As teachers we
ask a lot of questions. In fact, we do
so frequently without thinking about those questions. We believe it might be a good way to check
our class’s understanding of what has been covered, or a way of getting them
involved in an otherwise uninvolved lesson.
However, as it
has been generally documented (Rothstein & Santana, 2012), teachers
generally don’t ask the right type of questions, relying heavily on low-level
recall over more complex questions of synthesis and evaluation, questions that
take a considerable amount of energy and time to answer. We also tend to ask
questions that require students to “guess what is in my head.” We want them to evaluate something and to
ultimately come to the same conclusion that we have come to. But the very nature of deep and meaningful
questions means that we should not really know the answer to the question
before we ask it. That seems like an odd
concept when we think about our traditional role of teacher, as disseminator of
information and truth. But today, we
need to think about other roles we can play, like guide, coach and mentor,
where we allow learners to struggle with questions and answers, to come to
their own conclusions, and to offer them assistance when the frustration
becomes too much.
This is hard
for numerous reasons. First, it means that we need to re-think our practice of
developing questions on the fly. Typically, these are the questions that serve
as mini-quizzes to see if anyone can recall, or admit recalling what has been
learned. Second, thick questions take
more time. They require time for
students to reflect. And time for them to converse about their thoughts. Finally, they require time for them to
process as a whole class and maybe even some post-discussion time to
write. Third, these questions don’t have
clear and predictable answers. Teachers have to learn to hold questions versus
answering them. They have to accept
sometimes ambiguous conclusions and monitor when it might be necessary to table
the question and when to press students harder.
For teachers teaching multiple sections of a class, this can be
difficult. One class might really
struggle with the question and not get very far. One class might be able to answer it quickly
and move on.
One
class might have a rich, deep discussion that takes on a life of its own. This is hard, because we often try to
re-create discussions from earlier classes by imposing ourselves more firmly in
those discussions versus letting them take their own direction.
This
month I’ve chosen a few reading strategies that not only help you to utilize
meaningful questioning practices in your classes, but also to help students
develop the art of asking good questions as well. First, you will find some
guidelines for asking thoughtful questions in class. Second, you will find a hand-out entitled
“Thick Questions” which can be useful to use with students to show them how to
ask good questions as they read. And the third is a vocabulary activity based
around asking questions of the word.
Find the full newsletter here. In it you will find
-->Teacher Tips
for Developing Strong Classroom Questions, January
Reading Tips, Thick
Questions, and Word
Questioning.