The Right Question Institute will be delivering two half-day workshops with the Olentangy Schools for teachers and instructional leaders involved in a district wide Professional Learning Community (PLC) focused on student agency. This is a closed event for educators of Olentangy Schools. Details about the sessions are as follows:
Morning Session
The morning session will be held for instructional leaders involved in Olentangy’s student agency PLC. The session will include:
- A discussion of the importance of the skill of question formulation for student-driven learning in school and self-advocacy in later life from various sources, including educators in the field, academics, and researchers.
- An active, collaborative learning experience using the Question Formulation Technique on an authentic challenge relevant to participants’ work in the PLC, likely on a prompt related to student agency. Participants will learn the strategy by doing it.
- An exploration of relevant student work examples and case studies from educators around the country demonstrating the application of the QFT for elementary, middle, high school, and beyond, including for adults in professional learning settings.
- An opportunity to reflect on and discuss principles for effective QFT facilitation for the dual purpose of teaching the QFT to students and coaching other teachers on how to use the strategy most effectively with students. Participants will analyze their own experience participating in the QFT as well as possibly view and analyze classroom footage.
- Hands-on, collaborative practice with QFT lesson planning and design. Participants will learn how to develop and test Question Focus (QFocus) prompts for use in their own setting and for the purpose of coaching others on QFT lesson design so that student outcomes align with the teacher’s objectives.
Morning Session Slides: Access Here
Afternoon Session
The afternoon session will be held for teachers involved in Olentangy’s student agency PLC. The session will include:
- A discussion of the importance of the skill of question formulation for student-driven learning in school and self-advocacy in later life from various sources, including educators in the field, academics, and researchers
- An active, collaborative learning experience using the Question Formulation Technique on an authentic challenge relevant to participants’ work in the PLC, likely on a prompt related to student agency. Participants will learn the strategy by doing it.
- An exploration of relevant student work examples and case studies from educators around the country demonstrating the application of the QFT across subjects and grades, focusing more on secondary humanities examples.
- Hands-on, collaborative practice with QFT lesson planning and design. Teachers will develop, test, and revise Question Focus (QFocus) prompts with their peers for use in their setting. They will complete half of a lesson plan and leave with tools to complete a full lesson plan after the session.
- A closing argument about the urgent importance of questioning now more than ever
- Opportunities for reflection
Afternoon Session Slides: Access Here