Today's Question

How do I create a daily guiding question for my students, and why should I consider doing it?

One of the things we know we are “supposed” to do as teachers is to post our learning objectives on the board. Maybe we are doing it because our principal told us to. Perhaps we are hoping our students will read them and have a more secure grasp on what they are supposed to get from the day’s lesson. Or it’s just something we do without thinking; at the beginning of the unit we create a poster or reserve a spot on the board where we dutifully copy a bunch of educational jargon so that it’ll be there if anyone chooses to look at it.

The problem with learning objectives is that they’re often written for teachers, not for students.

How can I expect students to use a statement like this (one of many I could have pulled from the English I TEKS) to guide their learning when I don’t even want to read it myself?

“Students understand, make inferences and draw conclusions about the structure and elements of fiction and provide evidence from text to support their understanding. Students are expected to analyze how authors develop complex yet believable characters in works of fiction through a range of literary devices, including character foils.”

Not only is it so wordy that I’d get a hand cramp writing that on the board with dry-erase markers, but it also makes it sound as if the student is about to have to sit through the most tedious lesson imaginable, right?

Sometimes we take a giant Essential Question for an entire unit (like this) and post it on the board:  

“What deliberate decisions do authors make as they write to influence their readers?”

Sure, this is the big idea we want our students to ponder throughout the unit, but it’s unlikely they’ll be exploring that in depth every day while they should be having learning experiences that lead them to the eventual answer to that question. I think it’s a great idea to have the Essential Questions posted somewhere in the room so you can refer to them and the students can continue to ponder them, but I think they’re not the best way to help students focus on what they’re supposed to be taking away from any particular class period.

What I always found to be most helpful for me and my students was to compose a separate question for each day’s lesson. Sometimes, I’d create my question first to help focus my planning and preparation. Other times, when I already had an idea of what I was intending to do that day, I’d write the question at the end of planning in an effort to tie everything together and make sure my lesson made cohesive sense.

My guiding goal for making the question was to make sure the question was in student-friendly language and was something the students should be able to answer at the end of the class period:

What is a dramatic foil, and why does Shakespeare create them?

That’s the question I’d create for that unwieldy learning objective I shared with you earlier. Here are some other samples so you can get the gist:

What are the characteristics that reappear in Romantic art?

What were the main causes that led up to World War I?

How do I use percentages to determine what I will pay for an item on sale?

How is meiosis similar to and different from mitosis?

How can using poetic devices spice up my writing?

Once you get a little practice, you’ll find that writing these questions is easy and fairly painless. Once you start using them on a daily basis, you’ll see their benefits:

1. You’ll have a better idea of what your goal is during the lesson. Consequently, your lessons will be more focused and will have renewed purpose and direction.
2. Your students will know what they’re supposed to learn during your class. It’s important, of course, that you pause at the beginning of class to alert your students to the question and to let them know that they should be able to answer that question at the end of the period. If you’re feeling really crazy, you can have your students write down the question at the top of their notes or in a notebook. Then, when it comes time to study for the test, they’ll have a clear reminder of what they were supposed to have learned during the unit.
3. You can use the question at the end of the class to check for understanding. Try using the question as the prompt for an exit card. You can collect them at the door as students leave and, after flipping through them, you will have a clear picture of how well the class as a whole and particular students mastered the day’s objective. Then you’ll know what kind of reteaching, if any, is necessary.
4. Your students can use the question as a self-test to measure their own understanding of the lesson. This will give them a better idea of where and when they need to seek further help.

Your daily guiding question was the first sentence of this article. Look back at it and see if you can answer it now. If not, let me know, and I’ll be happy to help.