1. the Changes That I Noticed for Teacher Talk, Was That the Overall Percentage Was Somewhat

Part I

1. The changes that I noticed for teacher talk, was that the overall percentage was somewhat lower while the percentage for student talk increased during the second discussion. As for the types of teacher questions, the majority during the first discussion was mostly the Retrieve and Relate types which did not require as much student thought. These numbers were reversed during the second discussion in that the majority of the questions required the students to do more thinking. There was a vast difference in the types of teacher responses as well. In the first discussion, the majority of my responses were Collect, but, during the second discussion, there was a noticeable improvement in the probing questions in order to elicit more student thought and explanation. The main consistency that I noticed was that even though the overall percentage of teacher talk did decrease slightly, it did not decrease much which means that I’m still doing the majority of the talking, nearly a two to one ratio, compared to the amount that the students talked.

2a. I believe that the text that I used for the first discussion, “Hurricanes,” required more background knowledge than the students possessed. I had assumed, incorrectly, that since the students had studied about weather and hurricanes, then they would know more about the subject and thus contribute more to the discussion. However, the majority of the “discussion” focused on building background. Bear Dogs, which was used during the second discussion, did not require as much background knowledge. Most students at my school are familiar with dogs and wild animals, so they didn’t struggle as much with the concepts that were introduced. The result was that they could concentrate more on the meanings and connections that were located within the text.

2b. When a teacher begins to select a text for a QtA discussion, she needs to first read it to determine if there are enough instances where students have to make predictions, inferences, connections, etc. A text which is only fact based lends itself towards retrieve questions which do not expand the students’ thought processes when they read. I believe that this was the mistake that I made during the first discussion text. There were many facts throughout the story which required the students to have a sufficient amount of background knowledge to understand. However, the students did not have that knowledge, so the majority of the “discussion” consisted of me explaining and attempting to provide this knowledge. However, all students are familiar with dogs and their reactions to other types of animals, so I did not have to spend as much time building background. As a result, we were able to concentrate more on constructing meaning. 3a. When I went back to look at the first discussion’s text segments, I noticed that they were varied in length. Some segments consisted of three paragraphs while others were a paragraph long. Also, all of the segments concluded neatly at the end of a paragraph, never in the middle, and they were longer than a sentence.

3b. Upon examining the second discussion’s text segments, I noticed that their lengths still varied; however, there were times where we would pause in the middle of a paragraph or sentence. I also had some segments which were only a sentence long.

3c. Segmenting text for discussion is a fine art. A teacher has to look for places where the text is not clear or where an inference or a connection to other information can be made. In order to do this, a teacher has to read the text several times through her students’ eyes so that she can craft questions to meet the above requirements. These places could occur within the middle of a sentence or paragraph or at the end. What is important is that the teacher recognizes these stops and craft questions which promote student thought.

4a. The majority of the questions I asked during the first discussion were Retrieve with Relate being a close second. When I went back to analyze the first transcription, I realized that these questions evoked a one word or phrase response from the students which never took up more than one line. What this tells me is that my students played a passive role in the discussion which required little thinking or effort for their part while I was the one who did all the work, thinking, and talking.

4b. There was a sizable decrease in the number of Retrieve and Relate questions in the second discussion which, in turn, caused the amount of various types of Thinking questions to increase. The most notable increase was in the evaluation questions which rose from zero to 21%. Because the questions required that the students think more, their responses became longer and had more depth and insight to them. For example, instead of saying that the bears broke into a house to get food, a student commented that they broke into the house because they were hungry. There was no direct mention of this in the text but yet the student connected the ideas that the bears broke in and then ate an entire 50 pound bag of dog food. 4c. I have learned that questions need to be crafted so that they are engaging and thought provoking. In order for students to truly understand what they read, they have to see how pieces of information in a text connect together in order to build meaning. Since students typically are not used to posing and answering questions on their own as they read, it is the teacher’s job to fill in the gaps with various thinking questions so that students will eventually begin to ask these types of questions on their own as they read.

