I had just been given a copy of Trevor MacKenzie’s Inquiry Mindset Assessment Edition: Scaffolding a Partnership for Equity and Agency for Learning when we found out he was definitely zooming into class for a day. COOL! Having read a few chapters since, it was great to hear some of the stories and heart behind the book.
He started us off with an interesting question: What was high school like for you?
My answer was simply: high school was fun, sometimes easy, often hard work, very busy, enjoyable.
The second question was more probing: What got in the way of your learning?
This time, I had a vivid memory of my chemistry teacher insisting we needed to do 100 questions all using the same formulas, or whatever it was, to show we knew it; this gets pretty old after 5 questions. I also remembered an English teacher asking me to colour something in grade 9 and my telling her I wouldn’t do it because that was for kindergarteners. I remember being so frustrated that she wouldn’t give me something more interesting to show what I had understood about our book. What I wouldn’t give for a simple colouring page now!
Next, Trevor asked us, “What defines success in school?”
For me, this is growth, enjoyment, learning, feelings of accomplishment–or something like that. I’ll try to hold on to this as suggested and see how it grows over the years.
The discussion was great and he made lots of great comments, so I’ve just gone ahead and compiled a list:
1. What does amazing learning look like? Ask the students to co-develop the rules of the classroom.
2. Am I doing something for my students that they should be doing for themselves?
3. There is a non-negotiable outcome, but the method is debatable. What are the negotiables or non-negotiables?
4. Where can you provide more room for student agency?
5. How do you show humanity in your teaching?
6. Values of Constructivist Educator:
-believes that the learner is an active and contributing member of creating the learning and the learning environment
-values agency, confidence, and a strong sense of self
-nurtures calm, confidence, and a strong sense of self
-values questions, wonder, and curiosity as learning opportunities
-values talking, thinking, and reflecting
-cultivates competencies, dispositions, and habits of mind (skills that transcend context)
-relationships
I’m really looking forward to finishing his book! More than for simply pulling out useful tips and tricks, the book demonstrates what a inquiry-based classroom could look like from the ground-up. Each chapter builds on the next to show all the ways a classroom can support students in building agency and developing inquiry.
