Which Students Get Which Questions? Using a Teacher Reflection Tool to Find Out
February 14, 2024
鈥淚 feel like I keep track of who participates and try to make sure everyone is participating in some way. But I never really thought to keep track of who鈥檚 getting those questions that promote higher order thinking and who鈥檚 getting a question that is basically rephrasing or restating what a partner said鈥� I think if I did keep track, I don鈥檛 think it would be as equitable as I think it is.鈥�
鈥� Grade 1 Teacher
Whole-class discussions provide opportunities for 鈥渟tudents to express their ideas, to revise and build on them, to have others respectfully listen to and engage with their ideas, and to be seen as mathematical thinkers who make meaningful contributions to classroom conversations.鈥� (Russell et al., 2023, p. 5) However, not all students feel invited into or participate equally in such discussions. What a teacher does during a discussion can powerfully impact whether and how a student participates.
In thinking through what it takes for there to be equitable participation in such discussions, our team worked with a group of educators to field test and revise a tool designed to help teachers reflect on and strive for more equitable participation in whole class conversations. One big idea that surfaced in the course of that work: reflecting on participation in discussions involves not only recognizing who is and is not engaging, but also paying attention to instructional decisions that may affect students鈥� participation. For this reason, there are three different areas of focus in the Teacher Reflection Tool for Whole Class Discussions:
Some of the teachers in the group told us that, while they already try to pay attention to who is and isn鈥檛 participating in discussions, they have not reflected much on the instructional decisions they make that may affect participation. As they used the tool, the teachers shared stories about what they were learning. For example, Caroline used the Area of Focus: Questions Posed to Students which asks teachers to collect data and reflect on what types of questions they are asking during discussions (Open-Ended, Closed or Non-Content) and on which students they are calling on to answer these different types of questions. Caroline told us what she expected to find:
Originally when I saw that [Area of Focus: Questions Posed to Students] I was like, oh, I really make sure to ask kids a lot of different questions. I had a very high opinion of myself. I thought, 鈥業鈥檓 calling on kids, I鈥檓 really making sure everyone鈥檚 engaged.鈥� And that鈥檚 kind of where I thought I was.
Caroline then videotaped a few discussions in her class. As she examined the video, she was struck by the types of questions she was asking one particular student.
I think my focus tends to be on content and moving forward and getting to a whole class understanding. Being able to record myself and look at it with the lens of who鈥檚 being asked what, that started to be really eye-opening for me. I was noticing throughout my lessons a pattern of calling on the same person to read the learning target every time. And they weren鈥檛 really engaging in many other ways. And while they were excited to read the learning target, and I knew it would bring buy-in for that student for that lesson, I wasn鈥檛 doing my due diligence to show them as a sense-maker. And recording that and watching that back allowed me to really analyze that moment, because while teaching, I thought, great. You鈥檙e ready. You鈥檙e excited. You want to read the learning target. And then I watched it back and I thought, wait. That鈥檚 like all the sharing you did鈥� And that just helped me realize鈥 wasn鈥檛 giving [all students] the same types of questions.
Caroline鈥檚 experience highlighted something we talked a lot about 鈥� the importance of evidence-based reflection. What we think we are doing or what we remember doing, isn鈥檛 always what is actually happening. Caroline reflected on the data she collected and decided to make some changes to the questions she was asking and who she was asking to respond to those questions.
So what I started to do then was think more strategically about the series of questions that I鈥檓 asking. When I say that, I mean having sense-making questions prepared, but then also having follow-up questions to support the sense-making鈥� I wanted to make sure that I was providing all students access to critical thinking questions鈥� I was able to rethink my teaching by thinking about what types of questions I was asking, but also for specific individual students, I could go up to them and I could say, 鈥業鈥檓 going to ask you this question at the discussion.鈥� I could prime them. I could ask them that question in their small group to prepare them鈥� [It] helped get those students ready to show that they are also sense-makers in the community.
As Caroline collected and reflected on data from her class, she was finding out who was and wasn鈥檛 participating in discussions. But she was also uncovering how each student was participating, and how the questions she was asking might be playing into whether or how they were participating. She realized that she needed to do something more to fully bring some students鈥� voices and ideas into the math discussions in her class. By changing the questions she was posing and who she was asking to respond to particular questions, and by thinking about how to help students prepare for responding to questions during discussions, she was working to bring about more equitable participation. Her goal? All students seeing themselves and being seen 鈥渁s mathematical thinkers who make meaningful contributions to classroom conversation鈥� whose ideas are 鈥渢aken up publicly and considered seriously.鈥� (Russell et al., 2023, p. 5)
References
The Math Equity Forum at 七色视频. (2023, December).聽Teacher Reflection Tool: Equitable Participation in Whole Class Math Discussions. Math Equity Forum.
Russell, S.J. et al. (2023, September). A Framework for Reflecting about Equity in the Elementary Mathematics Classroom. Forum for Equity in Elementary Mathematics.
