PEAK: Questioning Do's and Don'ts

I am wishy-washy on my feelings about the Do's and Don'ts presented in the book. Mostly because I feel it goes against all of the years I spent in the education system and how I was trained. Remember, all of these are taken from the book Teach for Excellence by Spence Rogers. There are NOT my own words (thoughts...yes).

Do:
1. Start having students develop answers in groups.
2. Include everyone by asking deflected questions.
3. Ask open-ended questions.
4. Have students Share, Compare, and Repair answers using groups/support systems (I need to read more on the Share, Compare, and Repair...will blog about it later).
5. "I heard someone say...."
6. Ask questions after every important point.
7. Require Complete Sentence Answers!

Don't:
1. Ask a question, pause, then call on one student.
2. Call on a student then as a question.
3. Ask for volunteers to answer a question.
4. Ask another student to ADD to an answer.
5. Ask if anyone has another or a better answer.
6.  Draw a name or throw an object to determine who answers the question (THIS one threw me for a loop!)
7. Ask a question of a student that you KNOW is not paying attention (DARN! I'm totally guilty of this).
8. OVERALL, stop making students feel uncomfortable, potentially setting them up to fail, and maybe publicly announcing they are wrong.

My thoughts? HOW ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO QUICKLY SEE IF A STUDENT KNOWS THEIR STUFF?!?! Or has been paying attention? You can't call on people? WHAT!?!!?!? Does this make anyone else uncomfortable? Definitely makes me feel uncomfortable. Change is good though, right?

ANOTHER thought. Did we all not grow up for decades with this kind of questioning? We turned out alright...Is this kind of questioning creating a society of pansies where everyone is the winner and nobody is wrong? Just food for thought. I truly like the DOs section, the DON'Ts is what got me a little fired up! Your thoughts? It's Hump Day!!!!

PEAK Questioning Strategies Day 3

Well, I totally forgot to require the kids to answer in complete sentences today. We took a practice reading test which took up most of the day. The kids worked so hard! I'm so proud of them! Anyway, I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the TRQ (Total Response Questioning). I need to inquire one of my teacher mates to explain it to me in a little more detail. The gist I get from it is that all students say the correct answer in a complete sentence. Well, I set up a Solution Station (independent aid for students in need of a hint or help) with hints to figure out the correct answer on our Math practice test that we just took. That way TOMORROW when I have time to check it all together, all of the students can agree, say, and learn the correct answer for each question. We will see how it goes.

 For my Solution Station, students are not allowed to take their paper with them, or hang around too long. If I see it being overused, it's a sign that I need to meet with that student and reteach. The students moved silently up to the station and back to their desks without distracting the other students. I'm also proud of them for being patient while another friend is looking at the Solution Station. Here are some pics!

Vocabulary/Sight Word Swat Game

I'm sure this game is nothing new, however, I wanted to blog about it! Last year, I used this game with sight words (first grade). This year to make it more grade-appropriate, I use vocabulary words. All you need are two fly swatters and a dry erase board. Write a whole bunch of sight words or vocabulary words on the board. Break the class into two teams and have each team line up behind a leader.  Have two people go up to the board, call out a sight word or definition, and the first person to swat the word wins a point! I have a shy student keep track of the score using tally marks (we all have those special friends, right?) Anyway, if someone tries to help the people at the board by telling them where it is or what word it is, all points for that team are erased (too mean? never....hehe). If a team is extra good, they can earn bonus points for their team. The kids BEG me to play this game!!!! So simple and a great review! Check out some pictures I snapped!

PEAK Questioning Strategies Day 2

So today I gave my class a practice STAAR test, and only 8 passed (I'm going to scream in frustration!!!!!). Anywho, We had a pow-wow afterwards to discuss our effort, what happened, etc. SO, using the PEAK strategy of saying "What might have caused Ms. Andrews class to not do so hot on their test," the kids reflected and came up with some great answers! Of course most of them said, "They might have been distracted and unfocused," and "They might not have done their testing strategies." Several kiddos that do not normally participate in that kind of discussion spoke up! I think it really did help some of the kids speak up because the pressure was taken off of them. I'm starting to like this questioning strategy a whole bunch! Tomorrow my goal is to have the kids answer in Complete Sentences! I just need to remember that!

PEAK: "Questioning Strategies"

Magic 3: Magic 3 is choral repetition of complete sentence answers that not everyone knows and needs more practice. Have the kids repeat the sentence after you. Then two more times in different voices (whisper, monster, opera, high, low, quiet, loud, British, Australian, Mexican, French, Spanish, etc). I'm proud to say that I have already been doing this! Hooray!!

