Whaea Katie's Teacher Inquiry

* Warning: this is a 'teacher talk' blog post (for those of you who are interested, do keep reading).

Just as Inquiry is an important part of your child’s learning at school, inquiry is also an important factor of effective teacher pedagogy and practice. The cycle of inquiry assists us in the investigation of: assessing our student’s needs, researching and applying different strategies (to cater for their needs), evaluating the effectiveness of those strategies, and figuring out ‘where to next?’



Ministry of Education (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum for English-medium Teaching and Learning. Wellington: Learning Media. Also available at: http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/The-New-Zealand-Curriculum

This term the teachers at school will all be engaged in their own teacher inquiry about our student’s learning through inquiry… clear as mud, āe?

To be a little more specific our inquiry will be focused around the question: 'How do i know my children are learning through inquiry?'

I am really passionate about teaching inquiry and believe that if inquiry is authentic and student driven, it’s not only really exciting and engaging (for both the students and their teacher), but it also assists students in developing the competencies needed to be information literate and lifelong learners.

So, my brain has been tick, tick, ticking away about the direction I want to head in with my own teacher inquiry. And I think I’ve finally sorted out what I’m focusing on!

Long story short (well as short as my ‘wordiness’ will allow for), I have decided to focus on researching and applying strategies to assist my students in developing effective collaborative skills (or as we’re calling it in Room 2 – team work).

This is really important from my perspective, as I believe students in this age range should be experiencing learning through a method of both whole class guided inquiry and more independent, small group inquiry. And in all honesty, my class need to develop the skills to allow them to be effective team members, so they can get the most out of their learning in group situations.

I’ll keep you updated on my progress throughout the term, through the page ‘Inquiry Learning’.

Wish me luck!