Effective Questioning Evaluation

For this assignment I recorded audio of me teaching the students through direct instruction and
guided notes about solid waste. The previous week we discussed land resources and are
continuing our unit regarding human impact on the environment. My goals were for them to
understand what solid waste is including the different activities that contribute to creating solid
waste and a few examples of different types of waste, and to identify the different ways waste
can be disposed of. In addition to this, I wanted them to understand what effects these different
disposal methods can have on our natural resources and environment as well as be able to
provide reasoning for why disposing of waste in these specific ways would create the effects
they identified.

To begin this discussion I asked the students to tell me in their own words what solid waste is. I
had them write this information down on their paper first before asking them to share out. I then
asked them to also write down a few examples of materials or items that could be categorized as
solid waste. Once they had a few seconds to answer I asked for volunteers to share some of their
answers as I walked around checking what they wrote on their papers. One student said “garbage
or trash.” One said “inorganic material that can’t break down naturally.” I told them that the
answer was more simple, and that garbage or trash was on the right track and that the answer I
was looking for was “material that is no longer useful and should be disposed of”,

After this, I went through my google slides over what waste is and the different activities or
categories that contribute to creating this waste as students filled in their guided notes. Once that
part was complete I stopped and asked students to write down on their paper what ways solid
waste can be disposed of explaining to them I meant after it was picked up by their trash
company. I then asked for volunteers to share some of the ideas they wrote down while I walked
around looking at papers and allowed some student volunteers to share. We continued on with
our lecture and guided notes regarding the different ways solid waste can be disposed of. For
each of the four ways before I showed students the slides, I stopped and asked for volunteers to
tell me what potential effects on our resources and environment each of the specific methods
could have. Some of the answers they gave included “air pollution” and “climate change”. I then
finished the slides and guided notes discussing different impacts each disposal method could
have.

Once the guided notes were finished, I asked students to add to their paper an answer for how
two of the four ways discussed would ultimately impact our environment or resources and why
they felt that impact would occur (without looking at their notes). Once students had a few
minutes to answer, I asked them to turn to someone around them to share and compare the
answers they had written. Next, I asked for volunteers to come to the board and write down the
method they chose, as well as the effect and reasoning behind it. Nathan wrote “ burning it, air
pollution.” I asked him to explain how burning trash would contribute to air pollution. He told
me that burning trash can release chemicals that go into the atmosphere and pollute the air. The
next student, Lauryn, wrote “dump it, rats and flies, water pollution.” First, I asked Lauryn how
dumping trash could contribute to air pollution. She told me that the trash build-up in dumps can
have fluids that leak into the ground and can eventually end up in our groundwater which then
can end up in our water supply. I then asked Lauryn if she could explain how a lot of rats and
flies being drawn to an area would affect the environment or natural resources. Lauryn said that
if the rats eat a lot of trash, they could get a disease and die. Then another student volunteered
that if the rats got a disease from eating and living in the garbage then they could spread that
disease to surrounding areas. I then asked the class if there was an area with few rats then due to
a trash dump being opened, suddenly there were a lot of rats in the area what would happen to
that ecosystem. One student said that whatever animals eat rats would have a lot more to eat
now. A third student said that also whatever small animals or insects the rats eat would probably
be completely destroyed or at least the population would become much smaller. Taya put
“recycling, saving space - keeping in use for a longer period of time.” I asked Taya to explain to
me how recycling and therefore saving space would affect our environment. Taya said, “Our
resources could be used for something else.” I then went on to explain that land specifically is a
resource, and yes, if we have less trash because we recycle then we would not have to use so
much of our land and it could be used for other things which would have a positive effect on the
environment.

Finally, at the end of this lecture I asked students to show me “fist to five” about each of the
following questions as well as write their fist to five number down on their paper. A fist meant
they did not understand at all and five fingers meant they understood completely and felt they
could explain it to someone else. The questions or topics I asked them to show their “fist to five”
for were as follows:
1. What is solid waste and what types of materials does solid waste include?
2. What are the ways we ultimately dispose of solid waste?
3. Describe how each of these ways affects the environment or our natural resources and
why they affect the environment in these ways.
After this, the students were working on a practice sheet from their packets so I was able to walk
around and talk with those who held up zero or lower numbers during the “fist to five” to see
how I could help them.

Analysis:
1. State Questions Clearly and Succinctly.
I definitely have some room to improve on this standard. Although I do tend to anticipate
what part of my questions may confuse them due to wording or obscurity, I still find
myself restating questions in different ways so they are able to understand what I’m
asking them. This seems to happen more when I’m trying to extend or stretch them in
their thinking.
2. Match Questions with Learning Targets.
I try to match my questions to the level and language of the targets. However, in most
schools environmental science is taught in 11th or 12th grade which is who the targets
seem to be intended for, but I’m teaching it to 9th graders so this still provides quite a
challenge for me.
3. Involve the Entire Class.
Of all the points here, I feel this may be the one I’m best at but still far from perfect. I
like to use “the ripple” method which involves having all students write down the
answers, sometimes having them compare with a partner near them, then asking for
volunteers to share an answer with the class.
4. Allow Sufficient Wait Time for Students Responses.
 This is something I think I’ll be working on finding balance in for a long time. I probably
do not wait as long as I should. However, I find that with freshmen if I wait too long class
can easily get off track.
5. Give Appropriate Responses to Student Answers.
I think my biggest problem here that I’ve been working on thanks to some direction from
a book I read for another course is not saying “good” or “correct” when the answer is not
all the way right. Instead, I’ve tried to start saying things like “That’s a good start, but can
you be more specific” or “That’s a good start, but can you explain or tell me more.”
Sometimes I also say, “I appreciate how brave you were to try, but that’s not quite what
I’m looking for.” This is an area I still need some work in to continue correcting wrong
habits.
6. Avoid Questions answered by a Yes or No.
The “fist to five” method is great for this, and I do use it often. However, sometimes if
I’m lecturing and want to make sure students understood whatever I was talking about I’ll
find myself just asking “Does that make sense?” I know this is not an effective
questioning method and am trying to get away from using that question and replace it
with “fist to five” or other similar ones.
7. Use Probes to Extend Initial Answers.
This is an area I’m growing in. I feel that I could have done more in this area during the
lecture part of our class, but when it came to the answers written on the board I did well
at using probes to challenge them to think more deeply, and that led us into other
valuable discussions.
8. Avoid Tugging, Guessing, and Leading Questions.
I definitely ask leading questions if it’s been quiet for a while and no one has volunteered
any answers for the initial question or asked or if I sense they didn’t understand how I
asked the first time so I try to reword the question in a way that leads them straight to the
answer. This is a point I have to do quite a bit of work on.
9. Avoid Asking Students What They Think They Know.
I have to work on this one. I don’t necessarily ask them what they think they know, but I
absolutely do tend to ask “do you understand what I’m saying” or “does that make sense”
which can set students up for embarrassment or not responding truthfully.
10. Ask Questions in An Appropriate Sequence.
This is getting better for me the longer I’m teaching the same content. If I’m more
familiar with the content and what’s ahead then it seems easier for me to ask questions in
the right sequence and scaffold the level of difficulty of the questions. I will continue to
work on this one as I become more proficient in this specific science.