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I just got an email from our administration reminding us that we are to be researching questioning techniques during our breaks to guide our discussions for our meetings during the second semester.
First, a mini-vent: We have discussed questioning techniques ad nauseum over the last seven years. I could give a presentation on them myself if I were inclined. We rarely ever have professional development or meetings that actually provide anything useful, practical, or different. And it is our break, @#$%&!
So, besides the fact that I gravitate heavily toward the Socratic method, that I ask both factual and open-ended questions, that I use appropriate wait time, that I vary the targets of my questions--some directed to a particular student, some to the whole class, I realize that there are likely vast realms of questioning techniques that I have not yet researched.
My question for my City-Data colleagues is this: What questioning techniques do you find are particularly useful? Which are especially beneficial when dealing with a student body that is woefully behind grade level, overwhelmingly economically distressed, disturbingly sexually active, and socially more interested in sports and music rather than preparing for the future?
Most of our students come from families that receive a great deal of public aid, so that while they are very well-dressed and have the latest cell phones, there is a definite disconnect between the concept of earning money and spending it. Our students lack the academic focus and scholastic stamina that is typical in schools where the parents keep a tight rein on their children so that they will get into good colleges. This is one of the main reasons why so many of them drop out of school before graduating or from college if they do get there.
Part of my frustration comes from the feeling that I'm complicit in the story of The Emperor's New Clothes. If all it took to turn our school around was the teachers' learning the right questioning techniques, we should have been a Star School years ago. But the fact of the matter is that our students can't read anything beyond a fifth grade text without major errors, because of minimal vocabularies and poor word-attack skills. And that's just the students! Some of our teachers aren't that much better!
Sorry about the secondary vent. It happens sometimes. Let me go and continue my research.
A teacher in our school has cubes that she throws to groups that she creates. Each group is created in by ability level and she has differentiated cubes (based on Bloom's Taxonomy). In the group, a student will roll the cube and then answer the question presented, the rest of the group is responsible to make sure that the answer is correct. This is great for review!
You can also have each group be responsible for presenting a particular side of the cube when you ask questions. This encourages a collaborative education experience.
In my classroom, I have a lot of group work like that. I teach music at the elementary level currently. When my second graders learn about the instrument families, a group will receive a packet of instruments that they need to divide into the correct families. When first graders learn about the solfege scale, I give each student a piece of paper that has one of the following on it (do, re, mi, etc...). Based on the color of their paper they need to find others in their group and then get themselves in the correct order.
When fourth graders learn the military songs, they move a lot! For the Army they create an "A" with their arms, Navy an "N," Marines "M," etc....
Here is an interesting resource that I found shortly after creating this thread. It reviews a number of research studies on questioning and consolidates the results.
One of the more insightful things that I learned was this:
Quote:
Very young children and poor readers tend to focus only on material that
will help them answer questions if these are posed before the lesson is
presented.
Also, the Guidelines for Classroom Questioning were very useful.
I know that there are several other regular CD members who teach in inner-city secondary schools. Can anyone share anecdotes or research as to the effectiveness of questioning techniques for our demographics?
I just got an email from our administration reminding us that we are to be researching questioning techniques during our breaks to guide our discussions for our meetings during the second semester.
First, a mini-vent: We have discussed questioning techniques ad nauseum over the last seven years. I could give a presentation on them myself if I were inclined. We rarely ever have professional development or meetings that actually provide anything useful, practical, or different. And it is our break, @#$%&!
So, besides the fact that I gravitate heavily toward the Socratic method, that I ask both factual and open-ended questions, that I use appropriate wait time, that I vary the targets of my questions--some directed to a particular student, some to the whole class, I realize that there are likely vast realms of questioning techniques that I have not yet researched.
My question for my City-Data colleagues is this: What questioning techniques do you find are particularly useful? Which are especially beneficial when dealing with a student body that is woefully behind grade level, overwhelmingly economically distressed, disturbingly sexually active, and socially more interested in sports and music rather than preparing for the future?
Most of our students come from families that receive a great deal of public aid, so that while they are very well-dressed and have the latest cell phones, there is a definite disconnect between the concept of earning money and spending it. Our students lack the academic focus and scholastic stamina that is typical in schools where the parents keep a tight rein on their children so that they will get into good colleges. This is one of the main reasons why so many of them drop out of school before graduating or from college if they do get there.
Part of my frustration comes from the feeling that I'm complicit in the story of The Emperor's New Clothes. If all it took to turn our school around was the teachers' learning the right questioning techniques, we should have been a Star School years ago. But the fact of the matter is that our students can't read anything beyond a fifth grade text without major errors, because of minimal vocabularies and poor word-attack skills. And that's just the students! Some of our teachers aren't that much better!
Sorry about the secondary vent. It happens sometimes. Let me go and continue my research.
Okay, here's what I do -- this is sort of an abbreviated version. I also teach English, so that may or may not apply for you.
Let's say we're going to read a challenging text.
