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Teachers have known for a long time that, in many ways, the learning outcomes can only be as advanced as the essential question that drives the learning. Maybe it takes a certain professional confidence, or a firm belief in your students, to hand over control of that important step. 

Hi Aaron, this is great food for thought. do you know of wiggins & mctighe model? they have a great method of determining, arriving at, and ultimately crafting these questions. it would be an interesting step to craft them in conjunction with the students. thanks, garth.

"If I could go back and change my classes now, I would immediately: Offer brief, blitzkrieg-like mini-lessons with engaging, assessment-for-learning-type activities following directly on their heels (e.g. a ten-minute lecture on Whitman's life and poetry, followed by small-group work in which teams scour new poems of his for the very themes and notions expressed in the lecture, and then share out or perform some of them to the whole group while everyone takes notes on the findings.) set an egg timer every time I get up to talk and all eyes are on me. When the timer goes off, I am done. End of story. I can go on and on. I love to hear myself talk. I often cannot shut up. This is not really conducive to my students' learning, however much I might enjoy it. Ask every class to start with students' Essential Questions or just general questions born of confusion from the previous night's reading or the previous class's discussion. I would ask them to come in to class and write them all on the board, and then, as a group, ask them to choose which one we start with and which ones need to be addressed. This is my biggest regret right now - not starting every class this way. I am imagining all the misunderstandings, the engagement, the enthusiasm, the collaborative skills, and the autonomy we missed out on because I didn't begin every class with fifteen or twenty minutes of this."

"when students are given 3 or more seconds of undisturbed "wait-time," there are certain positive outcomes: * The length and correctness of their responses increase. * The number of their "I don't know" and no answer responses decreases. * The number of volunteered, appropriate answers by larger numbers of students greatly increases. * The scores of students on academic achievement tests tend to increase. When teachers wait patiently in silence for 3 or more seconds at appropriate places, positive changes in their own teacher behaviors also occur: * Their questioning strategies tend to be more varied and flexible. * They decrease the quantity and increase the quality and variety of their questions. * They ask additional questions that require more complex information processing and higher-level thinking on the part of students."

Error analysis - how can we incorporate this into students final evaluation mark? Isn't having students understand their errors a key part in education? Maybe evaluation doesn't finish once you've handed the assignment/test back?

"Test your own level of innovation.  If you answer no to all Six Questions when evaluating the design of assignments and student work, than chances are that technology is not really being applied in the most innovative ways. The questions we ask to evaluate implementation and define innovation are critical." Did the assignment build capacity for critical thinking on the web? Did the assignment develop new lines of inquiry? Are there opportunities for students to make their thinking visible? Are there opportunities to broaden the perspective of the conversation with authentic audiences from around the world? Is there an opportunity for students to create a contribution (purposeful work)? Does the assignment demo "best in the world" examples of content and skill?

For those of us who lead teachers; for those of us who seek feedback from others; and for those of us who want to buid a culture of sharing and feedback, this is a great read!

How important are questions? Just ask!

"Think your school is innovative with tech? Answer these 6 questions and prepare to reassess" Clear thinking about moving forward in Ed Tech.

How can we help those who never put up there hands?

Lately I have tried something where I tell the students I will be asking at least 21 questions (the number of students in my class) and for them to choose the question they will answer. Some of the questions were simple yes/no, but it got those who never say anything, putting their hand up and answering a question. I even got a smile from some of them.

This will give you all the resources needed to get you started in PBL... If you're interested read the links at the bottom to further your understanding...

Are we really using technology to make our assignments/tasks/activities/lessons INNOVATIVE?

Great questions to ask ourselves and our colleagues as we move deeper into integrating tech into our everyday practice

Google's impact on thinking and teaching

"Derek Muller from YouTube's Veritasium will present a webcast on Wednesday November 27, 2013 at 7pm EST from the Mike Lazaridis Theatre of Ideas at Perimeter Institute.Derek will discuss the question: Do videos really improve student learning? Derek's PhD in physics education research suggests the answer may be no! In this one hour talk, he will share insights from his research as well as the incredible physics phenomena he has captured for his YouTube channel.Derek Muller created the popular YouTube channel Veritasium in January 2011. With almost 1 million subscribers, Derek's 140 videos have received over 45 million views."

Hi Justin- Derek Muller spoke to our students last week. I can't speak to the level of conceptual understanding students achieve from watching the videos, but I witnessed some serious engagement and excitement about science and physics in particular. He encouraged the audience to ask questions and observe the science all around them. Sounds like a great complement to inquiry-based learning.

"Sometimes we assume our child knows what the family standard is for laptop or computer use, but we find it extremely helpful when families explicitly talk things through so there are no misunderstandings. Pre-established limit setting and boundaries are still necessary with students today. We encourage parents to start these conversations early, so they can set the right expectations of behavior with their students, before the device reaches home. We recommend beginning over the summer and continuing the conversation throughout the school year. A written agreement posted near the computer helps your student refer back to it when he or she has a question or forgets. We highly recommend that families have these agreements between parents and students in place before school laptops come home, and to share the information with any caregivers. It is never too late to start this process."

Innovative ideas around routines

List of technology tools for a variety of classroom purposes. And THEN a list of classroom purposes connected to questions. Useful for planning and "ideation". 

Great article on the strategies and rethinking of them in Math class for younger grades

Ask yourself these questions when designing authentic projects!

"Ever since journalist Nicholas Carr posed a provocative question-"Is Google Making Us Stupid?"-in a widely-read 2008 Atlantic magazine article, we've been arguing about whether the new generation of digital devices is leading us to become smarter, or stupider, than we were before. Now psychologists and cognitive scientists are beginning to deliver their verdicts. Here, the research on an array of technological helpers:"