Final Vision Project- Post 1

Since the beginning of the course when I read through the syllabus and saw what the final project would be, I have known that I wanted to focus on inquiry based learning.  It is something that I am exploring myself as a TL and I would like to help the classroom teachers learn how to use it in their classroom. 

I have wanted to explore inquiry based learning with the staff at my school for a number of years.  It is something that most teachers have not explored yet and I would like to create a website that will guide them through the process of discovery and help them unpack the layers.  Since the teachers are busy and not all find it necessary to explore websites for hours finding new ways of teaching research, I want to create a space where they can get most of their questions answered along with sample lesson plans, how-to videos, curriculum links, etc.  Most importantly I need to find resources in French since we are a French Immersion school and it is always a challenge finding French resources.  When I want to present a mini workshop or have a discussion I can simply refer to the website and this also allows the teachers to explore the links on their own.   

My goal is to personalize this website by meeting the needs of each teacher and hopefully include information that specifically relates to their curriculum.  The new curriculum has a new focus on inquiry and since we will be required to make changes to the curriculum I think this would be a great opportunity to integrate both the new curriculum and inquiry based learning as the change is being made. It can be harder to change something that you've been doing for a long time but when you are forced to make changes hopefully it will be easier to explore different ways of teaching this new curriculum.

I plan on using the BCTLA Points of Inquiry as a guide and throughout the last few months I have found a number of very good sites that I look forward to exploring further. As I do my research my main focus will be to make sure that all links are easy to use and easy to understand.  

Sometimes I feel like my staff can be a bit spoilt and they want everything clearly laid out for them to simply follow, so that’s what I hope to give them!  I hope to create an inquiry based learning website nicely gift wrapped and ready to be opened and explored!