Where we are now.

I thought I better make an initial comment about where I think we are now before we leap into the term and we're not here anymore.

Our staff put in a lot of work last year trialling an inquiry model for topic. We found we loved it and the kids loved it. We are now trying to adapt and refine the model to suit us. We were lucky enough to be working with a teacher from West End school in Palmerston North for Atol and based our initial attempts on their work. Over time things have changed as we have found our own way.

We changed our curriclum delivery so that our inquiry is based around a curriculum area each term whilst still including all areas. We struggled with this a little and have now found that having a 'rich question' to start the unit engages the children and enables them to have more input as we develop subsidiary questions. We have also just included a 'Taking Action' stage to the model which I think is crucial to developing learners that make a difference in the world. We plan as a whole staff and then use the plan as a 'guide' highlighting and adding as things change.

This is the model in my class. As yet it is not generic in all classes but hopefully this will happen. My thoughts are more of a cyclical model as we are always refining and re-questioning but... that will come later.

We have also developed an inquiry matrix (inspired by our Atol work) that we work from.

Our staff recently attended a SOLO workshop and we are begining to incorportae that in our inquiry work to enhance thinking skills.

So, thats where we are.