The artifact that I chose to reflect goal #6 (Outline the process of inquiry learning in Social Studies) is from a guest lecture we had on July 8th with Kyra Keplin in my EDCI 414 course. In this lecture, Kyra was able to share with our class her experience of teaching using the Inquiry processes. During this lecture, we were able to conduct an inquiry based activity that I feel represents some of the pivotal components of Inquiry and which I wanted to share as the artifact for this goal.
Why does this artifact reflects my learning of the objective/goal:
This activity was an observation activity where we as students were asked to observe a plant . We first used words to document some of our initial impressions of this plant and then were tasked with drawing the plant while observing its different parts. I chose the drawing from this activity as my artifact as I feel it outlines how the inquiry process holds the values of spending time thinking about a topic and how the more time that you spend with something the more depth of understanding you are able to have. Further, this activity can also describe how we as teachers develop our relationships with our students.
What stood out to me in my learning process:
This activity stood out to me as it showed how the more time we spend with students, observing, asking questions and taking the time to understand them the more we will know about them as learners. The more we as teachers know about our learners, the more we will be able to help them succeed in their learning. I feel that this activity described how the process of inquiry is about discovering new things through spending time to observe. Further, I think this activity helped show how in the classroom, the process of inquiry is student centered through spending time learning and observing with students.
How this learning may impact my teaching practice in the future:
For my future practice, I hope to incorporate Inquiry through focusing on these values of letting observation spark curiosity and centering my practice around my students through spending the time to know them and their needs. Spending time with students is key to building relationships and knowing more about what will work best for the students.
Feature Image by Dose Media on Unsplash