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"Here's the one big lesson we've learned: Agency begins with being able to ask your own questions and continues with the ability to participate in decisions that affect you wherever and whenever they are made. That's the one big lesson from nearly three decades of work and it has implications from the micro level of our daily lives to the highest levels of decision-making in our democracy. For it's possible to imagine a dictatorship that discourages citizens from asking questions, but we should not accept a democracy in which questions cannot be asked. A strong sense of agency, and self-efficacy on a fundamental level is actually a precursor, a foundation for more effective action on any level of our democracy. It's the beginning of the journey towards democratic action, not its completion. Skip over it however, and you get pretty much the status quo we've got today. If you're happy with that, don't bother to read on. How do we translate this one big idea, one big lesson into action? We've been working on trying to answer just one question in the simplest way possible: How can we democratize access to the deceptively simple yet very sophisticated skills of question formulation and effective participation in decisions? Let's focus here on just the first skill; question formulation. It is no small matter to teach the skill; it's often developed only through high levels of professional education and with years of experience. Indeed, access to them can be difficult and costly. In 2002, The New York Times asked college presidents what should students learn in four years of college. There was a consensus that students could not come out of college knowing all there is to know so college should, according to Leon Botstein of Bard College, "engender a lifelong habit of curiosity, as opposed to becoming more convinced that you are an authority." He went on to say students should learn "analytical skills of interpretation and inquiry. In other word

Without question, Tom Robinson would be better off today. In fact, Tom Robinson could live a life completely unimaginable and unrecognizable to the characters in Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird" - the groundbreaking book, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this week.  No lynchings.  No all white male juries.  No presumption of guilt based on skin color.  No state-sanctioned discrimination. Yet, Tom would realize a sad, but undeniable truth -- that racism is still alive and all too well in contemporary America.  He would know it in the economic injustice that has left a disproportionate number of African-Americans -- 25 percent -- living in poverty.   He would see it in the criminal injustice that has left a disproportionate number of African-American men - 6 times the number of white, non-Hispanic men -- living in jails and prisons.  And he would feel it in the hate-filled, racist rhetoric that still defines too much of our political discourse - rhetoric that questions the Civil Rights Act, rhetoric that questions the birthplace of our President.

recently introduced Costa's Levels of Questioning to my students. We have some teachers at my school talking about these triggers of metacognition, so it compliments everyone's efforts to enter this discussion in the classroom. In a nutshell, Costa's questions are a more staccato version of Bloom's Taxonomy, making it more accessible to more students

"Here, then, are the most basic answers to your most basic questions. First, a disclaimer: Syria and its history are really complicated; this is not an exhaustive or definitive account of that entire story, just some background, written so that anyone can understand it."

"The question of humanitarian intervention has to be rethought thoroughly for our time. Today, it is nearly impossible to commit crimes against humanity in secret; efficient communication media will bring them to light immediately. We are more intimately engaged by them and with them than we were in the past. These acts that shock human conscience evoke the question of whether it is our responsibility to intervene, and what might be the moral justifications behind such intervention. "

""Talking Turkey" does just that. It starts with a series of downloadable questions, talking points and research links designed to teach children and adults the art of civil political discourse. Among the many pointers are guidelines for how to ask and answer questions, reminders to treat others' responses the way you would want yours treated and tips on how to ensure that everyone is given an equal opportunity to speak."

"Teaching Mockingbird suggests a central question around which a class's study of Harper Lee's novel can be organized: What factors influence our moral growth? What kinds of experiences help us learn how to judge right from wrong?  As students read and reflect on the novel, they return to this question and can begin to make deeper and broader connections between the novel and their own moral and ethical lives. They begin by considering the pivotal moments in their lives that shape who they are and their senses of right and wrong.  Then they analyze how the characters in To Kill A Mockingbird change over the course of the story, identifying pivotal moments in the story that influence how the characters think about morality and justice.  The complete Teaching Mockingbird guide also introduces models of moral development that have emerged from the field of developmental psychology, which students can use as the basis for even deeper character analysis."

"The videos demonstrate the process of facilitating group learning about media literacy. Students are prompted to think critically about all media messages by asking questions such as: * Who produced this media message, and for what purpose? * Is the information credible, how would you know? * What techniques were used to communicate this message? * Who might be the target audience? * Who might benefit or be harmed by this message? * How might other people interpret this message differently? As shown in the videos, teachers respond with evidence-based prompts such as: "What makes you say that and where is that shown in the document?" These literacy principles are often preceded by content questions that encourage students to analyze media documents, including: * What are the main messages here about… (fill in the blank)? * What bias or point of view do you see here? * What information is left out of this message and why? Project Look Sharp developed these materials after assessing how some teachers present media documents to illustrate key points rather than to engage students. The videos include running annotations that explain how to conduct discussions about media messages using the constructivist methodology. Teachers will learn how to shift their practices from predominantly delivering facts to engaging students in rigorous analysis, application of key knowledge, and reflection on their understanding of the mediated world they live in."

