Rationale & Action Plan

Why we chose a blog...

To begin developing a culture of inquiry within our school context we decided to create a blog that would enable us to share ideas, information and resources with our staff on a regular basis. We thought a blog would be a format that most teachers would be able to work with and for those that struggle with the technology aspect of a blog we would be proactive and provide ‘posts’ either via email or hardcopy.  This medium allows us to re-post information from other sources, maintain discussions, and be accessible anywhere via the internet.  We thought that a major aspect of developing a culture of inquiry would be to have information that is easy to locate and simple for teachers to understand.  Our aim is to use language and present information in a clear and simple manner so teachers can easily locate the tools they need to enact inquiry in their own classrooms.  Another reason we chose a blog was so that teachers would be able to discuss and dialogue with each other about inquiry and in doing so, develop a sense of community centred on inquiry.

Action Plan…
Click on our movie link below to get a overview of how to build an Inquiry culture within a school environment:
 --> Building a Culture of Inquiry in School <--

 

Oberg (2003) emphasizes the role of the teacher-librarian as part of shared leadership with the principal to advance the goals of the school, as well as the library.  In her view this team should play an important role in improving school culture and student learning and so our plan is to initially share our blog and vision with our administration, thus forging a team oriented towards student success.  We intend to discuss how developing a culture of inquiry within our school community can work to further not only the goals of the school, but also encourage engagement within students, develop critical thinking skills, and create a culture of independent thinkers who want to learn. 

In cooperation with administration we intend to present our blog initially to the staff at our school at the beginning of a staff meeting.  This introduction would be simple; discussing briefly ‘why inquiry?’, what it can do for students and teachers, stating what the blog is, what it contains, and how it can involve teachers.  Our intent is to keep our discussion to 5-10 minutes, providing just enough to peak teachers’ interests and suggest how they can explore this idea further.

After this initial introduction we would continue posting to the blog with new information and ideas about how teachers can specifically use inquiry in their classrooms.  We intend to provide sample ideas for lesson plans in various subjects, as well as simple ideas such as questioning techniques that teachers can utilize in any classroom.  Alongside using the blog forum to post ideas, we would simultaneously be offering this information via email or hardcopy where needed. 

We plan to follow up with subsequent mini-discussions at staff meetings (again only 10 minute segments) and professional development workshops provided afterschool, or on pro-d days.  Here, we would concentrate on discussing more thoroughly the questions ‘What is inquiry?’ and ‘Why inquiry?’ using videos such as that provided in our blog.  Other discussions would involve the models provided by Alberta Learning and BCTLA, as well as ideas presented in Harvey& Daniels (2009) Collaboration & Comprehension; Inquiry Circles in Action. 

One of our main goals is to create and build genuine relationships with staff where we are able to work together, building community based on a central goal that of engaging students.  We intend to bring teachers on board not via coercion but rather because they see the value in what we are offering and simply because they trust us.  We know from past experience that we have to provide the support our teachers need in order for change to occur.  Kitchen (2009) suggests that relational teacher development is most effective in enhancing teacher passion and commitment in the classroom, and so we want to work on building authentic, supportive and non-judgmental relationships with our colleagues, helping teachers utilize their own knowledge in order to renew their classroom practice and improve student learning.  We want to emphasize the importance of inquiry to students, but also share with staff the benefits of inquiry to them as well, as provided by Kuhlthau, Maniotes & Caspari (2007, p.7).  Ultimately, we want teachers to come on board willingly and will work investing in relationships to do so.  For those that require additional technical help we will provide it as needed so that their classes can work with the tools of today.