Tag: identity

Posted on

Inquiry Into the Self Online

I’m taking a break from my provocation series into Sustainable Development Goals for an important inquiry on the way we consume and share online.

With our White Ribbon Week observances & internet safety assemblies, most students know:

  • don’t share personal information
  • don’t cyberbully
  • don’t meet up with strangers you met online

What we don’t talk about as often is the way they feel about their internet presence. Who do they think they need to be and why? How can they use the internet to help fill their cups, rather than drain them?

This week’s provocation is meant to help foster these deeper conversations.

Resource #1: “Selfie Harm” photo series 

Resource #2: Infinite Scroll by Pete Henderson

Resource #3: Side Effects by Chris Cousins

Resource #4: Brene Brown quote

Resource #5: Rock What Ya Got by Samantha Berger

Provocation Questions:

  • What does authenticity mean?
  • How do the internet & social media invite us to connect? How can that connection be positive? How can it be negative?
  • How does it work to embrace who we are even as we work to improve?
  • What are side effects? What are the different perspectives on side effects of social media?
  • How does balance connect to our self-care on social media?

featured image: DeathToTheStockPhoto

Posted on

Inquiry Into Being a Writer

Now that I’ve finished my PYP essential elements provocations, I plan to begin the next series of inquiry-based provocations on the SDG’s (UN’s Sustainable Development Goals by 2030).

But first, I’d like to pause and do a couple of inquiries into more general learning identities. We all hope our students will move from “doing” math, writing, reading, or science” to seeing themselves as mathematicians, writers, readers, or scientists. Amidst the many curriculum-mandated tasks associated with those subjects, however, it can be difficult to hold on to this sense of identity.

This week’s provocation is meant to help students inquire into what it means to be a writer.

Resource #1: My recent post, “18 Best Videos to Get to Know Children’s Authors/Illustrators.” I had so much fun putting this compilation together with my kids. Almost a month later, my kids are still referring to specific videos in our house, recalling some funny thing Oliver Jeffers did or requesting a re-watch. Each of the videos offer a unique lens for what it means to be a picture book-maker, but below are a couple I would especially recommend in this context:

Resource #2: J.K. Rowling’s handwritten notes!

How J.K. Rowling Plotted Harry Potter with a Hand-Drawn Spreadsheet

Resource #3: How to Build a Fictional World Ted Talk by Kate Messner

Resource #4: Picture Books

Provocation Questions:

  • What does it mean to be a writer?
  • Why do people write?
  • How does our identity as writers change over time?
  • What is our responsibility to write? (for ourselves? For the world?)
  • What are the different perspectives on what makes a writer?
  • How does being a writer connect to being an author?
  • What is the connection between voice and writing?

featured image: DeathToTheStockPhoto