"Congressional debate over whether to authorize the president to use force in Syria can serve a useful purpose if it forces the administration to clarify what it hopes to achieve by using force against Syria and how it intends to achieve that object: in other words, our political aims and our strategy to achieve them.  Specifically, Congress should ask the administration to answer the following questions:"

"On this day in 1963, more than 200,000 people marched in Washington, D.C. with that question in mind. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of that march, we're revisiting the articles written by four American icons who helped lead the country toward that historic moment."

If "Broadway Melody" had a tune there wouldn't be anything to stop it from being another cinema "Fool." It's the first flash New York has had as to how the studios are going after musical comedy numbers and there's no question of the potent threat to the stage producers. The boys had better lift the body over to this 45th street corner and take a peck at the latest Hollywood menace.

Most Americans want their children to grow up to be "colorblind" when it comes to race. As a result, many parents, particularly white ones, don't discuss race with their children at all. But research demonstrates that babies as young as six months can recognize racial differences. And as they get older, kids start mentally categorizing people based on their race, whether they've been taught to by their parents or not. In fact, the authors of the book NurtureShock argue that parents' silence on the question may be exacerbating the problem. In the absence of open discussions about the role of race in kids' lives, they draw their own conclusions, some of which would be horrifying to progressive parents.

What made America? What makes us? These two questions are at the heart of the new PBS series Faces of America with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. The Harvard scholar turns to the latest tools of genealogy and genetics to explore the family histories of 12 renowned Americans

The essence of inquiry-based learning is that children participate in the planning, development and evaluation of projects and activities. Teachers can take many approaches to crafting an inquiry-based project, but Dr. Cornelia Brunner of the Center for Children and Technology breaks it into four main parts: Posing Real Questions, Finding Relevant Resources, Interpreting Information and Reporting Findings.

Welcome to the EC Ning Online Workshop on Nazi Propaganda presented by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Your facilitators are Carol Danks and Laurie Schaefer, both Museum Teacher Fellows and members of the Regional Education Corps for the USHMM.  This workshop will last for 21 days, from January 30-February 19th. So that you can best plan your time, here is the general outline for the workshop: Introduction & Overview: "State of Deception: Nazi Propaganda Online Workshop" January 30-February 1: Orientation to the State of Deception Website and Media Literacy questions February 2nd -7th Module 1: Exploring the concept of Inclusion through the theme: Defining the Enemy, Making a Leader, Rallying the Nation, and Indoctrinating the Youth. February 8th-12th: Module 2: Exploring the concept of Exclusion through the theme: Defining the Enemy February 13th-16th: Module 3: Propagating messages of Inclusion and Exclusion through the themes: Writing the News and Deceiving the Public February 17th: Module 4: Exploring Post Holocaust Propaganda and De-Nazification through the theme: Assessing the Guilt February 18th-19th: Teaching about Propaganda in the classroom: Resources, Lessons, Online Polls  

We make much of bad test results and idiotic answers to civics questions from the young Americans Jay Leno stops on Los Angeles street corners. It's fun, but it is also misleading. We are promoting what Paxton calls "the false notion that the biggest problem facing history students today involves the retention of decontextualized historical facts." He and Wineburg, both education professors, say we should decide what history is worth knowing and teach it well. "The thousand-page behemoths that we call textbooks violate every principle of human memory that we know of," Wineburg said

Recently New York magazine published an article called "Paper Tigers: What Happens to All Of The Asian-American Overachievers When the Test-taking Ends?" The-test taking in that headline refers to Asian-American students' over-representation in almost every index of achievement in education. And the what-happens question refers to their under-representation in corporate leadership. Wesley Yang wrote that article, and he joined us, along with Jane Hyun. She's a leadership strategist and executive coach who's the author of "Breaking The Bamboo Ceiling."

This all started with Rodney King. More to the point, it started with a plumber named George Holliday. Had he not been video recording from his balcony, that night in 1991 might have been business as usual for L.A. police who struck King, a harmless drunk, 50 times with their batons, breaking his leg, his cheekbone and his skull. Had Holliday not captured video proof to the contrary, they might have gotten away with some lame excuse: oops, he slipped on the stairs. But thanks to Holliday's camera, we all knew better. Twenty years latter, cameras have become ubiquitous. They have captured entertainer meltdowns, crashes, tasings, deaths and a seemingly endless carnival of police misbehavior: questionable beatings, controversial shootings and unprovoked violence by those we hire to protect and to serve. Perhaps not surprisingly, many police now identify cameras as the enemy.

"How can we engage teenagers in the civic process? How can government leaders connect with young people in the classroom? And what, exactly, is fake news? These were some of the questions a panel of civic leaders discussed at Kankakee Community College as part of the 2017 Illinois Civics Academy for Teachers, a regional conference for teachers looking for innovative ways to implement the Illinois civic education requirements. The Wednesday afternoon panel was moderated by Kristine Condon, professor and program coordinator in paralegal/legal assistant studies and KCC's business and technology division. "