Video for 9/11

Questioning Questions

This year's focus

I am currently at the Red Mountain Writing Project's Summer Institute. We have been discussing areas of teaching and learning we would like to focus on during the upcoming year. My focus for the year is to make the activities, literature, and learning environment in my classroom as authentic as possible for my students. This means the work we do will have relevance and meaning in the lives of students. The literature we study will relate to the world outside our classroom, and the lessons we learn from our reading will be applicable to current situations or to life in the future. In addition, the climate of my classroom will be conducive to the completion of a variety of tasks (independent, collaborative, or whole group). I want my students to have an awareness about why we are doing the work we do, and I want that work to be automatically valuable because it is applicable or relatable to life.

I will experience many challenges in creating authenticity in my classroom. If I want students to see the value in what we are doing, I must create lessons that respect their interests, their age, and a variety of personal experiences. I must learn about them to know what motivates them to do their best. I also want to make students more aware of why we are doing certain lessons. My plan must be organized and thoughtful enough that I can communicate the importance of that lesson to create an experience each student will internalize. My students must be able to recognize the why just as I recognize the why. My planning should be purposeful, and I must consider the end product. For me, this type of planning will be a challenge. I am very creative, but my creative sparks do not always occur in advance. I must organize my thoughts, considering every aspect of lesson design: What will I be doing? What will my students be doing? What supplies will I need? What should the classroom look like? Also, how will students be able to transfer this information or this experience to real-life? In the end, the final question must drive my instruction.

The Red Mountain Writing Project has already helped me begin planning ideas for my upcoming year. I also have a team of teachers at school to help me explore ideas. If I know this lesson is important to the lives of my students, I will know the time we spend, even if it becomes longer than my original plan, is well worth it. I also need to remember to challenge my students and encourage my students to do the best work they are capable of producing. If I have planned properly, I will lean on the fact that the work is too important for students to complete poorly.