Unloading the Trailer: Inquiry Based Instruction

In a previous blog, I mentioned how in my teacher toolbox, Inquiry Based Instruction (IBI) can be a power tool, but like most power tools they can be intimidating at first and even dangerous to an inexperienced user. This was my first time using IBI in it's true form. Here are my thought for my IBI lab on soil.

Gems:

• I was surprised how well my plan flowed in to it's self. My first part was having them observe and capture on a fishbone diagram, and the second part was test an observation. It seemed potentially far fetched but by the end of observation, groups were itching to test. That is exactly the type of interest in the subject I was hoping to foster. 
• Board writing. I like to organised by spreading things out, and all the board space allowed me to do that. I worry about my hand writing by it doesn't seem like it held the learning back.
• A few students were having a hard time grasping what I wanted them to do. I was able to clarify 1-on-1 very well.

Ops:

• Clarification. I have found that my mind operates in a random and scrambled fashion, and therefore my directions and instruction follows suit. I am seeing the value of having instructions directions and questions clearly and simply written out, so I can "read the script" when teaching and not talk scrambled.
• Relating to my comments above, instead of "spitting knowledge" at them whenever something cool or important comes up, I need to slow down more and make everything purposeful. Use a student scribe, talk slower, and by far make sure I give students time to capture down what they need to know