Do you have any questions? by Anette

Well, I found this is exactly the question that produces no questions or the answer ‘no’. While running the CTS course in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan we were discussing this problem. We could see that the participants had quite a few questions but would just not raise them when we offered them the chance to share.

Why are questions so important on our training courses?

….because all learners need time to explore new ideas.

…because we encourage teachers to take responsibility for their own learning. How can teachers encourage their pupils to be more autonomous if they themselves are not autonomous learners? 

…because this is where we can see how participants are interpreting the input or trying to apply it to their situation. “How can I do that when the students aren’t motivated?” or “Why shouldn’t we read the texts out loud if the students want it?” questions let us know what the participants’ needs are.

... because often if we raise the question and let it hang around for a while, they will find answers themselves in the following days.

…because it shows they are beginning to hold up a mirror and look at their own practice, the start of ‘reflective practice’. 

…because one of our main aims on CTS is to help teachers become more reflective. Reflective teachers don’t just imitate, they think through their own situation and adapt or innovate. They think about ‘how’ and ‘why’. You can read more about this in this ASCD article ‘Fostering Reflection’. 

If you don't believe us, maybe you'll believe Voltaire? 

• "Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers."  Voltaire  
• 
  

Question poster activity

This is how the question poster came to life, a very simple idea which worked well and hopefully will find its way also into the teachers’ classrooms. I put up a piece of paper on the wall (at least A2 sized, I used paper for the flip chart), handed out post-it notes, or just left them on my desk so that participants could take them when needed. On the poster I wrote ‘Questions ?’ and then we started the first brainstorming of questions. I asked all of them to let the last couple of days, all the input sessions, the micro-teaching, pass in font of their inner eye and then come up with a question about any what they had learnt or experienced during the last days.

This set up seemed to work quite well, as we had at least 15 questions on the poster after this. The next point was to find time to answer these questions. So we set aside some time in the afternoon to try and answer at least a couple each day. Of course, as soon as you start with activities like this more questions come up. 

One way to use the questions is to group them according to the topic of the input sessions, Agi did (see image below). These are participants' questions related to motivation that she thought they would be able to answer or at least start to answer after the 'Motivation' session. 

Towards the end of the course we had time to set a whole 90-minute session aside to give us ample time to discuss the questions and find solutions for some problems. Again, we wanted to show at the same time how to set up a session like this so that all are involved in finding answers and not just a few people or the teacher only, as this should be a very communicative and student-centred approach. So we tried different mingle activities or ‘four corners’ and the result was great as everybody was involved and some very interesting discussions started. 

When reflecting on the session it became clear that this should be an integral part of the course, as it gives time to answer course participants’ question plus share experience and ideas. 


Other suggestions to try out

If your participants need help coming up with questions, a list like the one on this wiki might helps them. Here are other questions to help teachers reflect. 

At the end of a session, have them finish the sentence, "Now that I have studied ...., I wonder...." on a post-it note and add it to the question wall. 

Another activity to promote questioning is when the trainer writes a statement on a piece of flip chart paper and gets teachers to brainstorm. Sentences like: 'Teachers shouldn't use the students' mother tongue in class' would work well. 

From a trainer’s perspective

There are times to work in ‘hierarchical mode’, i.e. when the trainer should make sense of what is going on, interpreting for the group. 

There are times to work in a ‘cooperative mode’. This means inviting the participants to give their ideas. The trainer throws in ideas, too, but they are not more important than what the teachers say. This can be hard in cultures which are more hierarchical because anything the ‘teacher’ says is seen as ‘the right answer’.  

There are times to work in ‘autonomous mode’. The trainer hands over responsibility for interpretation/ feedback / discussion to the participants. 

The trick is to move between these three modes appropriately since each has advantages and disadvantages, see link to Heron’s work, below. (For more on these three modes, see pages 20-22.)

Finally….

If you are a trainer, we hope you will find dynamic ways of working with participants’ questions. Anette’s ‘Question poster activity’ worked really well. 

If you are a Head of English reading this, we hope you will follow some of the links to learn more about reflective practice. 

Please post feedback in the comments and share your favorite ways of working with participant questions on a CPD (Continuous Professional Development) course.

Further Reading

For more information about reflective learning download this .pdf. 

Or access the materials on this wiki: 

Trainers may find this archive of articles about experiential learning useful. 

(Download the Complete Facilitator’s Handbook, Heron, 1999, p. 20-22.  ).