1. I found this article from The New Yorker on Twitter. It’s an article on “writer’s block,” but the following quote by Scott Barry Kaufman connects, in my mind, to my inquiry project a bit:  “I think one must trust the writing process. Understand that creativity requires nonlinearity and unique associative combinations,” he says. “Creative people do a lot of trial and error and rarely know where they are going exactly until they get there.”  This is not supported by most of the teaching done in our schools.  Finding opportunities to allow kids to be creative sounds like a worthwhile pursuit!

http://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/how-to-beat-writers-block?utm_source=nextdraft&utm_medium=email

 

  1. I’m sensing a theme developing as I pursue my inquiry project, project based learning, and developing novel approaches to create equity within my classroom. Attached is an article by Elizabeth Gilbert on creativity.  #5 caught my eye…”Frustration is not an interruption of the process, frustration is the process.”  This, of course, connects to education in general, but also what I hope to create for my students as we move forward with the ideas developed from the inquiry project.

http://ideas.ted.com/fear-is-boring-and-other-tips-for-living-a-creative-life/

 

  1. Project Based Learning Teaching Rubric

http://bie.org/object/document/project_based_teaching_rubric

 

  1. Shared Purpose as it relates to “community.” I think this has clear applications in the classroom.  This article made me think of a conversation I had with the parent of a student I taught who also happened to be a principal.  We were talking about the idea of successful teachers having idiosyncrasies that kids found fun and/or engaging.  I believe that these things create a feeling among students that they belong to something unique, which can be the beginnings of creating a community within the classroom.  A sense that what they are doing matters in some way.  Like a similar article we read, it’s from Harvard Business Review.

https://hbr.org/2013/03/purpose-is-good-shared-purpose

  1. This post regarding “Avoiding Learned Helplessness” promotes failure, or at least multiple attempts, and the refining of student work and thinking over time in order to create learning. I connected it to our inquiry project and seeing the teacher as facilitator.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/avoiding-learned-helplessness-andrew-miller?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialflow