Today we had a great presentation from Trevor MacKenzie about inquiry-based learning! Although this topic is very familiar to me, I took a lot away from his presentation. I really valued how he takes the time to connect to and learn about and adapt his teaching to his students needs. I was interested in how he organized his class and planning around how busy the students were and how much they had on their plate. I liked his flexible due dates and timelines for completing work. I was interested in how he balanced flexibility students in their work with the tasks assigned. Students had the flexibility to share their knowledge but he provided that steps and scaffolds to accomplish the learning that needs to be done. I felt inspired by how present he is with his students and the the importance of trust in his class. I valued his writing exercises as a way to connect with his students and learn about their interest and challenges.

I am looking forward to reading his books and apply it to my own understanding of inquiry. His talk helped me to better understand how to assess inquiry as well as how to communicate assessment with students surrounding their inquiry. I am hoping to gain more knowledge and practice around planning more formal inquiries in older grades.

Check out his website: Inquiry Mindset — Trevor MacKenzie

Watch this great video about the characteristics of an Inquiry classroom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FigdX1iWnO8

Check out his books: Dive into Inquiry and Inquiry Mindset