Coaching conversation

Coach: If you begin with a really open-ended question like, “So, what are we learning here? What is the author telling us about this war?,” the kids have to start to talk about the war. They have to make some claims about it.

Johnson: I got more into those questions after the first chapter. “What was he thinking when that happened? How does this new information affect Salva?” I think those are more the open ones that you’re thinking about.

Coach: Sometimes, when we’re asking a question, we’re actually inserting some of the answer in our question, like how does such and such affect Salva? If we do that, we’re actually alerting them to the fact that something affected Salva. If we just say, “What are we learning here?” or “What’s happening here?” or “What new information is the author telling us?,” then they have to come up with the fact that something has affected Salva. The students might not have realized that, and that’s information for us as teachers that something just went right over their heads. We’re learning that something we thought was going to be really easy for them to digest is not.

Johnson: I see a pattern here. The online workshop facilitator talked about the same thing. We’re so used to asking what we believe is open-ended, because to me open-ended is where they have to give you information, not just a yes/no. But you’re asking for them to really delve into what’s going on. I guess I’m looking for more concrete information.

Coach: You want that concrete information to come from the kids.

Johnson: I want them to think more rigorously or get into it but I also want to make sure that they understand the fundamental things that are going on that they may not.