The 4I’s: Intellect

a bright blue background with a bright green watering can tilted toward a bright green brain, symbolizing nurturing intellect

Intellect means learning, understanding, and applying content knowledge in reading and literature, mathematics, science, social studies, and the arts, to address personal, communal, national, and global problems and experiences. Thinking critically and learning in a manner that is self-directed and fully engaged: intellectually, emotionally, and physically

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Why don’t I ask, “What’s your favorite color?”

Have we considered how limiting it might be to ask a child to choose their favorite?

“Reach Toward What is Next” | Hooray for Monday

Anytime we need a reminder of the potential of young people, we can listen to Amanda Gorman.  

Inquiry or Inquisition? Hooray for Monday

The way we start a question, the context, and the tone with which we ask it all matter.

Teaching the Truth

How can we ensure teachers are protected and supported when they engage their students in studying the important and complex issues of our times?

How Matters – The 4 I’s: Hooray for Monday

If our mindset is to inspire our students, we’ll start a joyful chain reaction, and the learning will continue long after the lesson ends. That’s where the 4 I’s come in.

Intellect – The First I: Hooray for Monday

Our power as teachers lies in our ability to tap into the many ways each child can shine.

Automatic Writing

One way to stimulate our imaginations is to relax and let our minds flow uninterrupted. Automatic writing gives our minds the space to do just that.

Speak Truth: The Dehumanization of Black Women

“I think it’s so important that we don’t bubble wrap things for teenagers. We deserve the provocative.” – Adena, Elizabeth Seton High School, 12th Grade

Sometimes

Sometimes one person can have lots and lots of feelings  — different from each other. This activity encourages students to explore that experience.

Inside/Outside 

In a moment where the world is especially fraught with change and uncertainty, we are all struggling to observe, name, and adjust to the flood of feelings around and within us. This activity was created in response to that reality.  

Story as Witnessing: Creating Oral Histories During the Covid-19 Epidemic

How are you preserving the stories that document this unprecedented time in modern world history? 

Plan a Trip 

In this activity, students plan a trip from start to finish including where they wish to go and what they wish to see when they go there.

Document History with First Person Accounts

Some of the most interesting and useful artifacts from history are the first-person accounts we find in journals and interviews.

A Perfect Time to Speak Truth 

At a time when we’re craving in-person conversations and missing the flow that body language can bring to a discussion, Inspired Teaching’s Speak Truth virtual sessions offer a beautiful antidote to all the things we’re growing fond of bemoaning about video...

Start a News Show 

This activity puts learners in the role of journalist, capturing what’s happening in their day and offering a more local approach to news for friends and family.

Read Aloud Often and Together

One of the best things you can do to keep literacy alive and well both in and outside the classroom is to read aloud, it’s vital to building strong readers!

What floats? What sinks?

This activity can be as simple as sticking things in water to see if they sink and as complicated as building contraptions to make things that normally sink stay afloat (or make things that normally stay afloat sink).

Recognizing and supporting excellent inquiry-based instruction

In this piece, Inspired Teaching’s Aleta Margolis writes about how Inspired Teaching is being shared with broader and more varied audiences locally, nationally, and across the globe.

Resources and Activities

Automatic Writing

Automatic Writing

One way to stimulate our imaginations is to relax and let our minds flow uninterrupted. Automatic writing gives our minds the space to do just that.

Sometimes

Sometimes

Sometimes one person can have lots and lots of feelings  — different from each other. This activity encourages students to explore that experience.

Inside/Outside 

Inside/Outside 

In a moment where the world is especially fraught with change and uncertainty, we are all struggling to observe, name, and adjust to the flood of feelings around and within us. This activity was created in response to that reality.  

Plan a Trip 

Plan a Trip 

In this activity, students plan a trip from start to finish including where they wish to go and what they wish to see when they go there.

Start a News Show 

Start a News Show 

This activity puts learners in the role of journalist, capturing what’s happening in their day and offering a more local approach to news for friends and family.

Read Aloud Often and Together

Read Aloud Often and Together

One of the best things you can do to keep literacy alive and well both in and outside the classroom is to read aloud, it’s vital to building strong readers!

What floats? What sinks?

What floats? What sinks?

This activity can be as simple as sticking things in water to see if they sink and as complicated as building contraptions to make things that normally sink stay afloat (or make things that normally stay afloat sink).