A Culture of GId

Teresa Lansford, Lincoln Elementary, Norman OK

Before I had even had a chance to do much with my staff in regards to Guided Inquiry, our principal planning experiences to introduce them to the process. Norman Public Schools does an excellent job in helping teachers get the professional development they need to be great practitioners. Our principal, Olivia Dean, goes above and beyond to not only provide quality professional development, but model her expectations as well.

A few years ago, she came to me with her ideas on how to introduce GId to the staff, and we collaborated in introducing the stages of the process. While I helped with some of the nuts and bolts, the ideas were all her own. Her strategy was to introduce Guided Inquiry to the staff as they developed their own growth plans. She created experiences for Open and Immerse that allowed them to start questioning their practices and what information they would need to grow. I pulled resources from our professional development collection for them to Explore.  They then identified a focus area for their growth plans, gathered information, and created a presentation for the end of the year to share what they had learned and how they had grown with the staff, taking questions for self evaluation.

Along the way she would introduce the phases and with my help debrief on what that would look like for students. This gave us a shared vocabulary for inquiry even before our teachers were officially trained. When it came time to collaborate on lessons with me, I didn’t have to sell them on the process. They hit the plan time running, immediately asking things like “What should we do for Open?” I have never in my career had such an easy time implementing new strategies. Inquiry Circles, letting students develop their own questions, and evaluate their own sources did not require a sell because the teaching staff had experienced the benefit first hand.

Additionally, by serving as a resource through the process of developing growth plans in the Guided Inquiry model I was able to heighten my profile as a teacher leader in my building. I feel like I have always been valued in my building but for those librarians who struggle to prove their worth, partnering with your principal to provide PD is a great way to raise awareness of your value as well as being able to share your philosophy and agenda for student learning with an entire staff. There are only wins when you team up with a willing administrator. Wins for you, your library, your staff, and your students.

Our administrator had established a solid foundation that strongly supported my program and student learning. In my next post, I will share the impact this culture of Guided Inquiry had on our students.

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