5a. The majority of my responses during the first discussion were just repeating what the student had said so that the others could hear. This is because I feel like many of my students do not speak loudly enough so that everyone can hear what has been said. I did mix my responses a little though by throwing in some affirmations of their responses and a Probing question or two.

5b. During the second discussion, I made a conscious effort to stop being like a parrot who repeats everything that was said. Consequently, the majority of responses I gave were to ask students to clarify their statements or by asking for more information (Probing). By doing this, students had the opportunity to reflect more on what’s been said so that they can offer insight into the discussion.

5c. I believe that responding to student comments is the toughest part of QtA. The teacher has to intently listen to what the student is saying so that she can ask for more information or clarification of ideas. I believe that the way a teacher responds really helps students to focus in on the meaning of the text as well as their own thought processes. For example, if a teacher is just repeating an answer or affirming that an answer was given, then the only learning that has occurred is that the students know they can say an answer. On the other hand, if a teacher asks “Why do you say that?” or “What else can you add to the statement?” then students begin to think about and explain their own thought processes more which, in turn, helps them to improve their reading abilities. 6. I think that I need to continue to work on reducing the percentage of time that I talk in a discussion. One explanation for why I talk so much is that whenever the students do not seem to understand the question or I’ve waited for a response for an unbearably long time, I panic. When this happens, I just begin to fire off questions, trying to reword them, in the hopes that one will register with someone so that they’ll be able to respond. Also, I sometimes feel a need to explain everything because I’m afraid my ESL students do not understand. It’s difficult for me to even think about giving up some control of the discussion, but I know that is what I need to do. There is probably at least one person in each group of students who understands the question I’m asking or they possess background knowledge of a concept which they could share. The key would be to locate this silent person and encourage them to make their thoughts known because most students learn the best from other students, with teacher guidance, anyway. This guidance comes in the form of thinking types of questions and probing responses which are crafted by the teacher in order to provide the framework for students to help each other construct understanding. Part II

1. The purpose of QtA is to build students’ reading comprehension so that they can become more proficient readers by externalizing and voicing the thinking process, which should occur unconsciously, while reading. OtA works by the teacher carefully planning a discussion around a given text. This planning includes reading a text several times from an expert’s and student’s point of view so that specific learning goals can be set and various types of thinking questions created. These questions help students to connect ideas in different ways so that they can make better sense of ideas presented in the text. Once this planning is complete, the students participate in the discussion by sitting in a circle so that all can see and help each other. The overall goal of QtA is for students to be the ones who do the majority of talking during the discussion so that they can learn more about the internal thinking processes together. This is accomplished with the questions created by the teacher beforehand as well as her encouraging students to explain their answers more or offering for others to respond to another student’s comments. An important characteristic of a QtA discussion is that the teacher carefully plans each learning goal and questions to ask. Also it is more student-centered with the teacher guiding the discussion with questions and responses, but the students are to be the ones who converse the most about the text in order to begin scaffolding their ability to internalize the thinking processes that proficient readers use.

2. I believe that my understanding of QtA has become more refined and precise. My previous responses seemed to be too broad. Instead of just saying that QtA assist students in gaining a greater understanding, I can explain how this understanding is achieved. I also understand that there is just so much more to QtA than reading a text, the teacher posing a question, and the students discussing their answers. The whole process is just so much more intricate than I previously believed. There is much dissection of text and planning of goals and questions which occurs before the discussion in order to make it a successful learning activity. I also realize that it is going to take practice for myself and my students before we are comfortable using this method. Right now, my students are timid about speaking up with their responses or reluctant about explaining their thoughts unless I specifically ask them to do so. However, I think with more exposure to QtA, the students will become more comfortable in expressing their ideas.

