Questions Teachers Ask When They Are Not "Playing Teacher"

• In Event: 79.050 - MTCC Roundtable Session 36
  In Roundtable Session: 79.050-5 - Reading, Writing, and Reflecting: Teacher Experiences in English Language Arts

Abstract

Taking advantage of a rehearsal setting (Lampert, et al., 2013) in which teachers played both the role of teacher facilitators of literary discussion and of students engaged in those discussions, we asked: In a rehearsal of literary discussion, what kinds of questions do teachers ask when they are “playing teacher” as opposed to “playing student”? Findings indicate that participants ask different types of questions when playing the role of teacher and student in rehearsal and that student question types lead to productive and collaborative sense-making. Given the death of authentic teacher questioning in classroom discussion (e.g., Nystrand, Wu, Gamoran, Zeiser, & Long, 2003), findings imply that drawing on a “student” or initial reading stance may result in fruitful questions.

Authors

• Mary Hauser, Stanford University

• Sarah Levine, Stanford University