Developing an Inquiry Stance Toward Teaching

I believe that inquiry is a part of everyday teaching practice. Inquiry allows us to solve a problem. It also enables us to use our knowledge to come to a conclusion or to make a suggested action. Teachers use inquiry to make decisions about what, how, and when students learn. Effective teachers know when and how to ask themselves questions about their students. They then collect data from their knowledge or from research to answer the question. This data is used towards the next time they teach a lesson to their students, and now maybe the students are learning in a more productive manner. A classroom were students are involved in hands on activities that are student centered is a way that inquiry can be used in the classroom.
In some of my college courses that I have had, I had a professor that used structured inquiry as a part of their instruction. These classses were typically lab based. They usually gave us a packet they contained all the information that we needed to conduct the lab experiment. It contained each step that needed to be performed and also indicated what materials were needed for the experiment. The only thing the professor did not say was what our outcome in the experiment would be. That was left to us to analyze and figure out. Teaching is always problematic, so to be an effective teacher you need to be be able to idetify the problem and solve it. Critical thinking is a must when teaching. Using inquiry can help you when a problem or an unanswered question arises.

First Experience

I haven't been a teacher's aide or student taught in the past, but i have been a substitute teacher. Substituting opened my eyes about the teaching world. It was hard being a substitute teacher. I would go into classes with no clue where anything was or who my students were going to be. Sometimes students would walk into the classroom and notice they were having a sub and they would turn around and leave. I didn't have a clue as to if they were supposed to be in my class or if they were just another student goofing around. It was just a mess at times. I figured teaching would be far different. I just enrolled in this summer program at Region 18 to recieve my teacher certification in grades 8-12. I would love to teach twelth-grade Anatomy. I have never taken a course that prepares you to be a teacher. All my classes in college were aimed towards learning Chemistry or Biology, nothing that really prepared me for a professional job. Reading other's blogs help's me to relate to myself. Some of the things they have experinced, I have also experienced and I can usually post a feedback to them. Writing about my own experiences or my opinion helps to open my mind about other things. I can usually get more out when I write something. I like to hear from other's about their experiences on a certain topic and I also like to here their insight and maybe even some advice.