THOUGHTFUL CLASSROOM PROFESSIONAL LEARNING SUITES

A Professional Learning Suite

Promoting Classroom Inquiry

Tools and strategies for turning everyday lessons into inquiry-based learning experiences

Featuring Dr. Harvey Silver, today’s leading expert on instructional tools and strategies

We all want active learning and deep thinking.
So, how do we help students get there?

An inquiry-based approach to instruction increases student engagement, makes learning active, promotes deeper understanding of content, and empowers students to take greater control over their own learning. But as impressive as that list of benefits may be, many teachers report that building inquiry into classroom learning can be a real challenge.

This professional learning suite is designed specifically to help you make inquiry—and all the benefits that come with it—a reality in your classroom. It contains a set of practical tools and strategies that make it easy to turn whatever you’re teaching into powerful inquiry-based learning experiences. Rather than treating inquiry as something separate from everyday instruction, this suite shows you how to use inquiry to guide the teaching and learning process and increase students’ motivation to learn classroom content.

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What Tools & Strategies Will I Find In This Suite?

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Promoting Classroom Inquiry: Overview

Introduction: Dr. Harvey Silver presents a practical definition of inquiry, walks you through the critical research, and shows you how teachers turn that research into practical classroom applications.
Advanced Playbook: Dr. Silver walks you through a set of “power moves” for better classroom inquiry.

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Tools and Strategies to Promote Inquiry in the Classroom

Inquiry Frames: Provides a range of ways to set up inquiry-based learning that will capture students’ attention and encourage students to explore classroom content deeply
Yes-No Inquiry: A simple way to scaffold the skills of generating and testing hypotheses and teach students how to ask questions that help them gather information and build a plausible explanation
Inductive Learning: Guides students through the process examining details to arrive at generalizations and make predictions, which they test against new learning
Mystery: Helps you frame content you want to teach as a mystery to be solved and empowers students to examine clues, develop hypotheses, and work to solve the mystery.
If-Then: Teaches students a replicable process they can use to conduct investigations on topics of interest to them.

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PLUS:

Practical resources to help teachers and PLCs plan, reflect, and analyze student work.

Click above for an advance organizer of the tools and strategies in this suite.

Your Path to Improvement Starts Here

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Testimonial: Mary Belcher: Suites 2

“These on-demand suites empower both instructional leaders and teachers to use tools and strategies to improve instruction, engage students in deeper learning, and customize each teacher’s own professional growth path.”

Mary Belcher

Instructional Lead and Learning Acceleration Specialist,

Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative (KVEC) • Hazard, KY

Testimonial: Mike McQueen

“The Thoughtful Classroom Online Suites naturally and easily expanded my ability to deliver tailored and targeted professional development for my teachers. These suites have been a driving force in my school’s improvement process.”

Mike McQueen

Principal,

C.W. Davis Middle School • Flowery Branch, GA

Testimonial: Sharon Paver-Nepote

“The Thoughtful Classroom Online Suites naturally and easily expanded my ability to deliver tailored and targeted professional development for my teachers. These suites have been a driving force in my school’s improvement process.”

Dr. Sharon Paver-Nepote

Principal,

Wagoner Elementary School • Sauk Village, IL

Testimonial: Mary Belcher: Suites

“Together, the Four Cornerstones and Instructional Designer’s Toolbox suites provide the professional learning foundation that has made it possible for us to build a large-scale PD initiative focused on deeper learning.”

Mary Belcher

Instructional Lead and Learning Acceleration Specialist,

Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative (KVEC) • Hazard, KY

Check out all of the

Thoughtful Classroom Professional Learning Suites

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TOOLS and Strategies for Active, In-depth Learning

Promoting Classroom Inquiry

Turn everyday lessons into inquiry-based learning experiences—no matter what content or grade level you teach.

TOOLS and Strategies for Active, In-depth Learning

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Equip students with the reading tools and skills they need to make meaning of challenging texts and understand new content deeply.

TOOLS and Strategies for Active, In-depth Learning

Unlocking the Power of Comparative Thinking

Capitalize on the untapped power of comparison: Use it to design better lessons, enhance classroom discussions, nurture creativity, and improve students’ decision making.

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Moving From Note Taking to Note Making

Help your students become active note makers who can process new learning, manage and summarize information, and use their notes to achieve various learning goals.

Using Feedback to Advance Student Learning

Create a “feedback culture” in your classroom that inspires improvement, leads to deeper learning, and helps all students develop a growth mindset.

The Five Episodes of Effective Instruction

Make the work of instructional design easier and more effective by addressing five universal goals, or episodes, that define all successful learning sequences.

The Four Cornerstones of Effective Classrooms

Learn the essential elements that characterize all effective classrooms—and use them to promote better student behavior and higher levels of thinking and learning.