One of the first questions that most people ask Bonny and I about Inquiry Buddies is how we assess inquiry? Basically how do we mark it?  Now this is a very interesting question, because I don't believe that I need to assign a final mark to the inquiry buddy project.  My belief is that once we do, the whole process is tainted, basically defeating the reason why we wanted to do this style of inquiry with them.  It unsettles a lot of people, and I think might even make them resistant to trying inquiry buddies with their students.

Here is the greater picture, what teachers are really asking us is how do we put a summative assessment on all of the work and efforts the students have done.  Instead, they should be asking how are we assessing for learning throughout the process.

The purpose of inquiry buddies is to help them utilize and refine 21 Century learning skills while igniting and sustaining a love of learning.  "Assessment for learning is the key to creating life long learners" (Rick Stiggins).  Inquiry buddies sets up a year of dialogue between teacher and student where they are closely monitored along the way.  This way, we make the students in charge of their learning, not the teacher.  We, the teachers, then become facilitators of where their learning goes, not dictators.  In his presentation, Rick Wormeli stated, "grades get in the way of learning.  Descriptive feedback is what we need to learn."  This is how we assess Inquiry Buddies.  We constantly provided descriptive, honest feedback to help guide students to connecting at a deeper level with the content.  

Rick Wormeli and Rick Stiggins both helped me to further articulate to others why no final mark should be placed on the Inquiry Buddy process.  Instead, Inquiry Buddies needs to be thought of as a place where they are practicing skills, while receiving constant descriptive feedback to support their learning.  I can leave the summative assessment for elsewhere, knowing that if we use Inquiry Buddies as a place to formatively assess, the skills they develop will transfer into other areas.

To grow as an educator, you need to be a student.   I have always loved professional development opportunities, and for many years, I have wanted to go to a large conference, the kind where the sheer volume of professional development available is mind-blowing.  Now, I finally have and I sit here writing in a state of overload, reflecting on all I have tried to absorb, reflecting on my teaching practice and energized by my learning from the three-day AMLE (Association of Middle LEvel Educators) conference in Minneapolis.  I jumped on the opportunity ½ a year ago to travel and learn with other educators from the Langley School District.  Finally, an opportunity to attend a conference of magnitude, with other motivated excited Langley educators. Being around so many educators from across North America was incredible, some of the most valuable professional developing arising out of the conversations with strangers and colleagues before and after workshops. 

Before I left Langley, I was uncertain of the path my learning would take throughout the three days.  The sheer number of presenters and topics was overwhelming!  Assessment, Culture, Teaming, Reading, Technology, Inquiry – where to go and what to do!  My passions are technology, inquiry and student engagement so I tried to digest as much as possible.  In addition I was drawn to the opportunity to see some ‘big’ name draws in education at the conference including Ruby Payne, Rick Stiggins, Rick Wormeli, Jack Berkemeyer and Kim Campbell. No matter the presenter, one of the biggest themes was that educators need the right mindset in all we do for our students.  Modern educators need to think with modern pedagogy when planning educational experiences for kids.  Neil Stephenson at our last Engaging the Digital learning presentation said “It’s tough to teach in an inquiry-based classroom if you don’t live an inquiry-based life.”  Presenter after presenter at the conference stressed the need to see everything you do through the right lens. Rick Wormeli stated loud and clear “MINDSET MATTERS”!  You don’t need fancy tools or gadgets, 21 Century learning requires us to shift how we help students learn and how we assess their knowledge and learning.   We cannot teach and assess with a “Gotcha” approach (Wormeli).  Students are not parrots, they are beings that are capable of creating critical, deep, thoughtful work.  Facilitators of learning get results, not dictators of learning! Those teachers not willing to look through a new lens will be left behind.  Inquiry, essential questions, and meaningful, relevant assessment – these need to be done to help students achieve their potential.  

In the midst of all of my learning, one big shift occurred, something, to be quite honest I did not believe possible – I tweeted and I tweeted a lot! I have had a twitter account for 2 years; I have been a ‘lurker’, but I have been reluctant / hesitant to tweet out.  It was less about whether I had any thing of value to say but more of a mindset that “if you tweet in the forest will anyone hear”.  Something happened, though, during my second session as I was following the twitter feed for the conference.  I felt this need to share ideas in the moment, to document those words and phrases that resonated with me; ultimately, to interact with those who were also there. It was exciting to join a secondary conversation about the presenter, to engage in the presentation at another level.  I started to see value in that moments and I thought to myself, ‘the tweet is not echoing in the forest,’ instead it is being added to the other tweets creating a dialogue of its own.  In addition, I began to get reactions from colleagues at the conference who were not at the same session, and before you know it, people at home, learning along side of me, not there, but being exposed so the sound bites and kernels of knowledge that I was able to share.  I will give credit at this point to Shawn Davids @sdavids51 and Sean Oliver @seano3ca for playing a role in helping me feel that there was someone in the next forest will hear if I tweet.   I am not sure if I will continue to on a daily or weekly basis, but I have now caught a bit of the twitter bug!  The conference setting made it a safe, comfortable place to begin.  Being part of a greater conversation enriched my understanding of the topics and allowed me to reflect in the moment and add to the discussion.  

