1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:12,720 On today's episode of Life's Next Lesson Plan Podcast, I'll be talking about how the 2 00:00:12,720 --> 00:00:19,240 pivotal AP capstone training I had, alongside reading the book A Curious Mind, changed my 3 00:00:19,240 --> 00:00:22,440 mindset and my approach to teaching forever. 4 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:26,880 I'll cover some book highlights and talk you through the question formulation technique, 5 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:31,960 or the QFT, that can be used in any situation with any age. 6 00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:35,080 It would even be fun to do at a social gathering. 7 00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:38,880 Wait, that might make me sound like a nerd. 8 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:47,360 Anyway, hope you enjoy this episode! 9 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:52,000 To those of you who have followed me for a while, you know that I value mental and physical 10 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:53,000 wellness. 11 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:58,440 Personally, I've worked with a few different coaches over the years and even been one myself. 12 00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:02,800 If you are looking for education and support in your own wellness journey, I would love 13 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:07,320 to invite you to the wellness community I am currently in that keeps me accountable daily 14 00:01:07,320 --> 00:01:09,360 with my nutrition and movement. 15 00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:16,000 If you are a Facebook user, you can search for our free group called TeamMG. 16 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:20,680 This group is led by my coach Megan Grimord, who is a certified trainer and nutrition 17 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:21,880 coach. 18 00:01:21,880 --> 00:01:26,160 She offers lots of education and support for your wellness journey. 19 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:30,640 If you want to get to know Coach Megan more, you can follow her on Instagram at all lower 20 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:43,120 case Megan-M-E-G-A-N-U-N-S-G-R-I-M-O-R-D or even listen to her on episode 10 of the podcast. 21 00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:46,200 She has also created a discount code for my listeners. 22 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:56,840 Just go to her website www.team-mg.com and enter code lesson plan 10 to get $10 off any of 23 00:01:56,840 --> 00:02:00,640 her premium coaching packages for the first month. 24 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:06,160 Coach Megan is a busy mom like me who works full time, so I appreciate her practicality 25 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:14,360 mixed with some tough love to keep me going. 26 00:02:14,360 --> 00:02:18,200 Thank you for joining me for another episode of Life's Next Lesson Plan. 27 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:24,080 I'm Rachel and I started this podcast during my 29th and last year as a high school teacher. 28 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:29,120 The goal of my work with this podcast as well as my live and learn patreon is to create 29 00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:31,720 a connection where we are all teachers. 30 00:02:31,720 --> 00:02:35,520 We all have lessons and stories to share that can help others. 31 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:40,400 I'm so fortunate to be able to extend the four walls of my previous classroom to an 32 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:44,120 unlimited audience where we can all learn from each other. 33 00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:49,160 And my guests are some of the most inspirational people with the best stories and lessons I 34 00:02:49,160 --> 00:02:52,820 know, which is why I want to share them with you. 35 00:02:52,820 --> 00:02:55,620 Their words are something everyone should hear. 36 00:02:55,620 --> 00:03:00,200 It is my hope that you are able to take away something from each episode to apply to your 37 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:05,920 own life, whether that be a career search, a path to a more fulfilling life, or some 38 00:03:05,920 --> 00:03:09,680 new ideas on some current topics. 39 00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:14,240 Today I'm going to go back about eight or nine years to when our high school decided 40 00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:18,360 to add AP capstone classes to our course offerings. 41 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:22,600 Attending these trainings changed the way I ran my classroom and I think the techniques 42 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:28,840 offer a guide for a more hands-off teaching and parenting style that is meant to empower 43 00:03:28,840 --> 00:03:35,560 children and it can also empower adults if you use this at the workplace for that matter. 