Inquiry Hub

1. Point of View What is the main point of the story and what is the perspective of the author? 2. A Dramatic Question A key question that keeps the viewer's attention and will be answered by the end of the story. 3. Emotional Content Serious issues that come alive in a personal and powerful way and connects the audience to the story. 4. The Gift of Your Voice A way to personalize the story to help the audience understand the context. 5. The Power of the Soundtrack Music or other sounds that support and embellish the story. 6. Economy Using just enough content to tell the story without overloading the viewer. 7. Pacing The rhythm of the story and how slowly or quickly it progresses.

I realized then that we adhere to different instruction theories: project-based vs. concept-driven learning. On the surface, many can mistake one for the other, especially since both use inquiry as a vehicle to construct understanding. It is, if you wish, the distinction that Carl Bereiter made when he talked about shallow vs. deep constructivism: The shallowest forms engage students in tasks and activities in which ideas have no overt presence but are entirely implicit. Students describe the activities they are engaged in (e.g., planting seeds, measuring shadows) and show little awareness of theunderlying principles that these tasks are to convey. Unfortunately, much of what is currently promoted and practiced under the label of "project-based learning" does not fit this definition but instead represents the traditional "project" or research report dressed up in modern technology.

In Sept 2012 The Inquiry Hub was launched as a grade 9-12 school in Coquitlam, British Columbia. It started with a presentation to the board of trustees by Principal Stephen Whiffin, David Truss, and Superintendent Tom Grant. Stephen and David, the school's current lead administrator, helped articulate a vision of learning focused on: Inquiry, Voice, Audience, Community, Leadership, Play, and Networks. The school motto is Connect | Create | Learn.

We've worked hard to develop an understanding that inquiry learning is messy and NOT limited to a step by step approach. True inquiry learning is neither linear nor cyclical, but rather moves back and forth between the different stages identified by most of the inquiry models.

1. Innovation Is What Matters 2. Unlocking The Means Of Production 3. Ideas Get Tangible 4. Hardware Gets Soft 5. Eliminating Obsolescence 6. Making Communities

Educators can play a key role in assisting learners in building upon and expanding their self-regulation skills. Strategies include using metacognitive reflection questions both prior to and after learning tasks to assist students through a process of guided inquiry: What is the best way to go about this task? How well are my learning strategies working? What changes should I make, if any? What am I still having trouble understanding? What can I recall and what should I review? How does this material relate to other things I've learned or experienced? Supporting Self-Regulation in the Classroom)

he sees his class time as precious and sacred in that it's the only time they get to spend together. You walk into his room, have a cup of tea and engage in that "hard thinking". Laptops, would seem slightly out of place.

I have made a terrible mistake. I waited fourteen years to do something that I should have done my first year of teaching: shadow a student for a day. It was so eye-opening that I wish I could go back to every class of students I ever had right now and change a minimum of ten things - the layout, the lesson plan, the checks for understanding. Most of it!

Resources on Engaging Student Voices Explore resources related to recognizing and valuing student knowledge, input, and expertise and building student-centered learning environments where students make decisions about how learning happens.

Here are a few blogging links: Please ask your students to hashtag tweets @ their blogs with: #cloudwriting

When students turn in writing to their teacher, they often don't care if it's good - as long as it's good enough. But when they publish their work online, they want it to be good. Knowing that someone else besides a parent, guardian or teacher cares about their work and will be reading it has a profound impact on the quality of work that they produce. Often, students are more interested in knowing what their peers think about their work than what their teacher thinks.

When we are being told a story, things change dramatically. Not only are the language processing parts in our brain activated, but any other area in our brain that we would use when experiencing the events of the story are too.

"We want to take the existing unit plans and adjust the language so they are more globally accessible and do 5-to-10-minute interviews with teachers about the unit and with students to talk about how they learned and what they created," she says. Her goal is to have the written unit and about 20 minutes of video so teachers can see and hear how a unit works. "We want teachers to see the learning potential of the unit. Over the next three years we plan to build out as many SLA units as we can."

Kids need us. For students who struggle with behaviour challenges, it is never a simple solution. Teaching 30 students (with a variety of academic, social and emotional needs) for an entire day can be completely exhausting. When discussing solutions, though, we need to ask the question: who is this about - the teachers/admin? or the student? It likely falls somewhere in the middle but it is important to keep in mind the needs of everyone. In the end, it is our job as admin, teachers, and staff to create the conditions for student success. Meet students where they are and teach the needed skills from there.

I have developed a 21st Century Report Card that identifies 34 skills that students should develop over the course of the year in my 5th grade classroom. These 34 skills are then broken down into subsequent behaviors that are observable and assessable.  (Download it here as a PDF.)

By combining engaging online instruction resources and solid offline learning experiences, educators can transform their classroom and put the old column-and-rows setting to shame! Because of this notion, blended learning environments provide today's students a distinct advantage.

I also feel it goes deeper than that. I feel I get a true opportunity to see my students persevere, problem solve and demonstrate their level of critical thinking. I am not hung up on the final results of an inquiry. I am enthralled with the process and where an inquiry will lead or fade out. I never fully know what will happen throughout an inquiry and that sometimes scares me but it also keeps me engaged and excited about the next pathways.

That may not sound like "grit" to some though.  An article by Jordan Shapiro suggests that "grit" may just be another buzzword in education.  He references the work of Avi Kaplan, teacher and researcher, and states, "Instead of celebrating the Grit, value the ability to figure out what to do after each failure." The Learning Partnership post also referred to the importance of resilience and emotional intelligence, It's becoming clear that resilience - the ability to bounce back from adversity or defeat and keep on going no matter what - and emotional intelligence (EQ) - the ability to identify, use, understand, and manage emotions in positive ways to communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges, and defuse conflict - are greater skills to possess in today's rough and tumble world.

Although the format and tools have changed over the past year, the philosophy has remained the same: Unify learning at school, learning at home, and learning anywhere, anytime. Empower learners to engage in and reflect on their own inquiry processes. Encourage interest- and passion-driven learning. Integrate peers, parents, communities, and global networks into the inquiry process.

For students who are prone to Googling everything, including research for class assignments, SweetSearch can help.... SweetSearch's staff of librarians and educators have sifted through the the open web to find quality, credible sources that are appropriate for your students - many of the top search results come from PBS, the Smithsonian, and university websites.