Teach Students to Ask More Questions

If you ask the top ten charter school organizations in the country to rank their current instructional priorities, at least seven of ten will include student discussion (also called “habits of discussion”) in their top three. Many high performing charter schools are evolving from direct instruction (I, We, You) style lessons to student led and student dominated discussions. I can’t remember where I first heard this metaphor, but our goal is to move from ping pong (teacher talks, student talks, repeat . . . ) to volleyball (teacher gets the discussion started and students build off of each other with minimal teacher intervention).

The most robust public resource on this subject is Doug Lemov’s Teach Like a Champion 2.0. In a chapter titled “Building Ratio Through Discussion,” Lemov catalogues some super helpful technques and tips — from how to establish basic discussion norms (voice volume, eye contact, posture) to more nuanced moves (sentence starts for students who wish to agree, disagree, or build on one another, how to format a Socratic style seminar). The organization I run (RePublic Schools) has benefited greatly from this work and other resources as we’ve made robust student discussion a priority.

There is, however, at least one area of student discussion where I would like to see more public resources: student questioning. I haven’t been able to locate a single robust resource on how to build strong student-to-student and student-to-teacher questioning skills (if you know of any strong resources on this subject, send tips my way). The relative lack of insight on student questioning is surprising because we as educators spend a tremendous amount of time and resources searching for the best teacher questioning techniques. It’s hard to find a book on instructional practice, a teacher rubric, or a professional development plan that doesn’t include teacher questioning as a cornerstone.

Why is student questioning important? To start, the common student experience starts with ignorance of a given subject or subset of material. As most schools currently design classes, the teacher’s job (among other things) is to replace that ignorance with knowledge and skill. However, most classes, including the very best, fall short of achieving 100% of objectives of 100% of students. Great teachers plan for this on the front end and create strong “Checks for Understanding” — meaning they plan questions and activities that expose student misunderstanding. Less skilled teachers struggle to anticipate these vulnerabilities. But no matter the skill level of the teacher, each student will be much better off if she or he can recognize their own need for further information to answer a question or learn a skill. Why should a student wait for a teacher to ask a student a question to unearth a misunderstanding? Isn’t it much more powerful and durable if the student asks the teacher a question?

When a student does have courage, time, and space, their questions are often basic or vague — and sometimes don’t even end with a question mark. Can you help me? . . . I don’t understand . . . This is hard.

If our students learn to ask precise and targeted questions, they can demonstrate a real awareness of their own learning progress and process, eliminate much room for adult error and motivation, and practice a skill that will be invaluable in college and life. On the latter benefit, we all know the secret to looking good in a business meeting or interview is to ask strong questions. The best lawyers can cross examine or depose a witness with surgical precision. Speaking of surgeons, they too need insightful questioning pre operation if they want to gather proper information and establish a build a strong relationship (For more information on the importance of a strong bedside manner in doctors, read Lown’s The Lost Art of Healing). The giants of history saw the importance of being inquisitive.

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. (Albert Einstein)

How do we teach strong questioning? Here are some ideas to get us started.

Make Room: Right now, teachers are often in a hurry to get through their material for the day. Strong teachers often save the majority of their class time for independent student practice aligned to the the daily goal. We often advise our teachers not to get “side-tracked” with tangential questions. We need to make room for inquisition without losing focus. This takes patience, practice, and feedback (more on this below).

Teach Strong Questioning: We must identify, isolate, and teach students the moves of a strong questioner. Here are some preliminary ideas for what we plan to teach students:

• If you are asking a question aimed at remedying your misunderstanding, isolate the information that you need. Non example: “I don’t understand.” Stronger example: “Every time I attempt to isolate the variable, I get stuck when I do _____. Should I be doing that?”
• Relatedly, if you ever get stuck during independent work, instead of immediately raising your hand for help, spend a minute or two to write a precise question that you can then share with the teacher. When I’ve asked students to do this, they report that they often answer their own question after spending time making it as precise as possible.
• If a classmate says something you disagree with or are unsure of, you can ask a question. By asking a question, you communicate humility (maybe you are wrong). Most importantly, you advance the discussion faster and more precisely than by just offering a counter point. What does this sound like? Non example: “I would like to disagree with Larry because . . .” Stronger example: “Larry, you said the excerpt was an example of personification because of the use of the word “crafty.” Is crafty a word usually only used for humans?”
• In your questions, elminate pronouns and other vague language — and include precise academic vocabulary.
• Lay a strong foundation in logic and teach students to use that foundation in their questioning. Have scholars ask each other about the quality of their evidence, the strength of their premises, and the presence or absence of fallacies.

Give Feedback on Questions: After teaching strong questioning skills, let students know when their questions are strong and when they can be improved. “Darius, I love that you identified the place where you are stuggling. However, what precise mathematical word can we use instead of “take away?”

This is just a start. Please share your ideas and resources.