44 00:03:35,560 --> 00:03:40,640 There's a little bit of background on AP capstone for those of you who might not be familiar 45 00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:41,640 with it. 46 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:47,520 It's kind of a newer advanced diploma program developed by the College Board who runs all 47 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:50,360 the AP classes. 48 00:03:50,360 --> 00:03:56,920 It's equipped students with critical skills in research, analysis, evidence-based writing, 49 00:03:56,920 --> 00:03:58,680 and communication. 50 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:04,800 The program consists of two courses, AP Seminar and AP Research, designed to complement other 51 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:12,560 AP classes by focusing on interdisciplinary learning and inquiry-based projects. 52 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:19,080 I first joined a group of teachers at Carleton College in Minnesota for my AP Seminar training 53 00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:23,800 before I taught that when the class grew in popularity. 54 00:04:23,800 --> 00:04:30,440 After teaching AP Seminar in a few years down the road when our AP Research teacher retired, 55 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:34,480 then I took over AP Research. 56 00:04:34,480 --> 00:04:38,800 So AP Seminar is typically taken in the 10th or 11th grade. 57 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:43,800 This is the foundational course that teaches students how to analyze issues from multiple 58 00:04:43,800 --> 00:04:49,680 perspectives, evaluate sources, and then develop arguments. 59 00:04:49,680 --> 00:04:58,040 There is a team component or group work component with this both for presenting the research 60 00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:04,360 and then writing research reports and defending the research at the end of the presentation. 61 00:05:04,360 --> 00:05:10,720 At the end of the year there is an exam with short answer questions and some essay writing. 62 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:16,680 So I taught that for a year or two, geez, getting foggy now. 63 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:22,440 And then as I said a few years later I attended AP Research training at Loyola University 64 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:29,920 in Chicago when I expressed an interest and my principal chose me to teach the course. 65 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:35,800 AP Research is a continuation of AP Seminar usually taken in the following year so at 66 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:38,840 our school it was a senior course. 67 00:05:38,840 --> 00:05:44,280 The course focuses on designing and conducting a year long research project on a topic of 68 00:05:44,280 --> 00:05:46,840 the student's choice. 69 00:05:46,840 --> 00:05:52,000 Basically it's a 4 to 5,000 word paper that they work on throughout the year and then 70 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:59,040 they deliver up to a 20 minute oral presentation to a panel of three judges and then they have 71 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:06,000 to defend the research to the judges when they ask questions. 72 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:13,040 If students pass AP Seminar and AP Research they can get what's called an AP Capstone 73 00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:14,600 diploma. 74 00:06:14,600 --> 00:06:21,360 So if they complete both courses with a score of three or higher on the corresponding exams 75 00:06:21,360 --> 00:06:30,760 and they take additional AP classes, I believe it's four, maybe five, I have to double check 76 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:38,360 now, as well as AP Seminar and Research then they get this special designation, oh it's 77 00:06:38,360 --> 00:06:45,000 four, yeah just remember it's four, then they get the special designation on their diploma. 78 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:47,720 What does that do for them? 79 00:06:47,720 --> 00:06:52,240 There are some colleges now that it's becoming more well known. 80 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:57,160 I know just from keeping in touch with students of mine who've graduated and who had this 81 00:06:57,160 --> 00:07:04,240 distinction usually what happens is if they are interested in doing research as freshmen 82 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:09,120 on the campus of the university that they go to, they're typically the only freshmen 83 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:13,040 allowed to do that kind of work. 84 00:07:13,040 --> 00:07:17,960 Usually that's reserved for upperclassmen but because they have the background, I mean 85 00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:23,320 basically what they're doing looked nothing different than my master's thesis when I got 86 00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:24,720 my master's. 87 00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:28,440 They are contributing to the existing body of research. 88 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:35,240 I have had students in that class get published like in professional journals so they are 89 00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:42,600 finding a gap in the existing research that they can add their research to and so they 90 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:46,640 become part of that body of professional research. 91 00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:48,920 They can publish their work. 92 00:07:48,920 --> 00:07:55,920 So it is no different if you have done a master's thesis that is exactly what they're doing. 93 00:07:55,920 --> 00:08:01,920 In a high school setting they have the teacher, they have a faculty consultant in the area 94 00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:08,160 that they are studying in the building and then they have an expert advisor outside of 95 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:14,160 the building, someone who is familiar with the research, either works in that area or 96 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:19,040 can connect them with any resources that they would need. 97 00:08:19,040 --> 00:08:21,760 So not all schools have this. 98 00:08:21,760 --> 00:08:29,280 I know I've seen the benefits now firsthand and reasons schools might adapt it is obviously 99 00:08:29,280 --> 00:08:35,800 as I mentioned the students who do this who want to continue in an academic research setting 100 00:08:35,800 --> 00:08:38,720 in college sets them right up. 101 00:08:38,720 --> 00:08:45,320 Some of the projects are just amazing and some of them continue in related fields in 102 00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:52,160 college and it's just astonishing to me what they work on. 103 00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:59,800 The courses are also very customizable meaning students are able to choose topics that they're 104 00:08:59,800 --> 00:09:01,960 passionate about. 105 00:09:01,960 --> 00:09:07,640 So if for example I had a student who knew she wanted to study environmental science 106 00:09:07,640 --> 00:09:16,980 she researched how to implement solar panels at our school which we are now doing. 107 00:09:16,980 --> 00:09:22,680 She went on to study related topics in college so she was passionate about it. 108 00:09:22,680 --> 00:09:25,960 She sort of got a jump start I would say. 109 00:09:25,960 --> 00:09:33,920 It definitely looks good on a college application so colleges recognize this extra rigor and 110 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:42,080 independent nature of these courses which it is like nothing else that I have taught 111 00:09:42,080 --> 00:09:43,640 for sure. 112 00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:50,000 And it definitely promotes that interdisciplinary learning so I was an English teacher teaching 113 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:57,600 the course it was pretty rare if one of my students was actually doing an English research 114 00:09:57,600 --> 00:10:05,360 project I did have a few but more popular areas of study dealt with science psychology 115 00:10:05,360 --> 00:10:13,400 we had business we had art we had music so they are actually studying all of these different 116 00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:19,720 areas again that interest them and getting the credit in that area and working with adults. 117 00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:25,360 My job was to walk them through the research process the writing process the presentation 118 00:10:25,360 --> 00:10:32,960 and the defense I was not a content expert I learned a lot but I was not a college or 119 00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:39,560 a content expert I had to have statistics teachers come in to teach them that part of 120 00:10:39,560 --> 00:10:47,760 it that was not my expertise so AP capstone this type of classes ideal for students to 121 00:10:47,760 --> 00:10:54,640 enjoy research they enjoy writing presenting they definitely have curiosity which we're 122 00:10:54,640 --> 00:11:00,320 going to talk about today and an interest in challenging themselves to learn more about 123 00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:07,600 an area that they're passionate about AP capstone provides this framework for academic and 124 00:11:07,600 --> 00:11:13,800 personal growth and definitely sets them apart from other students and sort of fast tracks 125 00:11:13,800 --> 00:11:15,720 them like I said. 126 00:11:15,720 --> 00:11:22,960 So just some sample projects there are so many that I saw when I taught the course but 127 00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:30,960 one example is I had the student who studied the solar panel implementation I had a student 128 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:38,200 who wanted to explore more affordable housing in Milwaukee and actually priced out and did 129 00:11:38,200 --> 00:11:45,200 plans for 3d printed houses in Milwaukee I had a student who was working with could you 130 00:11:45,200 --> 00:11:54,440 compare AI generated architecture so done by machine learning to actual architectural 131 00:11:54,440 --> 00:12:00,540 plans in a certain area in the United States a certain kind of infrastructure that was 132 00:12:00,540 --> 00:12:08,760 fascinating I had a student use machine learning to study if the traffic lights on our main 133 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:16,520 road going into town near our school was efficient and how it could be made more efficient by 134 00:12:16,520 --> 00:12:24,640 studying it so he had a camera set up on the main road I had a student with muscles in 135 00:12:24,640 --> 00:12:33,640 a aquarium in her garage that was round one they didn't make it through the Wisconsin 136 00:12:33,640 --> 00:12:40,280 winter so there was around two but she was studying the impact of microplastic on indigenous 137 00:12:40,280 --> 00:12:49,760 muscles and then last the last year I taught it I had a student create an app to detect 138 00:12:49,760 --> 00:12:56,680 how many microplastics were in different brands of bottled water so you could take the app 139 00:12:56,680 --> 00:13:03,200 scan the bottle on the grocery store shelf and it would tell you the percentage of microplastics 140 00:13:03,200 --> 00:13:09,880 these are high school students and because we're on a trimester system these students 141 00:13:09,880 --> 00:13:14,880 were doing this from September until they presented their research at the end of February 142 00:13:14,880 --> 00:13:22,200 beginning of March whereas other schools the AP test isn't until May but our classes were 143 00:13:22,200 --> 00:13:30,440 already over by then so they were doing this in a very rapid pace so it is beyond amazing 144 00:13:30,440 --> 00:13:35,800 so I could go on forever about it but we're going to talk about curiosity today and we're 145 00:13:35,800 --> 00:13:41,800 going to talk about how using questioning I think can really be a game changer whether 146 00:13:41,800 --> 00:13:50,120 it be in a board room in a classroom this works for any place that you need to do idea 147 00:13:50,120 --> 00:13:58,240 generating so when I was getting ready to teach these classes the biggest component 148 00:13:58,240 --> 00:14:04,920 I had watched the previous teacher teach AP research I had taught AP seminar and what 149 00:14:04,920 --> 00:14:11,960 I knew students needed was kind of two things a high level of curiosity and a high level 150 00:14:11,960 --> 00:14:17,280 of grit if you're not interested or passionate about what you're studying and you're not 151 00:14:17,280 --> 00:14:23,240 going to stick with it when it gets difficult to be very difficult to persevere and succeed 152 00:14:23,240 --> 00:14:29,160 in those classes so when I was preparing to teach these classes I read a book I can't 153 00:14:29,160 --> 00:14:34,720 even remember how I stumbled across it now but it is one of my favorite favorite books 154 00:14:34,720 --> 00:14:41,720 it is called a curious mind the secret to a bigger life and it's by film producer Brian 155 00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:50,040 Grazer but it was actually written a co-written with Charles Fishman who is a journalist so 156 00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:57,200 Brian Grazer is an Oscar winning producer and the whole premise of the book is these 157 00:14:57,200 --> 00:15:05,920 curiosity conversations so I'll mention some of the movies that he is attributed to and 158 00:15:05,920 --> 00:15:14,200 you will recognize them the way most of these movies came about is from these curiosity 159 00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:22,000 conversations that he had so Grazer views curiosity as his most valuable trait it helps 160 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:30,280 him problem solve it helps him like I said create movies and his premise related to the 161 00:15:30,280 --> 00:15:37,000 lesson I'm going to teach today is on how thoughtful questions can open doors and for 162 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:47,080 decades he had this big list of people that he invited into his office to have these scheduled 163 00:15:47,080 --> 00:15:52,920 conversations and if they couldn't geographically make it to his office then obviously you could 164 00:15:52,920 --> 00:15:59,600 do that virtually or by phone so some of the people on his list are Steve Jobs he spoke 165 00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:07,720 to Barack Obama Jonas Salk Isaac Asimov I mean the list goes on of just the biggest 166 00:16:07,720 --> 00:16:14,480 names that you can imagine just to give you a couple of examples of like who he talked 167 00:16:14,480 --> 00:16:20,280 to and what some of the conversations contained his conversation with author and scientist 168 00:16:20,280 --> 00:16:28,640 Isaac Asimov he wanted to talk with him about creativity and the future of technology at 169 00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:34,960 the time that he had the conversation and so he really took away I think from that 170 00:16:34,960 --> 00:16:41,720 conversation just all of the things that are possible with technology and the power of 171 00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:50,320 speculative thinking he also spoke with everybody's you know knows Oprah the media mogul so he 172 00:16:50,320 --> 00:16:56,440 did have a conversation with her what he wanted to talk to her about was emotional intelligence 173 00:16:56,440 --> 00:17:03,560 and how she creates connections with her audiences and he came away from that conversation realizing 174 00:17:03,560 --> 00:17:10,280 that authenticity and storytelling are really the biggest parts of human connection in both 175 00:17:10,280 --> 00:17:18,160 art and business he spoke with Michael Jackson the pop icon before his death and they spoke 176 00:17:18,160 --> 00:17:25,200 about creativity and the drive for perfection and during that conversation Michael Jackson 177 00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:32,320 talked about his relentless pursuit of innovation and music and performance and Brian Grazer 178 00:17:32,320 --> 00:17:39,760 really related to this in his own drive to keep pushing the boundaries in his filmmaking 179 00:17:39,760 --> 00:17:47,000 he also spoke with humanitarian and royal icon princess Diana before her death and the 180 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:56,560 focus of that conversation was on using her visibility for positive change she obviously 181 00:17:56,560 --> 00:18:03,480 had a hard time balancing her public persona with her personal struggles and he felt that 182 00:18:03,480 --> 00:18:09,160 by talking with her it gave him a deeper understanding of vulnerability and influence and this again 183 00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:14,520 all of these conversations played a part in the characters in his films and ideas for 184 00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:22,640 his films so Grazer's book highlights how these conversations enriched his understanding 185 00:18:22,640 --> 00:18:31,480 of life and human behavior and it's just a reminder of how important really good engaging 186 00:18:31,480 --> 00:18:39,040 questions can be and how they can really build a connection between people so during his 187 00:18:39,040 --> 00:18:45,720 Hollywood career Grazer used curiosity to sort of understand audience desires so that 188 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:54,480 he could craft compelling stories and guide his team to create successful films and some 189 00:18:54,480 --> 00:19:00,720 of some of the films that he's known for are A Beautiful Mind and Apollo 13 he worked 190 00:19:00,720 --> 00:19:09,320 with Ron Howard on a lot of his films as well so together they were able to kind of overcome 191 00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:16,280 fears step outside their comfort zone and use curiosity to take some risks based on 192 00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:23,600 sort of all of this inspiration from other creative professionals so I think the core 193 00:19:23,600 --> 00:19:31,360 message of today is about curiosity how it's a powerful tool for growth connection and innovation 194 00:19:31,360 --> 00:19:38,960 by cultivating curiosity and seeking out new experiences we can live richer more meaningful 195 00:19:38,960 --> 00:19:46,880 lives. 196 00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:52,840 We're going to take a little break from our learning for a second for a new segment that 197 00:19:52,840 --> 00:20:00,520 I'm trying out called Ask the Teacher Anything so you can submit questions to me on social 198 00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:07,040 media at Life's Next Lesson Plan or else on our website there is a box for you to submit 199 00:20:07,040 --> 00:20:13,920 questions at our website life's next lesson plan dot com so I'll answer two of the questions 200 00:20:13,920 --> 00:20:20,280 that I have received today and the first one is if you miss the idea of teaching when you're 201 00:20:20,280 --> 00:20:26,760 done would you consider something like private tutoring or do you feel like that would bring 202 00:20:26,760 --> 00:20:32,360 the same issues as teaching in a classroom like dealing with parents etc. 203 00:20:32,360 --> 00:20:37,720 So it's a good question this is definitely something that I did while I was teaching 204 00:20:37,720 --> 00:20:44,160 and in fact one year when our school laid off 10 teachers the youngest teachers I was 205 00:20:44,160 --> 00:20:49,640 one of them at that time which coincided exactly with me having my daughter so this would have 206 00:20:49,640 --> 00:20:58,240 been almost 18 years ago now and so I did tutor I was the director of a local tutoring 207 00:20:58,240 --> 00:21:04,800 center for a while and worked mostly at night and stayed home with her I actually taught 208 00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:10,240 one class and then after school I would go in and work at the tutoring center and then 209 00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:15,840 I've also private tutor for the ACT and for college essay help a lot. 210 00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:22,760 There's really no issues that come with private tutoring I think the biggest thing if you 211 00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:28,200 do it while you're teaching is just you teach all day and then at night or on the weekends 212 00:21:28,200 --> 00:21:34,680 you're also teaching and it can be kind of draining so I don't really advertise my services 213 00:21:34,680 --> 00:21:40,400 anymore anytime I get a client it's always word of mouth you know who did your son use 214 00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:46,840 for the ACT or parents obviously will be talking about ACT tutoring and it'll come up and someone 215 00:21:46,840 --> 00:21:49,240 will give my name or number. 