Exploring Student Interests in the Early Years

Inquiry Mindset & Inquiry Live

Last week I listened to a fantastic Inquiry Live conversation on Instagram between Rebecca (@inquiryteacher) and Laurie (@mrsmacskinders). I had to quickly grab the nearest pen and paper (which happened to be my gratitude journal from Dr. Jody Carrington that I was so fortunate to win along with a ticket to RELIT! 2020) to jot down these notes.

One of the powerful strategies that was mentioned in the Instagram conversation was showcasing learners’ DNA (Dreams, Needs & Abilities) and keeping these in mind as we are planning. Laurie discusses DNA on this great blog post. Rebecca wrote this lovely post on getting to know your learners.

Rebecca & Trevor’s book, Inquiry Mindset, is full of great inspiration and ideas around how to find out and explore students’ curiosities. Some of my favourite ideas included:

  • Celebrations of learning (making museums, galleries, movies, etc.)
  • Using dramatic play to explore interests
  • Having a Wonder Wall to feature questions – here’s an example from my classroom
  • Using picturebooks as provocations

I really encourage you to check out Rebecca’s Instagram page (@inquiryteacher) for a lot of great ideas and inspiration around provocations and more!

More Resources & Ideas

What resources or ideas have you discovered to explore student interests?

Published by Britney Allen

I am a French Immersion teacher fuelled by chocolate, leopard print, and family & friends. I love sharing and hearing new ideas.

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this: