Inquiry into Self

Inquiry practice hasn’t always been part of my educational make-up; not intentionally anyway. It was through Guy Claxton’s work and his alignment with Kath Murdoch that I discovered inquiry-led teaching and learning. I was late to the party!

Yet, as soon as I engaged with inquiry-led learning and developed an inquiry approach in Early Years at Bangkok Patana School and in a PYP school in Switzerland, I loved it instantly. There are so many reasons for me feeling aligned with inquiry-led learning. My top four might be:

• Inquiry teaching and learning is a natural incubator to develop the Learning Power Approach (just like play is)
• Inquiry highly values agency, curiosity and reflectiveness; all values I hold high, both in life and in education
• Inquiry, I’m beginning to realise, might bethe most balanced approach to education - see this blogpost for my reflections on that.
• Inquiry learning, done well and with intention, has a baseline frequency of love - Check out this blogpost for my reflections on this. (shared as a LinkedIn post because the best part of provocation is the response - the comments in this post are insightful and on point)

Check out this post for more “whys” behind inquiry from the LinkedIn community. Here are some more from the Chapters International Kaleidoscope of Inquiry conference in Vancouver:

Looking at learning through 3 lenses:

Apart from loving inquiry for the impact it has on children and their learning, one thing I love the most about being an educator and engaging with powerful approaches to learning, is that we can apply them to ourselves and our own lives. In Learning Pioneers, we always look at learning through these 3 lenses:

So, when we’re exploring inquiry learning, for example, we wonder:

• What does this look like for me to be an inquirer? How can I embody and model inquiry? How can I make this visible for and with my students?
• What does this look like in the classroom? How can I embed and refine my own inquiry practice?
• What does this look like for leadership? How, as leaders, are we modelling and breathing inquiry?

Since I’m super-invested in my own growth - because I know this is what will have the biggest impact on my happiness and the impact I can have on those around me (a win-win-win situation) - looking at life through a lens of inquiry is super important to me. It can not only become and be a way of life (i.e What are my own personal inquiries? My health practitioner says I have an “insatiably curious mind” so, suffice to say, there are many of those!) and inquiry can be applied to slowing down thinking, reflecting, journaling and self-growth.

That’s what this post is about (I have two actually! One at a time though).

Applying Thinking Routines to self-growth.

Project Zero’s Thinking Routines are endlessly useful to create open-minded and open-ended discussions with students. I love the way when, used well, they level the playing field and elicit new and deeper thinking.

Since they’re so impactful in the classroom, why not apply them to reflecting on how we show up and how much we are growing?! 

If you’re not already committed to self-reflection and awareness, here are a couple of quotes that might encourage you:

“Until we make the unconscious conscious, it will rule our life and we will call it fate.” Carl Jung

This is true. Have you noticed that? That sometimes we can behave in ways we don’t fully understand (“why did I say/do that?”) and that those around us can behave in what seems like unfathomable ways.

Most of our unconscious patterns and beliefs are formed by the age of 7 and then they run 80%+ of our behaviour forever more - Unless we self-examine and self-reflect. If that doesn’t “spook” you into doing “the work”, I don’t know what will!

“An unexamined leader isn’t worth following.” James Aidoo

Truth. You’ll know this from leaders with whom you’ve worked. Some are awesome and you look up to - reflectiveness and self-ownership for behaviour will likely be part of their skillset; some are harder to look up to and can be, in my experience, damaging in their behaviour. For me, those tend to be the unexamined ones who have no idea how their behaviour is affecting their team. 

I’d take this quote a step further though. For me, it’s not just that an unexamined leader isn’t worth following, an unexamined person isn’t worth hanging out with. Because, through lack of self-reflection, people who don’t work on themselves unwittingly hurt others around them. And I’d rather not get hurt. So, I have a firm boundary there - self-reflect and we can be friends/colleagues; struggle with that? We’ll spend very limited time together. You can read more about boundary-setting here, if you’re interested - super important for stretched educators!

Thinking Routines for Self-reflection

Here’s a few Thinking Routines I’ve used to do shadow work (explore, connect with, integrate my subconscious mind). I’ve just made this up. Which is awesome because it means you can get playful and make up some reflective protocols for self-reflection too. Let me know if you come up with any!

Heads up, I’ll be sharing ways I’ve healed from trauma here - Just in case you’re not in the space to read that …

Side story/Main Story/Hidden Story

This is one of my favourite Thinking Routines as it develops perspective and empathy (I love using it on the news too, when I actually pay attention to it). I’ve used this for shadow work:

Main story - The conscious story you are telling yourself

Hidden story - What’s actually driving the show (i.e. your subconscious programming)

Side story - What other “smaller” stories are running along in the sidelines?

