Using Focused Questioning to Increase Student Engagement

Written by Anna Cychowski, 7th & 8th Grade Science Teacher

Student Engagement: Centering your lesson around a focused question & varied methods of investigation.

I use two-day cycles in the classroom in order to both establish a routine students are comfortable working in and to make sure content is being covered fully through exploration, redirection of misconceptions and practice. Each of my two-day cycles starts with a question. Questions are basically just SWBAT objectives written in a student-friendly, question format.  Some questions are more interesting or enticing than others, but they get the students excited for the lesson. More often than not. I have students itching to share what they think the answer is and arguing with one another about scientific concepts before class even starts (aka my dream come true).

Example:  Does water ever disappear?

Class opens with the question after the Do Now. While I circulate to check Do Now’s, students write their question in their notebook, then skip some space underneath. This skipped space is for students to add thoughts they have or evidence that helps them answer the question at the end of day one and two of the cycle.

Day one begins our exploration and individual reflection in the cycle.  For our exploration of the example question, students looked at a series of pictures of steps in the water cycle without knowing what they were, I asked the students to put them in order and write what happened to make each step transition into the next in their groups. Afterwards students answered a series of scaffolded reflection questions and I circulated to check for misconceptions as well as guide student thinking. Day one closes out with students going back to the question of the day section in their notebook and jotting down what they think the answer is based on the knowledge they acquired or what they observed that day.

Day two is our clearing up misconceptions and practice day. For our “Does water ever disappear?” lesson, students read a short article about the water cycle. In the article they underlined what they already knew from yesterday, and circled any information new to them.  Afterwards, they constructed a water cycle model for their notes. At the end of class, students completed an exit ticket, then went back to their notebook to write their final answer for the question of the day.

In order to push engagement even more, I plan to share the best QOTD responses for each class at the end of the week. Not only will this allow students to see each other’s final answers, it will better identify for them what their written responses should look like.

Classroom Data Walls

Classroom data walls are an excellent strategy for recognizing student growth and promoting learning for students. All students should have goals for their learning, and classroom data walls provide a way for teachers to showcase their students' progress prominently. It is an expectation that every Lyon Academy classroom have a functioning, updated data wall.

Some criteria/suggestions to consider when creating your data wall include:

• The data wall presents a snapshot of how students are doing as a class or individually 
• The data wall is regularly updated
• The data wall may be created/maintained by the students as data as added
• The data wall should be geared towards students and be student-friendly
• The data wall should encourage action and responsibility by the student, without publicly embarrassing students

The following blog post is a great website that provides more information about using data walls in the classroom: https://www.whatihavelearnedteaching.com/6-ways-to-use-data-walls-effectively/ 

Take a look at several outstanding examples of data walls from around Lyon classrooms across a variety of grade levels. As you update your classroom data wall, send a picture of the wall to Tyler.Archer@slps.org and it will be included!

Ms. Wolfenden adds stripes to bumble bees each time a student makes a month of STAR Reading growth. 

Ms. Archer posts a star for every student showing growth on the STAR Math assessment. 

Ms. Smith posts the names and growth of her students after each STAR Reading assessment cycle. 

Ms. Pocost displays the students in her classes, by homeroom, that demonstrated 80% mastery on objectives. 

Ms. Archer uses a sticker chart to track student mastery of multiplication tables. 

Ms. Salmo's students move their individual markers along the reading level tracker board in her classroom. 

Ms. Connell adds a flower petal to each student as they grow according to Fountas and Pinnell assessments. 

Ms. Andrews tracks students' STAR Reading & Math growth, along with their point tracker progress. 

Ms. Walker and Ms. Stuckel keep track of the skills that students are able to do using an easy to read sticker chart. 

Mr. Craig tracks students' progress on the PACER assessment in P.E. 

Ms. Richardson keeps track of her students' STAR Reading growth by using fish and adding stickers when students show growth. 

Ms. Trapp gives students a sticker on their chart when they show growth from one STAR Reading assessment to the next. 

Both Mrs. Williams-Alberty and Ms. Benjamin maintain a tracker that indicates when students show growth according to STAR Reading. 

The K-2 Team posts their STAR Reading and STAR Math data in their hallway as a way of showing the students' performance across each grade level.