Almira Akinpelu

CI Questioning Analysis

Class climate
The students I taught for my Direct Teach were very quiet the entire lesson. Possibly
due to nerves from being observed and knowing there was a camera present, so I struggled
with getting them to engage with me. They aren’t normally this quiet, but aren’t a disruptive
class either. Normally the class climate is relaxed and they work well while talking with their
neighbors and their teacher. During my lesson, the class climate seemed very tense and
awkward. Shapiro believes that when teachers learn what the students’ expectations, abilities,
and talents are they can create a positive social climate in the classroom. Also, students that
work together like school more because they want their classmates to do well and feel that their
classmates want them to do well also (Shapiro 1993). 
Four aspects to examine before creating a positive social classroom are values,
expectations, leadership, and cohesion within the classroom. Because students hide many of
their feelings, teachers need to find ways to identify the students’ value systems. By doing this,
student success is more likely because if they have a realization of self, they’ll have more self-
acceptance and produce better work. Clarifying expectations early, especially when students
are going to work in groups, establishes common goals and prevents “self-fulfilling prophecies”
from coming true. If students that have always been labeled as dumb aren’t given expectations
that they can and will succeed, they may choose to not participate because they believe they
can’t add anything of value to the group. Leadership may not come natural to some students or
be overpowering in others. To get the most out of students, teachers should inform students of
the roles available in the group or assign them to those roles and rotate who does what. Once
these three elements are fulfilled, cohesion in the class will be established. Students will value
their classmates, be involved and care for one another, be proud of their membership in the
group, and want to be known for doing well. 

Quality questions 
Asking questions that promote a higher level of thinking is difficult because I don’t know
how to do it and what those kinds of questions are.  In her article, Egan proposed using the
technique of Structural Communication (S.C.) that “contributes to a number of educational
activities, including gaming, assessment, and teaching complex matter clearly” (Egan 1975). 
To do this, teachers must figure out a way to lessen the data retrieval and formulation of a
response and focus student attention on analyzing and synthesizing. The matrix system is
 Almira Akinpelu
CI Questioning Analysis

typically used because it is composed of a set of divergent questions on main sub themes that
work to present the content from different arguments that build back to the factual content. 

For lesson 2, I am going to give them more opportunity to work together, especially
when I ask a question. As a way to keep the randomness of selecting a partner, I’d have them
get in groups of 3 or 4 with people that are wearing the same color or other characteristics like
that. Then I would explain what the roles are for the groups and give them the freedom to
decide who does what and discuss what that means for themselves and others. Then to
incorporate the S.C. technique, I’d have some groups be for, against, and supportive of both
arguments for whatever the topic is for the lesson. Once the groups have done their research
and are ready to defend their argument, I’d have a whole class discussion with them to present
their ideas but each student would have to turn in a paper that details what side they were on
and what they learned from the other two sides.

Egan, K. (1975, April). How to ask questions that promote high‐level thinking. Retrieved April 7,
2020, from https://www.jstor.org/stable/1492320?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

Shapiro, S. (1993). Strategies that Create a Positive Classroom Climate. Retrieved April 7,
2020, from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00098655.1993.9956031?
journalCode=vtch20