We were lucky to have Trevor Mackenzie talk with us about using the Inquiry approach in a public school setting. This was great to experience since inquiry comes up in almost every one of our classes and one of the big questions we face as student teachers is how to incorporate student agency into learning.

Trevor framed it in a way that really stuck with me, He asked us to spend some time reflecting on our own school experiences and identify how this has impacted our teaching. One question he asked was: “How do you show humanity in your teaching?”

We think of the effective teachers we have had over the years with a sense of recognition, but those who have touched our humanity we remember with a deep sense of gratitude.

anonymous

The main take-away I had from Trevor was to incorporate student agency in learning. It is something I have been thinking about in terms of my own pedagogy and the state of education today. I hear a lot of teacher’s concerns about a lack of accountability and low levels of student engagement and It seems like incorporating student agency may alleviate some of those problems (if done well). Trevor said his school spends the first two weeks of classes getting to know students, doing simple, enjoyable tasks, and creating an atmosphere of respect among students. We learned in Psychology how doing this can prevent problems with misbehaviour from occurring in your classroom. It is also a way to prepare a classroom for collaborative and cooperative learning.

In addition to this, Trevor preaches transparency. He advises to co-construct anything you can with your students in order to give them clears expectations and a certain degree of “buy in.” Once you’e identified the non-negotiable components of your teaching, everything left on the table can be co-constructed with students. When students know what is expected of them, they are more likely to do well; When they helped create the rules/requirements, they are more likely to follow them and place meaning on them; When they get to choose the content/texts, they are more likely to be engaged with material; and when they start to see themselves as partners in assessment, they are more likely to make the effort.

This all aligns nicely with most of the theories of education that we have looked at in this program. What Trevor gave us was a more practical guide to doing so. His main point was that you can’t just throw yourself and your students in the deep end of this. Students need to be taught how to identify what the most important skills/ideas are in a lesson, how to make meaningful rules, how to choose texts, and how to self-assess. Trevor stressed that students need to be made cognizant of their learning and the learning process – “How are you feeling about your learning today?” “What could you do differently tomorrow?”

The last words of advice from Trevor were to embrace the power of questions, which he demonstrated throughout his talk with us. Questions are the best way to connect with students, to discover new information and perspectives, and to gain a better understanding of yourself. In that sense, inquiry really is at the heart of effective teaching.