Interviewing the Teacher

Teacher pre-lesson interview

Students who ask the teacher questions before the lesson starts, create a mental map of the lessons they are about to learn

Like many other teachers, I have a habit of asking myself rhetorical questions like, “What will we be doing today? (pause) Well, we are going to (do this)” as a way of adding a little flavour to my introduction. The most aware students picked up on this and used the pause to cheekily ask the question again,?

Me What will we be doing today? (pause)?

Student(s) Yes, what will we be doing today? (a little sarcastic)

Me Well, we are going to (do this)

I saw this as an opportunity to bring these students into the lesson introduction. I invited them to ask me questions about the lesson. Initially, they asked the questions from their seats in the room. Later, I invited them up on stage to interview me about the lesson. They asked:

What will we be doing today?

What’s it called?

Why is it important?

Why do we have to do it?

What are we actually going to do?

Will we be in groups?

This Q&A format was useful when the students turned to teaching their classmates as a way of learning, or demonstrating what they had learned.

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