Last week, we had the wonderful opportunity to meet an outstanding teacher in our community. Her name is Rebecca Bathurst-Hunt or you might know her as the @Inquiryteacher on Instagram. Rebecca is a kindergarten teacher at George Jay Elementary. I thoroughly enjoyed this visit for many reasons. First off, I started following Rebecca on Instagram at the start of my education journey, so it was pretty awesome getting to meet her and learn more about her (I was slightly star-struck). I really appreciated the fact that she was very open and honest with us about the journey of becoming a teacher. She made sure we knew that it was ok to make mistakes in the beginning and this process is all about learning. This was refreshing because we often hear that practicum is our time to shine. But in reality, we may not always shine and there will be some bad days and some great days. Rebecca also framed teaching in a new light for me. As teachers, we have the opportunity to create exciting learning opportunities for students while integrating the curriculum in exciting and fresh ways. I think teachers often get tired and burnout over teaching the same lessons, each year with little variation. This is why inquiry is such a great tool to use in the classroom. I believe teachers who can look towards including a more inquiry-based mindset will be able to see the beauty in teaching to students who are curious and engaged. Unfortunately, throughout my elementary and secondary schooling, I do not remember have much autonomy over what I wanted to learn and what made me curious. It wasn’t until post-secondary schooling that I began to learn more about inquiry and how it is a great way to engage students in their learning. Knowing this now and as I go into my career, I will ensure to make a point incorporating inquiry-based learning into my classroom. This experience was greatly informative and eye-opening. One of my biggest takeaways from Rebecca’s presentation was how important it is to begin a lesson with three questions: What do you see? What do you know? and What are you curious about? Doing this allows for students to speak up on what they already know as well as allow them to become curious about a topic!
Here are some pictures of some of the great things Rebecca has in her classroom!
