With the goal of understanding how to best incorporate inquiry into my teaching practice, it is important that I begin inquiring about inquiry from any perspective available. And so, when speaking to representatives of school districts at a career fair in the Learning Commons at UVic, I inquired about inquiry.

“How are inquiry projects being done in your district?”

“If I was a practicum student in your district, would the supervising teacher(s), administration, and/or district be open to me doing inquiry projects in the classroom during my practicum?”

The answers I received to these questions led me to a thought:

Inquiry is now a buzzword in education, and just like the term pedagogical narration in early childhood education, the consumer of information needs to be wary of unsubstantiated conjecture masquerading as knowledgeable-by-experience. Educators need to be diligent in discerning between those who talk the talk and those who walk the talk, as there is a substantial difference. And when interacting with those who only talk the talk, my recommendation is to politely smile, say ‘thank-you’, and move along.

The next stop on my journey through and to inquiry is with Trevor MacKenzie’s publication, Dive Into Inquiry (2016), which I have borrowed from the UVic library. Reading through and taking notes will be my task for this upcoming week.