TOPIC #1: QUESTIONS

Focusing Questions

Here are some kinds of questions that a presenter might use to help focus the attention of the other participants on aspects of the student work that s/he is most interested in.

Excerpted from Looking Together at Student Work. (1999).
Blythe, T., Allen, D., & Powell, B. New York: Teachers College Press.
p.10, figure 2.2

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1. About the quality of student work:

• Is the work good enough?

• What is "good enough"?

• In what ways does this work meet or fail to meet a particular set of standards?

2. About teaching practice:

• What do the students' responses indicate about the effectiveness of the prompt or assignment? How might the assignment be improved?

• What kinds of instruction support high quality student performances?

3. About students' understanding:

• What does this work tell us about how well the student understands the topic of the assignment?

• What initial understandings do we see beginning to emerge in this work?

4. About students' growth:

• How does this range of work from a single student demonstrate growth over time?

• How can I support student growth more effectively?

5. About students' intent:

• What issues or questions is this student focused on?

• What aspects of the assignment intrigued this student?

• Into which parts of the assignment did the student put the most effort?

• To what extent is the student challenging herself? In what ways?