Chapter 7-Post the pro’s and con’s of leading an inquiry based classroom. If you are not familiar with literature or Socratic circles, find out what they provide to readers. Post an example of how you would teach and scaffold questioning for struggling students?
If you use a Socratic circle, the teacher must also read the text with an eye towards high-level, "I wonder" statements and be satisfied that there is no one correct answer. What I like about inference questions is that it can lead to some very powerful conversations and meaningful research that broadens the readers connections to text and the world. Asking students to bring inferential questions to the circle requires that they read the content more than cursory. In a Socratic Circle, each student is monitored to answer at least one question either from the teacher or another student. If I have a student that is struggling, I will give him a question prior to his reading so that he/she will have extended time BEFORE we start the group discussion.
ReplyDeleteInquiry based classrooms give students opportunities to ask questions and to help answer them. It encourages them to think out loud and to engage in the answering process. Sometimes another student will have the answer or even an experience that helps with the inquiries. One thing that the teacher needs to be careful of is students will use this to get the teacher off track and away from the discussion, this is especially popular with substitute teachers!
ReplyDeleteA few years ago at the reading conference in Garden City I attended a session on Socratic Circles. I asked the 8th grade English teacher if she has used them, she was also at that session. She has used them but did not use 2 circles. She divided the class into 2 groups, one with boys and the other with girls and each group was just one circle. She said the students liked it. I told her about my small reading class, 5 students, and she said I could still try it, just have one circle with the students and I would act as the outer circle. I used my Spell Read class for this. We read "Iris and Walter", chapter 1-2 on Monday and chapters 3-4 on Tuesday. I wrote down the questions for each day and passed them out to the students. (Spell Read already has the questions for the teacher on the book lesson guides so I did not have to come up with questions!) Each student had 2 questions to ask. The first day I mixed up the questions so they would be out of order and the second day I keep them in order. Having the questions out of order was more challenging for them, they had to skip around in the book in their minds! They liked answering the questions that way. I observed that it kept them more focused and on task. They were not only answering questions they were also asking them! This did lead to some more questions that helped clear up any confusion they had. One student asked for clarification on reading a question, it was stated in a different way, and the other students helped him with that! It was more student driven, but it was also more time consuming. So plan ahead when using them. It gave them a break from me just asking questions and getting rote answers!
When reading a fiction book I will often start with a bubble map. When reading a non-fiction book I will use either a bubble map or a KWL chart. I preview vocabulary words, clarify/explain as we read, ask for predictions during the reading (this keeps them staying on task and focused on the book), ask questions after the book is read, write a summary, and sometimes take an AR test. Spell Read always has a "connect with prior knowledge" question to ask before reading, it gives the students a purpose for reading. I have used 2 reading programs; Soar to Success and Spell Read. Both programs have all of this already done for me so it is very easy to get in all of these elements with each book we read!
Inquiry-based classrooms, shift the focus of activity from the teacher to the learners. It includes active learning, in which students solve problems, answer questions, formulate questions of their own, discuss, explain, debate, or brainstorm during class; cooperative learning, in which students work in teams on problems and projects under conditions that assure both positive interdependence and individual accountability. The drawback to this type of classroom is it takes longer and you can easily get off track if you are not careful. I have heard of Socratic circles before, but did not know that much about them. After researching them Socratic circles are constructivist strategy in which participants engage in a conversation to collectively seek a deeper understanding of complex ideas. Some benefits of them are advances critical reading, spurs critical thinking, improves discussion and listening skills, increases vocabulary, provides student ownership, voice, and empowerment, and allows students to synthesize both the knowledge base and the skills-base of the curriculum. Some drawbacks would be Time consuming, discussion is often left without complete “closure”, discussion may arrive at a conclusion with which the teacher is unfamiliar, and appears “unstructured” to the uninformed observer If I were to do this in my classroom, I would have questions already written down that I would give to each of my students. This will allow for everyone to have a chance to contribute to the discussion and ask question. I would not limit the students to my questions though, my questions would be more like a guide if they got stuck and could not think of some on there own. To me the students are more actively engaged when they can take the role of the teacher and start the discussion. It also allowed for some of my students who are really quiet to be more involved in the discussion and have a chance to talk.
ReplyDeletePROS for teaching questioning:
ReplyDelete1.Teaching students to ask questions when they read help them take responsibility for what they are learning and it also can improve their comprehension skills.
2.Students that ask questions when they read pay better attention while they are reading and they interact with the text by finding answers to what they are asking.
3.Trying to find answers to the questions they ask themselves helps them stay motivated to read and gives them more purpose for reading.
4.It helps them comprehend what they read when they are asking questions such as who, what, why, when and where.
5.Students learn to make inferences about what they are reading, and they learn to use context clues to find answers.
CONS of teaching questioning:
1.Having to come up with questions may seem like a lot of work to some students and may turn them off of reading. It may make reading seem less enjoyable.
2.Students may ask questions that are not answered in the text and they may become frustrated with reading, instead of using inferences to answer their questions.
3.It may be difficult for students to come up with questions if they are asked to
read something that does not interest them.
Scaffolding questions for struggling readers:
It is important to connect real-world experiences to the reading for students. Also remind them that they are improving comprehension skills, which gives them a purpose and makes the learning meaningful.
I think students need to ask questions as they read. I ask questions about what I am reading and I demonstrate this as I read with them and ask I wonder what is going to happen. In Otto's Lunch: "I am going to eat your hat" " I am going to eat your boots" What is Otto eating? People? Gingerbread Man. But I ask those questions as I go and I asked them to tell me what questions they have and wonder about.
ReplyDeleteI also asked them what they know about and what they need to find out and asked them to have questions about the story.
SOmetimes I get teh responses of I DOn.t Know and shoulder shrugs. I try to engage their brains and tell them they have thoughts. I give them thinking time.
just checking to see if I can still post a comment
ReplyDeletethanks
ReplyDeleteWow, what a wonderful chapter. Unfortunately, time seems to be a factor in my room, 'teenage apathy' as well as those outside interruptions. Asking questions is the only way, I believe, to gain knowledge about our surroundings. The teacher has to be organized and ready with the questions for the students.
ReplyDeleteThe other key to learning is passion. If there is no passion, the learning becomes ho-hum. It is the teacher's job to find the hook in getting the students interested.
Awesome comments from my colleagues. It would be great to finish one of the book studies with a live discussion.