom to be a place for students to explore knowledge and make it their own. I want to foster an environment where it is safe to not always follow the curriculum, but where real life conversations and questions can be asked and discussed.