This is a free Teaching with the News lesson that was created by the Choices Program at Brown University. It uses the Right Question Formulation Technique. I invite you to have a look and use it in your middle or high school classroom!

Here's a Teaching Channel Tchrs' Voice blog series that began in March. Written by the Right Question Institute, the seven-part series includes clear explanations and videos of the Question Formulation Technique (QFT). Many of our members use the QFT effectively to support learning with primary sources.  

Pre K - 2 3 - 5 9 - 12 13+ question strategies QFT

Normally I do not use the TPS Teachers Network to recommend or endorse professional development outside the TPS program, but I know many teachers who have successfully used the Question Formulation Technique when working with primary sources. Others want to learn still more about the QFT.

The Right Question Institute is offering an online course from April 15 to May 5, 2019. You can find out more and register from the link in orange above this post.

The course is open to: 

• PreK-12 teachers across all content and subject areas
• Administrators, curriculum specialists, and instructional coaches

Cost is $199, and the course will require 10-12 hours of work. You'll get a certificate for 10 clock hours of instruction at the end.

If you do register for the course, please let the members of this group know how you plan to use it when teaching with primary sources. Better yet, report back when you have used the QFT in your classrooms!  

Pre K - 2 3 - 5 6 - 8 9 - 12 13+ QFT question strategies professional development teaching strategies  

Do you often find yourself throwing around the term "scaffolding" when you teach with primary source texts? This article by Alfie Kohn really got me thinking about how education tropes can trap us in one-size-fits-all teaching. 

I posted the link (orange bar above this post) here in the Question Strategies group specifically because of the last line: "Above all, the process of devising appropriate scaffolding would not displace the more important task of working with students to devise a thoughtful, question-based, learner-centered curriculum that involves understanding ideas from the inside out."

Of course, that one question-based link led me still deeper, but if you only have time to read the short article I've shared here, it'll be worth it!

Pre K - 2 3 - 5 6 - 8 9 - 12 scaffolding learner-centered curriculum teaching strategies

How can we as teachers and learners return to our 4-year-old selves - "that fearless and imaginative questioner we all used to be" - when we're working with primary sources? 

Warren Berger, a respected researcher who has been studying the art and science of questioning for three decades, writes that we can start, appropriately, by asking five questions:

1. Am I willing to be seen as naive?
2. Am I comfortable raising questions with no immediate answer?
3. Am I willing to move away from what I know?
4. Am I open to admitting I might be wrong?
5. Am I willing to slow down and consider?

Pre K - 2 3 - 5 6 - 8 9 - 12 teaching strategies questioning skills Warren Berger