Chapters International

Overview:

Join us for an exciting two-day workshop June 3 - 4 in Melbourne and experience The Question Formulation Technique (QFT).

Students' ability to formulate their own questions provides an important foundation for all inquiry-based learning. This two-day seminar is designed to make it easier for you to develop the ability of all students to produce their own questions, work with them, and strategize on how to use them.

At the heart of this training is hands-on work with the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) which was first introduced to educators around the world in the Harvard Education Press bestseller of Make Just One Change: Teach Students to Ask Their Own Questions. The book has quickly become a classic pedagogical resource for fostering authentic inquiry in the classroom.

This is a rare opportunity for educators from Australia and New Zealand to work closely with the co-author and co-director of the Right Question Institute (RQI), Dan Rothstein, RQI Director of Professional Learning, Sarah Westbrook, and other experienced educators from around the region.

Teachers working in Australia and around the world have found that the QFT makes the inquiry process easier, more effective, and more student-centered. Teachers have successfully paired the QFT with other inquiry-based, student-centered approaches including IDEO's Design Thinking, Project Zero's Visible Thinking strategies, Kath Murdoch's Model for Inquiry, the C3 Inquiry Design Model, Genius Hour, and many others.

The QFT complements these approaches. Indeed, educators have found that deliberately teaching all students to ask more, and better questions makes fostering a culture of inquiry easier and more equitable. And students in over a million classrooms worldwide are now reaping the benefits.

Objectives:

Over the course of two days, you will experience hands-on collaborative work with the QFT, dive into the nuances of lesson planning, facilitation, and design, and discover best practices in facilitating professional learning on the QFT. Access a range of classroom tools, ready-to-use templates, and planning resources to create your own plans and maximize the impacts of the QFT in an inquiry-driven classroom.

Leave this training ready to immediately apply the QFT in your own setting and deliver effective professional development to share the strategy with others.

Agenda:

Day 1

Will provide a deep dive into the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) and the essentials for planning a lesson or unit with it in the classroom.

Participate in a collaborative, active learning experience with the QFT
See examples from diverse classrooms in pre-k through higher education settings
Work with planning tools and classroom resources
Form self-organized working groups around topics of interest
Take advantage of opportunities to share plans, seek feedback, and collaborate with peers from international schools across the region

Day 2

Will focus on the design and facilitation of effective professional development on the QFT.

Participants will:

Use the QFT to tackle a shared professional development challenge
See examples of how the QFT has been used to build consensus in school settings, create buy-in for new initiatives, and advance existing professional learning goals
Learn strategies for best practices in planning, facilitation, and professional development with the QFT
Begin designing your own professional development and get feedback from colleagues

Workshop participants leave with a deep understanding of the strategy and the ability to immediately apply it with students and share with colleagues. Participants who complete the second day of training will receive a certificate of completion in PD on the QFT, which recognizes their ability to deliver professional development in their own schools and regions.

Here is a recent sample of what participants say about attending RQI professional development:

"It was the single most impactful technique I have come across in my 17 years as a school administrator. We are beginning a new school… and will be utilizing the right question technique as part of our process to put students in control of their learning through the art of questioning." - District superintendent, Learning Forward Preconference 2016

"Hands on approach was great! I loved being able to work with others and to think critically about the process-the experience is important!" New York BOCES PD session participant

"I was impressed by the depth of thought and level of commitment of the organizers and presenters. It touched on topics that are central to every educator: trust, critical thinking, and student voice...In short, it was fabulous." -Paul Swanson, United Nations International School of Hanoi, Vietnam

Sarah Westbrook

Sarah Westbrook is a former high school English teacher who is now RQI’s Director of Professional Learning. During her seven years of teaching in Boston area public high schools, Sarah developed a deep appreciation for the innovative work educators do every day for students that often goes unseen and unrecognized. She now partners with schools and districts around the country to design professional learning on the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) and collaborates with individual classroom teachers to highlight their work and identify new opportunities for professional growth. She has presented on the QFT for a range of audiences including NCSS, NSTA, and ASCD National Conferences, Chicago Public Schools, Cincinnati Public Schools, New York State BOCES districts, and the Hawaii and Iowa State Departments of Education. She holds a M.A.T. in English Education from Tufts University and a B.A. in English from Bryn Mawr College.

Venue:
Melbourne

8.30 am to 3.30 pm
Registration at 8.00 am
on the 3rd June 2019