September Newsletter: Harvard Course & Legal Empowerment Webinar in October | An In-Person Invitation

Our course with Harvard in October

Our online course with the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Teaching Students to Ask Their Own Questions: Best Practices in the Question Formulation Technique, covers how to apply the QFT across multiple grade levels and academic subjects, from early learner classrooms through higher education.

It’s ideal for people who want to help make questioning, inquiry, curiosity, and critical thinking a central part of students’ learning experience.

For those of you already using the QFT to build cultures of questioning and curiosity in your own schools, this can be a great opportunity to introduce your colleagues to the QFT.

Learn more | Register by October 7

October webinar on fostering client agency and self-advocacy skills

Join us on October 23, at 1 p.m. Eastern time, for our free legal empowerment webinar. We offer these webinars throughout the year. They include active participation and the chance to meet colleagues who are interested in building people’s capacity to advocate for themselves, navigate systems, and take action on their own behalf — in the legal system and beyond.

Building worker power using the QFT

New technologies, such as artificial intelligence and algorithmic management systems, have rapidly changed the experiences of workers — and will continue to do so. A multi-organization group focused on worker rights has written a soon-to-be-unveiled toolkit that is “designed to facilitate worker- and community-based discussions, strategizing, and power-building on workplace and social justice issues that intersect with work and technology.” The toolkit offers a number of different workshop ideas, including “Our Questions, Our Knowledge,” using the Question Formulation Technique. Join the toolkit’s authors on September 27 for a virtual discussion: “Building Worker Power in the Digital Age.”

Learn more: Building Worker Power in the Digital Age

NCTE and NCSS conferences this November

The National Council of Teachers of English and the National Council for the Social Studies are holding conferences in Boston from November 21 to 24. We’ll be at both, so drop by and say hello. Also, mark your calendars: As part of the NCSS conference, we’ll be hosting a social event on November 22. You’re invited, and we hope to see you there! We’ll provide more details in upcoming newsletters and at the conference.

“Why Vote?”: a nonpartisan online resource

You can help build a stronger democracy where all people, including those who have traditionally not voted, are motivated and determined to vote. The Right Question Institute’s nonpartisan “Why Vote?” Tool and accompanying resources focus on having people discover for themselves the value of voting. Direct service providers, educators, community organizers, and voter mobilization efforts can use the tool for voter engagement and education.

Visit rightquestion.org/WhyVote

What we’re reading

Here are a few stories that caught our attention recently.

Humanizing History by Teaching with Primary Sources — KQED MindShift

American Lesson Plan: Teaching US History in Secondary Schools — American Historical Association

Can AI Be Used Effectively in Class? — Classroom Q&A with Larry Ferlazzo, Education Week

Rumor Guard — News Literacy Project

Upcoming events

Here are some upcoming ways to learn with us.

Oct. 15-Nov. 4: Teaching Students to Ask Their Own Questions: Best Practices in the Question Formulation Technique. Register by October 7.

Oct. 23: Foster Client Agency Through Building Self-Advocacy Skills.

Nov. 7: Encourage Curiosity, Spark Inquiry: Teach Students to Ask Their Own Questions. At the National Science Teaching Association conference in New Orleans.

Nov. 21-24: Find us at the National Council of Teachers of English conference.

Nov. 22-24: Find us at the National Council for the Social Studies Conference.

Nov. 22: You’re invited to our social event at the NCSS conference. More details in upcoming newsletters and at the conference.

The difference you make for the price of a coffee

The Right Question Institute is a small, independent nonprofit organization. When you make a recurring monthly gift of any size — the price of a cup of coffee, perhaps — 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. Recurring monthly donations help provide stability and predictability that make this work possible. Thank you for your support.

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