Getting Settled and Inquiry Based Learning

It's been over two weeks since I was last on here and a lot has been going on. Much of my time is spent at school preparing for the upcoming year, so I guess I can start there.

The faculty and staff at Sir Alexander Fleming College are in full swing getting ready for the students to return during the first week of March. My work day has, generally, been from 8am-4pm for the past couple of weeks and everything is going pretty well. The entire school is shifting its approach to education by utilizing the concept of Inquiry Based Learning. This is where the classroom teacher provides students with a central idea or theme for a unit and lets the student's questions about that idea drive their own learning. For example, one of our themes will be detectives, so, with my help, students will pose a question (hopefully a higher order thinking question) about detectives or investigators that they will then research for a matter of weeks and present to the class what they have learned. I will spend very little time lecturing to the class, yet I will spend a great deal of time guiding students in the right direction and helping them with their research. The part I like the best about IBL is that the students research can take them where ever their interest leads them just as long as they stay within the central theme for the unit. While at UNCW getting my education degree, I was introduced to the idea of Inquiry Based Learning, but I only utilized it on a small scale. At Fleming College I will be using it in both of my 6th grade English and science classes for every unit we cover. I really like this approach to learning and I am very excited to put it into practice in the classroom, but it is quite daunting right now as I plan for the entire school year. Luckily, for myself and the entire staff, the school brought in an IBL expert from England to guide us as we plan. We have been attending workshops and grade level planning sessions to help us with our units and to include as much cross curricular material as possible. Regardless of how much I like this approach and how well I think it will work, it does not work for all students. There will always be students who cannot handle this much independent research. In these situations I will have to find a balance between holding their hand and still encouraging them to seek out what interests them on the topic. It is going to be interesting to see how everything pans out, but I am encouraged by the fact that I have so much support from other teachers and staff who are in the same boat I am. We will all be learning together.

My room. The bed is made because it's so hot here at night that I don't need sheets.

Outside of school, everything is moving along at a nice pace. I have been keeping my eyes open for an apartment, but nothing has come available that I like. It is still the summer time here in northern Peru, so  apartments are scarce and expensive. When the busy season ends prices will drop and many places will open up, so I am told. I have no problem waiting to find the right place because I am quite content staying in my little room here at Hostel McCallum. As I have said before, this place is great and the folks who own it are so kind and have helped me out so much.
Life here in Huanchaco can be as exciting or as quite as you want it to be. February is the month for Carnaval (I don't think it has anything to do with Mardi Gras), so there is aways a parade, party, or band to go see. For the most part, I choose the quieter side of things. During the weekdays my bedtime is pretty early, so I try to fit in a surf after work and watch the sunset over the ocean. At the moment, I usually eat dinner out, but I will be happy to have my own kitchen one of these days. Even when food is so cheap here it can still get expensive.

The surf today is looking fun with semi-glassy chest to head high sets, but there is a surf competition going on this weekend and the contest zone takes up most of the beach, so I have to wait until this afternoon to surf again. I will, most likely, eat some lunch and hangout with some friends I have met then surf, eat dinner, watch a movie, and go to bed early so I can surf for most of the day tomorrow. Even though I have a full work week right now I know that once the school year is in swing I will be spending less time in the water and more time working, so I try to enjoy my free time as much as possible. 

One of the sunsets this past week.

Summer afternoon at Huanchaco Beach. This place gets busy.

Professional brick throwers
Each brick was thrown to the top by hand.
I didn't see them drop a single one.