Observation Sheet – Questioning
Graduate Standards – AITSL
Professional Knowledge:
Professional Practice:
1. Know students and how they learn Professional Practice
2. Plan and implement effective teaching and learning
Question Type
Do you feel your questions
were clearly structured and
readily understood by the
students?
My small group were ESL students that struggle with everyday English
and they suddenly having to complete a PowerPoint presentation. This
assessment is very important, if its not handed in to a satisfactory
standard they will have difficulties passing the subject. I needed to see
what they understood of their rubric/marking key. Once I understand what
they understand I can either go directly with the lesson plan or adapt the
plan as I go. Upon making this first element I can then go onto
understanding their knowledge of referencing.
My students had no idea how to read the rubric, there was too much
writing and they just didn’t know where to start, so they had skimmed
over it and hoped it wasn’t important. I showed them how the rubric is set
out in sections and how you can aim for the different levels and ensure
better marks.
I believe my structure of the small lesson plan was good. I started at the
beginning of the rubric and explained everything clearly and concisely.
Unfortunately my students struggled with the language barrier and it
ended up me explaining a little bit to one of the more confident students
and he then translated what I said to two of the other students. I had
another two students that understood what I was saying and so I
continued on with my lesson plan until we got to the referencing section
on the rubric. At this stage I asked those two students to look through
their PowerPoint presentation and see if they could identify where they
could improve their marks. I then went back to my 3 ESL students and
continued where we had been on my lesson plan.
From all accounts I believe they understood what I was saying and
starting from the beginning and going at their pace was both beneficial
and necessary.
Did you use a variety of
question types?
I did vary my questions and found that I needed students to restate what I
was asking to determine if they understood the question or if I needed to
change the question. I asked a combination of open-ended questions and
closed questions. I asked them questions and also gave them time to
translate the question and then answer it for themselves. Some questions
I asked of individuals and some questions everyone in my group needed
to answer the question.
I looked at my students to ensure I had their attention and also made
What balances was there
between the various questions certain I asked different students questions or waited for students to offer
me the answer. There was much silence but there was also a lot of first
types?
language dialect being used. My student asked if it was ok to translate
what I was saying. Students did ask other questions to clarify or
summarise the information that they had required. Especially since these
students struggle with English it was welcomed by me to hear them
clarifying anything they may not clearly understand. Some students got
out a highlighter and marked their marking key/rubric to ensure they knew
what was required of them to gain maximum marks. They were surprised
how easy a marking guide made it for them. One student exclaimed, “so
all I need to do is explain the four parts required (building and
construction task) and include a picture for maximum marks?”
Consider both why and when
you made use of the different
question types?
For this lesson it would have been very easy to allow the student to keep
translating for me but he will not always be available to help his friends so
I went and sat with the 3 boys and asked if I could work one on one with
them. I wanted to see if I could help them understand all that was
required and I was also hoping I’d be able to hear the students read. I
was trying to see if they struggled with reading, writing and verbal
communication or if one area was stronger than the other. The students
did work one on one with me but it was hard to keep to the lesson time.
After a while I needed to re-join with my small group and we went through
referencing together. This time I did it as a whole group and then went
around one by one to help. Students took notes and in a lesson later in
the week we did two examples on the board in which they all took photos.
Distributing and Directing Questions
Did you recognise any
pattern in the distribution of
your questions amongst the
students? Consider reasons
for this pattern?
I did notice that at the beginning I had only one student giving me eye
contact and was smiling nicely. Once we spoke briefly I understood that
his English was good and that he was prepared to listen to help improve
his marks. I decided instead of each student being behind a computer
desk and computer, that we were better to be around a table or in a
semi-circle. Since we were in a very small computer room and the other
Murdoch pre-service teacher was also conducting the same lesson to the
other half of the students we needed to be in close proximity to ensure
we can hear each other and to contribute to the discussion.
It was hard not to direct all the questions to the student that was
engaging with me but I decided to direct some questions to the students
that were looking anywhere but at me. Their English was broken and I
understood why they struggled to engage with me. I spoke slowly and
clearly and gave them time to think about the answer. I explained that it
wasn’t about who was right or wrong but instead it was about how we
could get maximum marks to ensure they passed the unit.
How have you directed
questions to the group?
I asked a lot of the students, through critical thinking could they
determine the answer or did they need to be led to the answer? Some
questions were easy to answer, while others challenged each of them.
Once they knew I was going to keep asking questions, they seemed to
respond to my instruction. I never complicated the questions and really
wanted to show them that they were in charge of their marks.
Have you used “wait” time?
I needed to use wait time for these students. Sometimes wait time
included some translation and some discussion in their first language.
The students were quiet and respectful of all students during their
exchanges.
Did you make eye contact with
the group as you directed your
questions?
I made eye contact with all students and did wait a few times until all
students recognised I was waiting for their full attention. I could tell from
their body language and facial expression, some students didn’t want to
participate. I had one student that didn’t engage and eventually left the
class after discussion with my mentor teacher.
Reactions to Student’s Responses
How do you deal with correct
responses? Do you qualify
any praise given?
I believe it is important to recognise and encourage the students that
have given the correct answer. It needs to be positive and believable.
So I would say ‘great job’, well done’ and ‘yes, that’s exactly how I would
have answered that question’
How do you deal with
incorrect responses? How
do you deal with students
who stumble and grope for
an answer?
If students struggled to answer the question correctly I avoided negative
language. My students knew they struggled with English and didn’t
enjoy class study time, although loved making house walls and roofs. I
would say to the students, “well done, you are nearly there” or “great try,
can you elaborate more?”. “Would you like to discuss it as a group?”
Do you keep eye contact with
the students until they have
completed an answer? Do you
cut students off and go onto
the next point before they have
finished responding?
Yes I did, It’s important to read students body language and to make
sure they are feeling comfortable while answering the questions. At any
time if they looked uncomfortable I would re-ask the question or try to
change the question to help rephrase the question, hopefully helping with
the student’s understanding. I think it’s essential to allow students the
time to think about the question and time to answer the question.
What use do you make of the
student’s responses to develop
the teaching point? Have you
redirected any questions in
order to add to an initial
response?
I found that I had predicted the student’s level of understanding and their
struggle with the English language so my lesson plan was very thorough
and for that reason I didn’t really go into more detail. I extended the
lesson to include punctuality and why in referencing it’s important to
understand how to duplicate the examples given and why that means
keeping punctuality in the same spots. The students highlighted these
punctuality marks and noted where grammar was used and in what
context. I think in this lesson it is hard to extend the teaching point any
further as the students were struggling with understanding the marking
key and correctly referencing.
Are you the only evaluator of
the student’s answers?
In the lesson I found that it was much different to primary settings and
that students didn’t really show interest in others answers. They often
would offer students the answer before any awkward silences and were
happy to re-explain a point if they thought they could explain it better.
Overall Comments
This lesson went incredible fast and I lacked confidence that all the students understood how
to reference correctly. I do believe they had a solid understanding of why we use a marking
key, how to read it and optimise your marks. I also believe the students understood why we
reference and what the expectation is for setting out references.
Due to rain for our next few lessons we were able to go through their assignment and help
them clearly set out their references. This made me much more confident as they were told
how to reference, shown how to reference and then they were able to practice putting the
references into their assignment. I was then able to go through their references and fine-tune
any students that still required help.
Questioning is a very important part of life and I think the more practice I have the more
confident I will become. It was lovely to work with students that wanted to learn and they were
prepared to work together to understand the marking key/rubric and referencing.