Bloom's taxonomy

What?

A choice board is a brilliantly simple tool that can provide scaffolding, tiering, use of Bloom’s taxonomy, support multiple learning styles, and more. 

So what?

You essentially take the idea behind an assignment–or better yet, a learning standard itself–and create four choices that, if completed, will address a given learning standard.

In fact, these can be done on the fly. Write a topic or standard on the board in the centre of four squares, and in each square create an activity students can perform to demonstrate understanding of that topic or standard. Or better yet, let them come up with ways of their own.

Now what?

I will trial out what I learnt from this research with my learners.

Essential questions

What? Essential questions

So what?

Characteristics of 4 types of classroom questions

Examples of 4 types of classroom questions

Developing topical essential questions from overarching ones

Now what?

Once the overarching questions are identified I can pull questions from this set to address concepts & skills. Spiralling the curriculum around a set of recurring questions provides the intellectual coherence needed to develop & deepen understanding of  essential ideas. 

Once in place they assist teachers in creating versions that are more topic specific The added benefit is for learners: by exploring these recurring questions applied to different topics across the grades, they come to 'see' the larger, transferable ideas at the heart of subject matter.

How to use inquiry based learning with young learners

How to use inquiry based leaning with young learners

Curiosity and motivation lie at the heart of inquiry-based education. Inquiry-based learning follows a three-step process that you can incorporate into many curriculums. Students ask themselves three questions about any new subject being introduced:

1. What do I already know about the subject?
2. What do I want to know about the subject?
3. What have I learned about the subject?

Starting with a big question

Inquiry-based learning normally begins with an open-ended 'big question' that has many possible answers. This question acts as a catalyst to get students thinking more deeply about the subject.

Finding out what students already know

After you introduce the big question to the class, get students to consider what they already know about the subject matter.

Finding out what students want to know

Establishing what students know is essential for them to begin the second step: what do students want to know? This step allows students to freely wonder about the world around them.

Embarking on a discovery phase in the learning process

Students, with your help and guidance, now embark on the discovery phase of the learning process.

Finding out what students have learned

Finally, after a series of lessons in which students explore a subject, they are ready for the third step: discussing what they have learned.

Summing up

Essentially, inquiry-based learning is a natural way to learn a second language. It allows students much more control of their learning experience, while teachers help and guide them along. It encourages our children’s natural curiosity and sense of wonder about the world around them.

Spiral of inquiry: New learning

What?
For our spiral of inquiry this week we spoke about our new learning to help us during iExplore.

So what?
When making changes to our practice, it is important to know why a particular principle or approach is important. We all need to know why new ways of doing things are better than what we did before. Otherwise, the way in which we modify our practice is unlikely to be consistent with the theory underpinning the principles, and we risk diluting them or changing them in ways that will not work.

The first consideration is to ensure that new learning is directly connected to the focus that has been determined and informed by the hunches that were developed.

Now what?

Designing powerful learning also involves identifying the expertise required to support everyone to gain new knowledge and deepen their skills. 

From new learning comes new action – and innovative practices begin to multiply.

Timperly, Kaser, Halbert (2014)