Final Post - A tangled weave woven on the web

This post signifies the last in my re-search into Inquiry. It would be nice to say that this is finished, but as with all inquiries it isn't ever truly over, there's always somewhere else to go and explore. As far as Module 1 of my Inquiry Learning subject is concerned this does mark the end of my documented journey. So... what has been learned? Have the questions posed back on day one been answered?

Talking about my inquiry search process in terms of Kuhlthau's Inquiry Search Process Model (ISP) it is safe to say that I experienced the full gamut of feelings, thoughts and actions defined in the model below*. 

*Being irritably visual as you may have gathered by now, I took it upon myself to re-image Kuhlthau's ISP into a more visually appealing table than the original. I figure every great process needs a suitably engaging visual to go with it (like books and their covers... but that's another post for another time!).

I found my process wasn't as linear as the model suggests. Often, in the early days, I was stuck in the 'vague loop' between uncertainty, optimism, confusion, frustration and doubt during my exploring phase. I spent considerably more time Exploring than Documenting as even when I thought I was through exploring and focused on my presentation I'd invariably find another thread that piqued my interest and led me back to explore different tangents.  Forever the Teacher-librarian at heart I also had my inquiry interwoven with the inquiries of others, I dropped in and out of my process in order to help others with theirs, often with the inquiries inadvertently helping clarify the other. 

 I've likened my own inquiry process to Kuhlthau's ISP and the Spirals of Inquiry in a previous post. I think that the models available are all very similar and can be read in multiple ways. This realisation has led me to come to terms with the fact that there is no single 'brand' of Inquiry suitable for my school, and that to align solely with one would be a detriment as there are a plethora of ideas that are out there and new inquiry pedagogies blooming in educators minds all over the world needing to be considered.  

Re-search Response : Gentle and Effective Inquiry Integration, can it be done?

With my initial post on the subject of Inquiry Learning I posed three guiding questions to lead me on my trawling of the web. I've gained insight into all of those initial musings, but for this post I want to talk about the final question I asked.

How can a Teacher-librarian best support staff to integrate Inquiry Learning into their curriculum in a gentle yet effective way?

I originally asked the question above as it is something I seem to face everyday as I try to reconcile the new skills I am consolidating in my Masters of Education (Teacher-librarianship) with the current practises of the status quo at work. How can I effect change on the engrained practises in my workplace, and how can I do it without creating conflict and feelings of hardship to my colleagues? 

The murmurs of 'oh we did that back in the 70s' in staff meetings when any 'new' pedagogical direction is discussed makes me realise that Pedagogy is the greatest Inquiry journey teachers are on, often finding themselves back at places similar to those they've been before just with an updated cache of jargon and a new wave of technology. It surprises me that at some point many teachers seem to think that their learning has come to an end and they will just teach from then on, as if Pedagogy is a static art. One particular article in my Scoop.it curation Inquiry Learning across the curriculum Neil Hooley's New Structures to Support Democratic Learning featured in the Australian Education Union's Professional Voice magazine spoke introduced me to Seymor Papert's idea of "Mathetics". Papert "noted that the word “pedagogy” is used to indicate the art of teaching, but for children, there is no corresponding word to mean the art of learning... In order to fill this gap, he advocated the use of the word “mathetics”." (Hooley 2008). Mathetics being derived from the same source as mathematics the Greek word máthēma which translates as “knowledge, study, learning.

I would argue that not only do teachers need to display Pedagogy but also Mathetics in-order to be continually effective and relevant over a long period of time. This marriage between teaching and learning, adapting practise overtime and being reflexive instead of reactionary without advise and new initiatives being seen as a slight against their ability or just 'more work'. My re-search into these matters has only brought up more questions for me and will undoubtedly guide my own 'Spiral of Learning and Teaching' a process I am beginning to imagine as one similar to Judy Halbert & Linda Kaser's model of inquiry but with an added interwoven strands of pedagogy.

References:

Halbert, J., & Kaser, L. (2013). Spirals of Inquiry. Vancouver, BC: BC Principals and Vice   Principals Association.

Hooley, N. (2008) New Structures to Support Democratic learning. Professional voice 5(3), 29 - 33. Retrieved from: http://www.aeuvic.asn.au/pv_vol5_iss3.pdf

Super Scooper - Curation collection using Scoop.it

image from scoop.it

Curation collection is at the heart of the Teacher-librarian, It's the constant voice in the back of my head whispering "Oh I wonder who could use this?". I have curated Inquiry Learning across the curriculum using Scoop.it to showcase high quality resources I have distilled from my expert searching experiments. Scoop.it is a great curation tool which allows you to save and comment on digital content from all over the internet. It will embed pdf documents with a scroll bar so you can read curated articles and papers without leaving Scoop.it's user interface which makes for tidy and quick viewing. 

As mentioned in a previous post I have access to a plethora of high quality digital databases via the QUT library, so some of the content I have curated will be inaccessible to you if you are not a member of a local/state library that offers the service. You will still be able to link to the abstract if the content lies behind a paywall and read my insights on the piece.