Reflection Week 8

Finally the pendulum has swung the other way! It seemed in the last few weeks I was the one benefitting from the knowledge and expertise of my classmates. Taking all and giving little. However, this week I found a couple of inquiry based sites that Tracie, Barbra, and Hallie appreciated and plan to put into use. It feels good to give back!
Of course, I still did a little 'taking' this week as well. Tracie's process of keeping an Essential Question up during inquiry to refer to for guidance is something I hope to implement in my course. She also gave me hope that all is not lost with older students, that they can still learn with practice, to ask questions. She provided proof of that with her own eighth graders. She also gave a reminder of the importance of keeping communication open with your students as at times your intentions can be interpreted completely wrong. There is no way of knowing this other than to have students speak to you about their thoughts. Barbra voiced similar concerns to mine about this success of inquiry based learning if it is not consistent throughout a students education. If it is not practiced to some degree or another across the board, would it lead to holes in the students learning? Reflecting on my own post that inquiry based learning is not an every day, all day occurrence, I am coming round to the idea that it can be used  and not create too many gaps even though future teachers for my students don't use it.
On a personal note, I was thrilled to hear Courtney is interested in the International School scene. It is where I started and hope to someday return. Tis always fun to share dreams!
And finally, I found myself realizing I too 'know more than I can say'. In my own experience in switching from a very similar game to hockey I did not feel I had enough knowledge to lead my fellow teammates as it was a new game to me too. However, when questions about positioning or rules came up, I just seemed to know what to do. Growing up around the game gave me more tactic knowledge than I realized I had especially compared to people who were totally new to the game. So it is possible to know more than one can say. Guess I'm proof of that :)