5 Ways to Help Your Students Become Better Questioners The humble question is an indispensable tool: the spade that helps us dig for truth, or the flashlight that illuminates surrounding darkness. Questioning helps us learn, explore the unknown, and adapt to change. That makes it a most precious “app” today, in a world where everything is changing and so much is unknown. And yet, we don’t seem to value questioning as much as we should. For the most part, in our workplaces as well as our classrooms, it is the answers we reward -- while the questions are barely tolerated. To change that is easier said than done. How to Encourage Questioning 1. Asking a question can be a scary step into the void. 2. This is a tough one. 3. Part of the appeal of “questions-only” exercises is that there’s an element of play involved, as in: Can you turn that answer/statement into a question? 4. 5. If the long-term goal is to create lifelong questioners, then the challenge is to make questioning a habit -- a part of the way one thinks.
AKAR: Art / Artists / Hill, Steven I simply have to make pots! While making pottery nourishes my soul, selling it puts food on my table. When I am sitting at the potters’ wheel with music reverberating through my studio, life is good! A trip to Italy in 1995 profoundly influenced my direction with glazing. I also love the atmospheric variation that occurs naturally across the surface of salt, soda and wood fired pots, but fired in gas reduction throughout my career. In December 2008 I discovered that reduction plays a rather insignificant role in the finished look of my pottery. Sometimes I wonder what direction my life would have taken if I had not discovered clay. BIOGRAPHY Steven Hill has been a functional potter since 1974, originally working out of a backyard studio and selling his work mostly at art festivals. Steven Hill received his BFA from Kansas State University in 1973. Steven's writing ranges from technical to philosophical. Early in his career, Steven discovered his passion for teaching.
Resources and Downloads to Facilitate Inquiry-Based Learning Create Learning Environments That Foster Inquiry Plan Curriculum That Supports Inquiry Use Strategies to Increase Inquiry in the Classroom Conduct Activities That Promote Inquiry Query Books: Ask students to chronicle their ideas, ponderings, and questions. (Edutopia, 2014)Hackathons: Check out a hackathon playbook to plan activities that provide experiences with overcoming failure. Downloads and Examples From Schools That Work Edutopia's flagship series highlights practices and case studies from K-12 schools and districts that are improving the way students learn. At Wildwood IB World Magnet School, teachers use student questions to drive lessons, and channel student curiosity into student-centered projects. video See how Ralston Elementary School teachers guide the inquiry process over a series of lessons and teach students how to ask deeper questions to prepare them to lead their own inquiry into specific problems.
Artist Statement « Kristen Kieffer I make pottery that brings elegance, sophistication, and merriment to the everyday. I have a diverse range of influences, and seek to marry the splendor of past eras with a modern desire for beauty and utility. My influences for these Victorian modern porcelain vessels range from 18th century silver service pieces to couture clothing and from Art Nouveau illustrations to cake fondant. Graceful forms, refined patterns, and lively colors convey a design that is robust as well as elegant and joyful. (More…) I am intrigued by the relationship between function and ornamentation: observing how decoration informs use, questioning the balance between utility and beauty, and appreciating that—in past eras—the two could indeed happily coexist in one object. As I throw, alter and build with clay, I am drawing in three-dimensions, deciding what kind of line, edge and shadow will best accentuate the pot’s silhouette.
10 Tips For Launching An Inquiry-Based Classroom Transforming teaching practices is a long, slow road. But increasingly schools and teachers experiencing success are sharing their ideas online and in-person. Science Leadership Academy opened as a public magnet school almost ten years ago in Philadelphia. The educators that make up the school community have spent nearly half that time sharing best practices through a school-run conference each year and more recently by opening a second school in Philadelphia. Diana Laufenberg was one of the first SLA teachers and has gone on to help foster inquiry at schools around the country, most recently by starting the non-profit Inquiry Schools. It takes time to build up a strong inquiry-based teaching practice, to learn how to direct student questions with other questions, and to get comfortable in a guiding role. 1. Every teacher has a “bucket” of stuff she is responsible for teaching her students, known as standards. 2. 3. 4. 5. She doesn’t think it’s that different from history. 6. 7. 8. 9.
