Susan Galbraith, one of our international trainers, highlights the following Shared Inquiry activities as part of what makes our partnership with the Shenzhen Nanshan District Education Bureau successful:
- First Reading is a key step to hooking both students and teachers, allowing them to experience the wonder of expressive reading.
- Sharing Questions allows young people to share their questions and demonstrate their innate curiosity and sophisticated grasp of the stories by asking high-level questions about what they just read. This is something that students look forward to and that, when integrated throughout a unit, provides additional opportunities for assignments and projects.
- Vocabulary Activities allow students to learn target words provided with each unit. Additionally, phonics practice, sight words, and fluency practice offer options to further integrate vocabulary work in the program. I like to include kinesthetic activities to promote vocabulary work and support students as they recall words through physical and vocal memory.
- Shared Inquiry™ Discussion is the centerpiece of the Great Books model and is an opportunity to bring everyone to the table. The students in China who have sat down with me in a circle and engaged in Shared Inquiry have astounded me every time with their ability to grasp complex concepts and share interesting perspectives, teaching me a new understanding about the selections.
