Feature Story: Defining Inquiry-Based Learning at Langley

FEATURE STORY:

Defining Inquiry-Based Learning at Langley

By Sarah Beck, Director of Curriculum & Instruction

Recently, I observed a third-grade social studies lesson co-taught by Shari Bozorgzad and Jessica Robinson. When I arrived, students were clustered in groups on the carpet at the front of the room, excitedly scribbling questions on yellow sticky notes spread out before them: “How does climate affect how people live in different regions?” “What causes a disaster to happen?” “How do hurricanes form from water?” Their teachers were circulating, encouraging students to generate as many questions as they could about their study of climate and regions in the United States. The focus and engagement in the room was a powerful example of inquiry in action.

We know that students (and adults!) learn best when they are asking and answering interesting questions. Psychology research has found that curiosity is the “third pillar” of learning, alongside effort and intelligence (von Stumm, Hell & Chamorro-Premuzic, 2011). By engaging our students in inquiry-based learning, we know they are learning in a deeper and more complex way that allows them to develop the skills and mindsets they will need to be successful at Langley and beyond.

It is through inquiry that learning is not only joyful, but also rigorous. By solving authentic problems, applying challenging skills, and exploring new concepts, students engage in a level of learning that extends and builds their abilities beyond their current performance. One of our greatest challenges as educators is to create such learning experiences for students on a daily basis.

When I joined Langley’s administrative team this past summer, one of our goals was to capture and articulate Langley’s approach to inquiry instruction. We started by asking the question: When we are doing inquiry well at Langley – which we are, all the time – what is happening in our classes? And very quickly, we started to notice themes that we were able to synthesize and describe. We noticed

that inquiry at Langley involved five practices that were essential to student learning: community building, investigation, modeling, practice, and feedback. We now call these five our “Inquiry Essential Practices.”

At Langley, we believe that common language is powerful. When we align on our core instructional practices, students benefit from our shared understanding and the resulting collaboration in support of their learning. When we say “Inquiry” at Langley, this is what we mean: every day, in every class, students will learn because we provide opportunities for community building, investigation, modeling, practice, and feedback. By naming and clearly defining these practices, we deepen our understanding of them and our ability to collaborate around them. Teachers partner and ask each other, “How are you modeling this skill for students in your lesson?” and “How can we increase the feedback we are providing students?” The common language of Inquiry Essential Practices allows us to deepen and refine students’ learning experiences.

One of the greatest joys of my role as director of curriculum and instruction is being able to visit classrooms to see firsthand the engaging, challenging ways students are learning. On any given day, I may start in a preschool classroom with students who are building an animal habitat out of cardboard boxes and scarves during their play block and end listening to seventh-graders discuss how they will represent one of the 13 colonies in an advertisement to potential settlers. Across grade levels and classrooms, students are engaging in rigorous inquiry learning experiences that reflect our Inquiry Essential Practices.

In 2018, the Carnegie Foundation published a report on best practices in school improvement. The report suggested that the difference between average and excellent schools had “less to do with the strategies [schools] pursue than with the ways in which [schools] pursue them” (2018). Once there is a clear model in place for quality classroom instruction, it is the strength of implementation that drives learning for students. When students have access to community building, investigation, modeling, practice, and feedback every day across classes, grades, divisions, and eventually throughout their entire experience at Langley, the results are transformative. Our goal is to amplify the excellence students experience in our classrooms by aligning it and connecting it across Langley as a whole.

Listen to the “Measuring Progress” episode of Langley’s podcast by searching “Climbing the Arc” on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or by visiting www.langleyschool.org/podcast. Developing Inquiry Through Teacher Reflection

Planning intentional inquiry is some of the most challenging and impactful work in which teachers can engage. Doing this work in collaboration with fellow educators who are committed to a common vision for quality instruction is one of the most powerful ways to ensure students are learning at the highest levels.

At the beginning of the school year, Langley faculty engaged in professional development around the Inquiry Essential Practices. As we considered these practices for our students, we also recognized the importance of engaging in inquiry ourselves. As a faculty, we are committed to modeling lifelong learning for students as we reflect on and improve our own practices.

One of the ways we support ongoing professional growth is through our commitment to feedback and reflection on our instruction. After evaluating several different approaches, Langley adopted the Marshall Observation Method in fall 2016, an approach characterized by frequent, short visits into a teacher’s classroom followed by reflective conversations focused on specific actions to enhance their instructional practices.

