Essential Questions

On page 102, the end of the assigned reading for Feb. 24, 2010, author Ken Robinson of The Element lists some question to help one "find their element." The questions are:

• Left to their [your] own devices, what are they [you] drawn to?
• What kinds of activities do they [you] tend to engage in voluntarily?
• What sorts of aptitude do they [your answers] suggest?
• What absorbs them [you] most?
• What sort of questions do they [you] ask, and what type of points do they [you] make?

He goes on to say "we need to understand what puts them and us in the zone. And we need to determine what implications that has for the rest of our lives." This is a tall order, but one that could really make the difference with some. We talked about asking the kids these questions, and structuring learning based on their answers. For instance, if the Holocaust was the unit to be studied,

• the student whose passion is art could be assigned the task of researching art movements and specific artists of the period
• the student whose passion is music could be assigned the task of researching and presenting music of the time
• sports enthusiasts, the athletes of the period
• the student whose passion is dance could perform an interpretive work bringing together music and other elements.
• the students who like to paint/draw could create posters, etc.
• and so on.

I said that I would try to locate some Readers Theater scripts that could hook kids with dramatic flair and they are listed in my previous post. I had also asked group participants bring some creative ideas to share with group that might hook kids/grab their interest. Sorry for not filling you in on the last ten minutes of the discussion, Becky! Thanks Judy and Susie, for sharing with us. For our next meeting (March 17th), I'd like the others in the group to bring some ideas. I'm going to post some more Readers Theater sites as well. Keep up the good work!