Sparking Curiosity

I like to kick off each unit with sharing the learning targets with my students so they have a general idea of where we are going. When we started our new unit on Monday I shared the three standards that we will focus most of our attention on as well as the Essential Questions for each standard. I wanted them to come up with "I wonder" questions that would help them gain a better understanding for how different ideas are related. My first attempt at this was with the entire class. My plan was to work though some of the essential questions together then turn them loose to finish up on their own. After asking a few questions we made some progress, but it was evident that the majority of students did not truly have a grasp on what I was asking them to do. I was asking a lot. My students have told me they aren't used to being the ones to ask the questions. Trying to ignite their curiosity has been challenging, but I wasn't ready to give up.

Today I took a completely different approach. I wanted my students to keep coming up with questions, but I knew that I was getting in the way by trying to lead them in the right direction. So I got out of the way. I set up three circles of desks so to encourage communication within the group. Each group has one of the three standards and a pad of Post-Its. After giving them some basic directions they were off. I held my breath and hoped that this approach would work. As I circulated around the room I could not believe what I was hearing. All of the conversations were on topic. They were generating some amazing questions. When someone in the group would get off task the other members of the group were quick to get them back on track. I planned on allowing 15 minutes per round so all three groups could work with each standard. When my timer went off the students begged for more time. Each round ended up being nearly 30 minutes. When the groups were finished they placed their notes on construction paper around the room. Students did a gallery walk in the short time that we had left so they could see what the questions the other groups came up with. They LOVED this part! Even students who are normally quiet and reserved got into this activity.

If I could change one thing I would have stuck to a time limit of 25 minutes per rotation so they would have had more time at the end for the gallery walk. Reflection is such an important part of an activity such as this.