Writing to a Photograph Lesson Plan Kathryn GregoryMultiple Subject Teacher Students will develop a plan for a fictional story based on a picture. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.3 - Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences. Objectives & Outcomes Students will write a narrative to develop an imagined experience or event using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences. Materials Needed A copy of the picture (provided)PencilOverhead projector or elmoGraphic organizer (provided) Procedure Opening to Lesson The following opening could be very different depending on your class. Body of Lesson Now teacher gives copies of photos to students, or displays the photo on the overhead. Closing Once students have completed the graphic organizer with as much detail as possible, students will be ready to write a creative fictional essay based on their graphic organizer. Assessment & Evaluation Modification & Differentiation
Bringing Inquiry-Based Learning Into Your Class In the shallow end of the Types of Student Inquiry pool, Structured Inquiry gives the teacher control of the essential question, the starting point—for example, “What defines a culture?” or “What is the importance of the scientific method?” These questions are not answered in a single lesson and do not have a single answer, and, in fact, our understanding of an essential question may change over time as we research it. In Controlled Inquiry, the teacher provides several essential questions. And finally, in the deep end of the inquiry pool, Free Inquiry allows learners, with the support of the teacher, to construct their own essential question, research a wide array of resources, customize their learning activities, and design their own summative assessment to demonstrate their learning. How Are the Types of Student Inquiry Helpful? Inquiry is most successful when strongly scaffolded. How to Move Forward in Adopting Inquiry Second, think big and start small.
Speaking a Common Math Language-Education Closet For today’s Free Friday, we’re providing you with a way that you can start speaking a common math language in your school. This is the companion resource to yesterday’s popular “Literacy and Arts Common Vocabulary” chart. Today’s chart shares with you the common vocabulary between Math and the Arts. This is definitely more of a struggle to find in terms of actual vocabulary items, which I find a little ironic, given the easy parallels between the Math Practices found in the Common Core Math Standards and the Arts. Never fear! We hope you’ve found these two resources helpful in your transition to Common Core and that we can continue to find ways that the arts can be and are partners in rigorous instructional practices for all students. Download Your Copy Right Here Susan Riley is the founder and President of EducationCloset.com.
A Brilliant Question Not Essential There is a difference between essential questions and brilliant questions. While essential questions touch upon the most important issues of life, they are rarely brilliant. Essential questions touch our hearts and souls. They are central to our lives. They help to define what it means to be human. Most important thought during our lives will center on such essential questions. What does it mean to be a good friend? In contrast with essential questions, brilliant questions are important for their power to unlock mysteries and open doors. What will it take to win her heart? Brilliant questions may also be essential, but they almost always deal with strategy and change of some sort. A Vivid Example In studying important figures from history we might ask the essential question, "What kind of person was Joan of Arc or Matthew Flinders?" But all this gathering may not bring us to the heart of the matter. Here is where the brilliant question comes into play. Where did Joan go wrong?
Creative Ways to Teach Vocabulary | Teaching Academic Vocabulary This week, let’s start with an experiment: Take a look at this artwork by William H. Johnson. Imagine yourself as a student who has just experienced a study of William H. Johnson and artists of the Harlem Renaissance, and then running into this task: Describe the betydelse of the Harlem in this work of art. Are you stuck on a certain word? Vocabulary is crucial to students’ success in school. Tier One: Basic vocabulary- words that most students know without instruction (baby, clock, plant) Tier Two: General academic vocabulary- High-frequency words that occur across domains (influence, coincidence, amusing) Tier Three: Domain Specific vocabulary- Low-frequency words (peninsula, lathe, decimal) One of the best entry points for arts integration is common vocabulary. Certain words are not included in any tier but are essential to students’ success. Typically, I advocate for Arts Integration to occur in the regular classroom. Resources:
Fostering Student Questions: Strategies for Inquiry-Based Learning 1. The Question Formulation Technique The Question Formulation Technique offers a starting place to teach students how to construct questions that meet their needs. The QFT is a process for coaching students on the value and pitfalls of closed-ended and open-ended questions, including where and how to use them. 2. One challenge to generating substantive questions and ideas is getting every student's voice heard. Post a topic as a statement starter or a question on chart paper for small groups. Traditionally, the teacher collects the results at the end to use as data for later activities based on the students' contributions. 3. One challenge with reading articles or other pieces of writing is getting students to read for meaning and make connections beyond summary. Divide students into groups of 2-4. This process encourages students to express themselves and explore their ideas with a group. 4. It's amazing what students come up with when the teacher is silent. No Time to Wait