The Power of Students' Questions

  

Initially, the intention of this post was to inform and share teachers’ questioning techniques and examples of teachers using questioning to get students to think critically.  However, as I walked around the building and observed our teachers and students, I found myself surprisingly impressed with the questions our STUDENTS were asking.  I was in several classrooms where the students seemed to be invited to challenge the teacher.  Not in a negative way at all, but instead in a way that led to high levels of engagement and amazing conversations.  This was evidence that sometimes the questions are as valuable the answers.

The students in our classrooms today have more knowledge than ever and because of technology their collective knowledge is more evident and accessible.  Those of us that have young children or have been in primary classrooms know that children are bursting with questions.  So what happens in high school that makes some of them stop asking?  Are they no longer curious? Research also shows that high school students today are even less comfortable asking questions than just a few years ago.  In 2010, 69% of HS students agreed that they felt comfortable asking questions in class. In 2014, that number had fallen to only 63%.  For some teachers, I think it is important for us to switch our questioning strategies around.  To promote deep learning, remember that students’ questions matter most.  There is a valuable place for teacher questioning, but sometimes teachers ask questions that students can answer without much original thought.   It is important to remember that our current high school students have never lived without Google!  It is a way of life to them.  Our questions don't always make them think critically.

Why don’t students ask questions?

If the first troops that hit the beach get mowed down, no one will follow!  Be careful how you respond to the first troops!  For many of our students, high school is risky! Some students don’t want to be seen as dumb.  Others don’t want to seem too interested or excited about school.  Sometimes even our strong students don’t know how to ask good questions.  It often takes time and practice for students to hone their own questioning skills.

What do our students' questions tell us?

The purpose of teacher questioning is to guide instruction, diagnose confusions and determine understanding.  Student questions can have the same purpose.  Students questions…

• Provide formative assessment data that helps adjust instruction.

• Increases curiosity, self-motivation and engagement.

• Isolate student confusion and force students to articulate those confusions.

What do our teachers have to say?

Ideas from our staff on how they encourage student questioning:

Ashlin Henderson - English Department

We teach reading strategies called "Notice and Note." The students have to look for "signposts" that will help them analyze a text. When they find these signposts, they have to answer an "anchor question" that will lead them to analyze. One of the signposts is Tough Questions. The anchor question is, "What does this question make me wonder about?" Most of the time they come up with their own questions, usually about foreshadowing, like, "what will happen to this character," or "what will happen next in the story?" Instead of me asking them those questions, they formulate them with this reading strategy.

Jeff Wells - Science Department

For my STEM Physical Science, I am attempting a flipped-classroom model where I post lecture videos on Schoology.  Below each video, I've placed a Google form where students can send me questions as they watch the lecture (see image below).  I then can answer those questions for the entire class the next school day.

Allyson Strong - Intervention Specialist

I pretend to be the "forgetful teacher" from the previous day/lesson.  I have the students in my English Skills and Co-Teaching practice asking me the same questions.  I find that the students do remember my reading comprehension questions from the day before.  However, they end up making up questions on their own, which is exactly what I wanted them to do!

After reading a story, I have students pretend to ask the hero (protagonist) or antagonist in the story a question.  I have students write questions down on a post it note while they read, or draw it out on a Screen Chomp (cartoon).

Thanks for reading and sharing.  Next month, we will focus on student self-assessment.  I already have some great ideas from Marvin, Fish and Kinniard.  Let me know if you have ideas you want to share on student self-assessment.  Keep doing what you do to FIP our school and make this a great place!

This month's post features an article written by LHS Staff Member, Ashlin Henderson.  The article was originally featured in AdLIT  (Adolescent Literacy in Perspective, Feb 2015).  It is very exciting to see the impact Ashlin is having on her students and also the teaching profession.  As I always say, our greatest resources are the great people in our own building.  Thanks Ashlin!

When Teaching Reading Goes Digital

by Ashlin E. Henderson

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Introduction

When I first started teaching English at Lancaster High School in 2008, all the technology I had was a chalkboard, an overhead projector, and a desktop computer I shared with another teacher. At the time, I had no idea where we would be in just five years. Now every student and teacher has an iPad, and I cannot imagine teaching like I did six years ago. As an English teacher and avid reader, of course I love reading from a physical book, but most students today don't feel that way. Digital texts make learning so much more interactive for students; I think they feel more a part of the story.

eTech Grant and the TPACK Model

In 2011, three other English teachers and I wrote a grant to receive money for technology in our classrooms through eTech Ohio. The Transforming Teaching and Learning Grant allowed all four of us the use of class sets of iPads, which in turn led to 1:1 iPads at our school two years later. eTech was extremely instrumental in our launch of technology because it gave us multiple professional development opportunities about how to incorporate technology. I would definitely not be as successful if it wasn't for the professional development offered.

