Questioning Smarts: Skills and Processes for Deepening Understanding

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Questioning SmartsSkills and Processes for
Deepening Understanding

• Sharon Davis, School Library Media Specialist,
  Taconic Hills High School
• Rebecca Ekstrom, School Library Media Specialist,
  Algonquin Middle School
• October 8, 2009

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(No Transcript)
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Questioning Smarts

• Presenter Carol Koechlin, SLMS
• Place Cornell University
• Why NYLA School Librarians Leadership Retreat
• When August 2-3, 2009
• So What? Relevant information for every SLMS and
  teacher

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Questioning Smarts

• Why is questioning important?
• How do we build curiosity and wonder?
• How do we teach students to question effectively?
• How does questioning build understanding?

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Questioning Smarts

• Isnt thinking enough?

Nomuch thinking is done in an unquestioning
manner.
Arent thinking and questioning the same thing?
Noquestioning infuses thinking with purpose.
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Questioning Smarts

• How can we develop a culture of inquiry?

• Invite, value, and celebrate questions
• Model effective questions
• Teach observation skills
• Teach questioning strategies
• Let kids own the questions
• Create the desire to learn
• Establish a community of learners
• Examine our personal learning networks

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Other Ideas

• Post the best question you were asked each day
• Find and post questions in magazines
• Post quotes that mention questions
• Celebrate questions
• Bring in any indistinguishable 3-D object
• Examine, sketch, record, create ?s, how do we
  find answers?

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Personal Learning Network
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Questioning Smarts

• How can we encourage
  strategic questioning?

Play! Have fun!

• Use games such as 20 Questions, Jeopardy,
• Are you Smarter Than a 5th Grader?
• Hot Seat
• ReQuest
• DeBonos 6 Thinking Hats
• Not a Box
• Fortune Teller/Question Quiver/Cootie
• Catcher

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ReQuest Procedure

• Students develop three different levels of
  questions
• Ask questions by examining an article/survey
• On the line How many people were polled?
• Between the line Is focus a factor in unsafe
  driving?
• Beyond the line How many people die each year
  from using cell phones while driving?
• Manzo, 1969

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What is it?

• A photo-it could even be a historical photo
• Use film clips, cartoons, posters, quotes
• A box of objects or a collection of photos
• Are there connections?
• What are they?
• This can work for K-12

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fromhttp//citadelofstars.blogspot.com/
Carols example size A Gimble
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• Carol Kuhlthau says in Guided Inquiry Learning
  in the 21st Century Inquiry Learning is a SOCIAL
  process and does not happen in isolation. This
  doesnt mean group work. When students talk to
  each other, REAL learning develops.

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Grown Up Digital by Don Tapscott

• Carol says this book is a must
• SLJ says teachers will enjoy it
• Dont just throw technology into classrooms
• Cut back on lecturing
• Focus on life long learning
• Use technology to get to know each student
• Empower collaboration among students
• Do not teach to the test
• Use technology to reinvent yourself

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Questioning Smarts

• From a students perspective, they want
• To use social networking tools and new
  technologies
• Choice of project
• To work with friends
• Field trips and real experiences
• To tackle real issues that are meaningful to them

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Questioning Smarts

• The best assignments offer
• Choice
• Social opportunity
• Real world audience and purpose
• Valuing the process through assessment
• Teachers and librarians involved with design,
  resources, question development, and assessment

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Questioning Smarts

• Research/Inquiry Assignments
• Students cant ask great questions unless they
  have background knowledge.
• Use a question builder as a stimulus for question
  generation.
• Use focus words to elevate research discover,
  compare, uncover, examine, function, capacity,
  connection, correlation, pattern, cause,
  relationship, result, outcome, implication,
  significance, consequence

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Power Up Your Inquiry
http//edleadershipretreat.wikispaces.com/file/vie
w/QuestioningHandoutDAY1.doc
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Questioning Smarts

• Students should consider these guiding concepts
  as they build their inquiry questions
• What am I really curious about?
• Why do I want to explore this topic?
• What do I know already?
• What do I need/want to find out?
• How will I make sense of the data I uncover?
• Who will my audience be?
• How will I know Ive done a good job?

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Questioning Smarts

• Mindset The New Psychology of Success (Dweck,
  Carol, Ph. D. NY Ballantine, 2006)
• Growth Mindset v. Fixed Mindset
• / \
• I can learn from
  Im dumb. Im brilliant.
• my mistakes.

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Questioning Smarts

• Fixed Mindset
• Desires to look smart
• Avoids challenges
• Defensive
• Gives up easily
• Feels threatened by the success of others
• Thinks their own effort is fruitless
• These people may plateau early and not reach
  their full potential.

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Questioning Smarts

• Growth Mindset
• Tendency to learn and embrace challenges
• Is persistent in the face of setbacks
• Uses effort as a path to mastery
• Learns from criticism
• Finds lessons and inspiration in the success of
  others
• These people reach a higher level of achievement
  despite their ability.

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Questioning Smarts

• Bottom line
• Fixed mindset risk and effort might reveal
  inadequacies.
• Growth mindset Failure is a gift. Risk and
  effort are what makes you smart and talented.
• Good news You can grow your mindset.

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Questioning Smarts

• What does mindset have to do with questioning and
  performance in school?
• A student who is not afraid to take a risk will
  be more likely to ask questions.
• A student who does poorly on an assignment,
  project, or test who has a growth mindset, will
  put in more effort to improve performance.
• Maximum effort and willingness to take a risk
  will improve performance in sports and physical
  education classes.

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Questioning Smarts

• Teacher/Librarian Collaboration
• Factors that inhibit success
• Lack of time
• Confusion about roles
• Poorly designed assignments
• from Guided Inquiry Learning in the 21st
  Century by C. Kuhlthau, L. Maniotes and A.
  Caspari

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Questioning Smarts

• Teacher/Librarian Collaboration
• Factors that enable success
• Constructivist mindset
• Team approach to teaching
• Competence in design process
• Commitment to developing information literacy
• from Guided Inquiry Learning in the 21st
  Century by C. Kuhlthau, L. Maniotes and A.
  Caspari

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Resources

• http//edleadershipretreat.wikispaces.com/
• Q Tasks How to Teach Students to Ask Questions
  and Care About Their Answers by Carol Koechlin
  and Sandi Zwaan
• Building Info Smarts by Carol Koechlin and Sandi
  Zwaan

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More Resources

• Librarians as Learning Specialists by Allison
  Zmuda and Violet H. Harada (a must)
• Play How it shapes the brain, opens the
  imagination, and invigorates the soul by Stuart
  Brown
• Mindset The New Psychology of Success by Carol
  Dweck, Ph. D.
• Learning to Question, to Wonder, to Learn by
  Jamie Mc Kenzie
• Puzzle Them First by Angelo V. Ciardiello
• Its Critical by David Booth

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Thank you!