A daily - Wed, Sept 16

We met with our field instructor (Bill) yesterday after school was out. One of his comments has really stuck with me...Bill informed us that he places GREAT importance on how teachers ask questions of students. The way in which we pose questions to our students can have incredible impact on their learning. I see Judy doing this frequently. She seems to really draw students toward stretching their thinking. She's told students that their responses come from their being great detectives. She also teaches them about the importance of developing good critical thinking skills. (I love how she talks to them like they have brains!) She also praises kids for their questions which will lead to better understanding--not just getting by with winging it! Judy told the kids that we will start reading groups tomorrow and that they need to take care of themselves (and their questions) while she is busy with groups. She asked the kids what strategies they can use when she is unavailable to answer questions. The kids came up with really good concrete ideas which will be put into place when reading groups start. For instance, kids can skip a problem and return to it later; they can ask a classmate for help or to ask a question; they can just wait; they can try to answer their own questions. Without dictating to the kids her expectations, she was able to get them to think about how to solve potential issues during this time. While I believe Bill was also talking more about specific learning/teaching questions, this certainly is one example of asking kids the right questions and treating them like they are capable, mature thinkers!