216 00:21:49,240 --> 00:21:57,800 I'm always open to it especially if it's a favor for somebody I love watching the difference 217 00:21:57,800 --> 00:22:03,480 that one-on-one tutoring can make you know I wish there were more opportunities for that 218 00:22:03,480 --> 00:22:09,520 in a traditional education system because I think kids grow so quickly through that so 219 00:22:09,520 --> 00:22:16,800 I'm not opposed to it but it's not something that I'm going to actively pursue if that 220 00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:19,920 makes sense so. 221 00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:27,400 Second question was what was the final straw to get you to make this decision? 222 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:34,160 Great question I don't know if there was a final straw necessarily although my goodness 223 00:22:34,160 --> 00:22:41,200 I had a student this week first hour of the day where I was like is your sole purpose 224 00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:48,200 this entire hour to remind me that I made a good decision by doing this because oh I 225 00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:52,440 had no patients left by 10 a.m. 226 00:22:52,440 --> 00:23:00,040 So I would just say it's a there were there definitely was a period of years where I was 227 00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:05,880 like I don't know how much longer I can do this it's not even that I I don't enjoy the 228 00:23:05,880 --> 00:23:13,080 job or it's too incredibly stressful it's just how much it has changed and the expectations 229 00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:21,920 are different kids are so different I think all of the factors that you're hearing about 230 00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:28,840 in all of these books like the anxious generation and dopamine nation you know with their attention 231 00:23:28,840 --> 00:23:39,200 spans waning and their motivation and perseverance waning it's just becoming more difficult you 232 00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:49,040 feel like you have to put on a stand-up comedy routine some days I don't know if I'm I am 233 00:23:49,040 --> 00:23:56,160 always I've always been naturally introverted and I think teaching takes a lot out of me 234 00:23:56,160 --> 00:24:01,920 throughout a day because I just noticed I was growing less and less comfortable that 235 00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:06,560 comfortable but I guess having less and less energy or it was taking more and more out 236 00:24:06,560 --> 00:24:17,760 of me maybe and that just added with my commute increased getting ready to be an empty nester 237 00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:24,880 and I think I just kept reading you know books and talking with people and watching some of 238 00:24:24,880 --> 00:24:32,440 the people who I used to teach with who are now retired lose their health and quality 239 00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:39,400 of life and I just kept saying to myself what are you waiting for you know I went through 240 00:24:39,400 --> 00:24:45,760 a lot of struggles and conversations with people saying you're so close to being fully 241 00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:52,920 vested in your retirement this is the most foolish mistake you can make and it might 242 00:24:52,920 --> 00:25:03,080 be financially but I always have a plan and I'm obviously going to be very smart about 243 00:25:03,080 --> 00:25:09,360 what I do but I also know that tomorrow is not promised and I just felt that it was time 244 00:25:09,360 --> 00:25:15,000 the things that used to keep me going and bring me the most joy were starting to just 245 00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:23,320 become a chore less joy and more chore and just limited energy and limited patience so 246 00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:29,800 I really appreciate those questions so I could go on forever obviously about those so keep 247 00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:36,240 them coming maybe a little bit more lighthearted for some of them so that we can laugh as well 248 00:25:36,240 --> 00:25:42,720 so you can submit those again on social media at life's next lesson plan or on our website 249 00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:52,200 at life's next lesson plan dot com 250 00:25:52,200 --> 00:26:00,120 we have made it to the lesson part of today's podcast so this is the technique I've been 251 00:26:00,120 --> 00:26:05,680 raving about and have been teased about for how much I like it but it is as you will find 252 00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:14,440 so versatile literally can use it with any age in any situation so the question formulation 253 00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:20,160 technique