The 16 Week Challenge - Week 9

 

Welcome to week 9 of our Fall 2024 16 Week Teaching Challenge!

If you're new to the challenge, take a minute and read The Big Launch post here. You can opt to get caught up on previous weeks by checking out the "16 Week Challenge" link to the bottom right of this page, or you're welcome to just jump right in and join us!

Week 9: Oct. 14 - Learn About Using Questions to Promote Student Learning

When you think of asking questions in a lesson, what comes to mind? Kids' hands in the air, eagerly wanting to answer?  Bloom's taxonomy and a variety of questions? Getting feedback about questioning and immediately thinking you simply need to ask more?

I'd like to propose something different. 

What if we thought of questions as a way to promote student learning. Not assess learning. Promote it.

How does that change this idea in your mind?

This week, we'll explore that together. So ...

1. Begin by reading (or reading) EL's 8 High-Leverage Instructional Practices, and read the row for Using Questions to Promote - Not Just Assess - Student Learning. Ask yourself: How is this different than the way I've thought about questions?
2. Read this article by Tim Shanahan on the role of questioning in comprehension instruction. According to Tim, what is and is not the role of questioning?
3. Consider this quote from Teach Like a Champion: "The purpose is not to ask questions; the purpose is to use questions to elicit different types of thinking." (p. 271). In EL, rarely do the materials call on teachers to pose a question and call on a volunteer to answer it; rather, the materials call for the use of total participation techniques to ensure all students are doing the thinking of the lesson. How does this shift your thinking?
4. Consider this quote from Steven Goldman: "The picture of students eagerly raising their hands to answer a question is so ingrained in our mental images of what a good classroom looks like. But eliminating this practice is one of the most important changes we could make." What is your reaction to that?
5. Read this blog post from Doug Lemov on phrasing fundamentals for questions.

Completed that? Fantastic! You just completed your Week 9 Teaching Challenge. If you're working for that small prize, you can log your success here, and be sure to check back next week - October 21 - for week 10.

Here's to simply teaching well,