Fall 2023 - Knowles Teacher Initiative

As teachers, we explore inquiry within the confines of our classrooms, but can we bring inquiry out of the classroom and into our lives? In this issue of Kaleidoscope, we ask, “What does inquiry look like for me?”

From The Editors' Desk

From the Editors’ Desk: Asking questions to find our place

As teachers we ask ourselves many questions: Is there a different representation I could use in my lesson? Are my students understanding this explanation? Are there colleagues I could collaborate with? What is the story I am trying to tell? Am I acting in accordance with my values? Questions are the basis for the inquiry process. We ask a question, we collect data, whether that be a survey, student work, or our own thoughts, and we share that data and discuss. It would seem that once we investigate a question we can find the answer and never need to wonder again. However, the inquiry process always seems to leave us back where we started, with more questions.

In This Issue

Fall 2023

Call and Response: Tiny Successes

Kirstin Milks

Monique Rivera-Velez

Oliver Yang

Madelyn Lin

Ian Caldwell

We asked our community: What is a tiny success you experienced recently? Here is what they had to say!

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Fall 2023

When to Share the Bread

Jamie Melton

On reflecting on the American fable The Little Red Hen, storyteller Jamie Melton analyzes this idea of laziness as it applies to her classroom. The story teaches us that hard work is rewarded—a seemingly uncomplicated moral.

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Fall 2023

Burnout By The Numbers – What I Learned By Tracking Every Hour I Worked For A Year

Cassie Barker

How we spend our time matters. This teacher tracked every hour worked for the calendar year 2021, then reflected on the data and how it relates to the high rates of attrition in our profession.

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Fall 2023

Poetry Corner

Katie Cubano

Tom Snarsky

Through poetry, Katie Cubano and Tom Snarsky paint a picture of various scenes of teaching—familiar to other teachers but perhaps unexpected to those outside the profession.

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Fall 2023

Creating A Curious Classroom Using Science And Engineering Practices

Meenakshi Sharma

Matthew Roper

A case study-reflection of a classroom using science and engineering practices to support curiosity.

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Fall 2023

Growing Deep Roots In A Broken System

Sara Abeita

Using several ecological analogies, Sara describes a mindset shift that helped her emphasize community building in her pursuit of educational progress.