Organizing Guest Speaker on Inquiry

Reflection for TRB Standard 8 / Lisa Dumoulin

Standard 8: Educators contribute to the professions. Educators support, mentor or encourage

other educators and those preparing to enter the profession. Educators contribute their
expertise to activities offered by their schools, districts, professional organizations, post-
secondary institutions or contribute in other ways (TRB Standards).

What evidence have I chosen to support this standard?

I have chosen an email from our Principles of Teaching instructor, Paula Waatainen, confirming
the presentation that Michelle Hikida gave on inquiry-based learning. After seeing Michelle
present at the BCPTA conference in October 2016, I arranged to have Michelle speak to the two
Elementary Education cohorts.

What did I learn in creating this piece of evidence?

Organizing to have Michelle speak to our program was a learning experience on two different
levels.
First, I learned about negotiating the work and complications that arise in organizing a guest
speaker. While this was in a university context, I think the experience will be valuable for my
career if I ever want to organize a speaker in the future at my school or for my local teachers
association.

On another level, I learned about the excitement and potential value that can come from
sharing significant learning with my peers/colleagues. I had seen Michelle present in the fall,
but up to that point didnt have anyone who I could talk about and delve deeper into her work
with. I invited Michelle to speak for us because I found her work so inspiring and helpful for
envisioning what inquiry can look and sound and feel like. What I didnt anticipate and what
was great for me was revisiting her ideas after more coursework and practicum experience, and
talking about her ideas and asking questions with my colleagues/peers. Personally, I gained so
much, I believe many of my colleagues gained a lot, and we gained a lot from learning from
each other with Michelles presentation as a shared point of reference.

How does this evidence relate to the TRB standard?

Organizing this guest speaker is evidence that I value contributing to the education profession. I
organized to have Michelle speak to our cohorts because I heard many of my peers asking for
more examples of inquiry-based learning and more time to be spent on the how. I felt that I
had gained so much from seeing her present at the BCPTA and hoped that my peers would
equally benefit from hearing/seeing her speak. Especially at the time with the new curriculum
changing, it felt especially pertinent to hear and see examples from a practicing teacher who is
inspiring and leading educators across the province.
Why is this TRB standard important to me?
This standard is important to me because it is based on sharing knowledge and inspirations to
better our collective practices. While teachers generally teach their own class, I take seriously
the idea that the profession is changing and that collaboration and thinking outside of the box
is needed to best support the children and youth we work with.