Abundantly Charged: Recent Episodes
Dr. Grant A. Chandler & Jill E. Lewis
As we begin to think about life on the other side of a global pandemic, we realize that everything in life is forever changed. We are all in the midst of creating new routines in all aspects of our lives, from how we shop, to how we socialize, to how we travel, and spend our free time. We are contemplating new ways to think about how we integrate work and home, and even how we educate our children.
We’ve learned… (1) our children cannot and should not be measured on high-stakes tests alone; (2) there are multiple ways to connect with our students and we need to move away from a one-size fits all approach to teaching and learning; (3) we need to engage our students in pedagogy and experiences that respect each student’s human desire to learn; and (4) that the cultivation of curiosity and wonder in our curriculum and in our instruction invites each of our students to experience profound relevance and connection to the people and the world around them.
Join us as we mix in-depth conversations and interviews exploring how to cultivate wonder and curiosity in Abundantly Charged classrooms.
In this episode, Jill and Grant wrap up season 3 with a synthesis of the paradigm shifts they've talked about that help us prepare to cultivate curiosity and wonder.
Time seems to be the variable that we often hear about. I could do this is if I only had the time. I don’t have enough time. I would love to do that but wow, the time. Time, Time, Time.
We may not have any control over how much time we have but we have almost total control over how we use it.
Our paradigm shifts this season all take time. It takes time to cultivate curiosity and wonder. We touched on this paradigm shift last week. We thought it was so important, we wanted to devote an entire episode to this issue of time.
This paradigm shift is one that we often shy away from because of the time it takes for students to move through the process at a pace adults want. When students have a powerful, authentic experience vs simply and only thinking about the experience, they approach curiosity and wonder differently.
Curiosity and wonder are filled with mystery, suspense, and exploration. We cannot have a vibrant classroom filled with curiosity and wonder without these ingredients. Mystery always begins with a question. Suspense allows us to build the excitement before reaching the climax, and exploration continues as more and more questions are asked and answers are found. These 3 can hook our students sending them into that space where they are so engrossed in the subject matter, time ceases to exist and focus is unmatched.
Today, we explore another in our series of paradigm shifts that provide the foundation for our work to cultivate curiosity and wonder.
Fewer is better: Using deeper questions to provoke thinking not just elicit responses
Shift – Get the questions to come from the student; they ask what they really want to know more about . . .
The Shift
- Avoid rapid fire; ask questions that matter.
- Ask questions that take more exploration to answer.
- Ask questions not just to check for understanding but to engage more deeply in content.
- Ask fewer questions; get students to ask the questions and pursue the answers because they are exploring what matters and is of interest to them concerning a specific topic.
Grant and I are very excited to welcome you to this Abundantly Charged episode, Who’s the Star: When to Move off the Stage to Facilitate. This particular paradigm shift is one that has immediate effects in shifting the culture in our classrooms as it creates a student-centered approach where curiosity, defined as the strong desire to explore something that is interesting, challenging, and relevant to your life, and wonder, defined as the way to think about to study, and explore something interesting, challenging, and relevant to your life, permeate learning throughout the day.
Recently, the saying Sage on the Stage vs Guide on the Side has become this catchy slogan of placing educators in camps of what is right and what is wrong. If I am lecturing and imparting knowledge like an IV drip, a simile to the sage on the stage - then that is wrong. If I am the guide on the side, then students have too much power – this is wrong. Which is why we need to ask ourselves the very question that is the title of this episode: Who IS the Star: When to Move off the Stage to Facilitate.
In this episode Jill and Grant explore the first in our series of paradigm shifts that provide the foundation for our work to cultivate curiosity and wonder. Let's start with how we think about time, specifically the expectation that a group of students all learn at the same pace and that we can bring them along all together. Wrong!
We don't all have to be at the same place at the same time.
We simply cannot return to those pre-pandemic ways of educating our children that if we are honest with ourselves were just not working. We are called to change. It is our duty to change. But what we know about change is that it is hard. Paradigm shifts are hard not just for an individual, but for an entire system and institution.
In this episode, we will explore four responses to change and steps leaders should take to make change smooth and sustainable.
What is Vibrant Learning? It's the combination of academic content plus the appropriate level of depth of knowledge combined with social and emotional learning. It's the foundation needed to cultivate curiosity and wonder.
In this episode Jill and Grant talk about common instructional practices which seem to be in opposition to cultivating curiosity and wonder.
In this episode, Jill and Grant explore their concept of wonder as the act of investigating that for which we have curiosity, or a desire to know.
In this episode, Jill and Grant explore the many different aspects of curiosity as a strong desire to explore something that is interesting, challenging, and relevant to your life.
In this episode, Jill and Grant talk about what it means to facilitate learning by supporting students as investigators of their thinking.
Jill and Grant talk about the conflict between looking at all things education through a deficit model and cultivating curiosity and wonder for each of our children in our classrooms.
This episode introduces the concepts of curiosity and wonder as our teaching and learning goals.
This episode concludes season 1 of Abundantly Charged. How do we replenish when our batter is drained?
Jill and Grant talk to Jeanne Shannon about the ins and outs of being a relationship builder.
Jill and Grant welcome special guest, Katherin Mohney, to talk about self-advocacy and balance.
In this episode, Jill and I are going to talk about balance. What is it? What is it not? Why does it matter? And why is it so darn difficult for all of us. “Life is like a coin. You can spend it any way you wish, but you only spend it once.” - Lillian Dickson
In this episode we use our skills in self-awareness and self-management to explore self advocacy. Self-advocacy is the ability to communicate your needs. People who self-advocate are more likely to thrive in school, work, and life. It creates independence and empowers people to find solutions rather than being stuffed in a closet, wallowing in the willows, or just plain existing. When we advocate for ourselves, we understand what our needs are; we have a good indication of possible support that is needed; we communicate effectively what our needs are to others. Pulling it back to social and emotional learning, self-awareness and self-management are key facets to being able to communicate our needs effectively. When we think about our previous episodes these 2 areas spoke about understanding emotions, naming them, recognizing them, and managing those emotions in a positive manner. Self-advocacy now takes what we know about ourselves and our emotions to communicate that to others in an effective way. This is a skillset that can be learned. We definitely know there are numerous opportunities to practice and apply your knowledge. I think of it as standing within your power. Not the kind that is I have power over others. But I have the choice to know how I am feeling, why I feel a certain way, and how I ask for what I need in order to live and work productively, efficiently, and in a place of wisdom where I can dig deeply into using that problem solving brain we spoke of 2 episodes ago.
What is self-awareness, why do we need it and how can we use it to be abundantly charged?
In this pilot episode, Grant and Jill discuss what it means for teachers and leaders to be abundantly charged,