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Using Inquiry-Role of Instructor

Instructor as Learner

While the course is thematically based, the focus of the class continues to be on developmental writing. The rationale for centering the class on a specific theme is to increase student interest and, therefore, involvement in class discussions and group work, research, and writing assignments. With that said, the role of the instructor in the inquiry classroom does take on added dimensions. According to Ballenger, instructors learn right alongside their students. “They ask questions not because they already know the answers,” he says, “but because there might be answers they haven’t considered” (xxxiv). In this way, the writing instructor still takes on the role of expert in developmental writing but does not take on the role of expert on the course’s theme. This allows students to take a greater role in the course’s content and in the thematic inquiry.

Passing the Baton

Nancy Lawson Remler takes this last point one step further as she encourages students to take over the class: “As students take the teacher’s role by generating questions and guiding discussions, they not only have the most active role in the classroom, but they also boost their enthusiasm and confidence by revealing to the class (and themselves) their knowledge of the concepts they’re studying” (224). Remler empowers her students to do this by teaching them how to develop good questions. Over time her students begin to develop high-level questions that require high-level answers. This necessarily leads to enhanced student writing which often contains insightful and analytical thinking, qualities often lacking otherwise.