
Last night I had a moment of panic lying in bed and I was tempted to throw in the towel and call the whole thing off when I realized how little I was in control. How in the world am I going to manage all these independent inquiries? What if someone slips through the cracks? Are they really learning enough content? Are they making connections to our concepts? Everything that I could imagine going wrong was flying through my brain.
However, as I began to reflect on why I was afraid of the process I began to realize that it was due to the unknown, and not knowing if this thing is really going to work. That's when the light came on that I am right in the middle of my own personal inquiry cycle. More importantly, I realized that many of my students are most likely also feeling fear and anxiety at various points in their own inquiry.
So this morning, I acknowledged my fears, reflected on what was causing them, then tackled the issues in my classes today. I still don't what the end of this whole process will be, but I know that tomorrow we'll be having a brief opening to class where we talk about our fears, and how to overcome them in our own personal inquiries and journeys as learners!