The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge, or TPACK, model is one of the first things we learned about through our professional development. At first, we were concerned that we had not picked the technology for our school before we started researching how to use technology in the classroom. What we did not understand at the time is that it's not about what technology you have; it's about using the technology after you use the content standards to plan your lessons. We discovered that you need to start with the standards and then work toward incorporating technology. Teachers of every grade level and subject can use the TPACK model when designing lessons.

If you are not familiar with the TPACK model, it is "a framework that identifies the knowledge teachers need to teach effectively with technology" (Koehler, 2011). The model essentially combines three types of knowledge a teacher has: content, pedagogy, and technology. Teachers have to use all three for a lesson to be effective. Of course, all teachers, whether using technology or not, think about their content and how they're going to teach it. Now that students need twenty-first-century skills, teachers need to also bring in technology. The best way to use the TPACK model is to first come up with the content standards that you want to teach. Then you think about how you want to convey the information. Lastly, you choose the technology, and in my case, apps or web 2.0 tools, that allows your students to show they understand the content.

Planning Lessons

When I first started planning lessons on the iPad, I found that the easiest thing to do was an obvious one—use the online textbook that had been included as an option with the textbooks we had bought in 2008 (even though we didn't have iPads then!). Since our textbook had an online feature, we were able to access it with the iPad, and so students didn't have to bring their books to class anymore.

You would not believe the increased engagement of my students! They actuallywanted to read because they were so excited about the new technology. Little did they know (it seemed) that we were doing the exact same thing we were doing before the iPad. Eventually the newness did wear off some, but I'm still finding that the students are more engaged than they would be otherwise. Students can actually interact with the text: They can tap a word, and it gives them the definition; they can have the text read to them with Siri or the textbook recordings; they can go to the Internet and look up something unfamiliar that is discussed in a story. These are all very effective tools for struggling readers.

I can remember one struggling reader in my class who would look up the definition of any unknown word he came across while we were reading. I was amazed because he was usually off-task. He was actually interested in the story and wanted to understand it better. Without the iPad, there is no way he would look up those words in a print dictionary. "Giving [struggling readers] the opportunity to use an iPad-based intervention can motivate learners to persevere and achieve" (Gajowski, 2014). This student wanted to do well, and it seemed to me that the iPad was his motivation.

As I became more comfortable with the iPads, I started using many apps and web 2.0 tools outside the textbook to engage the students even more.

Before Reading

All English teachers want to get their students excited about what they are about to read. One strategy that I see used in many classrooms—and one that I have used—is an anticipation guide with themes from the story. Before the iPads, I would give the students the guide on paper or would read the statements aloud while students raised their hands. Now I use the website polleverywhere.com. I input the statement, and the website lets the students vote on whether they agree or disagree with it. I have the website up on my projector so the students can actually see when other students vote. Not only does this engage the students; it also allows everyone to participate, and it gives everyone the opportunity to tell the truth since responses are anonymous.

Figure 1. You can use the website polleverywhere.com as an anticipation guide.

Another before-reading strategy is historical context. When we read To Kill a Mockingbird, the students need to understand what was happening in the setting and the time it was written. I have used multiple tools, depending on the class and time restraints. I have had students do research on a specific topic and then present their findings to the class via a Keynote presentation. My favorite tool, and students really enjoy it too, is the QR code. This does take some extra planning on the teacher's end, but it is engaging for the students. I create a web quest with QR codes that have links to websites. The students will then answer questions or do activities on the website. I have had them watch videos, summarize an article, and even draw a picture. Students learn more than they frequently would from doing this because they have to participate, and I have found that they want to because it's fun!

During Reading

There are numerous strategies I have used during reading. Summarizing, discussions, and formative assessments are the norms in any English classroom. I found that formative assessments are so much easier with the iPad. I can have the students use any whiteboard app to answer a question as we are reading, and then I can quickly see if students understand a concept by just having them raise their "board." I have also used an app called Socrative; teachers upload questions, and when the students finish the quiz, it puts the answers in a spreadsheet. Not only does this save time grading, but it lets me see quickly who does and does not understand a concept, thus allowing me to give immediate feedback.

Figure 2. Image used with permission of fodey.com

Through my research, I have found many fun and effective summarizing tools. Fodey.com is a website where students can type out a short summary, and it generates a newspaper clipping that looks similar to the one in Figure 2.

Twitter is also a tool that can be used in the classroom. It limits users to 140 characters, so students have to really think about what the most important information or events are. Marzano (2010) believes that it is important for students to "clarify what's important." By limiting students to just a few sentences or words, they have to really analyze the text to get the most pertinent information. Comic strip apps are also a way to summarize through pictures and are another Marzano strategy of "encouraging graphic representations" (Marzano, 2010). Visual learners and students who struggle with writing benefit from this strategy.

After Reading

One of my favorite apps for assessment is Songify (and I have also used AutoRap). You just speak into the app, and it auto-tunes your voice, creating a song. I had students write a song from a character's point of view. At first, students were hesitant of this lesson, but then they saw how enjoyable it was. Another one of my favorite lessons was a podcast for Romeo and Juliet. Students had to write a podcast or radio show about the setting and characters from one scene from the play. They could be creative, but they were also showing me what they learned. I have used both of these as summative assessments of reading comprehension and characterization.

