{"id":17972,"date":"2021-02-10T09:00:01","date_gmt":"2021-02-10T14:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teachingstrategies.com\/?p=17972"},"modified":"2023-10-13T15:00:18","modified_gmt":"2023-10-13T19:00:18","slug":"creating-deeper-learning-experiences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teachingstrategies.com\/blog\/creating-deeper-learning-experiences\/","title":{"rendered":"Groundhogs and Paper Airplanes: Creating Deeper Learning Experiences"},"content":{"rendered":"

Groundhogs<\/h3>\n

Last week, my five-year-old said, \u201cMama, next week if the groundhog sees her shadow, it will mean more winter and if she doesn\u2019t see her shadow it means more springtime.\u201d I asked, \u201cHow do you know that?\u201d She said, \u201cI learned it in school, silly. My teacher told me all about it.\u201d I asked, \u201cHow does your teacher know that?\u201d I could tell from her reaction she didn\u2019t know what to say. I waited a short while, and then I asked the question again in a slightly different way, \u201cHow do you think your teacher knows that about the groundhog?\u201d This time she responded right away. \u201cI think she read a book about it and then she saw a video on YouTube and then she told us.\u201d We continued this back-and-forth conversation about how teachers come to know what they know for almost 30 minutes and afterwards, I started to think about what this experience taught me. Here are my takeaways:<\/p>\n

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  1. How is a powerful question word and I don\u2019t use it enough.<\/li>\n
  2. The way I ask the question affects the way the child responds or doesn\u2019t respond. In the example I shared, I changed how does to how do you think and got a response.<\/li>\n
  3. This kind of questioning requires time for back-and-forth exchanges.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Paper Airplanes<\/h3>\n

    For Makena, my five-year-old, one of the best things about dining at a restaurant is making airplanes with the paper they give to children to keep them entertained. Recently, we were at one of her favorite restaurants, dining outdoors, when Makena and her best friend started to make airplanes. As I listened to their conversation, here\u2019s what I heard:<\/p>\n