Next Level

Well peers, the end is in sight. With half of the semester gone so far, it is becoming more real, a little scary, and a little surreal. At this point, I am truly trying to prepare myself for what comes next. I love that I have been able to spend so much time getting to know my kids, learning the schedule, learning procedures, learning how my CE teaches, and becoming comfortable in my classroom. Like many of you, I have begun taking over small portions of the class. I feel myself doing a little better, being a little more confident, and little more prepared each time I step in front of the class, but I still struggle with some things. One thing that my CE does SO well is ask questions. The questions that she asks the students are simple, yet extremely effective questions. They are questions that make the students think, use their brain, and teach them beyond the basic lesson. The question may have nothing to do with the 'topic' at hand, but it is always asked for a reason, even if teaching students a life lesson. I can't help but think sometimes, 'how does she come up with these questions?!'

Dr. Clark mentioned this kind of questioning in one of our meetings. I know that this is definitely something that I need to work on and truly be intentional about while I'm teaching. My CE assures me that this is something that comes naturally with time and becomes something that you don't even think about. In the mean time, working towards that place is a specific goal of mine. 

I found a short, but helpful article that talks about 'Questioning That Deepens Comprehension'. The author talks about 4 different kinds of questions that we can ask our students. 

"

• What does the text say?
• How does the text work?
• What does the text mean?
• What does the text inspire you to do? "

She goes into much more detail about each of these questions and also gives examples of each. Of course depending on grade level, you have to adapt these questions to fit your students; some maybe more so than others, but either way, these are the types of questions that take students to the next level and deepen their comprehension. 

If you have any strategies on developing effective questions, I would love to hear them!

I really want to connect this to standard 4. This is really about facilitating learning for students. We can help build problem-solving and critical thinking skills by making them use a higher order of thinking and taking them to the next level. 

Check out the full article below to read more about the four kinds of questions!

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/questioning-that-deepens-comprehension-douglas-fisher-nancy-frey