Thank you to all the educators from Langley that I went with and to all those I interacted with on twitter!  An extra thank you to Tim Everson for organizing this wonderful opportunity for us!

Today I enjoyed day 1 of the AMLE conference in Minnesota. Learning is essential for all in the public school system, teachers included. I feel so blessed to be among a group of amazing educators from Langley attending this conference.

I began the day motivated by Kim Campbell and her ideas about motivating middle schoolers. I ended the day with Jeffery Wilhmer, who helped further validate and clarify what Bonny and I have set out to do with Inquiry Buddies.

One of my favorite parts of his presentation was when he said "inquiry is the rigorous apprenticeship into disciplinary expertise." I was inspired and reassured by these words. Bonny and I began our inquiry buddy journey last year with Barry for this very purpose. We saw the results of this and were inspired to continue this year!

In addition Jeffery Wilhmer talked about how "inquiry allows us to teach kids in their zones of proximal development."

I believe that inquiry buddies allows students enter at a point where they are ready to engage with their topic and go as deep as they are capable. With the help of their buddy or buddies, they are pushed a little beyond their comfort zone and excel to a place they may have not thought initially possible!

In addition, Jeffery Wilhmer talked about the need of the project to help drive and sustain the motivation of students and the need to celebrate at the end of their projects. With inquiry buddies, we do this through the inquiry fair at the end!

Finally, throughout he stressed the fact that we, teachers, "control the motivation level in our classrooms." Inquiry and inquiry buddies are both positive, amazing ways to help with motivation in my classroom! the implementation of them has increased student engagement! Students who engage in inquiry are more motivated to learn, produce, and engage in their personal learning journeys than those who have worksheets placed in front of them daily!

Tonight, Bonny and I had the opportunity to attend Langley's Engaging the Digital Learner series.  Neil Stephenson was the keynote speaker.  He discussed inquiry and student engagement.  It gave us a wonderful opportunity to reflect on our Inquiry Buddy project and where it fits in to the world of student engagement and inquiry.  Many things he said reaffirmed the process that we have engaged in.  He cited research that we were familiar with and had used to reference our inquiry buddy project.

One of the first things that resonated with us was that teachers who work together have increased / improved engagement.  The hours Bonny and I spend collaborating with each other and Brian, will ultimately help improve student engagement at school and in their pursuit of their personal inquiry.  The next thing were were excited about was that students are more engaged when 'teachers are the designers of learning'.  When we design interesting opportunities for students, they will feel more engaged in what they are doing and learning.

Last year and this year, one of the greatest  is how much the teacher should intervene and not.  We loved that he provided us with the reassurance that it is still inquiry if we scaffold them with the teacher support and information they may need at certain places.  If students are struggling to move beyond background knowledge and deeper into their questions, how do we help each of them get there?  Allowing students to freely explore a topic with no teach guidance will lead to frustrations and minimal learning from all the parties involved.  Part of the teachers role in the Inquiry Buddy process is to help students find those deeper components of their personal inquiries.  We need to help them find real world connections for the things that they are exploring.  For those student studying magic - what skills does it take, can you find a resource to help you with this process.  If they are studying baking, what are the real world connections?  Could we design a bake sale, what other skills would that take?  It is great to do this, but at the same time, helping the students recognize what background knowledge they need to get to this next place.  Not allowing them our us to jump to quickly to the great, deep project.  If the teachers jump too quickly, the students get overwhelmed.  If students jump to quickly, they think they are done, but has any meaningful learning taken place?

One of the most frustrating components of implementing and facilitating Inquiry Buddies is finding collaboration time for the teachers involved. Last year, we had a grant from the BCTF, which was matched by the district. This grant gave us time to refine our personal inquiry questions while also giving us some time to collaborate. Yesterday, we found out that we have once again been given a grant to support our inquiry project. This will be done, like last year along side other teaches working on their own inquiry journeys.

Bonny and I were already very excited to to continue the journey we started last year, and are thrilled that we will now have some release time to collaborate with each other and Brian. This extra time will allow us to continue to develop our website and supporting resources. It will also give us the time we need to explore ways we can use technology to enhance student inquiry!

These are exciting times for inquiry at Willoughby, and we love being a part of it. We are so excited that we were once again given a grant to pursue our passion and know that this will continue to help us support our students passions!