Prereading questions
First, I begin by asking prereading questions addressing larger or thematic ideas raised by the text. NOTE: They have to be open-ended, and they have to be written in such a way that at least two divergent answers are possible. Let's say (since you brought it up) that we're going to read "The Emperor's New Clothes." Some prereading questions I might ask might include the following:
1. Should people risk telling the truth to those in power?
2. Why might a person allow him- or herself to be deceived?
In open-ended discussion, my role is to probe. My two biggest questions are "Why do you think so?" and "What do you mean?" I focus on vague language in questioning especially.
Example:
Student: Well, I think it's hard for people to tell the truth to those in power.
Me: Why?
Student: Well, because stuff can happen to them if they do.
Me: What do you mean by "stuff"?
Student: You know -- they can get punished.
Me: Why might they get punished?
Student: Because the ruler might not appreciate the truth.
Me: Why would the ruler might not appreciate the truth?
Student: Maybe the truth makes him look bad.
NEVER accept the first answer except in the case of a student so reluctant to speak that venturing to speak is a major act of courage for him or her. Always attack vagueness, slang, cliches, or what I think of as "bumper-sticker thoughts."
READING
If the text is short enough, we read it out loud. That is *I* read it. It is not productive to have students, especially poor readers, read aloud. It becomes an exercise in embarrassment and it ultimately teaches them nothing. When the teacher reads a text, conversely, s/he can give the words tone and inflection, making the text more meaningful.
While the teacher reads, the students take notes on anything interesting, surprising, etc. -- this can be with short symbols like "!" for something surprising, or "??" for questions.
If the text is long, an important or relevant passage can be singled out for reading out loud and the same process can occur.
QUESTIONING
Students then reread the passage on their own silently and develop 1-3 questions THEY have about it -- questions that they genuinely *cannot* answer, questions which are meaningful to them, and questions they care about in some way. "What was Hamlet wearing in act V?" is not much of a question. "Why doesn't Hamlet kill his uncle?" is a much better one.
SMALL GROUPS OPTION 1
Together in small groups, students answer each other's questions. This "lowers the temperature" of discussion, and WAY often, if students are coming up dry when I give them a question, I'll have them talk it out amongst themselves for 1-3 minutes first, and then ask the question again.
SMALL GROUPS OPTION 2
You give students an important, meaningful question to ask about the first part of the text. Students discuss it in small groups first.
Then, you bring the class back together as a whole and say, "Okay, what did you folks come up with?"
WHOLE CLASS
When they're ready, ask the question. As with prereading, DO NOT accept vagueness, slang, or cliches -- and get them constantly, constantly, constantly to justify their answers with evidence from the text.
For example (using "TENClothes"):
Me: Okay, why do you think the Grand Vizier didn't admit to seeing nothing when he went to observe the two weavers at work on the Emperor's robes?
Student: Well, he was afraid.
Me: What do you mean "afraid"?
Student: He was afraid people would think he was stupid.
Me: What in the text made you think that? Can you find the place?
Student (reads): "The Vizier thought, 'If only fools fail to see the weaving, and I cannot see it, then I must be a fool. The Emperor cannot know I am a fool, for if he does, he shall behead me.'"
I could go on, but this is overlong as it is. I hope it helps.
I appreciate your well-thought out response. It is more or less exactly what I do and have done for years. I suppose that it does not come naturally to so many of the teachers, who apparently rely fairly heavily on worksheets. The students love worksheets and think that anything that isn't done on a worksheet is not, by definition, work. They often get very frustrated because my questioning makes them think. On the other hand, the students who hate worksheets and who like to think love the class.
Can you think of a catchy name for the process you described? Our administrators love catchy names. As for me, I don't care what you call it as long as it works.
The only problem that I can see with your lesson is that at our school it would be interrupted at least 6-8 times due to visitors to class, PA announcements, students arguing, etc. These are structural problems that I hope don't happen in more functional schools. However, as you know, I'm not in one of those.
I particularly like that you model for the students what inflected reading sounds like. My students generally loved to listen to a well-read story. Unfortunately, that is not my subject area, but a few years ago, when we had enforced Sustained Silent Reading, I would buck the system and get a class set which we would read out loud. They loved Anthem and were quite enjoying The Lord of the Flies until the SSR period was switched abruptly to another class period. A couple of the students got copies so that they could finish the book on their own.
More recently, I had a very motivated advanced section where we decided to read Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which was also a part of their next summer reading assignment. The students loved listening to me reading with an English accent, and one of them took over. She had the whole class entranced and her accent was very authentic. Very remarkable for an inner-city classroom!
Most of my students have never experienced the kind of story-reading that my own children had, where the reader can define new words and provide background knowledge while asking the kinds of open-ended questions that you provided for The Emperor's New Clothes. In fact, most of them have never even been exposed to traditional stories, legends, myths, fairy tales and fables that I consider an essential part of cultural literacy. I cannot understand why those classics of childhood literature are not used to teach the skills that the state tests. But then, I can't understand most of the reasoning behind our state's Department of Education.
