I really like the idea of inquiry. I think that allowing so much choice and room for passion is an ideal setting for learning and I wish that I had been given those opportunities when I was in school. Attempting to do it now, after almost 20 years of schooling that was not inquiry based, extremely difficult. I don’t do well when there is little structure. I wish that I did because that is life most of the time.
Trevor is a really fascinating guy and creates so many great resources. I know that our Facebook group and other social media was abuzz after he spoke with us this week, and I really appreciate the time he took to explain to us all the different kinds of inquiry because really when I think about inquiry I sometimes get stuck on only seeing it as free inquiry, and settings like Summerhill where kids are basically free to do whatever they want and unfortunately that doesn’t really mesh well with our society and established schooling system. With the spectrum from the teacher selected to student selected and from structured inquiry to free inquiry there are so many ways to guide students into a freer style of learning and inquiry.
Personally, I gotta say I kind of feel like I got thrown in the deep end this semester with this class and the focus on inquiry as our products. And I know, that it is an attempt to give us freedom and time to explore technology in a way that is more relevant to our lives but when you have four classes that aren’t inquiry based and have many deadlines it is really easy to let a class with an inquiry structure end up on the backburner, at least for me.
All that being said, I do want to use inquiry in my classroom but I am going to be very mindful in the ways I use it. I think that in giving students choice, they also deserve the choice of a more structured learning style, external boundaries and goals are really helpful for some people but limiting to others. Really it boils down to knowing who your students are and what they are capable of.
One thing that I do really love about Trevor is how well he manages his social media, while I’m still not really active with Twitter, I followed him on Instagram and I think that his content is phenomenal. Now I guess we’ll have to see if he gets hip with the kids on Tik Tok as trends change.