is an instructional strategy designed to promote critical thinking and engagement 254 00:26:20,160 --> 00:26:26,640 I thought about editing editing out my dogs barking in that part right there but it just 255 00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:33,480 goes to show you everybody can get excited about the QFT so this is where we are going 256 00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:40,360 to talk about how this could work I will be attaching a guide for how to use this so if 257 00:26:40,360 --> 00:26:46,480 you're not able to take notes right now no problem I'll attach the doc in the show notes 258 00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:53,040 for you so how the QFT works is that first you set a focus so this is where you decide 259 00:26:53,040 --> 00:27:00,720 if you want to start with a word a topic a prompt a statement a piece of art a photograph 260 00:27:00,720 --> 00:27:06,280 math problem something that's relevant to whatever kind of brainstorming that you're 261 00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:12,880 doing you put this in front of your students or audience and then you could set a timer 262 00:27:12,880 --> 00:27:19,280 if you want for say five minutes and you just tell them to brainstorm as many questions 263 00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:26,280 as possible related to whatever your focus was the rules are don't stop to evaluate or 264 00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:33,880 answer the questions write down every question exactly as it is said and convert any statements 265 00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:40,800 into questions if needed when the timer goes off or whenever you decide they are wrapping 266 00:27:40,800 --> 00:27:48,200 up then you have them go through and identify which questions are open ended and which questions 267 00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:54,600 are close ended close ended questions usually are answered in a yes or no or just a short 268 00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:59,760 fact and you could if you wanted to if it's important to what you're doing next you could 269 00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:07,000 have them practice rephrasing the close ended questions to make them open ended then once 270 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:13,560 you have a nice list of questions students or your audience will select their top two 271 00:28:13,560 --> 00:28:19,400 three five questions based on the relevance importance or curiosity the ones they would 272 00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:25,720 like to explore more or if you've set an objective for what you're doing the ones that seem to 273 00:28:25,720 --> 00:28:31,880 fit what you're doing the most so then they plan how to use their questions and again 274 00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:38,320 this is based on the outcome to be determined so if this is for a research project or this 275 00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:46,440 is for a discussion then perhaps however those questions align to what the lesson goal is 276 00:28:46,440 --> 00:28:51,520 those are the questions that the students would be pursuing or maybe you want to use 277 00:28:51,520 --> 00:28:57,440 those as discussion questions it's however you can tailor it to what you would like 278 00:28:57,440 --> 00:29:03,400 the process to look like so you can also add in a reflection if you want to just have them 279 00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:10,200 reflect on how questioning helped deepen their understanding of something or hearing other 280 00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:15,080 people's questions sparked ideas for them they hadn't thought of I know that happened 281 00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:22,000 for me we did this at the seminar training and I remember because we were grouped with 282 00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:27,400 people from other disciplines thinking wow I would have never thought of those questions 283 00:29:27,400 --> 00:29:32,360 but everybody is bringing their own knowledge and experience to the table which is part of 284 00:29:32,360 --> 00:29:39,760 what makes it so cool so doing this again encourages student-centered learning and active 285 00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:44,920 participation you can require that maybe everybody have a different color marker and 286 00:29:44,920 --> 00:29:50,840 that everybody must write in their color that must show up on the paper you know we do that 287 00:29:50,840 --> 00:29:56,600 a lot in the classroom to encourage everybody being involved that way also if they're shy 288 00:29:56,600 --> 00:30:01,480 they maybe wouldn't even have to say it out loud they could just write it on the paper 289 00:30:01,480 --> 00:30:06,400 this pushes their critical thinking and their inquiry skills promotes them to collaborate 290 00:30:06,400 --> 00:30:13,880 and can broaden discussion helps them connect to real-world applications or again as I mentioned 291 00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:19,360 open their eyes to other