by Shannon Richards John MuirElementary

By nature, I am a frequent asker ofquestions. My innate curiosity to know more often leads others to ask, "Wheredid that question come from?" In completely unrelated times, I am known tochime in with, "How many states have a city called Madison?" or "How do theybuild manholes?" Sprinkled in with these inquiries are the questions that provethat my inner child still thrives, such as, "How far will the car go when theneedle is on ‘E'?" or, "How many sausage links can you eat in one sitting?" Ijust have a need to know, but my timing is less than impeccable.

It is this desire to consider thecommonly unconsidered that attracted me to the Great Blue project...well, and thefact that my brand-new teaching partner, Jen Guzman, is a Heron Networkveteran. I have to admit that I was a bit confused about it at first, butrolled with the punches so as not to present myself as incompetent. As timewent on, I realized that it was really just a "mini-me" of the classroom actionresearch projects I have done in my tenure as a teacher. Remembering thoseprojects and how hard and long I had worked on them, I wondered how theselittle minds were going to fare when the work became taxing. And what I sawamazed me.

I saw students who were otherwiseuninterested in learning and working come alive as they realized that, truly,they were in charge of what happened during Great Blue time. They got to askthe questions, design surveys and experiments, write interviews, and tell thestory of their journey in their own voices. And the students who were alreadyinvested in their education? They soared. This was right up their alley. Theirbig moment to go above and beyond the call of duty in an area of choseninterest had arrived. As one student said several times, "I feel like a grownup with all of these papers." Students loved getting their completed surveysback and tallying the results... almost more than the results themselves. Theylearned that above being curious, they could take their need to know one step,or many steps, further and find the answers to those burning questions that ebband flow in a child's mind.

I wish that all classrooms couldhave this experience at least one time. I don't think I was introduced to theprocess of inquiry until graduate school, at which point I fell in love withit. Now I can start trying to find out the answers to all of the questions Iask myself (and others) daily. I can reference an atlas or interview an expertto find out how many states have a city named Madison, and maybe there are somefolks downtown who can walk me through the process of making a manhole. I'm notsure I need to learn by experience how far the car will go on empty, but if Ireally needed to know the answer I could. And, as for the sausage links...well,we'll have to wait and see about that one.