Letting Go

As my students record their lesson reflections in front of the classroom green screen, using an iPad for the teleprompter and the Flip or Samsung digital camera to film each other, I ask myself this question: “Is this great teaching?” My students seem to think that class is exciting and interesting.  Is an exciting and interesting class evidence of great teaching? Maybe.  

In my opinion, inquiry learning can be a respite from the mundane, monotonous lectures for both the learner and instructor; instructional technology marries inquiry learning by addressing the individual needs of the learner and incorporating their multiple intelligences or learning modalities; and great teaching attempts to breathe life into the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in order to justify the relevance of inquiry learning and instructional technology in the classroom.  

It was refreshing to listen to Chris Lehman’s Inquiry: the first step in the learning process webinar.  I was encouraged and impressed with his vast knowledge and optimistic view of public education.   Mr. Lehman is pro-productivity for all schools.  While viewing the webinar, I recalled a short-lived, but excellent learning model entitled: The Leonard Bernstein Artful Learning Model.  The model had various entry points, with one being Inquiry.  It was designed to take students through an enriching experience of a learning unit, using a Masterwork such as: Vivaldi’s Four Seasons or Tchaikovsky's March Slave.  A Phenomenal Model that encouraged students to take ownership of their learning, while having fun.  Hmmm....I wonder is this the beginning of Grant Wiggins' idea of "Letting go?"

Grant Wiggins' authored a blog entitled, Great Teaching means Letting Go.  This is very good information however comparing a montessori experience and soccer epiphany to public schools in an urban district, especially in a low socioeconomically depressed area is a challenge.   Inquiry is great and It Can Be Done!  Yes, WE will have to deprogram and reprogram...and this takes time.  Preparing a foundation of fertile ground requires labor, sunshine, water and patience.  If 'asking questions', inquiry, and discovery were not cultivated at home during the first five to seven years of a child's life, the inquiry journey will take longer than expected.

It starts at home, when the parents are cooking, cleaning or working around the house and allows the child to enter into the project by answering his or her gradual, methodic questions. 

Great Teaching, Inquiry Learning and Instructional Technology: three main ingredients for a successful class.  Don’t forget, along with these three main ingredients, we need mentoring, compassion, empathy and a culture of momentous growth.