AVReading Newsletter May 2014
Our classrooms, much like society at large, operate under a type of social contract, whereby teachers and students make a type of implicit agreement. The teacher agrees that she / he will work to foster the growth of student learning in exchange for the student’s willingness to participate and learn. It’s an agreement that we rarely state explicitly, but it is the foundation of much that we do. When the contract breaks down, teachers assume that students are not willing to play their part or students assume that the teacher is not providing a meaningful or relevant learning experience. Inquiry learning strengthens that social contract by bolstering both the teacher (who is responsible for generating the inquiry) and the student (who must seek the answer to the question). Under an inquiry model, teachers guide students on inquiries that relate to the lives of students and the immediate world around them. And students in turn, come to trust...