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Experience Inquiry
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Experience Inquiry
5 Powerful Strategies, 50 Practical Experiences

First Edition

Foreword by Kath Murdoch, Author of The Power of Inquiry

Additional resources:


September 2018 | 240 pages | Corwin

"Strategic and deliberate approaches to inquiry have been shown to be extremely helpful to educators who seek to ensure that they are meeting the needs of their students. In this important new book, Kimberly Mitchell provides practical insights and methods for how to incorporate inquiry into their practice. For educators who seek to enhance their effectiveness and make a difference for all of the students they serve, this book will be an invaluable resource and guide."

Pedro A. Noguera, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Education
UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, 
Los Angeles, CA


"Kimberly has translated the latest terminology—pedagogical jargon—into lively language and useful advice that will strike a chord for classroom teachers!  She 'gets it.'"


Deborah Meier, Educator & Author
Coalition of Essential Schools

Discover inquiry for yourself with this interactive guide

 Plenty of resources speak to the benefits of inquiry, the research behind it, and even subject-specific processes to follow. But that’s not enough. Implementing inquiry is the tricky part, and involves changing beliefs about the teacher and student roles in the classroom. Most critically, we as teachers must engage in inquiry ourselves to successfully implement it in the classroom.

One part practical guide, one part interactive journal, this book provides the opportunity to do inquiry as you read about it. You’ll learn what inquiry-based instruction looks like in practice through five key strategies, all of which can be immediately implemented in any learning environment. This resource offers

  • Practical examples of what inquiry looks like in the classroom, and how to do it
  • Opportunities for reflection throughout the book, including self-surveys, templates, and tools
  • A user-friendly handbook format for quick reference and logical progression through your inquiry journey
  • Fifty practical inquiry experiences that can be used individually, with students, or in small groups of teachers

These strategies and experiences will improve your relationships with students and colleagues, reduce your workload by asking more of students, and breathe joyful curiosity back into your classroom. Let’s get out of our comfort zones and do inquiry-based teaching in a more practical and powerful way! Are you ready?


 
Foreword
 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Author
 
Introduction
 
1. What Is Inquiry?
My Own Inquiry Journey

 
Experience #1: Inquiry Self-Survey

 
 
2. Beginning Your Inquiry Journey
How to Use This Book

 
Tips for Success

 
What’s the Role of Administration?

 
The Inquiry Leader Self-Reflection Tool

 
Staff Reflection Survey

 
The Importance of Balance and Harmony

 
 
3. Taking Stock of Your Classroom
Experience #2: How Do You Know If You’re “Doing” Inquiry?

 
Experience #3: What Do Your Students Think?

 
Experience #4: What Do Others See in Your Classroom?

 
Experience #5: What’s the Student Experience?

 
Experience #6: What Does All This Tell You?

 
 
4. What Does Inquiry Look Like?
The Inquiry Five Strategies

 
Experience #7: What Are Your Burning Questions About Inquiry?

 
Experience #8: Who, When, and How Should You Answer Questions?

 
Experience #9: How Can Questions Be Savored?

 
Experience #10: What Does Your “Ideal” Class Look Like?

 
 
5. Strategy #1: Get Personal
Introduction to Get Personal

 
Experience #11: Mad-Libs: Who Are You?

 
Experience #12: Who Were Your Teachers?

 
Experience #13: What Stories Can You Tell?

 
Experience #14: How Do You Tell a Story That Sticks to the Soul?

 
Experience #15: What Does Your Classroom Say About You?

 
Experience #16: Why Do You Teach?

 
Experience #17: What Is the Third Space?

 
Experience #18: Ask Me Anything!

 
 
6. Strategy #2: Stay Curious
Introduction to Stay Curious

 
Experience #19: What’s Your Expertise?

 
Experience #20: What Still Intrigues You?

 
Experience #21: Who Are Your Teachers Today?

 
Experience #22: Are You a Luddite or Linkedin?

 
Experience #23: What Do You Teach?

 
Experience #24: What Would Your Curriculum of Questions Look Like?

 
Experience #25: What’s Your Teaching Approach?

 
Experience #26: How Do You Respond to Students?

 
 
7. Strategy #3: Ask More, Talk Less
Introduction to Ask More, Talk Less

 
Experience #27: What’s Really Happening in Your Classroom?

 
Experience #28: Who Is Hiding in Plain Sight?

 
Experience #29: What Questions Are You Asking?

 
Experience #30: How Do You Teach With Your Mouth Shut?

 
Experience #31: How Do You Get Students to Listen to One Another?

 
Experience #32: How Do You Get Students to Talk Together?

 
Experience #33: What Are Socratic Seminars, Harkness, and Spider Web Discussions?

 
Experience #34: Which Questions Work Best in Inquiry Classrooms?

 
 
8. Strategy #4: Encourage Evidence
Introduction to Encourage Evidence

 
Experience #35: What’s the Most Important Question to Ask?

 
Experience #36: How Do You Get Your Students to Back Up Their Claims?

 
Experience #37: How Do You Teach “Crap Detection”?

 
Experience #38: How Do You Provoke Healthy Debates?

 
Experience #39: How Can You Practice the Evidence-Seeking Process?

 
 
9. Strategy #5: Extend Thinking Time
Introduction to Extend Thinking Time

 
Experience #40: How Do You Get Students to Think More?

 
Experience #41: How Can You Get Students to Ask More Questions?

