On today's episode of Life's Next Lesson Plan Podcast, I'll be talking about how the
pivotal AP capstone training I had, alongside reading the book A Curious Mind, changed my
mindset and my approach to teaching forever.
I'll cover some book highlights and talk you through the question formulation technique,
or the QFT, that can be used in any situation with any age.
It would even be fun to do at a social gathering.
Wait, that might make me sound like a nerd.
Anyway, hope you enjoy this episode!
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Thank you for joining me for another episode of Life's Next Lesson Plan.
I'm Rachel and I started this podcast during my 29th and last year as a high school teacher.
The goal of my work with this podcast as well as my live and learn patreon is to create
a connection where we are all teachers.
We all have lessons and stories to share that can help others.
I'm so fortunate to be able to extend the four walls of my previous classroom to an
unlimited audience where we can all learn from each other.
And my guests are some of the most inspirational people with the best stories and lessons I
know, which is why I want to share them with you.
Their words are something everyone should hear.
It is my hope that you are able to take away something from each episode to apply to your
own life, whether that be a career search, a path to a more fulfilling life, or some
new ideas on some current topics.
Today I'm going to go back about eight or nine years to when our high school decided
to add AP capstone classes to our course offerings.
Attending these trainings changed the way I ran my classroom and I think the techniques
offer a guide for a more hands-off teaching and parenting style that is meant to empower
children and it can also empower adults if you use this at the workplace for that matter.
There's a little bit of background on AP capstone for those of you who might not be familiar
with it.
It's kind of a newer advanced diploma program developed by the College Board who runs all
the AP classes.
It's equipped students with critical skills in research, analysis, evidence-based writing,
and communication.
The program consists of two courses, AP Seminar and AP Research, designed to complement other
AP classes by focusing on interdisciplinary learning and inquiry-based projects.
I first joined a group of teachers at Carleton College in Minnesota for my AP Seminar training
before I taught that when the class grew in popularity.
After teaching AP Seminar in a few years down the road when our AP Research teacher retired,
then I took over AP Research.
So AP Seminar is typically taken in the 10th or 11th grade.
This is the foundational course that teaches students how to analyze issues from multiple
perspectives, evaluate sources, and then develop arguments.
There is a team component or group work component with this both for presenting the research
and then writing research reports and defending the research at the end of the presentation.
At the end of the year there is an exam with short answer questions and some essay writing.
So I taught that for a year or two, geez, getting foggy now.
And then as I said a few years later I attended AP Research training at Loyola University
in Chicago when I expressed an interest and my principal chose me to teach the course.
AP Research is a continuation of AP Seminar usually taken in the following year so at
our school it was a senior course.
The course focuses on designing and conducting a year long research project on a topic of
the student's choice.
Basically it's a 4 to 5,000 word paper that they work on throughout the year and then
they deliver up to a 20 minute oral presentation to a panel of three judges and then they have
to defend the research to the judges when they ask questions.
If students pass AP Seminar and AP Research they can get what's called an AP Capstone
diploma.
So if they complete both courses with a score of three or higher on the corresponding exams
and they take additional AP classes, I believe it's four, maybe five, I have to double check
now, as well as AP Seminar and Research then they get this special designation, oh it's
four, yeah just remember it's four, then they get the special designation on their diploma.
What does that do for them?
There are some colleges now that it's becoming more well known.
I know just from keeping in touch with students of mine who've graduated and who had this
distinction usually what happens is if they are interested in doing research as freshmen
on the campus of the university that they go to, they're typically the only freshmen
allowed to do that kind of work.
Usually that's reserved for upperclassmen but because they have the background, I mean
basically what they're doing looked nothing different than my master's thesis when I got
my master's.
They are contributing to the existing body of research.
I have had students in that class get published like in professional journals so they are
finding a gap in the existing research that they can add their research to and so they
become part of that body of professional research.
They can publish their work.
So it is no different if you have done a master's thesis that is exactly what they're doing.
In a high school setting they have the teacher, they have a faculty consultant in the area
that they are studying in the building and then they have an expert advisor outside of
the building, someone who is familiar with the research, either works in that area or
can connect them with any resources that they would need.
So not all schools have this.
I know I've seen the benefits now firsthand and reasons schools might adapt it is obviously
as I mentioned the students who do this who want to continue in an academic research setting
in college sets them right up.
Some of the projects are just amazing and some of them continue in related fields in
college and it's just astonishing to me what they work on.
The courses are also very customizable meaning students are able to choose topics that they're
passionate about.
So if for example I had a student who knew she wanted to study environmental science
she researched how to implement solar panels at our school which we are now doing.
