First eFellows Hui

Day One - What is Inquiry / Research?

 

Bella Rakha Retreat - Our First Hui

Our first eFellows meeting was on January 15 and 16th. It was great to finally meet the other eFellows.  

We began with a 'show and share mihi', sharing something about ourselves, our school and our inquiry, for which we had to bring three artifacts to support this.  It was a fun way to learn a little more about each other and helped us all relax into what was going to be a fantastic two days.

 My fellow eFellows consisted of three secondary school teachers; Steve Mouldey (Hobsenville Point Secondary School) @GeoMouldey, Philippa Nicholl Antipas (Samual Marsden Collegiate)  @AKeenReader and Richard Wells (Orewa College) @iPadWells, and three primary school teachers Vivita Rabo  @vrabo1 (Kelston Deaf Education Centre), Mel Wiersma (Manurewa West Primary School) @WiersmaMel, and Camilla Brotherton (Waiheke Primary School) @CamiBrotherton. I was excited to learn that, like me, both Mel and Camilla are teaching in the junior school.

After lunch we were given an overview of what our year ahead will look like, followed by a session that looked at clarifying our understanding of inquiry / research.  

We also brainstormed a list of current 'buzz words' that are possibly being over-used in education.  Louise introduced a 'swear jar', gave us ten tokens, and then challenged us not to use these words during the two days. By not using these educational buzz words she was challenging us all to really explain our thinking.

I've never really been one to use the latest educational jargon, which seems to change every year, so it wasn't too much of a struggle for me.

The day ended with a relaxed meal out and time spent time getting to know each other better.  

eFellows15  -  Getting to know each other better

 Day Two - Bringing a Transformative Lens to Inquiry  

(Focusing on what really matters)

We began by looking at the different approaches to research.

• Traditional - What do you want to know? What will you ask?

• Disruptive - Asking who? then what? and how do I gather...? 

Louise shared this quote "Begin with the end in mind" Steven Cubby

We need to have a clear purpose or aim.  She used the analogy of our inquiry being like a rope with an anchor across the other side. We need to know what that anchor is.  "If you have an end in mind then you are more likely to try to get to the other side". 

After lunch we had time to work on our own Inquiry questions.  
I spent some time thinking about the rope and anchor analogy. 
My eFellows application was my 'starting point', my wonderings about curiosity and how we as teachers can support this. 
My 'anchor', (where I hope to end up)......
.... having a better understanding of what curiosity is.
.... having some ideas about how teachers can support, encourage and grow curious questioners.
.... having some idea of the role technology can play in helping to develop curious students. 

Questioning the questions........

We were challenged to really question our initial inquiry questions. To challenge each idea. To challenge our assumptions and beliefs.  Louise spent half an hour with each of us, asking "....but why?" , "...why is that important?" , ".....why do you think...?" ...........  
By the end of the day my head was spinning!  Louise had challenged me to take a step backwards and look at my inquiry from every angle.  I thoroughly enjoyed this session and went away buzzing.

As I flew home I thought about something that Louise said during our second session,  "You have been given a wonderful opportunity to "think".  This is so true.  It is an opportunity that doesn't come along often and one that I intend on making the most of.