Sample Initiating and Follow-up Questions for the Inner Circle

“Why does the writer use certain phrases and what makes them significant?”

  The initiating question:  Sometimes students have too many ideas and so many things they want to share and ask.  They may have no idea where to begin.  Other students face difficulty waking up their minds, focusing on one particular area of text, when launching the discussion.  The teacher’s initiating question helps students manage these issues. They  help focus student minds and offer a small chunk of common ground from which to begin dialogue.  An initiating question is specific, not general. Not general, for instance, not  “What do you think of this piece?” (students then just talk about what they like or dislike).  Instead, a more specific initiating question, such as  “You’ll notice the word ‘swerve’ is used in both the first and last stanza.  What might Stafford be trying to get you all to think about by repeating this same idea twice in his poem?” This initiating question is based in opinion.  It focuses student attention on meaning the writer is attempting to convey.  It can potentially elicit multiple answers that may conflict with each other.

  If the conversation seems to fizzle out as students have shared their ideas, follow-up with a more general question such as, “Do you see any other examples of words or ideas that are repeated in the poem? This helps the conversation recover and continue.  Matt Copeland prefers a more specific initiating question followed by a more general follow-up question, leaving students with the feeling of being turned loose to explore the text. 

  Beginning with a general initiating question followed by a more specific question suggests to students you are guiding and leading them through the text by hand.

  Open-ended initiating questions eliciting multiple answers help create an environment in which students understand that disagreeing is accepted, healthy, and can often enhance understanding.

Effective initiating (opening) questions can help students find relevance, such as “When you first read this text, what kinds of things did it remind you of?”  [or] “Has anyone been through a situation similar to what is being described in this text?” This helps students identify relevant connections and begin dialogue. 

  The teacher can model a connection to his or her own life which inspires student connections, such as “Every time I read this piece, I think about the movie The Shawshank Redemption and the message of importance of hope that is conveyed at the end.  Can anyone else explain this connection?”

  This combination of initiating and follow-up questions foster a bridge transferring responsibility for classroom learning from the teacher to the student.

Next:  What about students who appear unprepared for the dialogue or complain the text is too difficult?