Chapter 5 - Ask Tons of Questions!While on vacation, I found myself sitting on the beach pondering the wonder of the ocean and asking lots of questions! We do this often while on vacation - have intriguing conversations that begin with a question that may lead us down a rabbit hole of more questions about the mysteries of our world!
Questions such as;
These are all questions we've asked, pondered, discussed and eventually research to find some answers...while on vacation! We're intrigued, curious, and want to know MORE. These moments of intrigue come when we have time to sit, observe and wonder in silence. We're not afraid to ask questions of each other and learn from one another. So how do we create this environment, these situations in our classrooms? I like the image that John Spencer creates of his classroom with "students sitting silently...tapping into their natural curiosity." He provides time for students to think, question and write. It's as simple as setting the class time aside to allow students this opportunity. Spencer follows this 10 minute independent time with collaborative learning opportunities. Students share their questions in a comfortable environment. Asking questions becomes routine and part of the learning process. As a STEM committee we have discussed and agree that our students lack the skills they need to truly and effectively engage in the 4 Cs - collaboration, creativity, critical thinking and communication. That's why we need to create routine opportunities for students to practice these skills. In 10-15 minutes, students think critically about what questions they have, then communicate in a collaborative learning situation to discuss their questions and possible answers with their peers. Spencer and Juliani state specifically that, "...asking good questions is a skill that requires practice, training, and mentoring." Spencer shares from his own personal experiences that students do not come to his science classroom with the skills they need to ask deep, meaningful questions. It takes time and explicit practice. Unfortunately, the wonder we all have as young children becomes inhibited. We have to make it comfortable, natural and normal again for students to ask questions about our world! In chapter 5, Ask Tons of Questions, Spencer and Juliani list 14 different strategies we can use to engage students in questioning. I know some of our MS teams are considering a Genius Hour for the 2017-2018 school year. Number 2 on the list of strategies - Do Wonder Days - reminds me of this Genius Hour concept where we allow students to explore anything they are interested in! They have the choice to learn about something that intrigues them. The topic doesn't matter because the practice of the 4 C skills is what's critical. I also like number 7 on the list - Provide Support - where they discuss the use of guiding questions and sentence stems. This is an easy strategy our STEM committee can share with teachers for daily use across all subject areas. We can provide teachers with a list of sentence stems and some ways to incorporate them into daily lessons. To end, my current thoughts for where to begin with STEM training at the middle school include 1) Clarifying and defining creative thinking, so we all have a common language and vision. 2) Stressing the importance of engaging students in asking questions - in all subject areas. As Spencer and Juliani quote (p. 106), "You cannot empower students to be self-directed, responsible, critical-thinking people if they can't ask their own questions. At that point, you're teaching compliance rather than responsibility." In other words, asking questions is probably the most critical skill for success in engaging students in the critical thinking, collaborative learning, creative thinking and communication (4 Cs). Share your thoughts! Do you agree? Disagree? Do you have a different vision of where to begin our training with staff?
4 Comments
Therese Bukousky
7/20/2017 01:36:41 pm
I think "Wonder days" would fit in easily during WIN. We could have students research and report on their interests.
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Laura
7/31/2017 09:41:12 pm
Love your idea of a blog! I think you could easily do this on the chromebooks using a google site. It's also secure web space so that only users in our district can see the content.
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Laura
7/31/2017 09:53:39 pm
"Creative classrooms are the ones where students are able to question answers as often as they answer questions." (p. 100).
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Crystal
8/2/2017 09:18:28 am
This is a great quote! I find it so unfortunate that we basically have to retrain students to be comfortable asking questions. Asking questions about the world around them or how things work is so natural when kids are young, but we lose that at some point - probably because adults tell us to STOP ASKING QUESTIONS!
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Crystal GrossmanI love... reading, learning, instructional planning, brainstorming, being creative, working with young adults, collaborating with teachers, teaching. I love my job. Archives
February 2018
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