Planning questions

If using open questioning can give teachers a truer sense of student understanding and can provide differentiation for all students, why are teachers not doing it? Small (2008) notes that many times during the school day, as teachers are questioning students, they don’t pre-plan the questions they use and this often leads to over-scaffolding. When students answer a question incorrectly, teachers tend to ask simpler questions until students get the right answer. Teachers can not do this if the intent is to create students that are critical thinkers and good problem solvers. Questions are often used to check understanding rather than to start a conversation. Small (2008) suggests that because of this, teachers don’t always make sure the questions are broad enough to allow multiple entry points to allow all students the opportunity to access the math.
To make mathematics classroom more accessible to all students, and to make all students feel that it is o.k. to speak in class, Small (2008) suggests teaches pre-plan questions to ensure the questions asked are open, or broad enough to allow all students the opportunity to enter into the question and become engaged in the content and context of the problem. By pre-planning the questions asked in math class, teachers are more apt to ask the appropriate questions that will allow all students to engage. It is a good idea to think about and write specific open ended questions for the lesson to be taught. These questions need to focus on the main mathematical idea to be taught in the lesson, help guide student learning, and help refocus students thinking if inappropriate conclusions are made.
When planning questions, it is necessary to identify the important questions to ask in each phase of the lesson, namely how the lesson will begin, during, and end. To begin a class, teachers need to think about the purpose of the class. If introducing a new concept, maybe a question to assess student prior knowledge is needed. Another option is to pose the question to have students dive in to get them thinking about the new concept to be taught. Or it could be to assess previous learning. Questions such as “What do you know about…? How is _____ related to ______? How can we use _____ to help us find _____? Tell me everything you have learned about _____? can be used in these situations.
Just as questions can be planned for the beginning of a lesson, teachers should also think about questions they could ask during the lesson. These types of questions can be asked to keep the lesson going in rich directions. To do this, teachers may wish to think about how students will react to and answer the questions posed at the beginning of the lesson. Recording possible reactions and answers to each planned question, and subsequent open questions could be one way teachers could ensure his/her questions are open and accessible to all. Pre-planning questions and anticipating student response to questions decreases the chances of asking the typical ‘rapid fire’, closed questions that are found in a traditional classroom. Again, such questions could take the form of asking students what they think they should do, why they think that way and after offering a solution, asking them how they went about getting that answer. As students answer these types of questions, the teacher can help them move forward, at the same time help them understand math makes sense and that they can reason their way through any type of problem.