3. For the resources, I ranked the sample planning guides high because I was able to see examples of questions that someone would use with a text. For me, if I have something to go by, then I’m able to understand more. The code book was an indispensable tool for coding our transcripts. I referred to it constantly while coding especially when I wasn’t sure what category a question or response would fit into. The next three were hard to rank. I thought that the packet was easier to understand than the book which, at times, seemed to be confusing and wordy. The video clips were useful in seeing how a QtA discussion was conducted in a classroom setting, but it didn’t contribute to my overall understanding. I believe that the code book would be even more useful if a greater variety of question and response examples were included. There were times when I wasn’t quite sure what category to put a question into. For example, one of my questions was written as a Think/Explain question, yet I believe that it could have also been categorized as a Think/Infer question, but I wasn’t sure. The activities were difficult to rate because most were extremely useful. There was no question about which activity was to be ranked the highest – analyzing our own transcripts. This was an eye opening process in which the stark reality of who really talks in a discussion was shown. Just like the sample planning guides, being able to participate in a QtA discussion helps one to understand how to respond to comments made or how to actually ask questions. Being able to consult with you about our second discussion was a valuable tool as well. It’s reassuring to know that if we were unsure about questions, all we had to do was ask for help. The class discussions were somewhat helpful to clear up misunderstandings or to add additional information. The least useful activity was partner planning because the person you were planning with had not read your book; therefore, she wasn’t able to give much assistance. To improve on the partner planning, and idea would be to have these two people use the same book for a discussion so that they can bounce ideas off one another.

4. I would respond in the following manner:

What you said about QtA just scratches the surface of the program because there’s so much more to it. Yes, you have to read the text, but it must be done several times so that you are able to see it through a teacher’s eyes and a student’s eyes. This is so that you can locate potential places where your students may be confused and design questions or introduce research you’ve completed in order to help clear up the confusion. Before you even begin writing questions, you must figure out what goals you want your students to understand by the end of the discussion. Once your goals are established, it is time for you to begin creating text segments and discussion questions; however, not every segment is appropriate for those two questions you said. There are so many different possibilities though! You could ask a framing question about setting, mood, or character traits, or you could ask some inference or prediction questions. Another possibility would be connection questions which require students to think back to what they’ve read and figure out how all the pieces fit together in order to create a greater understanding of the text. However, a teacher just can’t ask a question and her part is over with. You have to really pay attention and listen to what the students are saying so that you can offer the appropriate response. This could range anywhere between asking the students for more information about their statement to having other students respond to what one student just said. As you can see, there’s much more to QtA than originally meets the eye. If you’d like to, come down to my classroom so that I can show you the stories I’ve made QtA questions for. That way, you can get a better idea of how much time is put into planning a QtA lesson.

5. Think/Frame questions help the student to bring many different pieces of information together so that they can synthesize these parts into one idea. Also with these types of questions, teachers can ask about literary devices located within a story. Think/Frame questions are important because sometimes authors introduce so many different pieces of information that it gets all jumbled in the students’ minds. By having the students sort out the information, they can have a greater understanding of what the author is trying to say. Also, we have to meet the state requirements of teaching various literary devices. Using Think/Frame questions can help us to do this because students can assist each other in figuring out a particular literary device or how it affects the overall story. For example, when I taught “After 20 Years” by O’Henry, irony was a literary device that I wanted my students to be able to identify. As a result, I tailored some Think/Frame questions to assist in the students’ understanding.

6. Goals are an important part of the planning process because, without them, your discussion would have no focus and your students would not have any better understanding of what was read. Therefore, it is with these goals in mind that you craft the discussion questions. When I was planning my second discussion, I had the goals constantly within my eyesight so that I could make sure that my questions aided in accomplishing my goals.

7. I would say that the greatest change, in my opinion, about discussions is that they require more thought and preparation than I am used to doing. In the past whenever I would plan a discussion around a story, I would use some of the questions provided by the text as well as add some that I created which were usually Retrieve types of questions. Now, as a result of studying QtA, I will take the planning portion of a discussion more seriously so that I will be able to write questions which will assist in creating more proficient readers. Also when creating these questions, I need to make sure that I write ones which will begin to generate more conversation between students. Additionally, I should include some response examples in this planning so that I will be able to respond to my students’ thoughts using a variety of methods but also so students can respond to each others ideas. I intend to begin creating more QtA discussions around text especially nonfiction which seems to be more difficult for students to make connections between ideas. However, I know that it will take time to create these discussions so there won’t be a vast number to begin with, but, over time, I will be able to increase my QtA library.