Term four Inquiry Staff meetings 1 and 2

Two of the lead teachers have been facilitating meetings to develop a Koputaroa School Inquiry Model. The teaching staff feel empowered by the involvement they are having into developing a programme that changes the strategic direction of the school curriculum. Inquiry learning focuses on modelling processes and skills needed to be 'life-long learners', rather than concentrating on content-based topic learning.

The Koputaroa School Inquiry model is based on its school logo that has a 'Kereru' or wood pigeon on it. The six stages of inquiry are based on using the word Kereru as and acronym.

Michael Pohl

Michael Pohl ran a workshop with the 'I can we can' ICT cluster on 11 September. He ran a second smaller workshop for other members of staff after school. Michael demonstrated how different thinking models can be used to enhance students thinking. He used different models such as 6 Thinking Hats, the revised Bloom's Taxonomy and Tony Ryan's Thinker's Keys. Michael talked about how ACRONYMS can be useful as can Graphic Organisers. He also talked about how teachers and students need to ask the right sort of questions.

Jan facilitates Inquiry Development Day

On 1 September 2008 Jan Thomas led an Inquiry workshop at our school in a Teacher only day. This workshop was all about immersing the staff in the concepts and language of Inquiry, and them discovering that the theories behind Inquiry Learning reinforced what they themselves believed about what and how students need to be learning in the 21s Century.

Muritai School part 2

Like OLOL, Muritai approach an Inquiry theme as a whole school but then each class break off into different topics under the umbrella theme. The benefits of this approach are the shared language between the staff and classes, and whole-school events that can be planned to reflect the common theme. This allows the sharing of resources and knowledge.

Muritai had a firm belief that guided Inquiry allowed students to properly develop research skills and techniques within the boundaries of the theme. The children preferred this approach and felt boundaries were within their capabilities and promote success. The approach of using directed and guided Inquiry appeals to the lead teachers of Koputaroa School as it gives a solid grounding in the Inquiry process that enables the children to learn skills and techniques of research at a deeper level within a shared context.

Muritai School

Muritai had a very open and honest approach to their Inquiry and ICT journey. It was refreshing to hear the children take our cluster through their processes. They could easily answer any questions or queries the cluster had. Their perspective showed a grounded, yet honest and child-friendly understanding of how Inquiry is undertaken in their school.

Muriai School built up presentation skills throughout the year. An example of this was the minimum requirement  for their first inquiry presentation being  a booklet. The second inquiry required a booklet and a resource pack. The third inquiry required a booklet, a resource pack, and a speech. Children could do more with their presentation each time if they wished but were quite clear on what the minimum requirements were. Children spoke of wanting to achieve a '5' (the highest score) and strove to achieve this with each inquiry they undertook.

Board Presentation

Two of the lead teachers presented the Koputaroa School journey of Inquiry and ICT integration with regards to where we have come from and what lies ahead. They mentioned that the first year of the contract focussed strongly on purchasing the necessary hardware for classes, a school server, and providing support or using the new equipment. The 'Koputaroa Kid' posters were presented and discussed. The board was very positive and supportive of the direction the staff are heading with this.

Our Lady of Lourdes part 2

The use of templates for different programmes made computer use more efficient and focussed. Planning was done prior to children gaining access to computers, eg. Kid Pix draft. Senior pupils were buddied with juniors during computer time meaning specific computer skills did not have to be taught by the classroom teachers.

A teacher aide was paid to ensure the OLOL website was updated on a regular basis meaning the information was current. The main benefit of having someone in the school in charge of the website is that they are familiar with the children, the staff, and the community.

The children in the senior school had a strong connection with home through the use of blogging to share classroom experiences.

Our Lady of Lourdes

The 'I can we can' cluster visited 'Our Lady of Lourdes' Catholic School on 19 June. Seeing their journey of Inquiry, which includes the integration of ICT enabled the lead teachers of Koputaroa School to evaluate the process of simplifying the stages of Inquiry.

OLOL uses a whole school approach to an Inquiry before classes' branch off and investigate an aspect of the Inquiry further. The whole school is engaged through a "hook in" activity to motivate, excite, and begin conversations on the theme. This approach has been successful for them and could be one worth considering for Koputaroa School.

The topic, scope for each class and research questions were generated by the children but it was interesting to note that the wall displays did not always reflect the questions being asked by the students. To ensure student buy-in remains strong each stage should reflect the work of the children.

School council and staff input to ‘Koputaroa Kid’

As the staff representative for school council, one of the lead teachers took the proposal of creating a 'Koputaroa Kid' and asked them to come up with the desired skills and attitudes they they would like to leave our school with. Display options were discussed and possible images were recorded.

The process was then repeated with the staff who fully supported the ideas the children had shared. A final design was decided upon and posters were professionally created. One poster reflects the qualities of a 'Koputaroa Kid' (a tree) and the other displays our draft Inquiry model based on a bird's nest where the stages are inter-twined.

Reflection from Coley Street presentation

Today we visited Coley Street School and were taken on their journey into Inquiry. We looked at their model and were given a tour through classrooms as they were involved in Inquiry. 

The question we had to answer was, "What can you take away with you from what you have seen and heard today?" 

The need to have whole staff 'buy-in' is extremely important. This has to be directed from the top so staff can see the connection between the language used and the thinking tools required.

There is the need to start with thinking tools and to build them into our literacy and topic areas so that children and staff become familiar with them before launching into inquiry. A good starting point would be to incorporate and use thinking tools when discussing a class situation of current events.

All staff need to visit schools so they become familiar with possible outcomes of teaching with thinking tools. THe sharing and discussing not only successes  but also shat didn't work and how this can be improved or modified. The fact is that it doesn't have to be perfect in the first year. Setting a definite trial period (no less than a year) with the expectation that all staff will discover inquiry together.

Update on Inquiry Process

In Term 3 we are planning to have Jan Thomas meet with our staff to begin discussions around 'What is Inquiry?' and 'How can we use inquiry within our school?' In the meantime both the junior and senior teams will be discussing professional readings focussing on inquiry, during meetings. The reasoning behind this for staff to become aware of the language used within the different inquiry processes. It was beneficial to attend the cluster day with Jan-Marie, focusing specifically on inquiry learning. This enabled us to look at successful inquiry practices within a school and the planning that supports it. This created possibilities for a starting point within our school.

Inquiry Learning

This blog has been set up to record our case study into inquiry learning.