August Newsletter | Tools and Inspiration for a New School Year

Videos and podcasts for the start of school

Questions and curiosity are at the heart of learning. How do you bring these elements into your classroom? Here are some videos and podcasts that may give you inspiration for the new school year.

Online courses at Harvard

This fall, RQI is offering two online courses through the Harvard Graduate School of Education that may interest you.

Questions at the Core: Extending the Question Formulation Technique to Sustain an Inquiry-based Culture in Schools: If you already have experience using the QFT (perhaps you’ve taken the course below), this course can help you deepen the culture of inquiry in your classroom, school, or district — and you’ll walk away with an action plan for doing it. It runs from September 12 to October 2. The registration deadline is September 1.
Teaching Students to Ask Their Own Questions: Best Practices in the Question Formulation Technique: This is our flagship course that introduces educators to the art and science of using the QFT. It runs from October 17 to November 6. The registration deadline is October 9.

Both courses are for educators at all grade levels (including higher education) and academic disciplines.

Popular QFT resources

Whether you’re new to the Question Formulation Technique or could use a refresher, here are some helpful resources.

Designing systems for wellbeing

This month, RQI’s Legal Empowerment Program is joining the Wellbeing Blueprint Design Challenge — organized by the Full Frame Initiative. This challenge is an opportunity to practice designing projects, initiatives, and policy recommendations that create equitable access to wellbeing. If you’re interested in taking systems change to the next level, this opportunity can spark new ways of thinking. Here’s a video about RQI’s contribution.

Learn more about the design challenge

Using questions on the first day of school

As this blog post says, “Every fall, teachers look for new ways to kick off the year on a high note.” The Question Formulation Technique is one way to help set the stage, to signal that curiosity, energy, positivity, and collaboration are woven into the fabric of classroom culture.

Starting out with questions in calculus

“I wanted to jump straight into the action on day one,” writes veteran math teacher Christine Relleva. Here’s how she got her AP and Honors Calculus students asking questions at the start of the year.

First Day of School: Using the QFT in AP and Honors Calculus

Upcoming events

Here are some upcoming opportunities to learn with us:

Sept. 12-Oct. 2: Questions at the Core: Extending the Question Formulation Technique to Sustain an Inquiry-based Culture in Schools. Registration deadline: September 1.

Sept. 27: Student Questioners, Student Investigators. In partnership with Retro Report.

Oct. 17-Nov. 6: Teaching Students to Ask Their Own Questions: Best Practices in the Question Formulation Technique. Registration deadline: October 9.

What we’re reading

Here are some stories that got us thinking, and asking questions, this month:

‘A second prison’: People face hidden dead ends when they pursue a range of careers post-incarceration — The Hechinger Report

Varying Degrees 2023: New America’s Seventh Annual Survey on Higher Education — New America

How extroverted teachers can engage introverted students — KQED MindShift

A focus on phonics or comprehension? What reading research should look like in practice — Education Week

What your gifts mean

When you make a gift to the Right Question Institute, you help bring free resources to teachers and schools. Plus, you help equip people in low-income communities with skills and strategies for solving problems, participating in decisions, and making their voices heard — contributing to a more inclusive educational system, society, and democracy. Thank you for your support.

Read our 2022 annual impact report

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