Jennifer Brickey-Teacher Librarian, Kimberly Tahsuda-English
Students came in after watching a video on the American Dream on the previous day. They had also written short reflections about the video. They were asked to review their reflections from the previous day before getting started.
They then re-watched the American Dream video. They added any new ideas or takeaways that they had to their notes.
The teachers then went over the rules for producing questions with QFT. They are:
- Ask as many questions as you can
- Do not stop to discuss, judge, or answer the questions
- Write down every question exactly as it is stated
- Change any statement into a question
They then discussed in their groups what might be challenging about the rules and why they are important.
Groups then had 5 minutes to come up with as many questions they could from the video. A recorder wrote down every question their group shared as stated onto a poster.
The class then went over two types of questions: open-ended and closed-ended. They discussed what makes each type of question what it is.
Students then labeled each of their questions with an "O" for open and a "C" for closed.
They then changed an open question to closed closed to open. The groups were also asked to prioritize their questions. They chose their top 3 questions from the list they had compiled.
Finally, groups came up in front of the class and presented their questions that they converted as well as their top 3 questions. They also explained why they chose the questions that they did.
As a follow up to the initial QFT, students presented priority questions, which were documented by period the following week. Using a digital form, students voted/chose the essential questions to guide our future work with the American Dream and the novel, The Great Gatsby.