DOING IT RESILIENTLY

MODULE 4: RESILIENT LEARNING ACTIVITIES

4.3 QUESTIONING AND ENQUIRYKEY LEARNINGS AITSL Standards 3.3, 3.4, 3.5 Understand the purpose and practice of questioning and enquiry Recognise the effect of motivation, optimism and persistence in your own resilient teaching

ENGAGING

What do these cartoons suggest about ‘doing’ questioning and enquiry with your students, and doing these things resiliently?

EXPLORINGQuestioning

What is questioning? When is it used in the classroom? When is it misused in the classroom? (IRE and Iago)

Enquiry What have been your experiences of enquiry learning? ‘Go and research this on the computer.’ What often happens next?

How do you prepare for the ‘teachable moments’? The ‘teachable moments’ are the ‘spaces’ in the lesson plan where teacher-student and student-student interaction occurs when the students clarify, modify or extend their thinking.

Inquiry Learning can take more time to prepare for than Direct Instruction because it has to anticipate student responses: confusions, interests, prior knowledge connections and prepare responses to these.

If you become adept at preparing for the teachable/learning moments of your lessons (rather than just planning the teaching sequence), all your teaching will benefit

Use ‘lesson play’ (scripting a detailed imagined interaction) when planning lessons to concentrate on preparing for the interactions you’ll be involved with (teacher-student) and facilitating (student-student). Key to writing ‘lesson

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plays’ is the ability to imagine the situation from EACH of your learners’ perspective (see Zazkis, Liljedahl and Sinclair 2009),

THEORY IN OVERVIEW

Inquiry Learning . . . is not just ‘having students do projects’ but involves developing the discipline of the learning PROCESS

Tackling real word issues Developing questioning, research, communication skills Solving problems or creating solutions Collaboration in and beyond the classroom Developing profound understanding of content

Inquiry frameworks

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Compare these two models Where is the explicit teacher

input/guidance/planning in these models?

Question TypesDifferent types of questions help refine, extend and articulate thinking: teachers use them, and can teach students to

use them in their own collaborative learning groups

We need to be able to think about the TYPES of questions we ask (and teach students to ask) in order to make strategic choices about when, why and how we use questioning as a learning scaffold/strategy

Product, Process and Opinion QuestionsWhen what and who How Why

Bloom’s Cognitive Domain QuestionsRemembering, Understanding, Applying, Analysing, Evaluating, Creating

Socratic questioning

Socrates was supposed to have said “I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think’.

Socratic questioning divides questions into 6 categories: Clarifying, challenging, evidence, alternate perspectives, consequences, the question

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Generating and refining questions

Opening question: opened endedWhat do you think when you hear the word poetry?_____________________________________triangles?_____________________________________heredity?

Refocusing statement: to keep on trackLet me repeat the original question

Clarifying question: to avoid ambiguity or vaguenessWhat sort of modern paintings?Can you give me an example of a ‘spaced out’ person?Can you help me out? I’m not sure I understand what you mean by . . . .?

Refining question: to get a deeper or more detailed responseHow do you mean? Can you show me?What would that look like?

Summarizing question (to shorten response and abstract to main idea)

How could we put that on the board?How could we write that in one sentence?

Mapping the field question: get as much info as possibleAre there any areas we’ve missed?Can you think of any other things?

Grouping questions Lets look over our list. Can you find any items that could be grouped

together? Pick one item on the board: does it go well with any other item? Why did you put _________ , and ___________ with

________________?

Labelling questions Let’s look at the first group. What title or heading could we give that list? How does this title fit with this particular item?

Which of these categories of questions is used in the example above?

How might you use one of these categories (or all 6) in your teaching?

A really simple derivation of the Socratic method is the ‘3 why’ approach. In response to a statement, ask, Why . . . then ask Why in response to

that response, and then a third time. It will often get you and the answerer onto quite a deep level of higher order thinking.

Scaffolding Student Questioning: The Q-Matrix (Wiederhold & Kagan 2007)

1.WhatIs?

2.Where/When Is?

3.Which Is?

4.Who Is?

5.Why Is?

6.How Is?

7.WhatDid?

8.Where/When Did?

9.Which Did?

10.Who Did?

11.Why Did?

12.How Did?

13.What Can?

14.Where/When Can?

15.Which Can?

16.Who Can?

17.Why Can?

18.How Can?

19.What Would?

20.Where/When Would?

21.Which Would?

22.Who Would?

23.WhyWould?

24.How Would?

25.What Will?

26.Where/When Will?

27.Which Will?

28.Who Will?

