READER RESPONSE #6
Domain III, Competency 008
Subcompetency 6
back to instruction and assessment
Reading Response #6
Kathy Hainey
Chapter 6 of Methods for Teaching by Jacobsen, et al, focused on the different types of questions that are useful to encourage learning in the classroom and the types of responses that result from them. Questioning falls under the implementation portion of the Three-Phase Approach to Teaching as introduced in our text on page 17. Classroom questioning is the "cornerstone of effective teaching" (pg. 147). Questioning students can aid in learning, increase student involvement, provide motivation, and provide feedback to both teacher and students (pg. 147). By questioning students, a teacher is aided in the process of continually evaluating the efficacy of their lesson plans and presentation.
For questions in the classroom to be effective, they should be brief, clear, focused, relevant, constructive, neutral, and open-ended if possible (pg. 148). There are many reasons why questioning students is beneficial in the classroom. Some of these reasons are: it helps students stay involved in lesson; encourages students to verbalize their ideas; lets the rest of the class hear what others are thinking; and assists the teacher in evaluating how the class is receiving and learning what is being presented in the lesson (pp. 148-149).
There are low-level questions and high-level questions utilized by teachers to evaluate different things. Low-level questions measure recall of basic knowledge. The answer to this type of question is specific and there is only one correct answer. High-level questions measure the use of comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, or evaluation skills. They require intellectual processing, not just giving a rote response.
Questions are also divided into convergent or divergent questions. Convergent questions are typically low-level, with only one correct answer. Divergent questions are more closely related to high-level questions, and many answers would be considered correct because the question requires the use of a higher cognitive level of thinking to respond.
One type of divergent questioning is the use of open-ended questions. These questions "usually offer students multiple approaches to the problem by placing little constraint on the students’ methods of solution" (pg. 155). Both descriptive and comparative questions are open-ended, and encourage student involvement and thinking (pg. 156).
Prompting and probing are two more examples of questions teachers can use to involve students in the lesson. Prompting involves the use of hints to help students give responses (pg.158-159). Probing is used after a student gives an incomplete response or for further explanation of their responses. Teachers should give students at least 3 seconds to begin their responses. A positive classroom environment for questioning include being interested in what the student has to say, being curious about students’ responses, building on students’ ideas, and questions that encourage expansion of knowledge (pg. 164).
DISCUSSION
As with all classes, the ones I teach have students who are always involved in the discussion and some who try not to be. I believe, as the text promotes, that the quiet students should be given the chance to have a voice in the discussion. This involves calling on various students, both the quiet and talkative. Usually, a normally quiet student will respond, but sometimes not. I want to respect their right to be reticent, but I also feel I should call on them. I wonder what the balance between the two should be. Is it based solely on the teacher’s intuition?
The types of questions discussed, while having different names for educational purposes, are closely related to the types of questions used in psychotherapy and are quite familiar. Effective questioning takes practice and becomes almost an art. Sometimes class periods are too short to allow for all the questions teachers and students have on a given subject, so the lesson is carried over to the next class period. I think it is good to remember that teachers are not the only ones with valid questions to ask during a lesson or discussion. Having the students ask questions shows the teacher how a student may be moving into a higher cognitive level of thinking. When this happens, it’s almost like fireworks go off over the student’s head! They can even surprise themselves!