At the end of your inquiry, it is vital to evaluate your change, and reflect on its effectiveness. This reflection and evaluative data gathering needs to be completed as close to the inquiry as possible, to get the most accurate results.
As you will find from your evaluation, there is no guarantee that your changed practice has solved everything. Sometimes what you have tried may need to be given more time, or may need more adjustment. It is crucial for your students that when you go through the process of teaching as inquiry you allow yourself to learn from what is happening in the classroom, and not just take those results that confirm existing thinking.
As you evaluate, you could:
- repeat original data gathering to compare results
- look for patterns, wonderings and "wow" moments in reflective journals or logs
- compare your data with research data
- ask a colleague to observe your students in class.
Evaluation tool
from: Celebrating transformational shifts in teacher practice and student achievement in literacy