This week we had the absolute privilege of listening to Trevor MacKenzie speak to our class. Trevor is an author, educator, and speaker, who approaches education through a Constructivist lens and is incredibly passionate about educating through inquiry. Trevor’s book Inquiry Mindset 
was actually the first teaching related book I ever read, and I read it prior to entering this program! After our discussion with Trevor, I was left feeling invigorated and inspired, as I know many others were too. At times I can get lost in courses, assignments, lesson planning, etc. and I can lose sight of why I chose to go into teaching and why I am passionate about this career – Trevor helped me remember this passion.
One of the key lessons I took away from our discussion, was the importance of reflecting on our own past with schooling so that we can shape our future. Trevor’s base for teaching is through an inquiry approach, which I think is amazing, but I appreciated that he didn’t push this at us as the ‘be all and end all’ way to teach. Rather, he encouraged us to deeply reflect on how we want to teach and why we want to teach that way. He suggested that if we feel as though we don’t agree with the inquiry approach, then we should really sit with that feeling and question what it is that is making us feel this way.
I also loved how Trevor brought the importance of reflection into the idea of assessment too. He specifically mentioned how especially in middle school, when there are so many things happening for students, they really don’t need to be told what they are bad at. Rather, we should encourage the process of reflection with these students, having them think about what their strengths are and what the areas that they need to work on are. More often than not the same areas they notice being their strengths & stretches are exactly what you would have said, but it is much more meaningful when it comes from them. Furthering this discussion on assessment, Trevor discussed how he really tries to assess students in a way that works best for them and in a way that they are passionate about. He gave an example of a student who created a Virtual Reality experience to display their learning – I mean, how cool is that!
What I also realized throughout our discussion, was just how much an inquiry approach to learning prioritizes student relationships – something I am super passionate about. When we take an inquiry approach, we are honouring our students as individual people who have varying interests, passions, and ways they want to show their learning. Trevor highlighted that a constructivist approach to learning means that we acknowledge that our students are active contributors in our classrooms and that they have rich prior knowledge. An inquiry approach to learning really allows us to see what each student is bringing with them into the classroom and how we can further their individual learning.
Trevor has a wealth of knowledge on inquiry, assessment, building relationships with students, and so much more. His passion for education is infectious and left me feeling the discussion incredibly inspired!
Tesla’s tweet really says it all!
Trevor actually has a book specifically on assessment coming out soon which I am really looking forward to reading. I am eager to continue to learn more about both formative and summative assessment through an inquiry lens!
I highly suggest following Trevor’s Twitter and Instagram & also signing up to his newsletter to become a part of a really great community of educators!
Bye for now, Jaime
Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash
