Habits and Mindsets
Students reference their teacher’s guidance in organization, study habits, character traits and values (like persistence, striving for accuracy, etc.). They have internalized these traits beyond just talking about them which has led to personal growth on the part of the student.
Questioning & Posing Problems
In my experience as an early childhood educator, children ages three to five have a natural propensity for questions. As a teacher, it is my job to engage their curiosity, and provide explicit modeling of strategies for posing problems and seeking effective solutions. Encouraging questioning is reinforced consistently throughout the day, whether it is during outdoor play, as a student wonders “How high can airplanes fly?”, or during a science experiment, asking “What do you think will happen to the Valentine heart placed in the soapy water?”.
Additionally, I employ explicit strategies in order to model and encourage “asking and answering questions” during literacy and mathematics core instruction. These strategies help students make connections between the content they are exploring, and the greater meaning behind that content, while ultimately reinforcing the skill of questioning itself.
Explicit Teaching
While questioning often can be a natural skill born out of students' curiosity, explicit modeling and strategies are required in order to fully develop the skill for all students, especially my nonverbal and language deficit children. Below, I've detailed a lesson plan that outlines the initial lessons on both 'asking questions' and 'answering questions', as well as the accompanying anchor charts that provide visual cues for the thinking processes.
(Above): This document serves as a guide to "unpacking" the standard for "asking questions" about texts, as well as sketches out the weekly scaffolding for learning targets and lessons.
(Above left): This anchor chart provides students a visual, as well as a self-assessment icon for each scaffolded step of the "Asking Questions" skill. (Above right): Similarly, this anchor chart describes each step that students must engage in, in order to "answer a question".
Additionally, here is a teaching sample from the initial lesson about Asking Questions. In the sample, I demonstrate a simple oral model, and provide a rationale for why developing this skill is essential and relevant to students' lives.
Reinforcement: Wacky Wednesday
During our Dr. Seuss themed author study, I reinforced the Questioning and Posing Problems mindset, using an integration of text, as well as novel pictures and images to elicit student responses. Below are excerpts from our questioning exercise, as well as images of students engaging in the thinking process.
Above, a student points to the handkerchief worn by the dog, and asks "Why is this dog dressed like a grandma?"
Here, students examine a still from Dr. Seuss' Wacky Wednesday, and pose questions about the strange things they notice. Students had read Wacky Wednesday days prior to this exercise, and my paraprofessional used a transition period as an opportunity for students to practice independently posing problems that they noticed.
In the exercise above, students are presented with an interesting image of a dog wearing curlers, as guided practice for "asking questions". This seemingly silly exercise reinforces our goal to be "curious thinkers" and pose clarifying and probing questions.
Additionally, I implement consistent lessons that reinforce and incorporate the skill of questioning when it is most appropriate and aligned to our goals and objectives. Above, the two day instructional sketch that corresponds with our Dr. Seuss author study, which includes the Wacky Wednesday exercise illustrated above.
Reinforcement: Centers
The ultimate goal of teaching these habits and mindsets is that students will ultimately be able to apply these skills independently in all different contexts. While much of the explicit teaching occurs between teacher and student, I also strive to model the skill for my paraprofessionals, so that they too can reinforce student behavior and thinking as consistently as possible. One strategy I use to do this is to provide visual cue cards at each center with strong models of questions to pose to students. These visuals serve as sentence stems to develop students' oral language and conversation skills, as well as to push their own thinking and problem solving through questioning.
Students are working towards applying this skill independently, particularly in situations when they interact with their peers, such as learning centers and outdoor play. Depending on their needs, some students may still need adult support in the form of cues or prompts.
References:
Smith, Dana (2016). Play Center Question Cards.