Good questions are...

 ... stepping stones

... the rich soil nurturing deep understanding

... oiled hinges for rich expression

This week I participated in ongoing training for my reading comprehension intervention groups. We considered the place and purpose of questions. Questions are a deliberate pedagogical strategy that permeates learning spaces. As teachers, we ask questions to keep students focused and involved, to arouse interest, to gauge understanding, to enable self-expression of ideas and interests, to moderate student behaviour and to foster an inquiry approach to learning. 

However, research shows that 60% of teacher questions are low-level surface questions, asking for basic recall of facts and 20% are procedural in nature. High-level cognition questions are less frequent in number and often posed to students of perceived higher ability. 

I spend much of my time during my reading groups asking questions in order for students to respond and dig deeper into the text. However, research also shows that frequent teacher questioning has the capacity to limit student self-expression and thought. It can lead to disengagement or students seeking to give the 'right' answer rather than genuine independent thought. This has caused me to pause and reflect on how I use questions and how I respond to student 'answers'. I have realised that I may, at times, be limiting rather than helping frame, shape and expand student thinking. 

A part of planning for my R3 groups includes specific and deliberate planning of 'think alouds' and teacher-posed questions. This encourages me to be purposeful and deliberate with every question that is asked. However, I am now wondering how I can incorporate more of a hinge approach -  'where convergence and divergence of ideas and expression co-exist'. Hinge-like approaches will adopt greater use of probing, prompting and nudging, thus enabling greater opportunity for student engagement and participation. The focus is moved away from the student looking to the teacher to see if they have given the right answer and more towards shaping and framing student responses.

Some examples of prompts and nudges:

'Say some more about that...'

'Go on, tell me more...'

'Can you explain what you mean by that?'

'Give me some reasons for what you just said.'

'Think again. You might think about...'

'Look back at the text again. What else?'

I have noticed that the students still look to me when they contribute. They wait for me to move on the discussion. They still put their hands up with a response. These are all indications that there is more work to do in developing a different learning culture where I facilitate, nudge, frame and shape a much more student-led and student-to-student dialogue leading to greater cognitive and oral richness in the learning space.  

Reference: van Hees, J. (2007). Expanding oral language in the classroom. NZCER Press.