Mirror Questioning: Mirror questioning is perfect for your unfocused children to keep them engaged and "tuned in" to the lesson. So the teacher asks a question, and the students answer with a complete sentence. Then you repeat the question, and the students respond with the answer again. For example, "The black cat is the main character." "Who is the main character?" "The black cat is the main character." Pretty simple to incorporate! And once again, I have been doing this without even knowing it! Woohoo!

Total Response Questioning: Every student finds, records, learns, and says the complete, correct answer! So while answering questions, make sure every student has a writing utensil, paper or white board. Make sure every student has some kind of support that they can use in the classroom to help them come to the correct solution. "If a question is worth asking, then it is important for all learners to know their answers."

4 Critical Components of TRQ: (1) Students have writing utensils. (2) Teacher asks questions frequently, after each point made, or step completed. (3) Teacher deliberately provides correct answers in places students can go and learn them or uses students that can spread correct answer. (4) Every student records or chorally responds the CORRECT answers to important questions.

Prompts:
"How might knowing _________ be important to people?"
"How can knowing this be helpful or beneficial to you?"
"Say what I just said in a different way."
"How might ______ be best used?"

Most of the information I write is paraphrased or taken directly from Teaching for Excellence  by Spence Rogers.

Today my goal was to share with a neighbor before calling on a student. Went pretty well, however, I think I need to model/practice how to properly respond and listen.  My goal for tomorrow is to work on Complete Sentence Answer choices.

Clouds!

There were terrible storms last Tuesday at school, which caused a tree to fall on a power line, which thus cut off power to our school during a tornado drill for an hour and 10 minutes! Phew! That was the LONGEST tornado drill I EVER hope to encounter! What a day! Inspired by the day's events, the kids REALLY wanted to know about weather and storms! So, we watched the radar, learned a few tips to help understand it, and learned about clouds! I used some of the lesson I did last year with clouds, but added a bit more for the older kids. I read Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs to the kids, and we talked about the story elements and the kids who had watched the movie were dying to do a class double bubble comparing the movie and the book. It is such a classic book! We learned about the different altitudes of clouds by comparing the height to a giant. We also saw a Bill Nye about storms (I LOVE Bill Nye!). After all of this, we got to do an experiment making our own cumulonimbus! I got the idea from Pinterest and had to try it! You need a mason jar, water, shaving cream, and LIQUID food coloring. Fill the jar half way with water, cover most of the top of the water with shaving cream leaving some holes, then put several drops in and watch the cumulonimbus rain!!!! The kids loved it! During this experiment we went through the Scientific Process as well. Here are some of the rain clouds!!!!

Teaching for Excellence PEAK Book Study

Alright, all year long I have been learning bits and pieces of PEAK strategies and theories. If you are unfamiliar with PEAK, it stands for Performing Excellence for All Kids. Spence Rogers, the mastermind behind it all, has come up with several amazing teaching strategies for content, classroom management, and more to help teachers teach the generation of today! If you like classrooms that are student-centered, moving, buzzing with curiosity and excitement, then you need to research PEAK a bit more! I have been blessed to have a co-teacher lend me her huge PEAK manual of all manuals to do my book study.

So, for week 1 I'm focusing on Questioning Strategies. The main underlying theory is that you want everyone to be engaged and to feel "safe." So, Accountable Questioning guidelines are as follows:

1. Use open-ended questions.

2. Use deflected questions, such as, "How might Ms. _________ class  answer this question?"

3. Accept only complete sentence answers.

4. Make sure all students agree, say, and write the correct responses.

Some effective question keywords may include: Might, Could, Be, What, If, Someone Else, An Expert

Examples of questions/answers that you can use are:

"I heard someone say...."

"How might _______ be explained better?"

"What questions might someone need to have answered?"

"What questions will someone probably have about...?"

"Explain in a better way what I just tried to say or do."

REMEMBER! Always have students share with a partner first! That way everyone has either said, heard, or had more time to think of possible answers. For example, "When I say, 'go' (Launch Button will get to that another week), turn to your neighbor and tell them one interesting fact you learned during today's lesson." Kids chat excitedly, then teacher says, "May I have your help please? (Wait for everyone to stop talking, raise their hands, and look at you) Now that everyone has heard, said, or thought about an interesting fact, everyone should have an answer. Start your answer with, 'I heard someone say that an interesting fact was....' " Pull a stick or call on a student to answer. And Voila! Everyone has an answer, and everyone was engaged! Students may be hesitant to talk at first, but with proper modeling and plenty of opportunities, they will warm up and become excited to participate! One of my teacher friends said, "You know you didn't ask enough engaging questions when your voice is tired at the end of the day." So let your kids take control! Let them all be responsible for answering AND listening, since both skills are important. Here is a little sign I made to remind myself to ask engaging questions!!!

Next post will be about types of questioning strategies! Happy Monday!