Stay Curious | Hooray For Monday

Hooray for Monday is a weekly blog filled with questions, ideas, reflections, and actions we can all take to remodel the school experience for students. Prefer audio? Listen to the Hooray For Monday podcast! Available on your favorite platforms here.

October 23, 2023

By Jenna Fournel, Director of Teaching and Learning

As the daily news raises worry and concern and we do our best to teach through the chaos, it’s easy to feel helpless, overwhelmed, and like nothing we do can possibly make a dent in all there is to be done.

But there is one simple thing we can always do when we feel overwhelmed. Stay curious.

Staying curious means being open to wonder, accepting that we don’t know all the answers, seeking input and advice from those who know more than we do, allowing ourselves to be in that vulnerable place of not knowing, and embracing the idea that we can always, always learn more.

We all have access to all the curiosity we can muster. We can be curious about absolutely anything. Here are a few of the things teachers were curious about this summer in Inspired Teaching’s Teaching with Improvisation Institute:

“I am curious about the ocean and how deep it is. I’m curious about life itself and everything that’s a part of it. I’m curious to figure out when am I going to get my hair done? I’m curious about what the future will look like in 20 years, what technology [there will be, and] how advanced it’ll be in about 30 years.”

Malia Jonas, 1st Grade Teacher, Raymond Elementary School

“Something I am curious about is creating teachers that are Instigators of Thought. I’m really curious as to how I can create teachers who allow the students to lead the classroom, and they ask provocative questions, they ask thought-provoking questions, and they are Instigators of Thought. They create that curiosity in students, that joy factor, that wow factor, anything that generates a great experience for the students that has them experience school and not just attend school.”

Glendora Franklin Green, Instructional Specialist, Friendship Tech Prep

“I am curious about how to incorporate jazz improvisation into every lesson.”

Charles Edwards, Music Teacher, Deal Middle School

“Something that I’m very curious about is incorporating movement and thinking at the same time. So that means…how to use other parts of your body to encourage learning, not just your brain.”

Marco Moreno, Humanities Instructor, Goodwill Excel Center

Want to exercise your curiosity this week? Try this:

Set a timer and take 10 minutes to investigate just one of the questions that is worrying you right now. Notice how gaining new information both invites more questions and calms the worry a little bit.
Invite your students to take 5 minutes to write down everything they’re wondering about right now. Have them share what’s on their list, either with the whole class or in small groups. Notice what you learn about them from this sharing. Look for ways their questions can connect to what you teach in the days ahead.

Curiosity is a powerful tool for our well-being and for our capacity to grow. It is the opposite of judgment which shuts down learning. Curiosity is the doorway to clarity and connection. It is the essential path to making sense of what makes no sense. What will your curiosity teach you this week?

For additional insights, resources, and information on Inspired Teaching teacher and youth programming, subscribe to the Hooray For Monday newsletter!

Hooray For Monday is an award-winning weekly publication by Center for Inspired Teaching, an independent nonprofit organization that invests in and supports teachers. Inspired Teaching provides transformative, improvisation-based professional learning for teachers that is 100% engaging – intellectually, emotionally, and physically. Our mission is to create radical change in the school experience – away from compliance and toward authentic engagement.

Listen to This Issue of Hooray For Monday

InspiredTeaching · May 22, 2023: Disrupting the Egg Carton

Micaiah Anderson

Community Outreach Specialist

As a Community Outreach Specialist, Micaiah is responsible for program promotion and outreach support for Inspired Teaching events and workshops. Micaiah has a passion for collaborating with community members to build-power and connect. She is an educator with a heart for youth and has experience supporting students fight injustices within their schools and communities. She has a BA in Political Science from, the real HU, Hampton University & anticipates graduating in May 2024 with a Masters of Arts degree in Educational Policy Transformation from Georgetown University.

AUTONOMY

"I want to have a say in what happens to me."

Autonomy is the need for independence; the ability to make choices, to create, to explore, and to express oneself freely; to have sufficient space, to move around, and to feel unrestricted with opportunities to exercise free will.

Brady Maiden

Outreach Coordinator

As the Outreach Coordinator, Brady helps maintain Inspired Teaching’s social media presence and supports the organization’s mission to connect with DC community leaders, educators, and parents. Brady has her Master’s in Public Policy from George Mason University and her BS in Political Science from Northern Arizona University. She is passionate about community, equity, and coalition building recognizing that learning and growing with the community at large is how we continue to be impactful.

What brings you joy in life?

I find joy in spending time with my friends and family and meeting new people. I like going to concerts and festivals, and finding new books to read.

The Learner’s Cycle, Wonder-Experiment-Learn, and the Teacher’s Cycle, Observe-Plan-Instigate, comprise Inspired Teaching’s approach to engaging students in inquiry-based learning.

When they are engaged in the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, students are immersed in learning. They take the lead in designing authentic learning experiences around their own interests and their school’s standards of learning. Each discovery leads to a new question which in turn leads to more wondering and more learning. In the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, Learn is not a destination or an endpoint; it is a deeper understanding, leading to a deeper wondering and new possibilities that create new entry points to further exploration. The cycle continues because what students have learned generates more wonderings that require more experiments that foster more learning – and on and on.

The Observe-Plan-Instigate Cycle is the work of an Inspired Teacher. While a student is expected to follow the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, the teacher joins them on the learning journey while following their own cycle of Observe-Plan-Instigate. This cycle ultimately serves to ensure an inquiry-based atmosphere is at play in the classroom.

Jaqueta Abbey

Teaching and Learning Specialist

Jaqueta is the Teaching and Learning Specialist for Inspired Teaching. In addition to her current role with Inspired Teaching, Jaqueta is a first-grade teaching assistant. Her background features a variety of traditional and non-traditional experiences in the field of education, including working as an adjunct professor, teaching summer reading programs to children and adults, and tutoring children in the foster care system. Jaqueta earned a B.A. in Communication Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an M.A. in Interactive Media from Elon University.

What brings you joy in life?

Creative self-expression! In addition to my passion for storytelling, I love dancing of all kinds. I've studied belly dance, bachata, and Brazilian Zouk among other styles. I also enjoy glass fusing, crocheting, photography, and cross stitching. These art forms allow me to express myself and build connections with other people at the same time. I think life would be a lot less vibrant without artists and storytellers!

Michelle Welk

Communication & Marketing Specialist

As Communications and Marketing Specialist, Michelle is responsible for finding and creating new ways to highlight Inspired Teaching and promote its programs in order to expand and deepen the organization's impact. Michelle has worked in communications in an array of settings, from creative agencies to state politics to national nonprofits. She has a BA in Journalism from Temple University in Philadelphia and is passionate about education, access, and equity.

What brings you joy in life?

My son, the beach, making a persuasive argument and good food!

Max Peterson

Real World History Assistant Teacher

Max received his Bachelor’s degree in History and African American Studies from Boston University in May 2016. He has worked in museum curation at the Museum of the White Mountains in New Hampshire and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Max has worked with young people of varying ages from young children to young adults transitioning to college.

Feedback and Accountability

We grow through feedback and an understanding that the quality of our work is a reflection of what we are learning, but the shift to remote learning this spring disrupted a lot of the tools teachers were used to using to evaluate student growth. How might we do things differently this fall? Participants in this workshop will explore ways to bring meaningful assessment into the virtual and/or socially-distanced classroom and approaches to student feedback that strengthen motivation, and build relationships and achievement.