My Story
Why I Believe Every Student Deserves an Inquiry-Driven Classroom
People often ask me why I'm so passionate about inquiry-based learning.
The answer has very little to do with my degrees, my leadership roles, or even the thirty-plus years I've spent teaching. It begins with the student I used to be.
Growing up in the late 1970s and early 1980s, I wasn't a poor student, but I wasn't an exceptional one either. Like many classrooms of that era, school often meant sitting quietly, listening to lectures, copying notes, and memorizing information for the next test.
I did what was expected, but I rarely felt inspired. Looking back, I realize the problem wasn't that I didn't enjoy learning. It was that I didn't learn best by simply listening.
Everything changed when I discovered history and politics outside the classroom. Suddenly, history wasn't just dates in a textbook; it was unfolding in front of me.
That passion led me to Washington, D.C., where I spent the summer of 1987 interning on Capitol Hill during the Iran-Contra Hearings. One afternoon, while escorting constituents through the Capitol, someone asked me about the history of the building and the hearings we were attending. I loved telling the story. When we finished, one of the visitors smiled and said:
"You really should teach history and government. Students would love your passion."
At twenty years old, I smiled...and ignored the advice. At that point, I wanted nothing more than a career in politics. After returning home to Buffalo, I accepted another internship, this time working as an ombudsman representative for Governor Mario Cuomo. One weekend, during a staff event in Albany, we played a friendly softball game. Governor Cuomo was pitching. When I stepped into the batter's box, he jokingly told me to take a walk. I swung anyway. I popped out. Later that evening, during dinner at the Governor's Mansion, Governor Cuomo asked me to stand on a chair in front of everyone. After asking me a few questions, he smiled and asked, "Why didn't you listen to me?" Without thinking, I answered:
"Because I was always taught to think for myself."
After the laughter settled, Governor Cuomo walked over to me and quietly said, "You really should be a teacher." There it was again. A second person telling me I belonged in the classroom.
A few years later, I finally listened. When I began student teaching, I quickly discovered that becoming a teacher also meant inheriting the instructional methods I had experienced as a student. One cooperating teacher expected me to lecture, write notes on the chalkboard, and fill overhead transparencies while students copied everything into their notebooks. I remember looking around the room and thinking, "I'm teaching exactly the way I disliked being taught.
"Thankfully, another cooperating teacher changed my perspective. She gave me one simple piece of advice:
"Tell your story."
Evolution of Inquiry
Turning Point
The integration of AI into pedagogy served as a catalyst, reinforcing the need for human-centered inquiry as the ultimate safeguard for intellectual independence in a digital age.
Instead of simply delivering content, I began connecting historical events to my own experiences. Students started asking questions. Instead of giving them every answer, I responded with questions of my own. Looking back, I think that may have been my first real experience with inquiry.
When I landed my first teaching job, my classroom looked very different. Students worked together. They debated. They wrestled with questions. The room was active, noisy, and filled with discussion.
Before my first formal observation, I remember telling my assistant principal that what he was about to see might look like "controlled chaos." Today, we'd probably call it inquiry-based learning. Back then, I simply knew one thing: I never wanted to become the teacher I had been asked to be during student teaching. I wanted to create the classroom I wished I had experienced as a student. That promise has guided every lesson I've taught, every curriculum I've written, every teacher I've mentored, and ultimately, every page of Escape the Lecture Trap.
Today, as I begin my 33rd year in education, my mission has grown beyond my own classroom. Through Brothman Inquiry Consulting, my books, professional learning, and The Inquiry Exchange, I hope to help educators create classrooms where students don't simply receive information; they question it, discuss it, challenge it, and make it their own. Education isn't about teaching students what to think. It's about teaching them how to think.
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Welcome. Â
I'm glad you're here. Let's change classrooms... One question at a time.
My Mission Today
Systemic Impact
Empowering districts to integrate structured inquiry into core curriculum standards for sustainable student growth.
Global Reach
Advocating for inquiry-driven pedagogy across diverse academic landscapes, from local schools to global partnerships.