As we head into the second half of the school year, we have completed two rounds of observations and feedback reflections. Our goal this year was to focus on our Inquiry Essential Practices, for ourselves and for students. Following each round of observations, teachers reflect on a set of questions that help focus their learning. Many teachers shared that the process and its connection to the Inquiry Essential Practices was helping them be more intentional, confident, and focused on student learning. As one teacher shared, “Having a specific and actionable goal is helpful to keep me focused on improving in a visible way.” Another wrote, “The Marshall coaching has helped me set goals, establish clear objectives, and create a more coherent lesson.”

The observation, feedback, and reflection generated by the Marshall method allows our Langley faculty to meaningfully apply the Inquiry Essential Practices to their classroom instruction in a way that is most relevant to their content and students. Engaging in inquiry ourselves through this method is a powerful way to model lifelong learning for students and to continuously improve the learning experiences we offer students on a daily basis.

Langley’s Five Inquiry Essential Practices

At Langley, our goal is to continually refine and deepen our instructional practice. We know that clear, common language around our approaches allows us to collaborate at a deeper level and examine our current instruction with fresh eyes. When this happens, students are provided rich, challenging, and supportive learning opportunities that allow them to build their mastery over the course of their years at Langley. So what are Langley’s five Inquiry Essential Practices?

COMMUNITY BUILDING create or enhance connections between people INVESTIGATION provide opportunities to discover, examine, and explore

INQUIRY ESSENTIAL PRACTICES

FEEDBACK share information as a basis for improvement MODELING give an example of process or product

PRACTICE offer opportunities to improve or maintain proficiency through repetition

TRANSFORMATIVE IMPACT When these instructional practices are occurring in every classroom every day – regardless of division, subject, or teacher – student learning is deep, meaningful, and lasting.

COMMUNITY BUILDING: Every day, in every class, we are helping our students create and enhance the connections they have to each other as a community of learners so they become more compassionate, confident, and collaborative. For example, in Patty Dokken’s junior kindergarten movement class, students practice chasing and tagging strategies in a way that builds community. When students are tagged in the game of Banana Tag, they have to stand with their hands up above their heads like an unpeeled banana. Students see who is frozen and then “unpeel” them by pulling down each arm. Students are practicing not only movement and tag skills, but also how to notice, pause, and support each other as they learn.

INVESTIGATION: We know that curiosity drives engagement and builds complex skills such as evaluating, synthesizing, and creating, which students will need to be successful at Langley and beyond. For example, Ryan McKinney’s sixthgrade science students investigate a hypothesis they develop themselves and then test using experimental design. Their research questions range from “Which locations on campus have the most germs?” to “What rocket design best absorbs shock?” Students are able to explain what they are exploring, why it is interesting to them, and how they will begin to answer their question by collecting, analyzing, and communicating data.

MODELING: In order to explore new skills and higher levels of proficiency, students need access to models and demonstrations. As Richart writes, “In observing models, whether informally or formally, learners have the opportunity to take on the unknown, try out new roles and behaviors, and apprentice into new ways of thinking and acting” (2015). For example, in Mark Loach’s fifth-grade language arts class, he uses a text on ocean predators to “think aloud” about how he reads nonfiction text to do research. He narrates the facts he notices as he reads, how he uses context clues to understand vocabulary, and how he summarizes them into a main idea on a sticky note that he can reference later. Students are then able to learn from Mr. Loach’s thinking and engage their own sources for their resource project.

PRACTICE: Mastery comes through practice, and providing students time and context in which to apply new skills and content allows them to develop confidence and proficiency. The majority of class time at Langley is spent in opportunities to practice. In Teena Hahn’s second-grade class, students work with whiteboards and peers to solve addition problem sets. Math Specialist Janice Graves supports students as they practice adding using a grouping strategy, asking, “How could you use the strategy you learned about here to help you figure out this question without counting? What else do we need to do?” Through supported practice, students are able to apply and solidify their understanding. FEEDBACK: Inquiry learning becomes most impactful when students have opportunities to hear what they are doing well and what they need to focus on next to extend their learning. For example, students in Michela Lakkala’s eighth-grade language arts class meet with her one-on-one to conference about their thesis statements for their upcoming essays. As the rest of the students participate in a student-led seminar discussion on themes from the text, Ms. Lakkala calls students back to conference with her and provide feedback on their work thus far. Students leave with a concrete area of focus to improve their work before they finalize their essays.