 
Experience #42: How Do You Cede Control Without Losing It Completely?

 
Experience #43: How Do Inquiry and Mindfulness Connect?

 
Experience #44: How Can You Support Innovative Student Thinking?

 
Experience #45: How Do You Start Project-Based, Problem-Based, and Challenge-Based Learning?

 
 
10. Now What?
Experience #46: How Do You Plan for Inquiry?

 
Experience #47: How Do You Assess Inquiry?

 
Experience #48: How Do You Make Time for Inquiry?

 
Experience #49: How Do You Explain Inquiry to Skeptics?

 
Experience #50: What Does Inquiry Look Like to You?

 
 
11. Inquiry Resources
Kimberly’s Top Ten Lists

 
Inquiry Books

 
Inquiry Videos and Podcasts

 
Inquiry Organizations

 
Inquiry Blogs

 
 
Appendices
 
More Reasons to Fall in Love With Inquiry: the Inquiry Five (i5) and Alignment Documents
The i5 and Common Core State Standards

 
The i5 and Next Gen Science Standards

 
The i5 and Danielson Teaching Framework

 
The i5 and Marzano Framework

 
The i5 and Approaches to Teaching and Learning (International Baccalaureate)

 
The i5 and High Leverage Practice (TeachingWorks, University of Michigan)

 
 
Curriculum at-a-Glance (Southern Hemisphere)
 
References
 
Index

Supplements

"Strategic and deliberate approaches to inquiry have been shown to be extremely helpful to educators who seek to ensure that they are meeting the needs of their students. In this important new book, Kimberly Mitchell provides practical insights and methods for how to incorporate inquiry into their practice. For educators who seek to enhance their effectiveness and make a difference for all of the students they serve, this book will be an invaluable resource and guide."

Pedro A. Noguera, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Education
UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, Los Angeles, CA

"Kimberly has translated the latest terminology—pedagogical jargon—into lively language and useful advice that will strike a chord for classroom teachers!  She 'gets it.'"

Deborah Meier, Author, Coalition of Essential Schools

“This is a book that will help you become the inquiry teacher you need to be.”

Kath Murdoch, Education Consultant, University Lecturer, Author of The Power of Inquiry
Australia

 "Experience Inquiry is an excellent book for demystifying how to promote inquiry in the classroom. It's also a clarion call for building strong personal bonds between teacher and student. Chapter after chapter emphasizes the extraordinary opportunity teachers have and the practical tools they can use to create an environment in which students' ideas, feelings and questions are valued."

Dan Rothstein, Author, Make Just One Change: Teach Students to Ask Their Own Questions

“Kimberly has given us a 'field guide' to uncover, unpack and enjoy the nobility that is teaching. Her gift is a joyful discomfort that challenges all of us to better actualize the gifts we pledge to the students we serve… best enjoyed in the company of your colleagues.”

Don Shalvey, Founder, Aspire Public Schools
Deputy Director K-12 Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

"More than a good, engaging read, Experience Inquiry is an experiential challenge for educators and educational leaders committed to creating schools where students 'do most of the question-asking and answer-seeking.' Kimberly Mitchell has provided a fun, accessible way for all of us to reflect on our own capacity for inquiry and in the process become better listeners and learners—which ultimately makes for better teachers."

Susan Enfield, Superintendent, Highline Public Schools
Burien, WA

"Are you ready to experience authentic inquiry? Experience Inquiry takes you on a reflective, inquiry-based learning journey to bring clarity to what educators have wrestled with since John Dewey’s time: the nebulousness of 'inquiry.' Kimberly masterfully engages you in what effective inquiry-based teaching and learning looks like, sounds like, and feels like. Finally there is a book that actually differentiates for all levels of teaching experience to provide the foundation our newest teachers need while pushing our most experienced inquiry-based teachers to the next level. This is a must read for all teachers, PLCs, schools, and districts who are working to improve inquiry-based teaching and learning."

Bodo Heiliger, Elementary IB Principal and IBPYP Workshop Leader
Portland, OR

"While there is much talk about inquiry-based teaching, Kimberly Mitchell walks the walk in this highly practical, easy-to-read manual for inquiry in 21st-century teaching and learning. Unlike most other books on the topic, Mitchell doesn't stop at how to engage in more inquiry-based teaching and learning; she takes the unique step of walking educators through their own inquiry-based self-reflections and evaluations. Some of the best (and most affordable) professional development I have had in a while can be found within these pages; this book will have a permanent place on my go-to education bookshelf."

Alexis Wiggins, Author, Founder and Director of the Cohort of Educators for Essential Learning
Woodlands, TX

"What a thoughtful and generous book! Experience Inquiry is an amazing resource for teachers who are curious about bringing inquiry immediately into their classrooms – whether implementing w/their “beginner mind” or improving their daily practice."

Kathleen Blakeslee, IB Coordinator, Mark Twain Elementary
Houston, TX

Experience Inquiry is a ‘must have’ workbook for new teachers and teachers who want to come to the work anew. It’s refreshing to find a book that asks us to pause, think, and reflect for ourselves.”

Colleen Oliver, Vice President - School Leadership, New Teacher Center
Santa Cruz, CA
Key features
This book will provide teachers with:
  • Practical examples of what inquiry looks like in the classroom and how to do it
  • Opportunities for reflection throughout the book, including self-surveys and space to write
  • Easy-to-use handbook format
  • 50 inquiry experiences that can be used individually, with students, or in small groups of teachers

For instructors

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