In 2016 when Griffin opened, I was a confident teacher, self-assured in my practice but with a yearning for something more – a change, a challenge, a new way. Sounds a bit cheesy but it’s true. Perhaps that’s why I was intrigued by Vicki’s mention of Inquiry-Based Learning in the early days of Griffin.
I had been experimenting with more 'Fun Friday' in my day for a few years at this point, recognising that I was on the verge of becoming stagnant and endeavouring to shun that fate. I just hadn’t quite found the alternate – or realised that I needed to shift my mindset. I just fervently knew that I didn’t want to be that teacher that taught the same few year levels for 40 years, regurgitating the same content and teaching in the same way. Not me.
Having taught in the early years for eight years by this point, I had my folders and resources organised and ready to reuse. I was surely on the way to becoming that ‘always do what I’ve always done’ teacher I had feared. Even though I was dabbling in more learner-centered pedagogy, I still felt a safety, a security in knowing ahead of time the ‘activities’ I would prepare each week and how our unit learning would unfold in minute detail. I felt prepared and an abundance of pride when colleagues would comment on how organised I was, always planning a fortnight ahead. Being an organised teacher seemed to me to be the ultimate compliment.
Up until this point, the learning I delivered was detailed, fully mapped out, on my terms, structured to a fault but satisfying to a perfectionist at heart. My planning book was quite the Type A personality spectacle – no space left, no minute not utilised, no time for spontaneity or following voice, except for the 'Fun Friday' golden hour when I would plan learning opportunities, position myself as 'the guide on the side' and look closely at my learners, noticing them. Every other hour of our week I was passing on, enculturing my kids in the 'old story' of school. I would teach it and they would learn it, such was my mindset. I held the reins, hesitant to release the responsibility for fear of not getting it all done. Quiet, happy kids re-producing equaled learning, or so I’d been taught.
Due to my move to Griffin and the encounters, the reading, the research, and the conversations I participated in, I soon began to realise that organised didn’t mean ‘good learning’. I began to think that maybe order wasn’t as fruitful for learners and learning. Like my precious 'Fun Friday' time, voice, choice, and a little unplanned chaos allowed for authentic emergence. Although terrifying for me at the time, it appeared to lead to deeper learning for my learners. I had actually witnessed the ideas I was reading and learning about.
In our first year at Griffin, Vicki encouraged us to play with inquiry, to wonder, and wander. We were given the permission to experiment. The freedom to tinker with inquiry was self-paced and void of pressure to get it right, so freeing and empowering. We followed our own curiosity and 'bit off' what we each felt we could manage. Granted permission for learning to be messy in all the right ways, not just ‘puppies off the lead’ – the permission to fail and learn, all with the goal of sparking curiosity, engagement, and deeper, more long-lasting learning.
Armed with Kath Murdoch’s _The Power of Inquiry_, I continued my exploration of play-based learning by harnessing the classroom space as a tool to spark interest, curiosity, and investigation. Like my colleagues, I wandered into shifting my WALT (We Are Learning To), to Learning Intentions framed as questions, just as Kath had recommended in her book, referencing Guy Claxton and his Split Screen Approach. This reframing is where the real transformation of my pedagogy began and it really was very uncomfortable. Framing my lessons with a question forced me to release more voice and heavy lifting to my learners. With learning framed through a question, curiosity and investigation needed to follow. And so I began to harness inquiry-based learning strategies.
Reflecting on the shifts that began to occur in our pedagogy at Griffin during our first year, the phrase ‘wonder and wander’ comes to mind. We wondered more about what the kids were capable of, wandered into uncomfortable pedagogy, and found the courage to try something new. We wondered about what might happen if we 'unplanned' more often, we wandered into lessons and conversations with less control and more of an organic sequence. Wonder and wander; be curious about learners and their learning. Wonder into pedagogical wonders and note how learning might happen with learners, rather than to them.
During my first years at Griffin, I played, I wondered, and wandered. Actually, I don’t think I’ve stopped. I experimented relentlessly, following what brought my learners and myself the most joy. I understood what was Tight and Loose. I found the courage to step outside my fate and made way for my new and emerging identity. No longer would I do what I had always done, it was time to transform my view of my role as an educator. It was uncomfortable, but I found safety in being on a collaborative journey. I wandered courageously into the uncomfortable and found delight in what I began to discover.
Next: Learning-Orientated
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