29.Why Will?

39.How Will?

31.What Might?

31.Where/When Might?

32.Which Might?

33.Who Might?

34.WhyMight?

35.How Might?

Do you notice any patterns in this matrix? Do you notice any links to Bloom’s taxonomy (look diagonally from upper left to lower right . . . what kinds of thinking are required to generate the different types of questions in this diagonal?

How might you use this to help students learn to generate their own meaningful questions?

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A CASE STORY

In what way is this a story

about questioning?

Of the anxieties expressed

by the teacher in the story,

which resonates the

strongest with you

How does ‘not giving the

kids enough’ link to

concerns you might have

about doing Inquiry

Learning with your

students?

YOUR STORY: USING TEXT AND/OR ART

1. Think about your motivations to be a teacher (I want to teach because, I want to be a teacher because, teaching is awesome because . . .).

2. Now think about the teaching activity of inspiring curiosity and questioning in your students. This may bring to mind a particular incident that occurred, or a series of ideas or feelings, or a hazy memory of something.

3. Create a piece that brings together these two things and conveys some essence or expression of your thoughts and feelings.

Consider experimenting with materials you have not yet tried (collage, found words, metaphor, poetry, colour, scribble-shaping, analogue drawing etc.)

WHAT THE RESEARCH SAYS: motivation, optimism, persistence and self-efficacy

MotivationThere are three main types of motivations that bring teachers to the profession, namely intrinsic (e.g., perceived teaching ability, perception of intrinsic value of teaching), extrinsic (e.g., job security, career status) and altruistic reasons (e.g., service-oriented goals, desire to make a social contribution) (Richardson & Watt, 2006; Watt &

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Richardson, 2008). In other words, some teachers are aspired by their inner calling, but for some others this career choice is triggered by convenience factors (Coetzee, Ebersöhn, & Ferreira, 2013; Mackenzie, 2012). However, teachers who love, believe in, and respect the students they work with, and take pride in making a difference to their lives are more likely to stay through the span of their career than those who do not (Cochran-Smith, 2004; Cohen, 2009). Within the context of Australia, Watt and Richardson (2008) found that pre-service teachers who saw intrinsic rewards in teaching had a high level of planned effort and planned persistence. In contrast, those who were concerned with extrinsic rewards demonstrated a low level of professional engagement and perseverance. Indeed, having a clear sense of purpose is an important coping strategy that assists early career teachers to overcome multiple work-related stressors (Doney, 2013). Nevertheless, extreme attitudes such as “saving the world” should be avoided as unrealistic ambition can inevitably lead to burnout (Prilik, 2007, p. 317).

Optimistic ThinkingHow the teacher thinks about the situation will influence the actions they take and ultimately the outcome. To be emotionally resilient, perfectionism and self-blaming should be reduced and negative mindsets such as “I can’t do it” or “I can’t be bothered” should be avoided (Bernard, n.d.). Positive self-talk, together with humour, have been used by new teachers in remote and rural Western Australian schools use to reduce stress and enhance their coping capacity (Sharplin, O’Neill, & Chapman, 2011). In a large-scale study of teacher resilience in the United States, Richards (2012) found that a number of teachers were able to sustain themselves in the face of adversity by holding positive attitudes and letting go of things that were out of their control. Likewise, Cohen (2009) reported that teachers who held positive assumptions about their students and were able to forget unhappy moments and move forward were more likely to persist and survive in unfavourable teaching environments.

THE BIG PICTURE

What are you motivations to be a teacher? A desire to make the world a better place. Having a job with good working conditions and opportunities. Being passionate about a subject area. Satisfaction of seeing children learn. Enjoyment of variety and challenge.

How does your motivation help you make choices when preparing lessons? How does your motivation help you cope with the challenges being an effective teacher?

Optimistic Thinking (review)Pessimistic, negative thinking has 3 features that are not helpful:

IT IS PERMANENT:I’ll never get on top of this stuff. IT IS PERSONAL:Everybody's making things so difficult for me. IT IS PERVASIVE:I'm not cut out for teaching.

You can consciously adopt Optimistic Thinking strategies that are helpful: IT IS NOT PERMANENT:I can sort out what is most important and focus on that. IT IS NOT PERSONAL:Everyone else is really busy too at this time of year. IT IS NOT PERVASIVE:When I've done all this it will look great on my CV.

Recognise your unhelpful, negative thoughts and create another way of seeing the situation.

STRATEGIES

Motivation Optimistic thinking

Whatever your reasons for wanting to become a teacher, thinking about these, articulating them and re-evaluating them can help you

Find some positive affirmations that are meaningful to you – keep these where you see

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when times are tough or when your enthusiasm wanes.

