Targeted Questioning 

 

 

 

Conducting action research has been fulfilling in more ways than I can count. Throughout this study, I have grown as an educator and my students have grown more than I could have imagined. Students’ growth became obvious as their scores increased on assessments and reading levels during the study. While incorporating targeted questioning into my guided reading time, students started to take over the conversation. The guided reading time became more of a conversation rather than myself asking questions. Students thought deeper to ask new questions that are built from the targeted question. They became more curious and wondered why characters perform certain acts within the story. This led them to put themselves in the character's shoes to think of why one might do something. Students also started to answer each other's questions by respectfully stating their opinion and why it makes sense to them. This created a more enjoyable atmosphere during guided reading and allowed students to think deeper and become more creative. The biggest development I saw in them was their ability to go beyond the text. They have shown more willingness to speak up during guided reading and whole group discussion. Students became more confident in their answers and willingness to ask for help from peers during discussions and independent work time. At the beginning of the year, students relied heavily on me to guide them during reading, but the roles have been reversed. The student-guided conversation is something that is amazing and changed the environment of my classroom. The impact of targeted questioning on my students has helped them grow their overall reading achievement. They have grown in guided reading, where targeted questioning was incorporated and in whole group instruction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Throughout action research, I felt myself grow as an educator in multiple ways. Performing this action research helped me become a better planner, as I now plan for the errors that my students may make. Doing this enables me to better lead them to find the correct answer. It also allowed me to guide their conversations to meet our learning targets throughout our reading. Teaching became fluent and less choppy. The pace of instruction kept the students on task and allowed me to fully evaluate where my students are at academically. Incorporating targeted questioning led me to become more confident in my questioning and understanding of where a student must be before they can move up in reading levels. Targeted questioning led me to use more academic vocabulary when having conversations with my students in small groups and whole group instruction. I plan with the end in mind, which has changed my teaching. Before action research, I planned for that lesson and only that lesson. I was only looking to identify whether the students met one target for the lesson. Now I find myself pushing students to meet our weekly goal and to strive to incorporate reading strategies from past lessons. This gives me a holistic view of how my students are developing and how my teaching is developing. I have become more confident in my abilities to plan and teach. I became better at being able to track data. Action research has taught me how to properly record and track data for each of my students in both guided reading and whole group instruction. Doing this has allowed me to be able to see trends in students and showed me where students need more instruction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My growth as a professional has increased greatly throughout this process as I have become eager to know what else I can do to make the learning process easier for my students but also more effective. I have found that going out to ask questions from peers is crucial to developing as a teacher. Not one person has all of the answers, therefore collaboration has been key to success in my classroom. Being eager to learn and listen from peers who have taught for many years has led me to learn and use new methods within my classroom. I have been more willing to try new strategies within my classroom. Knowing that not all strategies will click with my students has been a learning curve, as failing with lessons has granted me opportunities to reflect on my instruction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Throughout this process of action research, I have learned that data is very critical to understand and use to guide instruction. I have learned how to correctly plan for guided reading and that book selection is critical to instruction. Each student learns at a different level and knows what types of stories are going to create an interest for students keeps them engaged. The lessons gained from failing during planning and instruction have only made me a stronger educator and support for my students. Questions that still linger within me are, what can I do to better organize my data? I found that having data kept neat is easier to analyze than when it's scattered. I want to be more efficient in keeping data to use as an informer in my classroom. I also wonder, how can I use targeted questioning to enhance my whole group instruction? I feel that this strategy will carry over and create better conversation during whole group instruction. Lastly, I want to know how I can create targeted questioning into group work. I think students would be able to guide their own instruction in station work within reading class. I plan to work to find these answers as I grow as an educator.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When thinking about the future of using targeted questioning within my guided reading, I believe that making sure that all of the questions are focused on the learning target should be a must. Focusing on key skills will help my students become more effective readers and understand how the author is writing. I think doing this will correlate with their own writing and understanding during whole group reading. Becoming more organized with materials will help me as the educator be more prepared to teach each lesson. I will need to start using targeted questioning earlier in the year to ensure that my students get in the routine of answering questions. Starting this earlier in the year will create conversations started by the students earlier in the year. This will impact the student's ability to comprehend the text and become comfortable with asking their own questions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking toward the future of incorporating targeted questions, I will switch my thinking to become more goal oriented. The use of action research can help guide my instruction as I find more effective strategies to pair with targeted questioning. In the future using action research to study, implement and collect data on new strategies will help me become more effective during guided reading and all subjects. Action research helps my students to be able to walk away knowing that they understood new strategies and allows me to collect data to understand what areas will need extra instruction. I believe I can use action research to do this by being able to use the data to work on lagging skills to increase comprehension. I want students to be able to interact with each other and continue to build off each other's answers. The student-led conversation is so powerful and the more student interaction I can create using targeted questioning, the better off my students will be. I believe that other strategies such as talking chips can be incorporated to create a more fluent conversation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The use of targeted questioning in my action research has impacted my future in many ways. I plan to continue to use targeted questioning within my classroom. Performing action research has helped my students overall reading achievement in such a positive way. The skills I have learned will continue to be used, and I will continue to collaborate with my peers to grow as a professional. Action research has shown me the importance of taking data and analyzing it to inform instruction. As I grow as an educator, I strive to find the best ways to instruct my students to help them succeed to the best of their abilities. Conducting action research on targeted questioning has given me a great start to what will come in the future of my teaching.