Adamson

There Are No Stupid Questions

Inquiry as pedagogy carries challenges for educators and students alike. It can also have

successes when established by the students freedom to select work within the classroom, as well as

participate outside of it. Teachers and administrations have been surprised and excited by results from

inquiry being used across curriculums and projects inside classrooms. There have been increases in

motivation, participation, and academic evaluation seen among primary school to even high school

students and the drive for teachers to bring inquiry into their classroom is all the more greater.

The Classroom Inquiry Cycle (CIC) is a prime example of supporting the students success in

school with step by step instruction honed to the childs academic needs. Finding particular working

methods to produce quality learning for students can be a key to getting them to want to do the work

from the beginning. If a child struggles in a particular subject, or even in general, expecting them to step

too far above their Zone of Proximal Development is unnecessary and non-productive for the teacher

and the student. When a teacher is able to adapt the lessons to the students individual capabilities,

that students chance of success is farther than any past rate of failure. If changing the game around a

little works for the sake of learning, there is no need for the student to feel they cannot learn the same

academics as others simply because they cannot learn it the same way.

From Teaching and Reaching All Students: An Instructional Model For Closing The Gap by

Rebecca Powell, et al., Culturally Responsive Teaching (CROIP) integrates the student and their familys

cultural knowledge into the classroom learning environment. Through inquiry, students are able to be

actively engaged with more hands-on activities in order to discover answers to their questions about

current classroom content. Allowing students to become active participants in their classroom by

bringing into it the characteristics they behold when out in the community, at home, and with their

friends helps them build stronger self-awareness, as well as community in the classroom.
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This comfortableness in the class helps the students stay focused on their work, where they can

build up the motivation and drive to finish assignments without worrying about judgement,

discrimination, or failure from someone elses eyes. The ideal outcome for a culturally responsive

teacher to witness is their students finding inspiration within themselves to engage in their classwork

and take responsibility for the product. After all, they are who they bring into the classroom, what they

produce while there, and what they take away when the bell rings, hopefully carrying it into their home

lives.

In the article ESP Reading Literacy and Reader Identity: A Narrative Inquiry Into A Learner In

Taiwan by Beryl Chinghwa Lee and Chiou-Ian Chern, the concept of a Community of Practice (CoP) is

defined as a group of people who come together around a common interest and/or practice. This

concept of a shared goal(s) builds upon the community needed inside a classroom of inquiry. It is

difficult to learn anything new without the help, support, or education of someone else, ergo, a teacher.

When inquiry is involved, however, the teacher more or less becomes a guided facilitator in the

backseat of their students learning mobile. The students lead their work, and small groups tend to

generate around the shared topics of interest. There should be no one better to receive input from than

other people asking similar questions and searching for common information. A cohesion of social

identity forms within such groups, making it easier to work and stay motivated through the project.

The Book Club Project titled Nonfiction Mentor Texts: Teaching Informational Writing Through

Childrens Literature, K-8 caught my attention the most in connecting to inquiry. Most of the detail

about this book felt comprehensible for an early educator to translate to their students. Being able to

show instead of tell students how to write properly is a concept I try to use for students struggling

with how to put their own ideas down onto paper. I like to draw graphic organizers, or diagrams, to help

them lay out their ideas, and I feel most students are better at visualizing then composing. Plus, this can
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become a more hands-on approach to keep them engaged and participating especially when the topics

are selected by them. This leads to better focus, more open-mindedness, and deeper learning once the

questions start flowing.

This project mentioned the Theory of Multiple Intelligences, which interested me because it

made me connect to the Classroom Inquiry Cycle in regards to individual capabilities. I believe giving

students various ways to learn the same material according to their individual learning style is the best

way to acclimate them to learning on their own. Allowing for multiple avenues to learn will help them

figure out the method that works for them, and they will internalize the results for future reference

instead of trying to remember someone elses way which did not work for them to begin with.

The various ways to learn according to individual learning style is right on track with Common

Core Curriculum and directly makes me think about the different counting techniques taught in

classrooms today. Most parents do not understand why there needs to be so many different methods

to add or subtract, but the reason is the variation in kids minds today and how they acquire new

information. The same goes for literacy, and students should not be restricted in language, reading or

writing because they process words differently than the student sitting next to them.

The second Book Club Project that intrigued me was Theres Room For Me Here. This project

mentioned the challenges educators may face when bringing inquiry into their classroom and I

connected it to Writing For A Change, which I read for my book club. The sole link to inquiry was

discussing with (her) students about how to solve an issue in the learning environment. Allowing for

some wiggle room by the teacher and students helps create a mutual relationship built around trust,

where both parties benefit. In such a case, the teacher learns alongside the students. This shows the

teacher being able to release some of the control in the classroom and placing the

ownership/responsibility on the kids to make the environment a safe and respectable one for everyone
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to learn in. I appreciated the Know, Want to Know, Learned (KWL) activity from Theres Room For Me

Here because it referenced schema, which plays an integral part in successful inquiry.

Inquiry greatly supports a democratic learning environment. With inquiry, every student is able

to ask questions that will further the learning and no ones question is put down without fair reason (if it

is off topic, disruptive, etc.). The idea with inquiry, though, is to have the students so involved in the

work they so care about they have no focus to put towards off topic or disruptions.