ISHCMC Food for Thought: Do you have the personality for inquiry? And Flipping the classroom.

Dear all,

Thank you for all your hard work yesterday. In Primary it was good to see you sharing practice and ideas an important aspect or our Professional Learning Community and something that we will build upon more in the next few years. Another aspect of functioning Professional Learning communities is collaboration and yesterday that was very apparent in the secondary school sessions as departments worked together building curriculum, unit questions, fundamental concepts, benchmark assessment tasks and embedding AERO standards. We are moving forward as a school and our students will benefit in their learning.

This week’s Food for Thought applies to all IB teachers, as inquiry is an aspect of teaching pedagogy that we all need to be applying in our classrooms. The article below asks important questions about who teachers need to be to successfully implement inquiry techniques in their classrooms. This again links well to the achievement culture we are hoping to embed at ISHCMC, with a positive approach to our students. Following our visioning exercise in October and the number of presentations that were linked to the concept of well being, we are investigating Positive Psychology as something that in the future PD and embedding as an essential aspect for the ISHCMC community. One of the leaders in creating Positive communities that flourish is Martin Seligman. Here is a short introduction to the ideas involved in Positive Psychology http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qJvS8v0TTI

Do You have the Personality To Be an Inquiry-Based Teacher?

The takeaway is humbling, but inescapable: If an inquiry-based system is to succeed, we’ll need human beings in the classroom who know their field, but who also radiate the kind of positive, non-judgmental love that helps students open their minds and hearts. That’s a tall order for most of us, and where it originates, we don’t know. But the foundation of sincere care will be essential, and it will manifest through the deep personality attributes of the teacher in a variety of ways in the classroom. Every teacher, for example, might reflect on the following:

Are you optimistic? Viewing the world as damaged or the future as bleak shuts down the brain by transmitting fear. Maintaining an optimistic attitude is an expression of love, inspiring curiosity and hope, and fostering emotional and physical health. Optimism is essential to teaching: Without hope, the reason to learn disappears.

Are you open? The world is being refreshed and powered by divergent thinking. Outcomes are unclear, even dangerous. But faith in the flexible thinking of the human mind can support young people as they sort out their new world and have the freedom to discover solutions not yet visible. An open attitude activates the frontal lobes, the place of flow and creativity.

Are you appreciative? Deep appreciation gives permission for failure, rather than penalizing for the “wrong” answer. It honors the stops and starts of human development. It conveys the ultimate message of a communal world: We are in this together.

Are you flexible? In inquiry, the journey matters as much as the destination. Constant reflection is a necessity to improving thinking and doing. Metacognition encourages wisdom, the ultimate goal of any worthy education system. Flexibility tells the brain and heart to keep working, keep going—you’re getting there.

Are you purposeful? Purpose binds teacher and student into the high-minded pursuit of solutions that matter. It is the reason that “authentic” education works and inauthentic education struggles. It tightens the connection between the learner and the teacher in ways that spur the natural creative impulse to change and improve the world.

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/11/do-you-have-the-personality-to-be-an-inquiry-based-teacher/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+kqed%2FnHAK+%28MindShift%29

As promised each week I will continue to share information that can be used in Transforming our Classrooms