This particular conversation is extra special. Kath has written a new book titled “Getting Personal with Inquiry Learning” published by Elevate Books Edu in partnership with Seastar Education. We will be exploring the book and discussing what she has put together to enhance what personal inquiry looks like, sounds like, and feels like. With a few decades of research, experience, and wisdom behind Kath's newest publication, I have had the pleasure of pre-reading this work and I cannot wait for it to get into your hands!

This conversation with EduCrush podcast host Natalie Vardabasso was a fantastic experience. She is informed and committed to changing education, partly through the lens of an aligned passion of ours: assessment. If podcasts resonate with your learning, give pause and have a listen.

In today’s Going Further with Inquiry IG Live conversation with Jessica Vance we began to explore what it means to harness the power of questions in our inquiry practice. This conversation really got us thinking about all the pre-work we plan for and are intentional with before we even enter our classrooms. As we know, strong planning and mindful anticipation are pivotal in helping make inquiry authentic and successful. Although I encourage you to watch the entire Live here, I wanted to share some more of my thinking in this post.

I very much enjoyed this conversation hosted by the Learning Pioneers between friends Kath Murdoch and Anne van Dam about the intentionality of co-designing learning spaces with students.

This short 11 minute video is richly packed with morsels of ideas as well as foundational inquiry language, concepts, and moves we can all learn from to impact student agency and inform our constructivist practice.

I am very much looking forward to reconnecting with the global inquiry community at the Toddle Inquiry Educators Summit 2022. This year I will be facilitating a masterclass on inquiry and assessment (see below). This event has quickly become a highlight of my year. The collection of speakers and inquiry friends as well as the truly global audience of educators who attend make for a dynamic learning community that I deeply appreciate connecting with.

In my work with supporting schools around the globe implement inquiry I have come to see that one of the most powerful identifiers of a culture of inquiry in a school or organization is the act of reflection. Exploring curiosities of our teaching, the belief that we do not know it all nor do we do it all right, the value that we are “not there yet” and that on this path we seek out our blind spots, we hold a mirror up to our practice, and we unpack what we teach, how we teach it, and what we value in this process.

Reflection. What are the conditions where reflection thrives?

Co-designing learning can be a challenge. How do you partner with students to create personally relevant next steps for everyone in the room? How do you ensure the curriculum is learned while also honouring student interests, passions, and curiosities? How do you engage students in becoming learning designers themselves?

There are many ways we can explore this landscape of shared learning. One manner that I utilize is a 4 quadrant activity that helps make student thinking visible and guide our next steps.

Here is a special gift for you all: the introduction to Inquiry Mindset Assessment Edition.

I wrote this book for a few reasons.

One, I had noticed something startling in how some of the teenagers I worked with were impacted by their assessment experiences throughout their schooling. They saw themselves as not capable. They saw their learning as a mix of letter grades and percentage scores. They compared themselves with those around them. Constantly. These experiences were having a huge effect on how they viewed themselves, their potential, and their future. It was distressing.

This is so very exciting!

I am reconnecting with inquiry pals Kimberly Mitchell and Kath Murdoch for another conversation around the fire and the best part is, you’re invited!

Our focus will be exploring ways in which we can build a culture of and for inquiry in your classrooms.

I am so thankful to share this piece with you, an article I penned for STEM Ed Magazine. I have adored the conversations, sharing, and community that STEM Ed Magazine has been cultivating the past while. Always keen on engaging the learner (whether students or educators), each offering of podcasts and digital/print magazine issues are invigorating for my practice.

In my contribution to Issue 4 I share some thoughts on the ties between STEM and inquiry and unpack some of the skills of student agency that allows learners to feel be confident and prepared to take on new and exciting roles in their learning and in life.