CRAFTING INQUIRY 2025:

GENERAL INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION

Crafting Inquiry 2025

Designing learning through questions, curiosity, and collaboration

Are you registering from a country outside of the United States? Email spearcenter@intlschool.org to register.

Early bird registration opens May 8
Regular registration opens September 1

Audience: Early years-middle school educators and educational leaders
Dates: Friday, October 17, 2025
Location: Hilton Portland Downtown, Portland, OR

Join us in the beautiful Hilton Portland Downtown in downtown Portland for the 5th annual Crafting Inquiry conference! We are thrilled to be welcoming Trevor MacKenzie and Jessica Vance to lead us in an exploration of questions and curiosity!

GENERAL SCHEDULE

Friday, October 17, 2024 – Conference with Trevor MacKenzie and Jessica Vance
8:00 am-3:30 pm, Hilton Portland Downtown
Breakfast and lunch will be provided.
With your registration, receive a copy of Trevor MacKenzie’s Inquiry Mindset Questions Edition and Jessica Vance’s Evidence of Inquiry. Other titles will be available for purchase.

Trevor MacKenzie and Jessica Vance share their passion for inquiry and the powerful benefits of planning for curiosity in our classrooms. A focus of the morning will be on Trevor’s fourth publication, Inquiry Mindset Questions Edition, wherein he shares ten high-impact Question Routines. Question Routines are designed to help teachers leverage student-generated questions to help plan next steps in learning. These routines call on students to sort, organize, justify, and revise their questions and, in doing so, help them become more competent questioners themselves. Trevor and Jessica will demonstrate strategies to plan for curiosity through the lens of provocations, facilitate learning of the ten high-impact Question Routines, and examine how these routines align with inquiry teaching and learning. A focus for the afternoon will be on Jessica’s second publication, Evidence of Inquiry, and the impact that learning walls have on student learning and how the visual evidence of inquiry supports all students in feeling capable and competent in the classroom.

You will learn to answer questions like these:

What are the benefits of curiosity?
How can we create entry points of curiosity in our curriculum?
What are the characteristics of the inquiry classroom?
How might we scaffold for agency and competency development?
How can we embed cooperative learning strategies to help students share their understanding and move towards doing rather than merely knowing?
How can we authentically capture evidence of learning and co-design next steps with our students?

Topics to be explored include:

10 Characteristics of the Inquiry Classroom
8 Benefits to Question Routines
The Power of the Provocation
How to Build a Learning Wall

REGISTRATION OPTIONS

All registrations include breakfast, lunch, and a copy of both Trevor MacKenzie’s Inquiry Mindset Questions Edition and Jessica Vance’s Evidence of Inquiry.
Group registrations apply to 3 or more participants from the same school or organization.

CANCELLATION AND REFUND POLICY

SUBSTITUTIONS

Once registered, participants may transfer their registration to another person by contacting spearcenter@intlschool.org.

REFUND POLICY

Up to 21 days preceding the event, participants may cancel their registration and receive a refund of the registration fee, less a $50 administrative fee.
No refunds will be given within 21 days of the event. However, participants may elect to transfer their registration to another person by contacting spearcenter@intlschool.org