I-R-E

I-R-E

I-R-E stands for Initiation-Response-Evaluation. I-R-E is an instructional sequence in which the teacher initiates a question, a student provides a response and the teacher evaluates that response.

An I-R-E scenario might look something like this:

Teacher: Who can tell me the year Columbus discovered America?

Student: Columbus discovered America in 1492.

Teacher: Very good. That is the correct answer.

I-R-E can has advantages and disadvantages in the classroom.

The most significant benefit of the I-R-E approach are that they provide an almost immediate evaluation of the student's acquisition of the presented content material.

I-R-E also has disadvantages. I-R-E provides little latitude for a student's exploration of ideas which is critical for developing deep understanding. Furthermore, higher order thinking skills need not necessarily be used in this question and answer process.

In response to the shortcomings of the I-R-E approach, the I-R-F approach to questioning and classroom discourse was developed.

Click here to proceed to I-R-F.

Click here to return to Unit Three: How Should an Educator Question his Students?#mini-lecture