Looking at the Eisenhower Matrix gave me a way to consider how I’m thinking about the year ahead. While I managed to fill the “Important/Urgent” and “Important/Not Urgent” boxes quite easily, I struggled to fill the other two boxes; but the “Imporant/Urgent” items were all student-focused. The direction I want to take is clear: prioritizing student-led learning. When I categorized this work, I placed it under “important and urgent.” I think it’s extremely important and effective. That feels like a meaningful starting point—not because every detail is settled, but because I can name what I want to make space for.
The most urgent and important insight for me is that student-led learning needs to reach beyond a single activity. My hope is to embed it into all areas of the curriculum at some point throughout the year. That is a broad intention, and I want to approach it through a concrete first step rather than leave it as an idea.
This month, I’m initiating a cross-curricular inquiry activity with my class. I’m interested in how inquiry could connect students through their own interests and passions. To help that happen, having a suitable lesson plan would be useful. Its purpose would be to give students a starting question that gets them engaged—not to decide in advance where every student’s thinking must go.
The proposed starting question is: “If all matter is made of tiny pieces too small to see, how do they team up to make a hard rock versus a flowing river?” It gives students a shared point of entry while inviting them to think about a question that reaches across areas of the curriculum. From there, their interests and the questions they bring can help shape the inquiry.
I’m hoping this activity will increase student engagement and self-awareness. I don’t know in advance exactly how that will unfold, and I want to stay curious as students respond. The question, the lesson plan, and the cross-curricular connection are ways to begin; the purpose is to make room for students to take a more active role in their learning.
My intention for the year is to prioritize student-led learning and, over time, embed it throughout the curriculum. This month’s inquiry activity is a first step toward that direction. It matters to me because it connects learning with students’ own interests and passions, while giving them a starting point from which to engage. I’m resolved to begin with this activity, pay attention to what it makes possible, and keep that larger intention in view.