She went on to study related topics in college so she was passionate about it.
She sort of got a jump start I would say.
It definitely looks good on a college application so colleges recognize this extra rigor and
independent nature of these courses which it is like nothing else that I have taught
for sure.
And it definitely promotes that interdisciplinary learning so I was an English teacher teaching
the course it was pretty rare if one of my students was actually doing an English research
project I did have a few but more popular areas of study dealt with science psychology
we had business we had art we had music so they are actually studying all of these different
areas again that interest them and getting the credit in that area and working with adults.
My job was to walk them through the research process the writing process the presentation
and the defense I was not a content expert I learned a lot but I was not a college or
a content expert I had to have statistics teachers come in to teach them that part of
it that was not my expertise so AP capstone this type of classes ideal for students to
enjoy research they enjoy writing presenting they definitely have curiosity which we're
going to talk about today and an interest in challenging themselves to learn more about
an area that they're passionate about AP capstone provides this framework for academic and
personal growth and definitely sets them apart from other students and sort of fast tracks
them like I said.
So just some sample projects there are so many that I saw when I taught the course but
one example is I had the student who studied the solar panel implementation I had a student
who wanted to explore more affordable housing in Milwaukee and actually priced out and did
plans for 3d printed houses in Milwaukee I had a student who was working with could you
compare AI generated architecture so done by machine learning to actual architectural
plans in a certain area in the United States a certain kind of infrastructure that was
fascinating I had a student use machine learning to study if the traffic lights on our main
road going into town near our school was efficient and how it could be made more efficient by
studying it so he had a camera set up on the main road I had a student with muscles in
a aquarium in her garage that was round one they didn't make it through the Wisconsin
winter so there was around two but she was studying the impact of microplastic on indigenous
muscles and then last the last year I taught it I had a student create an app to detect
how many microplastics were in different brands of bottled water so you could take the app
scan the bottle on the grocery store shelf and it would tell you the percentage of microplastics
these are high school students and because we're on a trimester system these students
were doing this from September until they presented their research at the end of February
beginning of March whereas other schools the AP test isn't until May but our classes were
already over by then so they were doing this in a very rapid pace so it is beyond amazing
so I could go on forever about it but we're going to talk about curiosity today and we're
going to talk about how using questioning I think can really be a game changer whether
it be in a board room in a classroom this works for any place that you need to do idea
generating so when I was getting ready to teach these classes the biggest component
I had watched the previous teacher teach AP research I had taught AP seminar and what
I knew students needed was kind of two things a high level of curiosity and a high level
of grit if you're not interested or passionate about what you're studying and you're not
going to stick with it when it gets difficult to be very difficult to persevere and succeed
in those classes so when I was preparing to teach these classes I read a book I can't
even remember how I stumbled across it now but it is one of my favorite favorite books
it is called a curious mind the secret to a bigger life and it's by film producer Brian
Grazer but it was actually written a co-written with Charles Fishman who is a journalist so
Brian Grazer is an Oscar winning producer and the whole premise of the book is these
curiosity conversations so I'll mention some of the movies that he is attributed to and
you will recognize them the way most of these movies came about is from these curiosity
conversations that he had so Grazer views curiosity as his most valuable trait it helps
him problem solve it helps him like I said create movies and his premise related to the
lesson I'm going to teach today is on how thoughtful questions can open doors and for
decades he had this big list of people that he invited into his office to have these scheduled
conversations and if they couldn't geographically make it to his office then obviously you could
do that virtually or by phone so some of the people on his list are Steve Jobs he spoke
to Barack Obama Jonas Salk Isaac Asimov I mean the list goes on of just the biggest
names that you can imagine just to give you a couple of examples of like who he talked
to and what some of the conversations contained his conversation with author and scientist
Isaac Asimov he wanted to talk with him about creativity and the future of technology at
the time that he had the conversation and so he really took away I think from that
conversation just all of the things that are possible with technology and the power of
speculative thinking he also spoke with everybody's you know knows Oprah the media mogul so he
did have a conversation with her what he wanted to talk to her about was emotional intelligence
and how she creates connections with her audiences and he came away from that conversation realizing
that authenticity and storytelling are really the biggest parts of human connection in both
art and business he spoke with Michael Jackson the pop icon before his death and they spoke
about creativity and the drive for perfection and during that conversation Michael Jackson
talked about his relentless pursuit of innovation and music and performance and Brian Grazer
really related to this in his own drive to keep pushing the boundaries in his filmmaking
he also spoke with humanitarian and royal icon princess Diana before her death and the
focus of that conversation was on using her visibility for positive change she obviously
had a hard time balancing her public persona with her personal struggles and he felt that
by talking with her it gave him a deeper understanding of vulnerability and influence and this again
all of these conversations played a part in the characters in his films and ideas for
his films so Grazer's book highlights how these conversations enriched his understanding
of life and human behavior and it's just a reminder of how important really good engaging
questions can be and how they can really build a connection between people so during his
Hollywood career Grazer used curiosity to sort of understand audience desires so that
he could craft compelling stories and guide his team to create successful films and some
of some of the films that he's known for are A Beautiful Mind and Apollo 13 he worked
with Ron Howard on a lot of his films as well so together they were able to kind of overcome
fears step outside their comfort zone and use curiosity to take some risks based on
sort of all of this inspiration from other creative professionals so I think the core
message of today is about curiosity how it's a powerful tool for growth connection and innovation
by cultivating curiosity and seeking out new experiences we can live richer more meaningful
lives.
We're going to take a little break from our learning for a second for a new segment that
I'm trying out called Ask the Teacher Anything so you can submit questions to me on social
media at Life's Next Lesson Plan or else on our website there is a box for you to submit
questions at our website life's next lesson plan dot com so I'll answer two of the questions
that I have received today and the first one is if you miss the idea of teaching when you're
done would you consider something like private tutoring or do you feel like that would bring
the same issues as teaching in a classroom like dealing with parents etc.
So it's a good question this is definitely something that I did while I was teaching
and in fact one year when our school laid off 10 teachers the youngest teachers I was
one of them at that time which coincided exactly with me having my daughter so this would have
been almost 18 years ago now and so I did tutor I was the director of a local tutoring
center for a while and worked mostly at night and stayed home with her I actually taught
one class and then after school I would go in and work at the tutoring center and then
I've also private tutor for the ACT and for college essay help a lot.
There's really no issues that come with private tutoring I think the biggest thing if you
do it while you're teaching is just you teach all day and then at night or on the weekends
you're also teaching and it can be kind of draining so I don't really advertise my services
anymore anytime I get a client it's always word of mouth you know who did your son use
for the ACT or parents obviously will be talking about ACT tutoring and it'll come up and someone
will give my name or number.
I'm always open to it especially if it's a favor for somebody I love watching the difference
that one-on-one tutoring can make you know I wish there were more opportunities for that
in a traditional education system because I think kids grow so quickly through that so
I'm not opposed to it but it's not something that I'm going to actively pursue if that
makes sense so.
Second question was what was the final straw to get you to make this decision?
Great question I don't know if there was a final straw necessarily although my goodness
I had a student this week first hour of the day where I was like is your sole purpose
this entire hour to remind me that I made a good decision by doing this because oh I
had no patients left by 10 a.m.
So I would just say it's a there were there definitely was a period of years where I was
like I don't know how much longer I can do this it's not even that I I don't enjoy the
job or it's too incredibly stressful it's just how much it has changed and the expectations
are different kids are so different I think all of the factors that you're hearing about
in all of these books like the anxious generation and dopamine nation you know with their attention
spans waning and their motivation and perseverance waning it's just becoming more difficult you
feel like you have to put on a stand-up comedy routine some days I don't know if I'm I am
always I've always been naturally introverted and I think teaching takes a lot out of me
throughout a day because I just noticed I was growing less and less comfortable that
comfortable but I guess having less and less energy or it was taking more and more out
of me maybe and that just added with my commute increased getting ready to be an empty nester
and I think I just kept reading you know books and talking with people and watching some of
the people who I used to teach with who are now retired lose their health and quality
of life and I just kept saying to myself what are you waiting for you know I went through
a lot of struggles and conversations with people saying you're so close to being fully
vested in your retirement this is the most foolish mistake you can make and it might
be financially but I always have a plan and I'm obviously going to be very smart about
what I do but I also know that tomorrow is not promised and I just felt that it was time
the things that used to keep me going and bring me the most joy were starting to just
become a chore less joy and more chore and just limited energy and limited patience so
I really appreciate those questions so I could go on forever obviously about those so keep
them coming maybe a little bit more lighthearted for some of them so that we can laugh as well
so you can submit those again on social media at life's next lesson plan or on our website
at life's next lesson plan dot com
we have made it to the lesson part of today's podcast so this is the technique I've been
raving about and have been teased about for how much I like it but it is as you will find
so versatile literally can use it with any age in any situation so the question formulation
technique is an instructional strategy designed to promote critical thinking and engagement
I thought about editing editing out my dogs barking in that part right there but it just
goes to show you everybody can get excited about the QFT so this is where we are going
to talk about how this could work I will be attaching a guide for how to use this so if
you're not able to take notes right now no problem I'll attach the doc in the show notes
for you so how the QFT works is that first you set a focus so this is where you decide
if you want to start with a word a topic a prompt a statement a piece of art a photograph
math problem something that's relevant to whatever kind of brainstorming that you're
doing you put this in front of your students or audience and then you could set a timer
if you want for say five minutes and you just tell them to brainstorm as many questions
as possible related to whatever your focus was the rules are don't stop to evaluate or
answer the questions write down every question exactly as it is said and convert any statements
