How to Balance our Roles as Inquiry Leaders in Education
It’s the start of a new school year and while the excitement of a fresh beginning is one that is synonymous with this time of the year, there are still schedules to make, classrooms to set up and routines and systems to transition into as we say goodbye to the ease and flow that summer days typically afford us.
We can so easily begin adding to our checklist, that long never ending one that may have us up in the middle of the night already, and return to habits and patterns of “getting things done”. Yet, in spite of this list and the tasks that fill it, how we we ensure that we step into our classrooms and schools with an inquiry mindset? How do we balance our roles as inquiry leaders?
I recently worked with a school who’s administration team has decided to redefine the role of their department heads and other instructional leaders. They too felt pull of their checklist and decided to enter their school year in a much different way, focused on what they truly value in learning and giving space for their teachers and staff to explore and delve further into their practice as educators.
We began with the very checklist I’ve described at the start of this post. I prompted the group to take a look at their calendar and jot down ten things that were on their to do list, tasks that needed to be completed, or meetings they needed to attend to, etc.
With this list in hand, we engage in a sorting activity and the Managerial vs. Inquiry Leader sketchnote to help us further reflect on the daily actions we take in our roles. Groups were challenged to share their thinking with one another discussing where along the continuum these actions fell. Sticky notes were placed and also picked up and moved as partners continued to share their thinking and ideas with one another. Once the sorting is done, we have a snapshot about how we show up in our roles. I prompt the group to take a closer look at the continuum and evaluate where most of their mindset lies. Do the things that they spend their very first week back in the building reflect what they truly value? How might our learners interpret these actions? This diagnostic is always quite powerful. It’s evidence that always elicits more discussion s and is the very thing we need in order to stop and pause and rethink our approach towards towards our roles.
Our next step to to choose one thing that’s been placed on the left side of the continuum and brainstorm ways that we can embody more of an inquiry mindset. How might be lean into our strengths as an inquiry leader and use them to help nudge us along? In what ways can we step back and reevaluate our values to ensure that they are aligned with this action? What disposition of an inquiry leader do we already embody that might help us get there?
The work, of course, is not done at the conclusion of this session, it’s just the start of a personal inquiry journey and one that encourage educators to document and evidence along the way.
I wonder what would happen if you engaged in activity and reflection similar to this? How might this reflection help you determine your next steps towards leading more with a lens of inquiry? And finally, how might sharing your process and your journey with others help nudge us all towards leading with this lens?
And because I love a good question I’ll leave you with a few more to consider as you engage in your own reflective process…
What would happen if you were a bit more playful in your approach?
How might you consider curiosity as a framework to approach these actions?
Where might there be space for your learners to do the heavy lifting, co constructing something meaningfully connected?