Maybe it was a general e-mail aimed at teachers who do not do what you do. I get the same e-mails from the prinicpal and know that I do my job correctly, but 50% of my hallway does not. I find that all 3 of the prinicpals at my site tend to send mass e-mails rather than address the people they really want to change their ways.
Maybe it was a general e-mail aimed at teachers who do not do what you do. I get the same e-mails from the prinicpal and know that I do my job correctly, but 50% of my hallway does not. I find that all 3 of the prinicpals at my site tend to send mass e-mails rather than address the people they really want to change their ways.
Our administration is fairly good about addressing people privately, unlike the previous administration where the principal would rail at the faculty making vague accusations and threats that went completely over my head.
This e-mail was to remind us all that over the break we are supposed to be researching questioning techniques to be the basis for our discussions during the meetings that we will have during the second semester that starts Monday. We usually lose our planning periods at least twice a week, mostly for our departmental, holistic accountability, professional development, and state test subject meetings. This is in addition to losing class time for assemblies and other activities such as a well-publicized breast cancer field day with a sponsored walk. We've also had about 3 or 4 talent shows already this year, along with a couple of student/teacher basketball games. You have to admire our laser-like focus on academics--the district's new tagline.
My frustration is that we don't go beyond about three or four topics during our professional development sessions. We have flogged the questioning techniques horse to death, along with differentiated instruction, exceptional education modifications and accommodations, and depth of knowledge. (I can't help myself again--most of the administrators can't pronounce the word "depth" so the phrase always comes out as "death of knowledge". More than ironic.)
We could use more help with topics such as motivating the disaffected learner, organizing resources for students on maternity leave (I have five out or about to be out), or helping students develop the habits for success. If I have to attend another DI workshop, I think I may scream!
Perhaps I'll start a thread about useful PD sessions. Any ideas?
I appreciate your well-thought out response. It is more or less exactly what I do and have done for years. I suppose that it does not come naturally to so many of the teachers, who apparently rely fairly heavily on worksheets. The students love worksheets and think that anything that isn't done on a worksheet is not, by definition, work. They often get very frustrated because my questioning makes them think. On the other hand, the students who hate worksheets and who like to think love the class.
Can you think of a catchy name for the process you described? Our administrators love catchy names. As for me, I don't care what you call it as long as it works.
Socratic discussion?
Great Books discussion method (It's not strictly GB, but adapted from them)?
Critical discussion?
Quote:
The only problem that I can see with your lesson is that at our school it would be interrupted at least 6-8 times due to visitors to class, PA announcements, students arguing, etc. These are structural problems that I hope don't happen in more functional schools. However, as you know, I'm not in one of those.
I particularly like that you model for the students what inflected reading sounds like. My students generally loved to listen to a well-read story. Unfortunately, that is not my subject area, but a few years ago, when we had enforced Sustained Silent Reading, I would buck the system and get a class set which we would read out loud. They loved Anthem and were quite enjoying The Lord of the Flies until the SSR period was switched abruptly to another class period. A couple of the students got copies so that they could finish the book on their own.
I honestly think it's incredibly difficult for nonreaders to read -- I figured this out when I was learning Spanish and tried to read (in Spanish) a Stephen King novel I'd already read before in English. HORRIBLE. I had to stop on every third word, and worst of all, the words had no "tone." The words did not disappear, did not make the "mind movie," did not entertain. It was a moment of genuine epiphany for me.
That said, I stuck with it, kept reading, and then sooner or later, the problem resolved itself -- I started "hearing" the words, started understanding it better, and sooner or later, I forgot I was reading in Spanish, but it took a long time...and the confidence that came with being a good reader for decades.
I think reading with good inflection can help SO much with understanding -- there's a world of difference between "You look nice today" and "You look nice TODAY," or "YOU look nice today."
Quote:
More recently, I had a very motivated advanced section where we decided to read Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which was also a part of their next summer reading assignment. The students loved listening to me reading with an English accent, and one of them took over. She had the whole class entranced and her accent was very authentic. Very remarkable for an inner-city classroom!
Most of my students have never experienced the kind of story-reading that my own children had, where the reader can define new words and provide background knowledge while asking the kinds of open-ended questions that you provided for The Emperor's New Clothes. In fact, most of them have never even been exposed to traditional stories, legends, myths, fairy tales and fables that I consider an essential part of cultural literacy. I cannot understand why those classics of childhood literature are not used to teach the skills that the state tests. But then, I can't understand most of the reasoning behind our state's Department of Education.
I don't either -- they're cultural touchstones. I would think that this would be especially relevant to students whose families aren't originally from this culture, just as (if I moved to Mexico) I'd want my child exposed to the story of "La Llorona" and to understand the difference between a vampire and a chupacabra. It's just part of the scene.
Perhaps I'll start a thread about useful PD sessions. Any ideas?
I honestly think that's an oxymoron.
Even when someone comes up with a good idea, half the staff nods politely, then closes their classroom and does WTF they've always done.
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Some prereading questions I might ask might include the following:
