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.