disciplines or ways of looking at things and then it provides 292 00:30:19,360 --> 00:30:27,560 a nice structure for exploring complex topics so in the guide that I'm going to attach in 293 00:30:27,560 --> 00:30:34,320 the show notes I'm actually going to add a specific example for an elementary school 294 00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:42,120 and then I'll talk about a couple more examples as well so I thought of grouping students 295 00:30:42,120 --> 00:30:48,520 together you know you could have maybe four or five students together and have an image 296 00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:55,000 of just some hands you know it can be a photo that you put up on your screen in the classroom 297 00:30:55,000 --> 00:31:00,960 it could be at everybody's table and you just set a timer for five minutes and have them 298 00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:05,680 generate as many questions as they can in that time there's no right or wrong answers 299 00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:12,200 they're not judging the questions they're not answering them so you might with that age 300 00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:18,160 group get questions like how are hands different what are hands used for what do my hands say 301 00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:26,000 about me so this could be used to introduce a lesson on creativity or an art project 302 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:31,760 representing all the students hands in a collage or with a little bit older students that could 303 00:31:31,760 --> 00:31:37,560 set up a conversation about similarities and differences this could even be used as a neat 304 00:31:37,560 --> 00:31:44,240 opening day activity where we talk about how we're all we all have hands we're all similar 305 00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:50,200 but yet all of our hands are different and how that contributes to our classroom and 306 00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:55,080 the photo that I've included in the guide shows a way that you could actually use this 307 00:31:55,080 --> 00:32:01,880 to decorate your classroom at the beginning of the year I also mentioned in the episode 308 00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:09,200 how I used this with the word justice or injustice when I introduced the book the nickel boys 309 00:32:09,200 --> 00:32:16,120 with soft soft moors and just talking about the definition of justice is the legal system 310 00:32:16,120 --> 00:32:23,160 just has our country evolved to become a more just society and then we even revisited those 311 00:32:23,160 --> 00:32:30,640 questions at the end of the book when they were doing research on their own injustice and then 312 00:32:30,640 --> 00:32:37,920 lastly I could see applications for this as I've alluded to in corporate settings for brainstorming 313 00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:44,040 sessions just to get as many ideas on the table nothing is too outlandish right because sometimes 314 00:32:44,040 --> 00:32:49,320 some of the best ideas you just never know where they'll they come from so you could even show a 315 00:32:49,320 --> 00:32:58,000 video you could show an ad campaign and again you could go around and around from the different 316 00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:05,720 lenses perspectives the economics psychological social futuristic and it's just a really non 317 00:33:05,720 --> 00:33:12,920 threatening way to get ideas on the table and if you have a focus at the beginning so you have 318 00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:21,040 a word or you have an image or you have a video it gives a place to start the discussion from so 319 00:33:21,040 --> 00:33:28,320 that's why I love the Q&A it's very adaptable the possibilities are endless and it really 320 00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:37,440 supports collaboration and inquiry based learning I hope you gain some valuable insight and a new 321 00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:43,240 tool to use in a meeting or in a lesson or if nothing else picking up the book a curious mind 322 00:33:43,240 --> 00:33:48,160 will put you in the middle of some really fascinating conversations with inspiring people 323 00:33:48,160 --> 00:33:53,960 which of course is kind of the basis for all the guest episodes on this podcast obviously I just 324 00:33:53,960 --> 00:34:00,040 love that next week I'll have another guest here to teach us all about a concept that affects us 325 00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:06,880 and our longevity in the meantime keep sharing these important lessons and stories you can find the 326 00:34:06,880 --> 00:34:14,040 free resources from our episodes on our website at life's next lesson plan.com I do have more 327 00:34:14,040 --> 00:34:20,400 behind-the-scenes content including my countdown of my last 100 days with students in the classroom 328 00:34:20,400 --> 00:34:28,560 on my life's next lesson plan YouTube and scenes on Instagram and Facebook as always thank you so 329 00:34:28,560 --> 00:34:37,320 much for following and we'll see you next week.