Inductive Inquiry in a Concept-Based Literacy Classroom

Literacy teachers traditionally gravitate toward explicit skill development and linear skill progressions. Complex processes are broken into little bits assuming that this separation will lead to easier mastery. As a result, from the student perspective, learning often feels like a series of isolated skills in disjointed tasks that never come together to form a connected understanding. This cycle may continue year after year until the student has lost all perspective on what it feels like to be a proficient reader and writer. How do we avoid this? 

One pillar of Concept-Based lesson planning is designing learning experiences that reflect the process of inductive inquiry. The power of inductive inquiry in a literacy classroom shouldn’t be underestimated. Inquiry learning experiences in a literacy classroom allows students to be actively engaged in the construction of meaning through the exploration of rich text examples across a range of genres. 

In an inductive, inquiry-based learning experience, students: 

1. Investigate multiple examples for a specific purpose with a conceptual focus 

2. Draw out or identify concepts from the examples 

3. Collect evidence and notice patterns across examples (which will serve as support for the generalization) 

4. Build a transferable understanding that transfers either within the discipline or beyond the discipline 

5. State the understanding in their own words by completing the phrase. “As a result of this study, we/I understand that… 

To move beyond the routine execution of the skills, strategies, and processes, students need opportunities to construct understanding on their own in meaningful and authentic contexts. As we

design lesson plans, this goal remains at the forefront of our thinking 

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