Observing Teachers Use of Questions and Wait-Time DATA SHEET

DIRECTIONS: Using the chart below, identify 20 questions that the teacher asks in the classroom
(questions do not have to be written). Write a 2-page reflection (double spaced) on your findings and
attach the data.

NOTE: If you are not interning in a classroom that incorporates teacher questioning, make arrangements
to observe another classroom for this assignment. If your teacher (do not state teachers names) does not
ask 20 questions in a day, plan to observe more than one day.

GUIDELINES: Use the key on the second page as a guide for how to code each of the columns. I
suggest printing the key out to use while you gather the data. For example, in the first question the teacher
asks, write (shorthand is fine) the question, then under column A code the appropriate level of question
that the teacher asked. (i.e. a knowledge question would be coded with the number 1, an application
question 3, and so on). Then code in column B for question 1 the appropriate wait-time code. Follow the
same procedure for columns C and D, and repeat the procedure for each question.

Question A B C D
Cognitive Amount of Difficulty Teacher
Level Wait Time of Response
Question to Student
Example Q1 3 2 2 3
1. Can you retell the story? 1 1 2 3
2. What was the problem? 1 1 1 1
3. How do you think the problem will be 3 1 1 2
solved?
4. Why do you think that happened? 5 1 2 1
5. Do you think maybe it wont get 5 1 2 3
solved?
6. What is an example? 4 2 1 3
7. What is another example? 4 2 1 1
8. What is that considered? 2 1 2 1
9. Is it a positive or negative? 2 4 1 3
10. How did that part make you feel? 6 2 2 1
11. How will the book end? 5 4 1 3
12. Well what happened at the 1 1 1 1
beginning?
13. Does the beginning affect the middle? 4 2 2 1
14. Is there one right answer? 3 4 1 3
15. What an example of why that is right? 4 1 1 3
16. Does that tie to now? 1 1 2 1
17. Does everyone agree with that? 1 4 1 3
18. Can someone else explain why he or 4 2 1 3
she thinks that?
19. What your opinion on the main 6 1 2 1
character now that hes grown some?
20. If you were that Auggie what would 3 2 1 1
you do?

Reflection:
Blooms Cognitive Level:

From these twenty question that Mrs. Fewell asked her students she used a wide variety

of understanding. The whole lesson that I collected my data on was when they were reflecting

and inferring the book Wonder. Their main purpose of the discussion was the talk about the

beginning of the book and the problems that have arose through out the chapters along with how

they thought problems would be solved. The teacher made sure to not ask any question that could

answer with yes and no. But instead asked higher order thinking questions that had student

demonstrate their understanding of what was occurring in the book and the relationship that were

being formed. You could tell that the teacher really wants the students to make their own

connections and evaluations of all part of the book.

Wait Time:

My mentor teacher used a few different types of wait time. Something that I realized was

that it really defended on the student in which she was addressing. So she would pull a stick and

then ask her question. For some students she would ask her question and they would answer right

away. Where other students she would ask and then she would wait and if they didnt say

anything she would probe them. In some scenarios if would develop into a conversation. This

meaning that she would ask a question the student would answer and right away she would ask

another. However, Most of her students didnt seem to need much wait time because they were

confident in their answer.

Level of Difficulty:
 For the most part I would say that her questions were not easy to answer. She really

wanted to understand how these kids felt about this book. If they choose not to answer right

away she would probe them until they thought about something to say. She never left a question

unanswered. Sometimes she would even tie one students answer to another student to see if they

agree or disagree in order to get a discussion going. I think that she maybe asked on yes or no

question, even after the student asked she asked them to expand on why they felt that way so it

wasnt left at a one word answer. I really liked how she did that and how she wanted them to get

their wheels turning.

Teacher Response:

One of my favorite things about my mentor teacher is that she was super good about giving

detailed feedback and connecting with her students. So if a students answered something that

was opinion based she would say something along the lines of yes, Emily that such a great

connection you made and I bet you will make more connections and we wrap up the last 5

chapters of the book. If the answered were evidence based she would tell the class lets turn to

the page __ where we see that that event is occurring. Sometimes she would even re read the

passage so that other students could make their connections if they were having a hard time with

it. Sometimes she would give a short response such as good thinking or lets dig deeper but

over all it was long feedback. I would say that 99% of her feedback was positive and appropriate

to help foster the learning.

Personal Reflection:
Doing this question data collection was super interesting to me. Prior to this assignment I had not

paid close attention to how teachers would respond to student answers. I also thought it was good

to be aware of the wait time and how to scaffold that. I do think it is important to have an

understanding of the students need and having them get to higher order thinking questions over a

period of time. I felt like this was very important because even my mentor teacher asked me what

I was working on and when I showed her she asked me to give her a copy of my data so that she

could use it grow her own questioning. Questioning can be a hard area to master and there is

always room for improvement. However conducting this analysis of the data really made me see

how a teacher of 20 years does this and how I can shape my questioning to benefit the same way

hers does.
Observing Teachers Use of Questions and Wait-Time CODING KEY

Column A - Blooms Cognitive Levels of Questions: Examples:

1. Knowledge Can the students recall what they have

seen, hear, or read?
2. Comprehension Can the student organize facts in various
ways?
3. Application Can the student apply techniques and rules
to solve problems that have single correct
answers?
4. Analysis Can the student explain relationships, make
inferences, and find examples to support
generalizations?
5. Synthesis Can the student make predictions, solve
problems, or produce original
communications?
6. Evaluation Can the student give opinions about issues
and judge the merit of ideas, problem
solutions, art, and other products?

