The spiral of inquiry involves six phases:

• scanning

• focusing

• developing a hunch

• engaging in new professional learning

• taking new professional action

• checking that you’ve made a big enough difference

Scanning the first phase of the spiral of inquiry. For myself, I had to decide what my learners needed. The spiral playbook says that “Everyone is likely to have opinions about what is going on for learners. In the scanning phase, the inquiry team collects a variety of rich evidence about what is really happening” (Spiral-Playbook.pdf (c21canada.org)).

I would gather this evidence from a number of different sources depending on the subject I was teaching. For Math, my coaching teacher had done a base line assessment at the start of the year to see where each student was at, and if they were at grade level. I also used daily math drills and formative assessments that I adjusted as the term went on. The students also participated in the SNAP Math assessment. Some students had IEPs (individual education plans) that I could also reference to better understand where some students were at.

For Literacy, the students all took part in the BAS reading assessment. This data was also used to understand where students were at. I also had the students write in daily journal books to assess writing and fine motor skills.

“In the focusing phase, the inquiry team asks: Where will we concentrate our energies in order to make a big and lasting difference for our learners” (Spiral-Playbook.pdf (c21canada.org)).

Differentiation was the main focus of my ongoing teacher inquiry question. The two main subject areas that I used the focus phase in was for Literacy and Numeracy. Once I had my base levels of competency from the scanning phase, I developed specific strategies in each subject that would best support the differentiation needed for my learners.