Remind yourself about why you chose to become a teacher. Find the everyday experiences that will remind you of this and help keep you motivated.

Find a photo, drawing, favourite quote or affirmation from a colleague, student or parent. Keep this visible to remind you of why you chose teaching.

Teachers often find that positive experiences with students help maintain their motivation – be proactive in seeking such experiences.

As you progress into your teaching career you will find more aspects of your work that are sustaining. Sometimes new experiences and challenges can provide a good opportunity for reinvigoration and renewal. Be aware of what sustains your motivation for teaching and make these experiences part of your work into the future.

them regularly. Recognise your unhelpful, negative thoughts

and create another way of seeing the situation. Think – it is not permanent, it is not personal, it is not pervasive.

Look for the light at the end of the tunnel. When reflecting, be sure to identify the

positive aspects of your lesson/day as well as the things you’d like to improve.

In a challenging situation focus on what you can do to make it better. Use problem solving skills and take action, a small step at a time.

Find optimistic colleagues and learn from how they approach their work. Note strategies that you think you can use too.

Try not to get drawn into negativity – find colleagues who have a positive approach to their work and actively seek them out for conversation and company. Avoid the walnut trees and find the marigolds!

Pick your top strategy from each column. Do they have anything in common? How will you remember to use the strategy?

SCENARIOWhat might you do?You are half way through your first term of teaching. Some things have gone well but there is still so much to do. You wonder how you are going to keep up your enthusiasm to the end of term when you will have your first reports to write and so many other things to do.

Think about all the aspects of the work you are enjoying and how you can keep up your and your students’ interest over the last few weeks.

Decide to sit out the term but not reapply for your position as obviously you are not suited to teaching. Tell your family that they were wrong when they said you were a “born” teacher – it is all very hard –

sometimes too hard. “Fake it to make it.” Decide to adopt a positive, optimistic attitude with your students and their parents

even though you may be feeling very anxious.

TAKE HOME MESSAGE

The one thing . . . .

Additional Resources

USEFUL WEBSITES Teachers’ TV. (2005). Fit to teach: D-stressing. Retrieved from http://www.proteachersvideo.com/Programme/2520/fit-to-teach-d-stressing

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Teachers’ TV. (2008). Top tips for trainee teachers: Time management. Retrieved from http://www.proteachersvideo.com/Programme/24981/time-management-1

Teachers’ TV. (2010). Time savers: Make time for you! Retrieved from http://www.proteachersvideo.com/Programme/55731/time-savers-shorts-make-time-for-you

Teachers’ TV. (2010). Timesavers: Planning 1. Retrieved from http://www.proteachersvideo.com/Programme/55721/time-savers-shorts-planning-1

Teachers’ TV. (2010). Timesavers: Organisation. Retrieved from http://www.proteachersvideo.com/Programme/55591/time-savers-shorts-organisation

Teachers’ TV. (2010). Stress relief video – Relax with a smile. Retrieved from http://archive.teachfind.com/ttv/www.teachers.tv/videos/stress-relief-video-relax-with-a-smile.html

Cahill, H. (2005). Enhancing resilience 2: Stress and coping. Retrieved from http://www.mindmatters.edu.au/tools-resources/resources-archive Falout, J. (2010). Strategies for teacher motivation. The Language Teacher, 34(6), 27-32. Retrieved from www.jalt-publications.org/files/pdf-

article/art4.pdf Inspire Foundation. (2014). How to get a good night's sleep. Retrieved from http://au.reachout.com/how-to-get-a-good-nights-sleep Inspire Foundation. (2014). Challenging negative thinking. Retrieved from http://au.reachout.com/challenging-negative-thinking Inspire Foundation. (2014). What is self-talk? Retrieved from http://au.reachout.com/what-is-self-talk Inspire Foundation. (2014). Building better coping skills. Retrieved from http://au.reachout.com/building-better-coping-skills Inspire Foundation. (2014). Ways to relax. Retrieved from http://au.reachout.com/ways-to-relax Inspire Foundation. (2014). Tips for getting motivated. Retrieved from http://au.reachout.com/tips-for-getting-motivated Schieb, L. J., & Karabenick, S. A. (2011). Teacher motivation and professional development: A guide to resources. Math and science partnership –

motivation. Assessment Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. Retrieved from http://mspmap.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/TeachMotivPD_Guide.pdf

References

https://www.brite.edu.au/

http://www.redbubble.com/people/beanoutback/collections/234320-lego

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