Conclusion

What I have shared are just a few of the tools and apps I have used in my classroom. We need to think outside the text to really engage our students. As we plan lessons with a digital text, we have to keep in mind the TPACK model so we aren't teaching the technology (which can very easily happen!). The standards are the place to start, but reading digitally makes it more engaging for the students and actually for the teacher too! In our technologically changing world, we have to prepare students for the future. They may not be using iPads when they get out into the workforce, but it's guaranteed that they will have some kind of technology. It is our responsibility as teachers to prepare students for their future, and today they must be digitally literate to succeed.

References

Gajowski, C. (2014, April). "The iPad and Student Engagement: Is There a Connection?" Scientific Learning Corporation, retrieved fromhttp://www.scilearn.com/blog/ipads-in-schools-student-engagement-intervention.php.

Koehler, Matthew J. (2011, May 13). "What Is TPACK?" TPACK.org, accessed July 11, 2014, at http://www.matt-koehler.com/tpack/what-is-tpack/.

Marzano, Robert J. (2010, March). "The Art and Science of Teaching/ Summarizing to Comprehend." Educational Leadership, vol. 67, no. 6,http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar10/vol67/num06/Summarizing-to-Comprehend.aspx.

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Ashlin Henderson has been teaching ninth grade English for six years at Lancaster High School and has been a leader in implementing technology at LHS. She is a member of her school's Literacy Team and a cofounder and advisor of the Student Book Club. Ashlin has presented at the Ohio Educational Technology Conference and was on the Perspectives on Digital Learning in Ohio panel discussion on WOSU for Digital Learning Day 2014. Ashlin would like to thank Matthew Gillispie and Colleen Myers for their help and collaboration.

New Year's Resolutions Can Be Mid-Year Solutions

It is nice this time of year to hit the reset button.  Even if you don't make a New Year's Resolution, you still can enjoy two weeks away from the building and have the opportunity to reconnect with family, relax and gear up for the second semester.  As educators, we actually have the luxury of doing this twice a year.  For most of us, the feeling on the last day of school is much like New Year's Eve.  Additionally, the return to school in August is often  filled with new goals, plans, fresh ideas and resolutions.

With this in mind, let's use this New Year 2015, as an opportunity to head into the second half of the school year with a full head of steam and a fresh approach.  This week is filled with lists of the "Best of 2014" and "Tips for Successful Resolutions".  Instead, I have included a List of Mid Year Solutions.  These are some suggestions for things you can stop doing or start doing in the New Year.  Hopefully, you reflect, reset and continue to have a productive and satisfying school year. Happy New Year!

1.  Show and Tell
Sharing best practices has been a strength in our building for many years.  I say over and over again that our most valuable resources are our people.  Be willing to share.  Stop worrying about what other people think.  Be proud of what you do and share it with others.  It makes us ALL better when you do.

2.  Start Small and Dream Big
Even small changes can have a huge impact.  Maybe it is as simple as putting your plans on-line, starting a classroom Twitter account, or using a new feature in Schoology or Google.  Be thoughtful about your changes and try to make decisions that will not only increase your effectiveness but also your efficiency.

3.  Stop Waiting
If you have an idea or lesson you have been wanting to try, stop waiting!  Take a chance.  Time is hard to find.  If not now, when?  Give it a shot and find the time to try something new.

4.  Stop Being a Stranger
Use your TBTs!  I know we have put some increased emphasis on these meetings and tighter agendas.  Show up, share, bring data, but most importantly make these meetings work for you.  Use the time to connect with your team and be a part of something great.

5.  Stop Standing in Your Own Way
Sometimes we are our own worst enemies. We get caught up in the way we have always done things.  We get lost in our pile of papers and emails.  Set yourself up for success.

6.  Stop Thinking You Have to Get It Right the First Time!
We learn just as much from our failures as from our successes.  If you have been wanting to try a new technology tool, a flipped lesson, or some flexible grouping then go for it.  If it flops, tweak it and try again next time.

7.  Don't Be Afraid of Conflict
In many of the TBTs, I see opportunities for good discussion that often passes by because we avoid conflict.  Don't be afraid to speak up.  A professional discussion (even in discourse) will lead to making us better.  Don't be afraid to have difficult conversations.

8.  Stop Placing Blame
In many cases, we don't control what others do (students, parents, teachers or administration) but we do control how we react.  Be a positive person and put your effort into making things better for you and your students.  Placing blame on others only prevents us from focusing on the possible solutions.

9.  Remember Why you Got In This Business!
With upcoming testing, scheduling, and the inevitable winter weather, it is easy to get in a rut.  Stay focused on the positive, reflect on why you chose to be an educator.  Write a positive referral on a student, find the small successes even on bad days and tomorrow will seem a lot more manageable.

10.  Have a Great New Year and a Rewarding Rest of the School Year!