Inquiry in Action – Jakarta
“Show me”….“Tell me more”…“What does that look like?”
On February 7 and 8, we had 87 teachers and school leaders from 25 different schools in the region join us at Jakarta Intercultural School for our second Inquiry in Action Workshop! On Friday, our 4 consultants, Kath Murdoch, Matt Glover, Megan Holmstrom, and Paul Andersen invited their groups of 22 teachers into classrooms to observe them teaching lessons in Kindergarten – 5th grade classrooms. These labsites would be the foundation of the workshop. Teachers walked into the classrooms equipped with their Inquiry notebooks, ready to observe and take notes on the “moves” that the consultants made! Participants were able to watch lessons about angles, ecosystems, materials in our world, an immersions into a stack of text, and others! After four labsites for each group, we gathered in the PIE Community Room to reflect on the through lines of inquiry in different content areas and different grade levels. We utilized affinity mapping to organize what we learned and then discussed our experiences with new friends and colleagues.
After a good night’s sleep, we arrived back to JIS on Saturday with many thoughts and ideas swimming around in our heads! What now? Where do we start? How do I make some changes in how I teach to bring the inquiry mindset into my classroom? The first step was to attend debriefs with each consultants to talk about what the participants observed and to unpack the lesson and the moves used by the consultants. The next step was questions …. lots and lots of questions! We then had time for some planning and collaborating and lastly, a fun, energetic panel, where the consultants asked each other their pressing questions and then opened the floor to the participants.
The energy level as we were all walking out of JIS on Saturday was palpable! Teachers are change makers and this group was inspired, motivated, and ready to get back to their schools, equipped with new ideas and skills in inquiry.
As Kath told the groups on Saturday, there are many factors that go into a child’s success at school, but the number one factor is the quality of the teacher. She joked, “No pressure!” But as educators, our commitment to the children we serve is enormous. Our passion for meeting the needs of each students and supporting their growth, inspires us to never stop learning ourselves!
We hope that others will be able to join us at one of our future workshops! Please visit out Future Workshop page for more details!
Testimonials
“I was privileged to be able to spend 2 days learning with some of the most respected consultants in Elementary education. Matt Glover, Kathy Murdoch, Megan Holmstrom, and Paul Andersen, shared about inquiry across the curriculum. This was an amazing opportunity to reflect on some of the ‘moves’ we can make as educators to be facilitators of learning rather than information conduits. Some of my key takeaways were:
– student dialogue is a powerful tool to elevate the shared knowledge in the classroom, refining working theories together
– sometimes the best teaching is listening and watching
– inquiry learning is not just letting students choose what they want to learn- clear learning targets are always necessary
– wait in the struggle, the zone of proximal development- it’s where the learning happens
– students who experience challenges in their learning often benefit the most from this type of learning but are often deprived of it
Anika Sommer – International School of Phnom Penh
“This was such a valuable opportunity to connect the common threads of an inquiry-based approach across a range of age-groups and subject areas. In addition to having the opportunity to watch these globally-renowned experts facilitate inquiry with students, meeting like-minded colleagues from across the region and from different types of schools was also an amazing collaborative and networking opportunity. “
Nikki Ellwood – American International School of Budapest
“This PD with Kath, Matt and Megan was excellent. I had had professional development with all three before; watching all of them teach in a single day brought out many through lines of excellent inquiry practice – especially the value of productive struggle with the invitation to students to create theories and to prove or defend their points of view knowing their voices are valued. The second day provided an opportunity to go deeper, to begin to reflect on the ideas sparking in my mind and to make concrete plans to implement some of the effective inquiry strategies into upcoming lessons. I feel a shift in my language and in how I respond to students’ offerings … and the shift feels good. “
Moia Noble – International School of Uganda
“Last weekend I had a wonderful opportunity to participate in Inquiry Labs with Kath Murdoch, Matt Glower, and Megan Holmstrom. On the first day, we watched them in action, leading lessons to grade 2, 3, and 5 students (our group observed these); on the second day, we analyzed these experiences. Regardless of whether it was a language, math, or unit of inquiry lesson, what shone through was the language used when talking to students. What was said clearly helped students learn how to learn:
– What do you notice?
– How did you think? What happened in your brain?
– How could you show me your thinking/ reasoning?
– Prove it (if a child finds the answer quickly), explain it (if the answer comes slowly)! Prove it with the…
– We’re gonna share lots more theories.Let’s see if we can come up with a theory for…
– Our goal is not to finish, our goal is to get our thinking going.
– How do you know it works every time?
– Researchers, are you ready? Let’s see what we can find out!
– I will show you what I do when my thinking changes.
– Oh, yes, that changed my thinking.
Ginta Kaklina – International School of Riga