Here’s my example. This one made me chuckle actually (although there’s a sad reality in there) because it’s the one time my light/conscious mind and shadow/unconscious mind are aligned (often, the subconscious, trying to keep you safe based on negative past experiences, will sabotage your growth/conscious wishes). It’s to do with travelling, which I’ve always loved and have leant into - I have no fear of travel and always, always love it. People say I’m brave, which is something I can own for myself (some other compliments are harder to own for me!), but travelling doesn’t feel brave at all to me, it feels absolutely natural and aligned. So what’s that about? Here’s what I figured out was going on:

Main story/conscious mind: “Yay! Let’s travel! Adventure! Fun! New connections!”

Hidden story/my shadow: “Yep, you should definitely travel - run away! It’s safer far away than it is here!”

I know that’s kind of sad - I used to run away from home as a kid - so what I unearthed was that my default is to “run away” when things feel hard or dangerous - probably a useful reaction at the time, but not necessarily always useful now. It is useful to know, however, that “running away” might be my default so I can stop and check, 

“Is this really the right thing/what I want to do?” 

“Am I doing this for the right reasons?”

Side stories: These are my favourite when travelling - There are ALWAYS side stories - meeting cool people, having cool experiences … My two side stories (which kinda became main stories in my life) from travelling to Argentina were that I met my husband (that was a cool bonus!) and, ironically, met Guy Claxton, with whom I co-authored a book - see here.

Imagine if I’d have never gone travelling that time?! 

What does this teach me?

Well, going travelling has never, ever been a bad idea! And, if and when my shadow/the hidden story is kicking in and wanting to run, I can listen to it, check in with it, hold space for it and just check if it’s running the show and if I’m taking action for the right reasons.

Final thought on this thinking routine - I reckon it can be plural - Side stories, main stories, hidden stories - Infinite stories, perspectives and possibilities - even more nuanced and expansive …

I used to think … now I think ….

Okay, I’m going to play with this one off the bat. I LOVE this thinking routine for reflection. We often use it in Learning Pioneers to sum up our inquiries and book studies … Language is important though - “I used to think … now I think” has a finality to it - So I think it could/should be “I used to think … now I’m thinking …” - By using the present continuous tense we are implying that our thinking is likely to change - So this builds in flexibility and the knowledge that we’re never stuck in our opinions and learning is always in flux. 

I use this one to measure my growth. Because growth can be slow when you are working on yourself overtime (Don’t get me wrong, sometimes it can be instant! I’ve had those experiences too. RTT is a brilliant tool for instant growth - I have a whole list of those healing modalities if anyone is interested - separate blog post, that! …). How do we know we are growing and that the work we are doing on ourselves is working?

Try this thinking routine. You can also adapt the wording - 

I used to feel …. Now I’m feeling - Unearths if you are still triggered by certain experiences.

I used to (insert behaviour) now I … (Insert new behaviour)  - Highlights growth in behaviour.

Here are a few examples related to my own growth:

I used to think shadow work and therapy was only for those who are “broken”; now I am thinking it’s the most empowering life move we can make for ourselves and to be the best person we can be for others around us.

I used to think I had to bend to please others; now I’m thinking clear, loving boundaries and putting myself first creates freedom for me and freedom for others.

I used to hate going out by myself; now I absolutely love it (brilliant measure of self-love right there!)

I often used to feel drained and exhausted; now I’m feeling buoyant and joyful more and more of the time (evidence of “the work” working)

What if, not?

Okay, I’ve saved the best ‘til last! It speaks to my rebellious spirit. When reading Guy Claxton and Graham Powell’s “Powering Up Students”, the phrase “counter-cultural” caught my eye. Being aware of my subconscious thoughts bubbling away, I heard a voice come from the shadows, “Your entire existence is counter-cultural, Becky!” This made me laugh (or, perhaps "cackle" would be a better description - it made me spit out my tea!) Shadow work is all about befriending your shadow rather than disowning or shaming it. I can own that. I like being positively disruptive, yes; AND, sometimes, like those cats on YouTube that knock glasses off kitchen sides, sometimes I love being disruptive. Full stop. At least it breaks the pattern!

Anyway, what if, not? Is the ultimate disruptor's thinking routine. It also reframes those negative stories people might have told you when you were young (or ones adults are trying to tell you) and shifts them into empowering ones. Here are some examples:

Story I was told as a child:

“You’re being obtuse” 

What if, not? What if, “being obtuse” meant questioning situations I just wasn’t okay with? What if “being obtuse” was, in fact, speaking up for myself and calling stuff out? What if, “being obtuse” was one of my greatest strengths because it enabled me to question the status quo? What if “being obtuse” is exactly what this world needs.

Story I was told as a child:

“You’re too sensitive.”

What if, not? What if sensitivity and empathy were actually my greatest assets? What if feeling that deeply enabled me to connect with others in a caring, deep way - So they feel seen, heard and valued? What if that sensitivity was, actually, my intuition being on point? What if “sensitivity” was exactly the trait I needed to honour and cultivate to be the most caring, connected teacher (and human) I could be?

Anyone else had those?! 

What old stories could you reframe using “what if, not?”

How could you use these thinking routines to self-reflect?

What other thinking routines could you apply/have you applied to your own self- reflection and growth?