Dear Inquiry Teacher/Learner,
This blog began like this, almost a year ago…
Behind this door, is a brand new blog.
The idea came from an interaction between Edna (@whatedsaid), an IB PYP teacher in Melbourne Australia and Tyler (@MrTRice_Science), a high school Science teacher in Washington, USA.
Despite our different backgrounds, we share a passion for teaching and learning and a belief in the power of inquiry.
We hope this blog will be read by educators who share our beliefs and others who we can help to convert. We hope that bloggers and non-bloggers alike will participate in the conversation.
Interested? Inquire within…
At first there was some interest and growth, but then it began to slow down, as the contributors were busy with other blogs, with teaching and learning, with their families and with their lives.
I’d like to revive this blog before its complete demise.
There are hundreds of teachers, learners and inquirers who would like to read about and share examples of great inquiry in the classroom. Are you one of them?
There are hundreds of brilliant examples of student centred learning, cultures of thinking and authentic inquiry appearing on teacher and class blogs every day. Is yours one of them?
There are hundreds of teachers doing brilliant things with their learning communities every day, who do not blog. Do you know one of them?
There are hundreds of students, excited about owning their learning, reflecting on their own inquiries and discoveries every day. Is one of them in your class?
I would love this to grow into a truly collaborative blog with contributions from hundreds of inquiry teachers and learners all over the world. A blog for sharing our beliefs about inquiry, for exploring how to to promote genuine inquiry and, above all, a blog that showcases examples of inquiry learning around the world.
Is it possible?
If not, it’s time to close the door…
aarondavis1
alavina
andyv10
Bart Miller
brianneises
cdw11238
cpaterso
CristinaM.
darrylanderson
Dave Truss
Dave Secomb
derekpinchbeck
Craig
educatoral
faige
filearning
Gallit Zvi
graingered
hjoubert
Holly Reardon and Katie Knight
Jason Graham
Jina Belnick
johnbarell
kathmurdoch
kdceci
lanafleiszig
lindybuckley1
Maggie Hos-McGrane
@malynmawby
Marina Gijzen
maryacbyu
marycollins21
Michael Kaechele
mirandarose14
Gareth Jacobson
sherrattsam
nainisingh
Tanya de Hoog
Peter Skillen
J Rafael Angel
Inquiry Partners
shelleywright
Sonya terBorg
Tania Ash
tasha cowdy
tbondclegg
Louise Robitaille
tgaletti
Tyler
whatedsaid
wholeboxndice
Inquire Within 
I would love to contribute, but am very much a neophyte at this inquiry thing. 🙂 However, this is my personal learning focus this year and I really, really would like to see this blog thrive and prosper.
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You can post reflections about your learning! Make your own inquiry public and we can join the conversation 🙂
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In that case, please add me as a contributor. I’m currently developing a personal learning plan through P2PU called Teaching in Personal Inquiry Learning Environments, and I’ll just add contributing here as one of my learning tasks. 🙂
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Hi Edna. It would be such a shame to see this well thought out idea of a blog die out. However, that sounds a bit hypocritical coming from me as one who rarely updates her own blog! I agree that people are busy with other blogs etc but, just like teaching, maybe some of us need to do things smarter not harder. Maybe some posts could be posted on the writer’s blog and replicated here. I know it sounds like double-dipping but it may then reach a wider audience. Just my two cents for what it’s worth.
Our Year 6/7’s follow the IBMYP program but I don’t feel as though I have it under my belt enough to post much, although I’d be happy to write a bit on our Personal Challenge that the Year 6/7’s undertake.
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Cross posting would be fine! It’s about gathering all the ideas in one place and encouraging conversation. It’s about learning together and from each other. Do post about the personal challenge, that would be great!
So let’s say the following:
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1. You do not have to be an expert! We are here to talk about ways to make learning more student-centred.
2. Let me know if you would like to be added as a contributor.
3. Feel free to cross post existing posts and link to your own blog.
4. You can contribute as frequently as you like.
5. It’s fine to post once in a while, every few weeks or months.
6. You can join the conversation by commenting too.
7. If you are already a contributor, let’s try and get things going again.
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Hi Edna!
I think it is a grand idea BUT there are lots of sites out there doing similar things so it is a huge market. Is there a particular niche you could appeal to?
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Apologies for not reading closely enough Edna to see the specific ‘inquiry’ approach you ask for. I agree there are lots of teachers working in that area but perhaps it isn’t recognised with that specific title. Certainly here in the UK we have student centred learning & learning communities but I’m not aware of a specific ‘label’ of inquiry learning. That may be why the blog hasn’t flown. Just a thought!
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Edna,
But of COURSE I would love to join in! I will be one of the ones cross posting with my blog when applicable. I do have one clarifying question…. are you looking only toward highlighting inquiry among and within students in classrooms or are we considering inquiry on a bigger stage as in professionals inquiring about their own practices with and without students? In that case, I’ve been inquiring a lot lately on effective leadership and change as well as passion based teaching which I think could be topics worthy of deeper discussion from an inquiry perspective. Looking forward to contributing!
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There are no rules… we can make them up together. It started as a blog about student inquiry, student centred learning, but it can be anything inquiry related.
Welcome aboard!
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Hello all,
I’m really interested in inquiry learning and student centred learning but am still a learner myself. Am looking forward to seeing what happens here: challenging myself, participating in learning conversations and trying to “keep up” generally!
Good luck
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I would love to be a contributor! My staff is collaborating with 3 other elementary buildings in beginning ur PBL/STEM journey. We’ve dabbled but want to move to a place of competently guiding students through these types of experiences. Sharing our process and struggles will keep us focused and maybe even allow for some outside insight to our work! Let me know how contributing works!
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Hi! We are from San Marcos Unified in CA and are in the baby stages of Inquiry Based Learning! Our TIDES (Transformative Inquiry Design for Effective School and Systems) Team has been to several workshops regarding deeper implementation of Inquiry to drive student learning and instruction. Some of our teachers are beginning to implement their Problem Based Learning units over the next few months and we are looking forward to becoming a member of this blog to become both learners and contributors.
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Hi Jemel and Whitney
Please email me at joininquirewithin@gmail.com.
Edna
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