Development of Pre-Service Teachers’ Questioning Practice Through Self-Analysis

1. Development of Pre-Service Teachers’ Questioning Practice Through Self-Analysis Stephanie B. Philipp University of Louisville and Melissa L. Shirley University of Louisville

2. Model for Focus of Study This study examines pre-service teacher’s analysis of classroom discourse.

3. Research Questions • What do PSTs choose to analyze about questioning? • What strategies do PSTs suggest to improve questioning practice?

4. Study Context • 25 middle/secondary science methods students • 13 enrolled in alternative certification program (working as full-time teachers) and • 12 traditional Certification program (30-hour field placement during semester)

5. Data Collection • Audio-tape and transcribe a 10-minute segment of whole-class discussion • Choose two aspects of questioning • Propose strategies for self-improvement • Upload student work to secure course management system

6. Data Analysis • Starting with questioning skill categories from the literature, two coders independently coded a subsample of analyses • Additional codes emerged • Codes were reconciled and applied to remainder of transcript analyses • The process was repeated for proposed strategy categories

7. Whole-Class Questioning Skill Examples • Questions requiring higher order thinking (HOT) Redfield & Rousseau (1981); Gall (1984) • Awareness of processing time (Rowe, 1974) • Recognition of participation by all students (Tobin & Gallagher, 1987)

8. Questioning Aspect Codes (RQ1) • Higher Order Thinking (HOT) • Bloom’s Taxonomy • Webb’s Depth of Knowledge • Wait Time • Participation By All • Engagement • Follow-up • Classroom Affect

9. Questioning Aspects Analyzed by PST

10. What did PSTs write about their questioning aspects?

11. Questioning Aspects: Traditional Certification Program PST “I did not realize I asked low-level questions during the entire class until analyzing this transcript.” (08HSTrad)

12. Questioning Aspects: Alternative Certification Program PST “Without high-quality responses from students, the connections they are able to make to the subject matter is severely limited…This problem goes hand in hand with my lack of high-order questions.” (28HSAlt)

13. Questioning Aspects: Alternative Certification Program PST “It is difficult to address questions with a class where only a small portion of the students can hear.  I cannot give students enough wait time to ponder questions because I spend any down time addressing discipline.” (05MSAlt)

14. Questioning Aspects: Alternative Certification Program PST “I spent almost two of ten minutes waiting for my class to quiet down to the point where we could finish discussion. This is far too much instructional time.” (17MSAlt)

15. Selection of Questioning Aspects Assertion 1 Teaching context may affect the focus of the PST’s choice for analysis.

16. Strategies Proposed for Improvement of Practice

17. Strategies Proposed for Improvement of Practice (RQ2) • Advance question planning (56%) • Monitor participation by all students (56%) • Improve instructional techniques (40%) • Improve feedback (32%) • Increase interactive discussion (32%) and teach interactive discussion skills (12%) • Improve classroom management skills (24%)

18. Strategies proposed for improvement of practice Intentional Practice “I will prepare a question guide before the lesson to help direct students in higher level of thinking.” (04MSTrad)

19. Strategies proposed for improvement of practice Planning “I think time invested at the beginning of the year [regarding] my expectations for discussions would be helpful.”(13MSTrad)

20. Strategies proposed for improvement of practice Intentional Practice “To improve this questioning practice, I plan on … constantly checking for understanding formatively through thumbs up/thumbs down, stoplight, agree/disagree, etc.”(20MSAlt) 20

21. Strategies proposed for improvement of practice Assertion 2 Analysis of questioning practice convinced PSTs of the importance of planning and intentional practices as a strategy for improving questioning practice.

22. The Power of Self-Reflection PSTs were often surprised by aspects of their teaching practice after reflection on their own teaching

23. Surprising insights gained by PST “It is amazing what you can learn from listening to yourself. I could not believe how many times I said the word "Right”. If I were a student, I would be sick of it.” (18HSAlt)

24. Surprising insights gained by PST “It occurred to me as I listened to the tape that only seven out of 30 students spoke. Not only do I have no idea what those other twenty-three students know, no one in the class was able to benefit from their input.” (21MSAlt)

25. Surprising insights gained by PST “In the background I could hear chatter, chatter that I must block out while I'm standing at the front of the class. I did not notice when I was teaching but it was there, on tape.” (18HSAlt)

26. Acknowledging need for change PSTs acknowledged need for change and dedicated their efforts to transforming their own practice.

27. Acknowledging need for change “Overall, this transcript allowed me to see myself in a way that I had not seen before: through the ears of an observer….I plan on taping another session in the upcoming months to evaluate my progress.” (26MSAlt)

28. Acknowledging need for change “The lesson I learned is that high level questioning is dependent on careful and thoughtful planning for each lesson.” (15MSTrad)

29. What’s Next? • Comparison to other content areas • A model for other pedagogical skills development

30. Questions? And thank you for your kind attention.