Revolutionize Learning in 5 Steps

by Dr. Benjamin Johnson

If you look at this picture, who is the focus? It's the teacher. The teacher is directing a whole-class discussion and he is pointing at one student and making an affirming comment or a follow-up question to that student.

What are the other students doing? Well, they appear to be smiling about something that was said. Some look at the teacher and otherss look at the student the teacher is talking to.

How many of the students are engaged? We know at least one is- the one the teacher is talking to.

What about the others? Some have computers open, whil others appear to have ths same document the teacher is holding.

But are they learning? What is going on inside the student's heads? There is no way to know...or is there?

Actually, there is a way to know what the other students are thinking. It is a very simple and useful tool that has been used for ages. I think even Socrates used this tool. Matter of fact, 80% of what a teacher does in front of the classroom is use this very useful and versatile tool. What is this fabulous tool, you ask? Is it a new AI technology? Is it a new program that gives me a tote or a tee-shirt with training? No it is none of those. The incredibly powerful tool is called Questioning.

I had you thinking about a marvelous, new teaching tool, when in fact, it is a tool that all teachers already know, but they are not using its full capacity. I compare this incomplete use of Questioning to using a smart-board in the classroom to only present slide shows when there is so much more that can be done with it to engage students in their learning.

So, back to the title of this article, how can Questioning revolutionize learning in my classroom in only five steps? Glad you asked that question! According to my book, Better Questioning for Better Learning: Strategies for Engaged Thinking, here is the answer:

1) The first step is to take the questioning inventory at the beginning of my book, Better Questioning for Better Learning: Strategies for Engaged Thinking, and evaluate what kind of questions you typicall ask, to whom and for what purpose

2) When you write your lesson plan, since 80% of what we call teaching is asking questions, plan on spending 80% of the lesson planning time to create great questions. In the book, I refer to these as Wild Hog questions. There is plenty to do in that time:

a. Match the question with the learning objectives, identify the purpose of the questions; test the students' knowlege, extend their understanding, have them apply the knowledge, have them compare (analyze) what they know with this knew knowledge, get them to think critically, or get them to create something new. Do these question purposes sound familiar? Also ask, what is the best classroom desk configuration to accomplish this purpose?

b. Tier the questions from easy to difficult and from simple to complex so that you have a series of questions based on Blooms Taxonomy (difficulty) and Lynn Erickson's work on questioning (complexity). This tierred approach allows all students to feel success and differentiate for skills and knowledge.

c. Consider the audience and what they need and how they would respond to the questions. Think about personalizing the questions to fit culture, language, and background knowledge.

d. Think about what prior knowledge and skills the student needs to be able to answer the question successfully. What do you need to do to prepare them? What pre-learning needs to be done? What vocabulary will they need to master to discuss the topics?

3) With the great questions you have created, think of a strategy to deliver the questions. You have to ask this question, "How can I engage every student?" At all costs, avoid throwing a question out to the students and hoping some student will be brave enough to answer. If you do that, then make every student answer the question. It could be collaborative groups, caucuses, debates, or even Total Physical Response. If nothing else, simply give the students a brief instruction, model how you want them to perform, give them a time limit, provide a copy of the questions, group them as partners and then have them ask each other the questions.

4) As the students are asking and answering question, wander the classroom and monitor the answers that are being given. Wandering is also helping students stay on task. Don't get stuck with one pair of students

5) At the end of the lesson, ask a question, "Turn to your partner and share three things you have learned today that you think will be important to remember." This can also be done with an exit ticket, or reflection activity.

In Conclusion... if the five steps I've discussed are applied, the photo above would look much different than the traditional classoom set up shown. First of all, the students would most likely not be in rows and would not, unless it was part of the reporting process, have their laptops out. Each student would be actively asking questions to their partners, and in turn answering questions. The teacher in the photo would not be in front of the classroom, he'd be wandering around as all students ask and answer questions to each other. He'd be checking for accuracy of the responses and clarify incomplete thinking, fill in gaps, or correct misconceptions. If his teacher did this every day, he would be Revolutionizing Learning!

Other books by the author:

Teaching Students to Dig Deeper; Ten Essential Skills for College and Career Readiness- a book to help teachers prepare students with the soft-skills for success.

The Fire Lord Trilogy- adventure fantacy books to fascinate and intrigue young learners to get them to want to continue reading.