Column B Wait-time
1. Teacher paused for a few seconds before calling on student.
2. Teacher paused a few seconds after calling on student.
3. Teacher did not pause.
4. Not applicable; student answered readily.

Column C Level of Difficulty of Question

1. Student response was accepted by teacher.
2. Response was not accepted by teacher

Column D Teacher response to students answers

1. Teacher gave a brief acknowledgement of correct answer.
2. Teacher gave gushy praise.
3. Student error was dignified
4. Student error was handled inappropriately.
 Observing Teachers Use of Questions and Wait-Time EXAMPLE REFLECTION

Blooms Cognitive Levels

Example #1: The majority of these twenty questions only made the students use their lower-level
critical thinking skills. The questions were mainly focused on knowledge and if the student was
able to remember what was taught, discussed, or previously learned from another day. However
some of the questions did require them to use other critical thinking skills such as:
comprehension, application, and analysis. I was surprised that the teacher did not ask the
students questions that required them to use evaluations skills.

Example #2: I saw a definite pattern in the teachers pattern of instruction. He tends to ask a lot
of questions requiring that the students think back to what they have learned in the past, so as to
memorize it, and put it in to long-term memory. He asks very little higher-level thinking skills
where a student would have to take what they know and put it into a different context or make
predictions about what they think will happen. His main questions asked were recalling
information that the students should already know, and how to apply skills such as technological
or math to reach the desired outcome.

Wait Time

Example #1: On wait-times there were more of mixed results. However, for the majority of the
time the teacher would ask a question, call on a student, and then pause for them to answer.
Unfortunately, because most of the questions that were asked were only requiring them to use
very low-level thinking skills, a lot of the time students were able to just answer the questions
immediately without even having to stop and think about it.

Example #2: On many occasions the teacher will give a few seconds of wait time before he calls
on a student to answer. Sometimes he calls on the student first, asks the question, and then will
give them a brief pause before requiring them to answer. On a few occasions the student will
orally volunteer the answer without being called on. Only one time did I see the teacher call on a
student and require the answer right away; this was because the student was not paying attention,
and the teacher was illustrating that because he was not listening he did not know what the rest of
the class was talking about and gave an incorrect answer. This was also one of the few occasions
that the teacher did not let the student correct his error, and called on someone else. The teacher
was very good at accepting any answer if it made sense and was not a question that only had one
specific answer. Only during math did he not accept answers, but he always allowed the student
to think again, look over the work that they had done, and try again.

Level of Difficulty

Example #1: The majority of the time the students answers were accepted by the teacher. There
were only two times where the teacher did not accept the students answers, simply because they
were yes and no types of questions, and they answered them wrong. Again, I think this also
goes back to the fact that the majority of the questions asked did not require the students to
higher-level thinking skills.

Example #2: The teacher briefly acknowledged his students when their performance was
successful by replying with a Good job or Thats correct. Only on one occasion did I see him
give more praise than that, and that was because it was one of his lower-achieving students who
solved a fairly complex math problem. He praised this student by telling him That is excellent
work. You followed the right steps and came to the right answer because of it. Only a few times
were the answers not accepted, and except for the one student not paying attention, everyone else
got a second chance. I never once witnessed the teacher handling the error in an inappropriate
fashion.

Teachers Response

The majority of the time the teacher gave the students a brief acknowledgement that they did
indeed answer the question correctly. Sometimes this was done with just a nod of the head, or a
simple verbal acknowledgement like, That is correct, or Very good! The times that a
question was not answered correctly, the teacher did not make an issue out of it. The teacher
would either give the student a hint or clue to lead them to the correct answer, or would just tell
them what the correct answer actually is.

Personal Reflection

Example #1: I was really surprised at the results that I got from just these twenty questions. I
really expected them to be a lot better because these students are so very bright, and I really
admire and respect my mentor teacher. This assignment really opened my eyes to help me see
that we as teachers really need to watch how we ask a question, and how we word a question.
Most of all I think that we really need hold ourselves accountable by keeping a log of cognitive
level of questioning that we are using in our classroom; that way we become more aware of the
kind of questions that we are asking our students.

Example #2: This activity and observation helped provide me with the knowledge of how
important it is for teachers to phrase questions so that they probe students to think about and
recall information. I also learned that when teachers ask questions, you need to give the students
a few seconds to think about the question and formulate an answer. I also learned that if the
students do not respond, teachers should either rephrase the question or move on to another
question. Teachers can also call upon a student. This observation also showed how important it is
for teachers to provide the students with some form of feedback. They need to know that teachers
acknowledge their responses whether right or wrong.