Alternate Questioning Strategy

So, I had the opportunity to teach the literature unit this week. Instead of teaching the previously planned book, Alabama Moon, I decided to teach a short story entitled "Jell-O." My task was to teach plot structure. This included five major parts: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. With so much to cover in a week, I wanted to make sure that I devoted enough time to each plot structure before I employed the use of an alternate questioning strategy. Although I don't use cold-calling, I have been calling on the students who don't normally participate. I think I called on every student in the class during my lesson on Resolution on Thursday. I was happy with myself because I found a way to get everyone involved and still cover the material thoroughly. I decided earlier in the week that I wanted to use the "Muddiest Part of the Lesson" technique. Using this technique at the end of the unit would be good for both me and the students. This technique is good because students have to write down whatever was not clear for them in the past week on an index card. Immediate feedback is good for the students because it makes them feel like I care about their feelings and am willing to make changes so that the next lesson I teach can be better. Immediate feedback is good for me because I am so new at teaching that implementing recommendations from students so early in my training will make me more perceptive and sensitive to their particular needs as a series of lessons goes on. 

That being said, I did not get the response I was hoping for. Some of the students wrote down a few things, but the overall response was that everything was clear. Now, I could take this in two completely different ways. I could say, "DK is a ridiculously effective teacher already, and he has it figured out!" Probably not the case though. I think the students really wanted to just move on to the Jeopardy review game for the day. Despite the message from me that their suggestions would help me make sure that I am tailoring my lessons towards their needs, they simply put that everything was clear. It did make me feel good to see some students put that "everything was great." It made the time and effort put into lesson plans seem worthwhile because they really understood the information and enjoyed the periods that I taught this week. I think the best way to take this lack of information is this way: "DK needs to build a better rapport with the students so they feel very comfortable letting him know when they don't understand or want something to be done differently." If I look at it through this lens, then I can continue on the journey to build a strong bond with the kids. This perspective will keep me humbled and focused on what the kids get out of this experience. I will employ the use of the alternate questioning strategy again this summer. Hopefully, I'll have more of a response from the students, which will mean that I have found a way to make them more comfortable with me.

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