My initial plan for this inquiry included having something tangible that would help me conduct or initiate the inquiry process in a public-school classroom. My first practicum is a few weeks away and my mentor teacher has given me permission to use inquiry to explore one of the topics I will be responsible for teaching. She also offered the Advisory time as a possibility for a free guided inquiry (which sounds oxymoronic, I know).
As a tool for building relationships with the students, diagnosing their comfortability with particular curricular content and experiences, and to provide them with an opportunity to voice their own interests, I have decided to create a document with a list of interview-type questions each student can fill out. The information the students provide can help me/us decide what a good topic for a guided inquiry may be, or if inquiry can be used as an approach to some of the other curriculum I am responsible for teaching.
There are 15 questions in a Word .doc that I will ask all the students to fill out to the best of their ability. There is a mixture of open and closed questions, imaginary scenarios and real-life situations, questions related to some usual school curricular content and questions that offer an open door to any interest a student may have.
I hope to use this questionnaire as an opportunity, not only to get to know the students, but to use some of the answers as a potential topic(s) for a quick guided inquiry. My hope with a potential inquiry project would be that, in the least, the students get to practice a bit of democracy, have an opportunity to experience the process of a short inquiry project, and, in some way, use their individual skills to create a group artifact that shows our work and learning.
I am open to this questionnaire being revised, and I look forward to the student’s feedback.
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