Observation Sheet - Questioning - Secondary

Question Type
1. Do you feel your questions were clearly structured and readily understood by the students?
Yes, I do feel that all of my questions were clearly structured and mostly readily understood
by the students. There was some students with literacy issues so I made sure to restructure the
question if need be to help all of the students understand.

2. Did you use a variety of question types?
Yes, I feel that it was important to use a variety of question types, especially as my group of
students had a variety of literacy abilities. This helped get each and every topic point across
to the students no matter what their ability may be. Using a variety of questions also helped
me gain an insight into their knowledge and interpretation skills.

3. What balances was there between the various question types?
Throughout the micro-teaching lesson I was aware that there needed to be a balance between
the varieties of question types used, so that all students were able to feel comfortable
participating, no matter what their skill level may be. I attempted to switch my question types
each time I asked a question, in order to get all the children thinking and even if they didnt
get to answer the question, the appropriate wait time was established so that the students
were still able to have a think about it. E.g. swapping from a convergent question to
evaluative to divergent etc. Balancing the various question types also allowed all of the
students to participate, enhancing their skill to work in a group.

4. Consider both why and when you made use of the question types?
During the micro-teaching lesson I made notes of the questions asked, in order to ensure that
a variety of questions were being used. I started off the lesson by introducing the topic and
then asked the students what they knew about it, to gain insight into the students
understanding and to be able to change the way I ask the questions if needed. Convergent and
divergent questions were asked at the beginning of the lesson to help the students have a
think about the possibilities of which was the lesson could go as I am a strong believer that
students need to be able to facilitate most of their own learning (with help and guidance
where applicable). During the lesson I continued to ask convergent and divergent questions
whilst also asking the students to describe and explain to me what they were doing (to show
that they understood what was required of them). To finish off the lesson I asked the students
to recall what we had just completed, as well as asking evaluative questions so that the
students could make judgements with thoughtful reason.

Distributing and Directing Questions
1. Did you recognise any patter in the distribution of your questions amongst the students?
Consider reasons for this pattern?
There was a slight pattern with the way I distributed questions to the students. I tried to
engage all of the students (not matter what their literacy skill level was) by changing up the
question type each time I asked a question. This then involved all of the children, enhancing
their group participation skills (confidence, interaction etc.). Changing the types of questions
asked, helped the students stop and think, to be able to answer efficiently, analysing the
question before answering. Some questions they would be able to answer easier than others,
so exposing the students to a variety of questions helped enhance their literacy skills in the
process (by exposing them to a different variety of question words).

2. How have you directed questions to the group?
We all sat in a circle at the table so that I could see all of the students and that they could see
me too. I made sure to maintain eye contact with everyone in the group whilst I was talking
and if all students were contributing to the answer, I would make eye contact with all students
to ensure that they all had the same sense of belonging. If a question was student specific I
would make sure to maintain eye contact with that student whilst asking the question.

3. Have you used wait time?
I used wait time with every question that I asked. Using wait time is important as we
cannot expect the students to answer straight away. I allowed the students to have enough
time to think and process the question, before giving an answer that they deemed appropriate.

4. Did you make eye contact with the group as you directed your questions?
Yes, I was very conscious of making constant eye contact with the group (and with the
students individually) throughout the entire lesson to ensure that they were all on task and
were paying attention to everything that I was saying. Being able to maintain constant eye
contact with every student in my group was easy to do as the group only consisted of six
students.

Reactions to Students Responses
1. How do you deal with correct responses? Do you qualify any praise given?
Dealing with correct response was done by giving praise and reassurance that the student/s
were on the right track. I could tell that one of the students had a confidence issue about
speaking up in front of their peers so I made sure to pay a little bit of extra attention to that
student to help them, praising them a little bit more when they got a correct answer. All
students received praise or constructive feedback dependent on what their answer was.

2. How do you deal with incorrect responses? How do you deal with students who stumble
and grope for an answer?
Dealing with incorrect responses was not done by criticising the student, or by putting them
down, as this does nothing to help with the students self-esteem or confidence. If the student
was to give me an incorrect answer, there would be no criticism towards the student, I would
answer with a smile still happy that they had the confidence to answer. I would guide them
towards what the correct answer would be, not telling the student the answer, but still giving
them the opportunity to have a think about what the correct answer is. If they could still not
think about the right answer I would give another student the chance to answer, praising them
but also telling the student who didnt get it right that it was ok and that they can try again
next time.

3. Do you keep eye contact with the students until they have completed an answer? Did you
cut students off and go onto the next point before they have finished responding?
Yes, I was always making sure that I was conscious of maintaining eye contact with the
students whilst they are completing the answer and even during wait time. I make sure that
I never cut any of the students off and go onto the next point before they have finished
responding to the question. The reason for this is because each and every student deserves the
chance to answer and cutting them off could damage self-esteem and confidence.

4. What use do you make of the students responses to develop the teaching point? Have you
redirected any questions in order to add to an initial response?
During the lesson there was a few times where I had to redirect some questions in order to
add to an initial response. This was because some of the students answers were a little bit
vague so I would redirect the focus of my next question so that the answers would be a little
bit more in depth and easier to evaluate whilst also enhancing the students learning. When
the students were to give a correct answer I would sometimes extend on their answer to
develop the teaching point, if it was required. Extending on the students answers also helps
the students feel more involved within the micro-lesson, taking part in facilitating their own
learning.

5. Are you the only evaluator of the students answers?
No, I do not believe that I am the only evaluator of the students answers. The other students
are also constantly evaluating their peers (whether they realise this or not). This could be
done by making comments, praise to peers and sometimes other students answers also make
us (the students), stop and think and/or change our view on the concept being taught.

Overall Comments
Some of these answers are the exact same as the primary observations skills, as I found that I
stuck to what I knew with my skills, and that I only had to change them slightly to suit the
different age groups.