Who’s Doing the Intellectual Work?
Because I visit classrooms often, I can focus on different things each time, hoping to better understand the needs of the students and teachers I serve. Often, I go in with a simple question, such as, Who is doing the intellectual work?
While I value teachers’ thinking, I don’t want to see them doing all the thinking and students idly standing by, perhaps answering a random question or two. Classrooms where students do the intellectual work have structures in place to make this so. For example, when a teacher uses a method to randomly choose a child to answer a question, all students need to be on their toes because they don’t know when they will be called upon. Writing students names on Popsicle sticks and pulling out a random stick after a question is asked is a low-tech method for randomizing student responses while there are many online random student generators that can be used as well.
Teachers can also employ both low-tech and higher-tech methods to have all students answer the question at once, rather than calling on an individual at a time. Students could write responses on individual white boards to share concurrently or they could type their answer into a program, such as Kahoot!
When reading articles in class, there are lesson structures that can be used to actively involve every student. A favorite of mine is a reciprocal questioning method sometimes referred to as “ReQuest,” or “reciprocal questioning.” ReQuest requires that students interact with text while building their skills to generate good questions about their reading. Teachers can also help students understand the difference between simple, informational questions and questions that require analysis or evaluation. What I love most about this structure is its simplicity; there’s little prep work (teachers work hard enough!).
There are many versions of ReQuest but I’ll share a version that worked well for me. At the start of the lesson, it’s important for teachers to explain to students all the steps of ReQuest because the students who are more reticent to answer questions will quickly realize that it’s to their advantage to volunteer questions during the first part of the process. Here’s how it works:
Both the students and the teacher silently read the same portion of the text. The length of this portion varies by age and with text density but generally, 2-3 paragraphs at a stretch is sufficient. After everyone has read the passage, students have an opportunity to ask questions about the reading. These questions may be questions the student has about the reading or questions that are designed to “stump” the teacher.” Because they can be either, students are less afraid to expose their lack of understanding through their questions.
The teacher then responds to each student question, being transparent about the thought-process employed. Additionally, reporting on whether or not the question is a simple recall or a question requiring analysis, is beneficial. I’ve seen some descriptions of ReQuest suggesting that the teacher should model to students how to refer back to the text, but I’ve always kept the book closed. Students love to try to stump me! After 3-5 questions, the teacher can then ask students to close their books and reverse roles. As the teacher questions the students about the same text, the teacher should also refrain from calling on students who volunteered questions in the first part. This gives students an incentive to participate. It’s best if the teacher’s questions dive deeper into the content of the text, both to model to the student the development of higher order questioning and to build their comprehension of the contents.
On completion of the round of questioning, the students and teacher then proceed to the next segment of the text and repeat the round. There could be multiple rounds within a lesson. It’s often suggested that the closing include asking students to predict the contents of the rest of the chapter or section though I have found this to be impractical for nonfiction reading, which I think works well under this structure.
I’ve kept only one text from the courses I took leading to teacher certification. My instructor for the course instilled in me a belief that every teacher (I was a chemistry teacher) is a teacher of reading and writing. Manzo and Manzo’s Content Area Reading (1990) includes ReQuest, along with several other reading strategies and lesson structures that have withstood the test of time and that made me put more of the intellectual work on the capable shoulders of my students.
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