Teaching as Inquiry Using Teaching as Inquiry to

Teaching as Inquiry Using Teaching as Inquiry to improve your teaching and your student’s learning c. amos@auckland. ac. nz

Where we are supposed to be! In August 2009 The Education Gazette spoke to New Zealand Curriculum project manager Chris Arcus, to find out what schools need to know regarding the NZC at this stage. Where do schools need to be by February 2010 in giving effect to The New Zealand Curriculum? All schools need to do a couple of key things – they need to design and implement a school curriculum and they need to teach using an evidence-based inquiry cycle that informs what they do and monitors the impact of those decisions.

Teaching as Inquiry in the NZC What the research tells us • “Teaching students to think critically about their learning is an indispensable skill required by good teachers. Just as students benefit by reflecting on their learning, teachers benefit by reflecting on their teaching practices. Teachers must learn to identify and set specific goals for themselves, the same expectations they hold for their students. ” • John Dewey said: “…thinking enables us to direct our activities with foresight and to plan according to ends-inview, or purpose of which we are aware. It enables us to act in deliberate and intentional fashion…” “Self-regulation is at the heart of deliberate and intentional practice. ” • According to Reid [Reid, A. (2004)], inquiry should be "a way of professional being". "Educators who are inquirers will never announce that they 'do' inquiry, thus separating the activity from their professional being. Rather they might describe how they work – that is, the ways in which they inquire into their professional practice and how they are always striving to develop and expand their capacity to inquire. ”

Teaching as Inquiry in the NZC

Teaching as Inquiry in Te Marautanga o Aotearoa

Teaching as Inquiry in Te Marautanga o Aotearoa • What are the essential learning outcomes for students from the Curriculum and community? • Evaluate how students are progressing in relation to those learning outcomes (use the graduate profile as a guide). • What knowledge and skills do teachers require to support learners to link their learning to the new learning outcomes? • How can administrators, whānau and iwi support teachers to raise student learning/achievement? • To ease/assist students into new experiences. • To strengthen teachers’ knowledge and skills. • What are the benefits of the activities for the learners?

Two ways to integrate inquiry • Using Teaching as Inquiry to improve teaching and student outcomes (targeted) and to support teacher appraisal • Using Teaching as Inquiry to inform course design

Teaching as Inquiry to improve student outcomes 'If there is a way to do it better. . . find it!' Thomas Edison • The Teaching as Inquiry cycle can guide us in finding out what we need to know about our students and to inform our teaching and learning. This version of the model identifies six stages of an inquiry cycle. • There are different skills and tools that are useful at each stage. The model is designed to guide you through the steps of your own Teaching as Inquiry project. In the right columns you will see examples of how this might be used with a Junior and a Senior English class.

Teaching as Inquiry to improve student outcomes Activity • Read the Teaching as Inquiry project planner provided and consider how you could use this to improve a specific group of students outcomes • Share your ideas with the table • Consider how you might use this support the appraisal cycle

Teaching as Inquiry as a programme planning tool

Teaching as Inquiry as a programme planning tool http: //englishsecondaryplanner. pbworks. com/Usi ng-Inquiry-for-Programme-Planning-in. Secondary-English

Teaching as Inquiry as a programme planning tool Activity • Discuss with your table how you use inquiry in you programme planning at the moment. • Does this vary from junior to senior courses? • How (if at all) might a teaching as inquiry tool like this help your planning? ?