Arsenal of a Dragon Slayer
How do you win the war? With good questions. Lost Tools of Writing has laid out an easy format for asking questions in other words-thinking.
Definition: Define your terms. We can’t understand it if we don’t know what it is. While definitions used to involve at least some thinking (at least alphabetizing and spelling), today’s technology has put digital dictionaries in our pockets. Guess what? By asking the questions “what group does it belong to?” and “how is it different from others in that group?” you and your students will be doing some serious thinking.
Comparison: How is X like Y? What differences spring out of this similarity? Are these differences of “a certain kind of thing” or differences of “more/less”, “better/worse”, or “bigger/smaller”?
Circumstance: What in the world is going on here? What in the world is going on somewhere else?
Relations: What was the cause of X? What was the effect of X? Did this effect in turn cause something else? Just because something happens before or after another thing doesn’t necessarily mean it caused that thing.
Authority: What does the eyewitness have to say? What does the expert witness have to say? Experts are often removed from the “scene of the crime” but because of their valuable knowledge, we look to them for help.
Creating thinking sentient beings should be our primary goal as parents and teachers.
If I were teaching history in a classroom this year, I would do two things. First I would give a blank map of North America and ask students to carve out the future territory of the United States. Most will put it at the current borders, but the rare few will do something radically different. This is the starting point for discussion. Then I would ask my class to come up with 50 or more questions about our history or current events. I would provide them with the common topics of invention to help them get started. Younger kids will need to be prompted by a video like the one below. Or even better https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDPnsTRAvIM show them We Didn't Start the fire by Billy Joel and ask "Who started the fire?" That could take an entire semester because you would have to define fire then start with Prometheus. (PS this is how I am starting my homeschool year with my kids. Questioning is thinking.)
Below are the 5 common topics of Invention created by Lost Tools of Writing.
Here are my questions-
Definition- What does it mean to be an American?
Comparison-How was the Trail of Tears like the evacuation of Japanese during WWII?
Circumstance-What was going on in Africa in 1492? What is going on in Africa today?
Relations-What caused the BLM movement? What were the short and long term effects of slavery? What, if anything, is the relationship between the two?
Authority-What do experts say about the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066?
Definition: Define your terms.
Comparison: How is X like Y? What differences spring out of this similarity? Are these differences of “a certain kind of thing” or differences of “more/less”, “better/worse”, or “bigger/smaller”?
Circumstance: What in the world is going on here? What in the world is going on somewhere else?
Relations: What was the cause of X? What was the effect of X? Did this effect in turn cause something else? Just because something happens before or after another thing doesn’t necessarily mean it caused that thing.
Authority: What does the eyewitness have to say? What does the expert witness have to say? Experts are often removed from the “scene of the crime” but because of their valuable knowledge, we look to them for help.
Comments
Post a Comment