Class today felt very substantial! I feel like some of the ideas that were addressed have the potential to completely change the way I view public education (as an institution) and I hope it’s not one of those situations where I’m inspired at the outset but then that fizzles over time as I forget.

I have been exposed to the idea of inquiry and some models for inquiry in previous courses, through workshops, and through my own practice as a teacher, but the discussion in class today provided some unique outlooks. I can’t remember who brought up the idea of creating a safe learning environment (perhaps Janet?), but I feel that this was one of the pieces missing in my own classroom. Asking students to take on an inquiry project takes a lot of trust. They need to be able to trust us when we tell them that they are in control of their own learning. When I attempt inquiry projects with students I find they want to rely on me for each step in the process to tell them that they’re doing it “right” and are making good decisions. I need to find a way to allow them to feel comfortable in their role in the process.

I also liked the idea of inquiry as an evolution of information. When you look at the models of inquiry, such as The Points of Inquiry,  there is a need to define certain steps and stages, and usually in a particular order. This is a necessity in teaching the process and planning for it within the school schedule, but in some ways it also limits where students are able to take the process. At the end of a week in the library, they may not be ready to come up with a final presentation, but may have gone off on an interesting tangent that they are inspired to pursue further. When picturing what schools could look like in the future, the idea of scheduling time for inquiry is something that needs to be considered.

The “lecture” on institutional isomorphism, dynamic conservatism, and sociocultural homeostasis was surprisingly interesting (given the number of syllables!). I have often felt stuck in a system that pushes back when innovation is attempted, and these concepts offered some explanation of where that was coming from. I was once that idealistic first year teacher that felt I could accomplish anything and now feel myself frequently at the mercy of the bigger institution. I agreed strongly with the point that we have to understand what’s keeping us in place before we can move forward.

As a final point, I wanted to speak to BC’s Education Plan, because it’s been coming up a lot in this course, and I think it’s most relevant today. In the forum posts today, there was some mention of how teachers are resisting the plan simply because it’s coming from the government. I like the idea that the ministry of education is trying to bring our system in line with what research is telling us is best practice (as we’ve seen, it can be difficult to make sweeping changes in a well-rooted system). I think my concern, and the concern of other teachers, is that the plan is so vague that it could be used to do anything, some of which may not represent positive change. One of my colleagues in Surrey annotated the BC Ed. Plan to show some of these possibilities, and I think it’s worth a read if you have time. Of course, some of this just comes from the fear that we have, as teachers, of losing our jobs or our rights. Keeping the system the same guarantees us that we won’t lose what we already have more than a changing system, so in a way we’re part of the problem.