Here’s a snapshot of blogs, articles, ideas, opportunities and interesting thought pieces we’ve recently discovered on the web. We invite you to send us a quick line on what you find as well! Don’t forget to join the conversation anytime—participate in our Educator Network, find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
THE POWER OF QUESTIONS
Let’s begin with Leon Neyfakh’s Boston Globe article about the importance of questions. He writes that questions can “expand minds, inspire new ideas, and give us surprising power.” Over the last 20 years, our work has focused not only on how to promote a culture of classroom question-asking, but on how people from low and moderate-income communities, parents, and patients can use questions to advocate for themselves and participate in decision-making.
If you want to learn more about our work, we are offering two sessions of our Summer Seminar, on July 16-17 and 23-24 at Suffolk University Law School in Boston. The Summer Seminar builds on the concepts of Make Just One Change: Teach Students to Ask Their Own Question (Harvard Education Press, 2011) written by RQI’s co-Directors Luz Santana and Dan Rothstein. There are only 40 days left to register and spaces are filling fast, so register now! Take a look at some other ideas we’ve found on questions.
- Grant Lichtman argues that one way to “REALLY” measure your school is to gauge the “ratio of time spent by students in class asking questions to the time spent answering questions.”
- Carl Richards’ post for the NY Times Blog, “Busts,” tells us that “as simple as it sounds, it all really goes back to the idea of asking the right question.”
- Watch Dr. Tony Wagner’s TEDx NYED talk on the four major competencies students need to continue learning throughout their lifetimes as determined by teachers and administrators. What’s the first on the list? The ability to ask the “right question.”
A COLLECTION ON COLLABORATION
- On Edutopia.org, Mariko Nobori chronicles Manor New Technology High School’s success with using the project-based learning (PBL) technique—which helped the school reach a 98% graduation rate.
- Jamer Hunt’s article on collaborative learning argues that solving the world’s complex problems requires teaching people how to work together.
- In her “Learning is Growing” blog, Kathleen Perret writes about different learning approaches and the need for students “to contribute to society not just ‘be in society.’”
- In a closer look on the “flipped classroom,”Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post finds that when students are given more ownership of their learning, they demonstrate more compassion and engagement.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this first in our regular series of web roundups! What have you been reading? Share your thoughts below.
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