What have you learned? What new insights have you developed? Has anything changed? How will you implement inquiry-based instruction into your classroom?
I have always been a teacher that consistently and constantly questions my students. I want to be a teacher that teaches my students HOW to think, not WHAT to think. This class has given me more tools and knowledge in order to do so effectively. I want my students to be critical thinkers and leave my class with the process skills needed to be successful for the rest of their lives.
The biggest thing I got out of this class is the differences between facts and concepts and taking those and developing non-investigable and investigable questions. I had no idea these existed prior to this course, but I am glad I learned what they were! I also am glad I learned how to teach my students to develop a non-investigatable question to an investigable one. This class hasn't changed me from a non-questioning teacher to a questioning one, but it has changed my skill level in questioning. I know much more now about questioning than I did before I took this class.
I am going to use more formative assessments to check for prior knowledge before a class. I am planning on using a pretest for my 9th Grade English class to assess what they know about literary devices. This will help me plan what to focus on for the short story units as well as the rest of the year. I am going to start developing activities and lessons that follow the 5E model. I find that this model is effective in teaching my students critical thinking skills. I have also learned how to use Google Docs more effectively for questioning as well as new tools like www.pollanywhere.com.
I leave this class with more tools in my teaching tool belt and I am grateful for my new understanding and knowledge regarding Inquiry-Based Learning.
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