1. EXAMING OUR BELIEFS AND ACTIONS
1.1. believe = curriculum involves putting into action a system of beliefs (Short & Burke, 1990)
1.1.1. inquiry aobut curriculum = examine beliefs and actions in the classrroom
1.1.1.1. some educadors involve changes in practice within the same paradigm of beliefs
1.1.1.2. others involve changes in practices and beliefs that move us into a new paradigm
1.1.1.3. sometimes current beliefs = to develop teaching practices and learning environments with students
1.1.1.4. sometimes people question their beliefs and make difficult changes in both beliefs and actions.
1.2. inquiry and change = begin = feeling of tension = a sense of bothering = take some actions = first step stay within the same paradigm of beliefs = surface changes = actions in the classroom
1.2.1. if people become self-satisfied with surface changes in teaching practices and stop searching and asking questions = danger of continuing the status quo which it is suppossed to be transformed
1.2.1.1. shifts as educators = mistankenly view people's initial changes in actions within the same paradigm of beliefs as substantive changes across paradigms = prevent them from inquiring into and making deeper changes to transform society
1.2.1.1.1. to continue interrogating our beliefs and practices = not assume we would ever have the answer
2. EXAMING EDUCATIONAL INQUIRY THROUGH CHANGE STORIES
2.1. educators = examine = congruence = beliefs and actions in creating curriculum
2.2. 1st change story = role of parents in the curriculum = role as teachers was reporting to parents through sending home report cards and announcementes and inviting parents to come to school plays or assist on field trips
2.2.1. relationship between teachers and parents = professional reporting to an amateur
2.2.1.1. recent shift (physical form but not in its function) = move toward narrative report cards and more parent participation in actual classroom learning events = more authentic communication
2.2.1.1.1. practices have changed = teacher = professional who reports to the parents
2.3. 2nd change story = reading instruction and the role of literature in school = how to teach students to read and to ensure they comprehend what they read
2.3.1. the use of basal readers, ability groups, round robin reading, workbooks, sequential teaching or reading skills
2.3.1.1. literature-based reading programs = change in material and methods = but not in the underlying beliefs about teaching children to read
2.3.1.1.1. some schools = basal = replaced by literature anthologies or childen's books = categorized by grade level
2.3.1.1.2. some schools = ability groups = replaced by whole-class discussions or heterogeneous literature groups = follow by skill lessons and worksheets (Huck, 1996)
2.3.1.1.3. how do we teach students to read and make sure they comprehend? = change = how does literacy function as an inquiry tool in our lives?
2.3.1.1.4. collaborative inquiry in literature circles = readers explored different perspectives and thought together-not just cooperatively worked together
2.4. 3rd change story = writing instruction = involved grammar lessons, handwriting practice and skills workbooks
2.4.1. how do we teach students to write? = change = how can we support the authoring procces in classrooms so writing becomes a tool for thinking and communicating?
2.4.1.1. writing workshop (Graves, 1983); witer's notebooks (Calkins, 1990); the authoring cycle (Harste & Short, with Burke, 1988)
2.4.1.1.1. curricular structures and engagements to support authors in constructing their own texts for authentic purposes
2.4.2. other sign systems such as music, art, movement, and mathematics as a tools for thinking and communicating in schools (Short & Harste, with Burke, 1995)
2.4.2.1. the same belief system = authoring and writing
3. EXAMINING OUR BELIEFS ABOUT INQUIRY
3.1. the final change story = involves inquiry-based curriculum
3.1.1. how do we cover the content of the subject areas?
3.1.1.1. the content was covered = through assigned textbook readings; test of our ability to memorize facts, dates, and formulas; and research reports copied from encyclopedias = superficial knowledge
3.1.1.1.1. texbook approaches to content areas = teachers to explore thematic units.
3.2. the tensions we felint in our use of thematic units remained vague until we realized that we had changed our actions but not our beliefs systems.
4. THE SHIFT FROM THEMATIC UNITS TO INQUIRY
4.1. from textbooks approaches to thematic units = a major investment of time and effort gathering materials, books, and activities for these units
4.1.1. not filling worksheets but moving around classroom engaged in conversations, reading books, and doing hands-on-activities
4.2. from thematic units to curriculum = the classroom often looks similar on the surface = some of the same materials and activities are often present but they are used for different purposes and within a different theoretical frame.
4.3. inquiry involves not only building curriculum from students but also negotiating curriculum with students
5. INQUIRY BASED CURRICULUM
5.1. strong teacher-research movement = teachers as inquierers, decision makers, and creators of knowledge (Cochran-Smith & Lyttle, 1993; Hubbard & Power, 1993)
5.1.1. teachers = inquiry = tool for their own learning and profesiional grow = creating classroom learning environments = support students in their inquiries
5.1.1.1. role that beliefs and values play in our "knowing" and "doing" as teachers (Burke & Short, 1994)
6. INQUIRY
6.1. innovating and cutting edge work
6.2. it is center on students engagin in research on their own topics or questions.
6.3. simple thematic units or new approach?
6.4. new labels for old ideas without any real change in classrooms and schools?
6.5. it made a difference in beliefs and practices within classrooms
7. CURRICULUM AS INQUIRY
7.1. inquiry is a process of both problem posing and problem solving (Freire, 1985).
7.2. inquiry involves immersing one's self in a topic and having time to explore that topic in order to find questions = significant to the learner = systematically investigating those questions
7.2.1. in schools = research = begins with a question = students are asked to identify what they know and what they want to know in a unit = to choose a topic = students gather interesting facts but these are not significance in their lives = there is no time to explore and find significance questions
7.2.1.1. finding the question is often the most difficult aspect of our research. we begin with an interest, issue or tension to explore but the specific question comes later
7.3. inquiry is a whole process that cuts across three knowledge sources (Harste, 1993)
7.3.1. personal and social knowing = the knowledge that learners bring from their personal experiences of living in the world and being part of specific cultural groups and social contexts
7.3.2. knowledge system term = history, biology and economics that humans use to structure knowledge to make sense of the world
7.3.2.1. instead of teaching each area separately through science or social studies units = multiple perspectives from many knowledge systems to an issue or topic
7.3.2.1.1. e.g = bugs = perspective of an historian, a paleontologist, an entomologist, and an agriculturalist = to develop a more complex conceptual understanding
7.3.3. sign systems = alternative ways of creating and communicating meaning, such as language, mathematics, music, art, movement and drama (Eisner, 1982; Leland & Harste, 1994)
7.3.3.1. basic ways of making and sharing meaning = each allows learners to know and communicate different meanings
7.3.3.1.1. learners cannot use a particular system = they can never know or communicate to others
7.3.4. Knowledge systems and sign systems (2nd and 3rd) are tools for exporing and rescarching students' own questions
8. TAKING CONTROL OF OUR INQUIRY AS EDUCATORS
8.1. change is the result of continuous inquiry as educators = we view ourselves and other teachers as professional learners
8.1.1. change stories reflect the examination and transformation of beleifs and actions that are a constant part of our lives as teachers and learners