What’s It To Me?

Engaging Strategy
An engaging strategy guides participants to explain or apply ideas, elaborate on their thought processes, listen to each other and build upon the ideas of others, and reflect on and process what they are learning.
Description

When preparing to learn something new, participants reflect on metacognitive questions to consider what they are curious about and how the topic is relevant to their experience.

When and Why

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This activity helps learners to build self-efficacy and curiosity as they connect to new and challenging topics. They will consider how their own experiences are relevant, and identify what they need to process new learning.

How to Facilitate

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  1. Reflect on the current context, the demographics of participants, and the purpose of this engagement. After introducing a new topic but before getting in depth, ask participants to write and reflect on the following questions:
    • Which parts or terms are unfamiliar to me, and which parts do I recognize?
    • How does this connect with what I already know?
    • What follow-up questions do I have?
    • Why is this topic important?
  2. If time is short, collect participants’ writing and use this as input to shape your next class period or meeting with them. If time allows, invite participants to share a summary of what they wrote within a small group.
  3. Debrief, asking participants prompts and questions such as:
    • What prior knowledge and skills do you have that will help you as you learn about this topic?
    • What did you write about or hear about from someone else that made you feel curious about this topic?
    • What feels most important to you, as we dive in?
    • The experience of “not knowing” can be scary or uncomfortable at first, but we’re all learning, and building on what we do know, and what our friends/classmates/colleagues share. Today, let’s be curious — about this new topic, but also about our own and others’ perspectives about this topic.

References

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This is a common teaching practice, described and expanded upon by Micaela Gerardin-Frey (SEL District Specialist in Washoe County School District) in a CASEL workshop.

Example

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Micaela Gerardin-Frey completed the PATT template, showing how she used this activity for a 6th grade social studies lesson.

How does What’s It To Me? support SEL?

Self-Awareness/Identity:
Participants have an opportunity to understand their own ways of thinking and processing new information. Facilitators consider their own and participants’ identities in the design of the practice.

Responsible decision-making/Curiosity
Participants will practice approaching a new topic with curiosity in order to persevere when encountering a challenge. Facilitators design an activity that leads to the pursuit of knowledge and different perspectives and contributes to attention, engagement, and learning.
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