Comprehension & Collaboration: Inquiry Circles in Action

by F&P, Harvey Daniels

Serves as a guide for teachers who want to realize the benefits of well-structured, student-led, cross-curricular projects.

Genres: Education, Professional Development, Teaching, Nonfiction, School, Writing, Textbooks

336 pages, Paperback

First published April 23, 2009

Reviews

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stephanie Harvey and Smokey Daniels’ book encompasses inquiry-based learning for all grades K-12. As the authors reveal, inquiry-based learning is nothing new, yet helps address some of the most important issues in education -- student engagement and motivation. It is curiosity that leads us to inquiry and learning, not the reverse. The book is organized into four key sections: why small-group inquiry projects work; how to set up your classroom and curriculum for inquiry-learning; four key inquiry models; and how to evaluate and assess inquiry-based learning. This organizational style makes the book easy to follow and review for planning. It lays the framework and then gives you the tools to begin crafting and modeling your own version of inquiry-based learning in your classroom.

What sets this text apart from so many other teaching books is that it doesn’t just provide the theory or philosophy. Instead, the authors provide numerous lesson plans, practical strategies, and classroom examples. This book is perfect for any teacher from any primary to secondary grade or any content area. In fact, this should be placed in the hands of every new teacher. This book includes many methods that really work with students such as gradual release, UDL, backward planning, and more. It’s taken me years to discover many of these methods. I wish I had owned this in year one not year thirteen of my educational career. Don’t hesitate. Buy a copy for yourself and for every teacher you know.

[K Ogie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Smokey Daniels and Stephanie Harvey have created once again an extremely helpful, informative and easy to implement strategy to get students to read, write, research and present information that they were engaged and motivated to discover on their own without a teacher screaming it at them. This book was such an easy read, as always, Dr. Daniels books are such natural reads, its like you are having a conversation with him. After seeing him several times in person speak and having small group discussions with him, he makes these strategies come to life. I recently implemented a modified version of an inquiry circle in a third grade classroom and the students were so excited and learned so much! They knew the information without having to look at their papers because they took the time to learn something that was relevant and important to them. Bravo Smokey Daniels and Stephanie Harvey!!!

[Julie Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am looking forward to organizing my classroom to support an afternoon filled with inquiry. I hope to nurture natural curiosities using the techniques outlined in this book. I am especially excited to help students develop inquiry notebooks.

[Dee Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the most helpful professional book I've read in a long time, maybe ever. Not only does it explicitly take you through the inquiry process, it has lessons on teaching students to collaborate and on comprehension. This is a go to book to refer to time and time again!

[Suebee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Would love to do a study group with teachers from my school on this book!!

[Deborah Kline]

My favorite educational text! This is how we all know we should teach if only we were given the time and no restrictions. This is deep learning and learning at it's best. Highly recommended!

[Pernille Ripp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent addition to your classroom teaching, fantastic research, examples, and tools to help you dive into inquiry. I am so grateful for this resource.

[Nikki Burwell]

Great comprehension strategies.

[Diana Valdivia-Rodriguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book to read about literacy strategies for K-12 students and teachers.

[Sarah Briggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is one of my new favorite books about teaching. It was so interesting and inspiring that I read it until late in the night. I have wanted to implement inquiry in my classroom for years, but haven't quite known how to do that. After reading this book I feel excited about implementing these in my classroom next year.

Stephanie Harvey and Harvey Smokey Daniels do a great job of balancing rationale with real world examples of how inquiry can work in many different grade levels.

I would highly recommend this book for creating a student led classroom where kids get to learn in depth about subjects that they are interested in.

[Chris Heim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very helpful read for those looking to change the way they teach from a more teacher-driven approach to a more student-led one. It is inspiring, on the one hand, and daunting, on the other, in terms of thinking about the challenges this model presents (time, human and other resources, etc.)
Schools considering moving toward an approach like this would be wise to allocate adequate time for further teacher training, and, in perhaps more importantly, for teams of teachers to meet and plan how to integrate this approach into their unique settings and programs.

[Shane · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot to think about in this book for how to change students' attitudes toward school and the way that they learn. Great extended examples from classrooms to show how these inquiry circles progressed over time. I would liked to have seen more information dedicated to setting the foundation for inquiry circles at the beginning of the year, though. Excellent sample pages, great appendices, and a wealth of online resources.

[Jaime · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I'm still working toward inquiry circles, I did take a great deal from this book about collaboration. There were many strategies that were easily applicable in class, and weren't necessarily created for perfect, well-behaved robot students! All kinds of learners are accounted for, and the basis behind creating groups that work helped me to think about what I was doing well and what I was doing wrong.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

"In our world of standards and benchmarks, it seems like teachers must always predict exactly what kids will know at the end of a lesson or unit. But consider this: Do real researchers, investigators, and authors know exactly where they are going when they begin an inquiry? . . . After all, what would be the point?" (p. 318)

I found myself nodding along frequently with the authors descriptions of how the classroom should be. Great read for anyone looking to implement inquiry in the classroom.

[Denese Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book that walks teachers through how to implement inquiry circle projects with students of all ages and in all subjects. In addition to providing methods for implementation, the authors also discuss how to address standards and improve reading comprehension. Many lesson examples are given. This book is perfect for anyone wanting to learn more about how to create enthusiasm through inquiry-based projects.

[Amber Elise · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book provides a lot to think about when considering dedicating class time devoted to student inquiry while balancing the demands of the curriculum. It will need a more in-depth reread when I can take the strategies and apply them to the classroom on a more regular basis. Excellent resource for experienced teachers who are looking to challenge their current practices.

[Frankie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had a lot of good ideas to make small groups work no matter what the purpose as well as a lot of good refreshers. I would've liked to have a bit more about inquiry circles-- since I'm new to it, but it was still a good read for me to help be in my school mind during the summer :)

[jennyreadit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of the information in this book was used to develop the Comprehension Toolkits... very informative and practical.Some information may be new to some people, some of the information may be known, take what you need and use it. Good ideas to try with teachers.

[Kris Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I knew Stephanie Harvey's address so I could send her a giant holiday fruit basket for all the shout-outs and snaps she gives School Librarians as Instructional Partners. I've never sent a giant holiday fruit basket but this seems like a good opportunity to start.

[Spacek Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book provides great information on how to get students into inquiry. The title of the book refers to teaching strategies that will improve student comprehension of material as well as set up students for collaboration. Plenty of example lesson plans are provided.

[Mischa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am on Chapter 4, the first 4 chapters are repetitive information on managing cooperative groups and collaboration in the classroom.

[Brad · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read!

[Brad Buhrow · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read! Great and important information for any teacher or parent.

[Anna Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic resource for teachers and librarians.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Makes me want to go back to the classroom so I can try this on a larger scale than interventions

[Jennifer Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally changed my thoughts about integrating content areas into my lit block. This is a book I will revisit often.

[Brenda Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very easy to understand book with helpful tips on using inquiry circles in any classroom. I look forward to trying out some of these ideas in my English classrooms.

[NWA Writing Project · Rating 4 out of 5]

Check out my blog post on this book: http://areaderwriting.wordpress.com/2....


Loaned to Jennifer 10/9/13

[Ale_meows]

Project base text for higher level thinking

[Ramesh]

great