Teaching as Inquiry

One of the things that we discussed during our professional development was teaching as Inquiry. Effective leaders play an important role in establishing and promoting inquiry approaches and in emphasising the deliberate nature of teaching as inquiry .Students can also give teachers  useful information about the impact of teaching practices on their learning and engagement.
This is some of what I took out of our discussion. 

What am I missing?


Teaching as Inquiry

What is it?
 Effective pedagogy requires that teachers inquire into the impact of their teaching on their students. Modifying your teaching practices in order to best suit the students.

What are the gaps and what are the strategies used in order to fill in these gaps?

In the focussing inquiry teachers identify the outcomes they want their students to achieve.
They consider how their students are doing in relation to those outcomes and they  ask what their students need to learn next time in order to achieve them. 

 "You need to know exactly in your mind where that student is and where they need to go next" 

Teacher ProfessionalLearning and Development


Helen Timperley - 10 key principles
1. Focus on valued student outcomes
2. Worthwhile content
3. Integration of knowledge and skills
4. Assessment for professional inquiry
5. Multiple opportunities to learn and apply information
6. Approaches responsive to learning processes
7. Opportunities to process new learning with others
8. Knowledgeable expertise
9. Active leadership
10. Maintaining momentum

"You need to continue to be a teacher of Inquiry."

"We are all on a learning journey. You do not arrive, you just get better."  -  Sarah Valentine

What happened as a result of the teaching?
What are the implications for future teaching?


Is there something I need to change?
What are the next steps for learning? 

The key question for the focusing inquiry is: What is important (and therefore worth spending time on), given where my students are at?

"Inquiry teachers  should ask more than they tell."

Kathleen Murdoch

What is your reaction to the clip?

Do you agree or disagree?

Does something challenge you? Inspire you?

Is there anything helpful to reflect on?

Some questions to we were asked to consider after our discussion were: 

What did I already know about teaching as inquiry?

What did I learn or develop understanding in relation to teaching as inquiry?

What is my next step?

In relation to teaching as inquiry, I understand that I really need  to know my learners on a deeper level in order to accelerate them. As a continue with my practice I see how I can implement things for next year so that I consistently have in my mind: Where are they at? What is working/what isn't working Why isn't it working, Where to from here?