Promote All Questions: Maintaining Neutrality In Classroom Discussions

Primary QFT:  Being Switzerland

One thing that distinguishes elementary students from secondary students is that an elementary student is much more interested in pleasing their teacher.  They are on a constant look out for clues as to what the teacher wants so that they can give it to them and receive the praise and recognition that they hope will result.  This makes the teacher’s body language and reaction to student questions very important.  Here is what happens when a teacher gives away what she is looking for: The importance of neutrality I was observing the Question Formulation Technique in a first grade classroom.  The teacher was using a QFocus that was a picture of mealworms.  The goal was to eventually separate the students’ questions into those that could be answered through direct observation (the teacher had mealworms and magnifying glasses at the ready) and questions that required research. [caption id="attachment_2753" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The Meal Worm QFocus[/caption] Because the students were going to be observing mealworms that day, the teacher was looking for students to ask direct observation kinds of questions.  When a student asked a question like, “how do they move?” the teacher smiled, complimented the student, and wrote the question on the board. However, when a student asked a question like, “What eats mealworms?” the teacher would say, ok, and write the question on the board.  It was entirely clear that there were some questions that pleased the teacher more than others.  At the end of the question-asking period, the teacher marked some of the questions she had written on the board (the ones that could be answered through direct observation) and asked the students why they thought she had marked those questions.  A little girl confidently said that it was because those questions were good and the others were bad. The takeaway here is that maintaining neutrality is critical.  If the teacher has an agenda, students will sniff it out quickly and start giving the teacher what they want rather than asking questions that they are truly curious about answering.  In this lesson, the other questions were not bad, but students came to perceive that they were because of the teacher’s reaction to them.  Think carefully about your tone of voice, body language, and verbal reactions to student questions.  Even small hints from the teacher can radically change how students approach the questioning process.   This blog is part three in a four part blog series from an educator in the field, Jay Corrigan. Jay has shared how his school community has integrated the Question Formulation Technique into their classroom practice. Read part 1 here where Jay described a scaffolded approach that starts in kindergarten and extends to third grade and beyond. Read part 2 here where Jay discussed responses to students when they ask seemingly silly questions.

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