The Power of Provocation

Nothing can replace the power and impact that a carefully designed provocation has on  student learning.  I've  devoted the last  several years  to better understanding how  provocations can be improved on  and designed in ways  that help students make stronger connections to the big ideas in a unit.   A rich and meaningful provocation can:

• create a sense of awe and wonder
• have a strong emotional impact on our learners
• provide opportunities for deep discussion and debate
• inspire and motivate students to take action and want to know more
• draw out the big ideas/themes in a unit
• help teachers and students to co-construct learning from the start of a unit

Although I understand what a good provocation is, I recently challenged myself to  better articulate  what I truly believe makes up a   rich and meaningful provocation.  I spent a few hours really thinking my way through   different considerations I have when designing  provocations.   In order to do this more effectively, I decided to create a 'provocations design' rubric that zeroes in on important criteria related  to designing effective  provocations. 

I rarely like to take a stance on things as  I like to remain open to new ideas.  However, I found that taking a stance on what I believe to be  the key building blocks to  designing a rich and meaningful provocation helped me to clarify my own thinking.   As I was giving a presentation to teachers on  the power of provocations,  I thought that including this rubric in the workshop would be a good way to stimulate discussion related to what they think makes up a good provocation. 

I'd like to share this rubric with you. I hope that, at minimum, it challenges you to think about the provocations that you use and how these provocations can be refined  in order to deepen student learning in your classes.  Feel free to share any thoughts below in the comment box.   You can agree, disagree or think it is complete nonsense. All that I ask is that you share your honest thoughts and feedback. I've included a PDF link for you to download this rubric if you'd like. Thanks!

provocations_design_rubric.pdf
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