P1- Practice intentional inquiry and planning for instruction
The three essential words above are intentional, inquiry, and planning. To me these mean the disciplined and careful attention of the instructor to the progress of students, their prior knowledge, and their life context. For example intentional inquiry may include taking into account the learning needs of students, the supportive nature of their families, and quality assessment of prior knowledge necessary for success in up coming lessons. If the instructor has been intentional in their inquiry then planning for instruction will carry much of the fruit gained by inquiry. Lesson plans can then be modified to maximize their effectiveness for the class as well as individual students. Secondly intentional inquiry and planning must include investigation into research based techniques and their assimilation into lesson planning.
Figure 1
Medina, J. (2008). Brain Rules. Seattle, Wa: Pear Press.
Pressley, M., & McCormick, C. B. (2007). Child and Adolescent Development for
Educators. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
Figure 1 shows a collaborative summery of intentional inquiry that would be used to plan the best instruction. In this example from EDU 6132 Garrity et al (2014), engage factors of ability, home-life, cognitive ability relative to rigor, and motivation as we try to plan effective inquiry. This sample is also heavily informed by research. Based on these factors an educator can plan instruction that provides the maximum challenge the student can bear, while encouraging them to view failure not as a dead-end but an opportunity to excel.
Using tools like these ideas we are better able to understand the assets and challenges of the class and individuals, and so better plan instruction for them. I have learned a great deal here that can be refined to two points. First, students are immensely complex and effective instruction requires intentional assessment of all the factors that surround their learning. And second, that brilliant minds have been working for a very long time on understanding students and their instruction. As such I need not re-invent the wheel or feint in the presence of so great a burden as solely developing effective education for diverse students. There is a great deal of information out there to help me, as well as the collective wisdom of my colleagues. The implication of this evidence is that a teacher can easily get lost in the depth of detail surrounding each student, and there are many students in a class. A such the real skill is spotting what matters most and using techniques that are broadly effective for many characteristics of students. If this is done efficiently then there may still be energy left over for more specialized student needs which require more creative solutions.
Step one going foreword for me is simply to grow in the ability to observe and identify many of these factors. All the planning in the world would be ineffective without first inquiring intentionally. This is a prodigious skill in itself and a worthy first endeavor.
References
Garrity, L., Manning, J. Schuldt, M., & Thordarson, A. (2014) Phase 3: EDU 6132
schuldteducatorportfolio 