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As May Fades . . .

5/26/2014

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As May fades, with a background of political uncertainty surrounding teachers in BC, I have been reflecting on the fabulous final year I have had at Willoughby Elementary, and I am excited by the new adventures I will be facing in September.  I have shed several real and metaphorical tears in the past weeks, as I have reflected on the last four years at my current school.  I am leaving the comforts of my elementary school family, to walk through the doors of a brand new middle school in the fall.   I am excited for the new challenge of teaching in a middle school and helping be part of a team that builds a new school.  However, it is still hard to leave behind the community we have built at Willoughby.

The biggest take away from the past two years has been the Inquiry journey I have taken part in with my colleagues.  The release and collaboration time allowed all of us to grow as educators.  We have become a close-knit group where we feel comfortable sharing and dissecting our personal inquiries and narratives.  It has been exciting, rejuvenating, challenging and inspiring to share each other’s passions and personal inquiry journeys. 

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This year, the biggest break though – being able to make some peace with my personal narrative.  Why am I the educator that I am?  What do I do well? What do I do best?  In an early post this year, I talked about teaching as my truest self.  This is my biggest take away, truly embracing all my strengths and working on weaknesses, while receiving amazing support from phenomenal colleagues.
Then there is my work with Bonny Kelly.  Last year, we started this crazy idea called Inquiry Buddies, and dragged Barry along for the ride.  You can read our year one reflections here.  It was so amazing and wonderful to work through the peaks and valleys with two amazing colleagues.  This year, Bonny and I continued the Inquiry Buddy journey, test-driving it with Grade 5, 6, and 7 students, and invited our colleague Brian Milner to join us.  This year, students continued to work through the triumphs and challenges of pursuing yearlong passion based inquiries in groups, while being scaffolded by the three of us.  The results: light creeping through the cracks once again, showing the value of having students pursue inquiry through groups.  The need for students to genuinely collaborate, problem solve, communicate and critically think, while navigating through interpersonal problems to work towards an agreed upon goal.

As another tear falls upon the keyboard, I know that these final tears are mixed with sadness, relief, joy, and hope.  I am sad to leave my amazing collaborative partner Bonny.  Until her and I worked together on Inquiry Buddies, I never truly understood the profound difference between cooperating with a colleague and collaborating with one.  I am relieved that we once again have come out of the “Inquiry Chaos” to experience the “Inquiry Joy” felt by both students and teachers.  Finally, I have hope for the future of Inquiry Buddies both at Willoughby and in the ways Bonny and I hope to connect my Grade 8 middle school students with her elementary students.  We have had a will before, and we will definitely find a way again!


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So May, as you fade into June and onward, amidst the chaos, I am not worried, because in all those cracks, there is light and it will eventually shine through!

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Teacher Inquiry Buddies

1/12/2014

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What drives me as a teacher?  What do I wonder about?  What is driving my interests of passion?  Participating in teacher inquiry allows me to explore what I want to do professionally to grow and allows me to explore my passions in education.  

Last year, Bonny and I participated in a teacher inquiry project thanks to a grant from the BCTF, which was matched by our local, the LTA, and our school district #35.  This year, we were fortunate enough to secure another PQT (Program for Quality Teaching) grant through the BCTF which has also been matched by our local LTA (Langley Teacher's Association) and SD35.  Just before Christmas, we excitedly attended our first session for this year with our fabulous facilitator Henry Lee.  By having a second year to work on teacher inquiry, we are able to have more opportunities to reflect on our own teaching practice and grow as a community of learners.  Having time to collaborate with other teachers and have our own Inquiry Buddies is so valuable to helping us support our students and improve our teaching practices.

This year, Bonny and are continuing to pursue inquiry with our students using Inquiry Buddies as one of the ways that we ignite learning in our classrooms.  In addition, I am excited to have time to think about and collaborate with others around my new question.  

How do I authentically utilize technology to engage students in ways that were not previously possible?

The planning stages have started and we are excited for what is to come in the next few months!

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Year 2 Begins!

10/15/2013

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It is half way through October, and we are slowly easing into our second year of inquiry buddies at Willoughby.  This year began with Bonny and I searching out a new ‘buddy’ to join our inquiry buddies.  Another big change was that Bonny was no longer teaching primary, and so together we debated the pros and cons of having primary buddies in the mix or seeking out a fellow intermediate teacher to join our team.  In the end, Brian, a grade 6/7 teacher was easily convinced to join our learning journey as we explored muli-age buddies.

Just like last year, we found the initial organizational stage time consuming and at times an interesting negotiation.  There seems to be at least 2 or 3 students each year that do not match up under a larger umbrella group.  Finding a place for them to collaborate on their learning journey was a hurdle that we definitely anticipated, and were quickly able to solve. 

The one big difference from last year to this is that we are working with 5, 6’s and 7’s; therefore, their base skill level is different.  They have all, presumably had exposure to how to take notes, how to brainstorm ideas and how to formulate basic questions.  Therefore, the skills we have been focusing on in individual class lessons have been teaching them how to have ‘accountable’ talk and how to formulate quality questions.  We have been modelling how to be an active listener when working with group.

When they meet in their groups, we are trying to help them narrow down their questions and move beyond simple easy to answer questions like “How large is a space shuttle?” toward deeper, broader inquiries such as “Should governments spend money on space programs?”  It is very rewarding as an educator to watch students move away from the first level of questions and start to develop better, deeper questions.

The biggest hurdle this year, though, continues to be time.  Time to collaborate with one another as teachers.  It is great that we have built into our timetable a block of time each week where the kids can meet with their learning partners; however, the three of us are often struggling to find time.  Eating lunch together, chatting on Edmodo at night, and emailing back and forth.  For effective communication and learning to take place each week, we as facilitators of their learning need to have collaboration time.  We need opportunities to debrief, talk about what has worked and what is not working.  So often this is done on the fly, and one or more of us is left perplexed or uncertain of where we are going next.  That said, I often take a deep breath and think back to last year, and remember the inquiry process last year left me often feeling uncomfortable, but that the end results were spectacular.  

 

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    Inquiry Buddies

    Nadine Keyworth, one of the co-founders of Inquiry Buddies, blogs here about her thoughts on Inquiry Buddies, Teacher Inquiry and Life in the Classroom!

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