User:Lindsay.marie103
Welcome to my page!
About Me
I am a graduate student at the University at Albany studying Curriculum Design and Instructional Technology. I teach Chemistry at Newark High School in Newark, NY. The class that I will be enrolled in this semester is Systematic Design of Instruction. It is my ninth class in my degree. Formerly, I graduated from Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY with a bachelor's of science in chemistry with a specialization in dual adolescent education.
My Topic and Purpose
My mini course will focus on how to deepen students' thinking through questioning. As a chemistry teacher, I am passionate about the need for my students to think deeply to explain a phenomena, explain results in a lab, or to make connections between the content we study and what they see in their daily lives. This mini course will discuss why it is important to use effective questioning, how we can structure our questions most effectively, and how to apply questioning in the classroom.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, participants will have accomplished the goals below.
- Participants will determine which questioning and facilitation techniques lead to deeper student thinking.
- Participants will appreciate how incorporating these techniques to lead to deeper can have positive effects on their own students' learning.
- Participants will determine how to deliver a question to promote the deepest student thinking.
- Participants will apply these techniques to their own classrooms.
Needs Assessment
Problem:
Questions can serve as some of the best formative assessments and help teachers get a sense of how their students are progressing in a lesson. In addition, questions can be used to deepen students' thinking or understanding of a topic. Unfortunately, in order to deliver a question that promotes this deeper thinking, teachers must be aware of a variety of strategies that create effective questions. While teachers may think their questions are eliciting deep thinking, many are not following all of the steps necessary to deliver these effective questions.
Gathering Information on the Problem:
In a survey that I emailed to the teachers in my district, 11 responded. After each statement below, the percentage indicates the percentage of teachers who answered "agree". Link to the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HSG5F83
Survey questions: To answer the survey, respondents were asked to either agree, disagree, or neither agree nor disagree with the 5 statements below:
1. I feel that I use questioning frequently in my classroom. (82% agree)
2. I feel that my questions prompt students' deeper thinking. (45% agree)
3. I feel that my questioning technique gives all students an equal opportunity to respond. (45% agree)
4. I feel that I plan most of my questions prior to the lesson delivery. (36% agree)
5. I feel that I can use my students' responses to build better questions in the future. (27% agree)
What is To Be Learned:
Participants in this course can expect to learn how to develop and deliver questions that deepen their students' thinking.
Learners:
This course is designed for teachers of any grade level or content area. It is aimed at assisting teachers who wish to change their questioning strategies to ones that allow for maximum student participation and deepest student thinking.
Instructional Context:
Since this course is delivered through the KNILT wiki, students will need access to the Internet to complete this course. Since it is an online course, students will also be able to complete the course at their own pace. It would be ideal for participants to be in some kind of teaching situation for the purpose of reflection on current strategies.
The Solution:
Participants will access readings and videos that explain how to develop effective questions, both in terms of their wording and in terms of their delivery in a lesson. Participants will have opportunities to reflect on these strategies by comparing them to their current questioning strategies and analyzing case studies. Finally, participants will write lesson plans that implement higher level questioning at appropriate places. They will then deliver this lesson and reflect on how their students' responses indicate how successful their questioning strategies are, using these responses to alter their strategies in the future.
Goal:
Ultimately, the goal of this course is for participants to alter their questioning strategies to allow for their students to gain a deeper understanding of content. Participants will feel comfortable planning when and how to implement questioning into their lessons and use their students' responses to build better questions in the future.
Analysis of Learner and Context
To succeed in this course, participants will need to have experience as a classroom teacher and ideally background knowledge in educational theory and practice. To access the course, students will need a device that can access the internet and is capable of playing video with sound. The course is completely asynchronous, and students can complete all assignments at their own timing. It is expected that full completion of the course will take approximately 20 hours total, including time spent on readings, videos, reflections, and assignments.
Performance-Based Objectives
After completion of this course, participants will be able to achieve the following objectives.
- Participants will be able to analyze their own questioning strategies to determine where they are lacking.
- Participants will be able to differentiate between effective and ineffective question structure.
- Participants will be able to create a lesson that incorporates effective questioning strategies for deepening student understanding.
- Participants will be able to reflect on their students' responses to determine how they can increase the effectiveness of their questions.
Task Analysis
Part 1: Goals
Terminal Goal:
Participants will be able to write and implement a lesson that uses effective questioning strategies to deepen student thinking.
Enabling Goals:
- Participants will be able to differentiate between an effective and ineffective question.
- Participants will be able to deliver an effective question using strategies.
- Participants will be able to reflect on how their questions can be improved.
Part 2: KASI
Knowledge:
- Know the techniques for writing effective questions.
- Know the techniques for delivering effective questions.
Attitudes:
-Believe that changing questioning techniques can positively benefit students' learning.
- Desire to change their questioning strategies to positively benefit students' learning.
Skills:
- Ability to analyze scenarios for effectiveness.
- Ability to write a lesson plan.
- Ability to navigate the Internet to access resources and collaborate with classmates.
Interpersonal Skills:
- Effectively critique other participants' written questions respectfully.
- Effectively reflect on implementation of questions in a small group.
Part 3: Pedagogical Approach
Unit 1:
The first unit is a combination of instructivist and constructivist pedagogy. Participants will learn about how to write an effective question, but also begin to construct their understanding of what effective questioning might look like in their classroom.
Unit 2:
The second unit is primarily constructivist since students will work on creating and implementing a lesson plan that utilizes effective questioning strategies and then reflect on how they can use their success to move forward.