This week was filled with the last bit of prep work before being able to really set the 6th graders loose and dive deep in the coming weeks. It probably wasn't the most exciting week of GATE, but it set the stage for lots of independence and deep learning.

The students started by generating a list of questions that they have about wisdom. This lead us into an activity where the students learned how to distinguish factual, evaluative, and interpretive questions. Factual questions have one answer, evaluative questions rely on feelings and personal opinions to answer, and interpretive don't have a clear answer but can be discussed using textual and sometimes anecdotal evidence. The students looked at their lists of questions and identified which types of questions they asked. Some students also practiced rewriting some factual and evaluative questions to turn them into interpretive questions. Next week, the students will learn the format and conduct their first Socratic seminar. We will use interpretive questions generated by the students as catalysts for the discussions.

The students and I also co-created a rubric for the Study of the City research project this week. The group of students that are not in the math group surveyed and organized each of their classmates into areas of research to meet the Learning Intention of having a broad range of topics lead by student interest that paint a broad picture of what makes Boise, Boise.