into questions if needed when the timer goes off or whenever you decide they are wrapping
up then you have them go through and identify which questions are open ended and which questions
are close ended close ended questions usually are answered in a yes or no or just a short
fact and you could if you wanted to if it's important to what you're doing next you could
have them practice rephrasing the close ended questions to make them open ended then once
you have a nice list of questions students or your audience will select their top two
three five questions based on the relevance importance or curiosity the ones they would
like to explore more or if you've set an objective for what you're doing the ones that seem to
fit what you're doing the most so then they plan how to use their questions and again
this is based on the outcome to be determined so if this is for a research project or this
is for a discussion then perhaps however those questions align to what the lesson goal is
those are the questions that the students would be pursuing or maybe you want to use
those as discussion questions it's however you can tailor it to what you would like
the process to look like so you can also add in a reflection if you want to just have them
reflect on how questioning helped deepen their understanding of something or hearing other
people's questions sparked ideas for them they hadn't thought of I know that happened
for me we did this at the seminar training and I remember because we were grouped with
people from other disciplines thinking wow I would have never thought of those questions
but everybody is bringing their own knowledge and experience to the table which is part of
what makes it so cool so doing this again encourages student-centered learning and active
participation you can require that maybe everybody have a different color marker and
that everybody must write in their color that must show up on the paper you know we do that
a lot in the classroom to encourage everybody being involved that way also if they're shy
they maybe wouldn't even have to say it out loud they could just write it on the paper
this pushes their critical thinking and their inquiry skills promotes them to collaborate
and can broaden discussion helps them connect to real-world applications or again as I mentioned
open their eyes to other disciplines or ways of looking at things and then it provides
a nice structure for exploring complex topics so in the guide that I'm going to attach in
the show notes I'm actually going to add a specific example for an elementary school
and then I'll talk about a couple more examples as well so I thought of grouping students
together you know you could have maybe four or five students together and have an image
of just some hands you know it can be a photo that you put up on your screen in the classroom
it could be at everybody's table and you just set a timer for five minutes and have them
generate as many questions as they can in that time there's no right or wrong answers
they're not judging the questions they're not answering them so you might with that age
group get questions like how are hands different what are hands used for what do my hands say
about me so this could be used to introduce a lesson on creativity or an art project
representing all the students hands in a collage or with a little bit older students that could
set up a conversation about similarities and differences this could even be used as a neat
opening day activity where we talk about how we're all we all have hands we're all similar
but yet all of our hands are different and how that contributes to our classroom and
the photo that I've included in the guide shows a way that you could actually use this
to decorate your classroom at the beginning of the year I also mentioned in the episode
how I used this with the word justice or injustice when I introduced the book the nickel boys
with soft soft moors and just talking about the definition of justice is the legal system
just has our country evolved to become a more just society and then we even revisited those
questions at the end of the book when they were doing research on their own injustice and then
lastly I could see applications for this as I've alluded to in corporate settings for brainstorming
sessions just to get as many ideas on the table nothing is too outlandish right because sometimes
some of the best ideas you just never know where they'll they come from so you could even show a
video you could show an ad campaign and again you could go around and around from the different
lenses perspectives the economics psychological social futuristic and it's just a really non
threatening way to get ideas on the table and if you have a focus at the beginning so you have
a word or you have an image or you have a video it gives a place to start the discussion from so
that's why I love the Q&A it's very adaptable the possibilities are endless and it really
supports collaboration and inquiry based learning I hope you gain some valuable insight and a new
tool to use in a meeting or in a lesson or if nothing else picking up the book a curious mind
will put you in the middle of some really fascinating conversations with inspiring people
which of course is kind of the basis for all the guest episodes on this podcast obviously I just
love that next week I'll have another guest here to teach us all about a concept that affects us
and our longevity in the meantime keep sharing these important lessons and stories you can find the
free resources from our episodes on our website at life's next lesson plan.com I do have more
behind-the-scenes content including my countdown of my last 100 days with students in the classroom
on my life's next lesson plan YouTube and scenes on Instagram and Facebook as always thank you so
much for following and we'll see you next week.