Inquiry learning.
Frankly, what we did in the teacher education class can be considered as inquiry learning. In class we (teacher candidates) broadly discuss issues that may rise from teaching practice, and look for solutions.
It requires students' collaboration as the learning process may fail if students feel disengaged. This means that a teacher cannot simply use a topic for class discussion.
If everyone cheats, then cheating is not cheating. Agree or disagree?
(a) define cheating: (i) breaking rules; (ii) unfairness; etc.
(b) statements VS counter-statements
John Yamamoto used a very interesting way to demonstrate the practicum policy. Before class started, John gave 20 sealed envelopes to randomly-selected students. In each envolope, there was a prepared question that covered a small part of the class content. The questions were framed in the format "A + B + C", where:
"A" is a self-introduction (example: "my name is......", or "my parents named me ......", or "I prefer you call me ......");
"B" is a self-praising statement (example: "though this wonderful lecture ...". or "I really like your informative class", or "Thank you, John! You really helped me a lot");
"C" is the new question part.
I like this activity because:
(a) It get everyone's attention through reading the question. Because the questions are new and selected by the teacher, everyone knows they are important;
(b) "B" is a smart design. The self-praising statement----or self-joking statement depending how you see it----relaxes everyone, and it plays the role of class games that make students enjoy the class;
(c) Even though the questions are not the students' questions, they are asked by students and "sounded like" students'. This design makes students concentrated.
