We had 66 teachers and school leaders from 19 schools meet in Hanoi on September 19-20 for our third Inquiry in Action workshop. The United Nations International School of Hanoi is an amazing school, with kind, talented staff and wonderful facilities. We are so grateful to our hosts!
We gathered on Friday and the consultants explained that we were going to use classrooms for the rest of the day as our ‘labratories of learning’. Participants observed Kath, Megan and Matt teach in assigned K-6 classrooms, teaching with Inquiry as a mindset. The participants had a list of 11 words and questions to jump start their thinking and guide their “noticings” during the labsites. We then did reflections and a handful of activities before breaking for the day.
On Saturday, each consultant debriefed their labsites, discussing different strategies and moves used during their lessons, and making connections between all the different content areas and grade levels.
We heard over and over again, that one of the most special part of this workshop, besides the labsite observations, is what came next. After the debriefs, the participants had time to really think about how to take what they learned back into their classrooms. As Kath said, teachers so often attend a workshop, are inspired but then the workshop ends. They have good intentions to reflect and make an actionable plan to implement new practices into their teaching, but time just slips by. So, Kath, Matt, and Megan, have created time and space in the workshop for participants to make a plan – to spend time with their school team, new friends that they have met, or time alone to plan. And during this time, Matt, Kath and Megan are moving around the room, answering questions and working with the groups to support their planning. This one-on-one time with the consultants is really special.
We ended the day with a fun panel discussion where participants could ask the consultants anything!
Please enjoy a slideshow from from this workshop below. And please consider joining us at one of our future workshops!
