“Inquiry happens when you focus on the art of teaching.” Kath Murdoch.
This is an interesting moment in Kath’s conversation with teachers. I lose focus on my note-taking as I pursue this thought… I tend to say ‘focus less on teaching and more on learning’, and here is Kath Murdoch, inquiry guru, expressing what, on the face of it, seems to be just the opposite.
Kath has spent the week with teachers at my school, provoking thinking, that of teachers and students alike, modelling in classrooms and then collaboratively analysing teachers’ observations. The conversations during the week have been as valuable for teachers as the classroom observations, especially the final day reflections, when teachers draw out the big ideas in response to Kath’s question:
What does it mean to have an inquiry stance in our teaching?
After the session, I attempt to categorise the teachers’ ideas under conceptual headings. The more I think about their statements, the more my categories overlap. I consider first Kath’s shared list of inquiry practices and then Ron Ritchhart’s cultural forces. In the end it comes down to a handful of big ideas, for me…
- Language: Use a language of learning not compliance. Choose language that supports learners in describing and reflecting on their thinking and learning.
- Process: Focus as much on the process of learning as the content. Use split screen teaching. Notice and name how we are learning, not just what we are leaning.
- Release: Let go of your expectations and allow students to lead. Ensure the learners do the heavy lifting. Release responsibility as early as possible, then observe where to take the learning next.
- Teacher as learner: Position yourself as part of the learning community, not as the expert in the room, both physically and through your interactions. Make your own thinking process visible.
- Time: Do less, but do it more deeply. Devote time to developing learning dispositions. Give children time to reflect on how and why they change their ideas or thinking.
But, even as I elaborate on these, I notice they are further interconnected. I keep going back to change and revise them. It’s impossible to separate ‘using the language of learning’ from the notion of ‘teacher as part of the learning community’… or the ‘focus on process’ from the notion of time…
And, in a moment of clarity, I see that Kath and I are talking about the same thing… The ‘art of teaching’ IS knowing how to focus on the learning.
What Ed Said 
Interesting blogpost Edna… personally I find the constant distinction between teaching and learning in educational dialogue quite perplexing… sometimes I think it is as if we have separated the head from the body and then sometime later we expect the two to synchronise as one again. Instead we might do well to examine the intersection between them, looking closely at the juncture of pedagogy and meaning making… lots to think about, thanks for posting on this topic.
“Learning and teaching should not stand on opposite banks and just watch the river flow by; instead, they should embark together on a journey down the water. Through an active, reciprocal exchange, teaching can strengthen learning and how to learn.”
Malaguzzi, L. 1998, ‘History, ideas and philosophy’, in Edwards, C. Gandini, L. and Forman, G. 1998, The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach, Ablex Publishing, Greenwich p83
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Hi Fiona, Just realised I had not responded. I agree! Yet the sad fact is that there are many teachers who plan what to teach and how to deliver it, without considering it from the perspective of how the students learn!
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