Travis Dalsis
Eastern Michigan University
ENGL 585
Dr. Baker and Dr. Daumer
16 January 2012
A Response to: “Whose Inquiry Is It Anyway? Using Students’ Questions in the Teaching of Literature”
Meyers presents a systematic array of strategies to engage readers of literature to take ownership over their processes of reading. I found three aspects of this piece to be particularly engaging and though-provoking: 1) As teachers we often assume that we have the best questions. 2) Questioning has layers and levels. 3) Critical thinking about literary texts is a development and questioning in various forms allows teachers and students to synergistically learn and employ critical inquiry.
As teachers we often assume that we have the best questions: Meyers makes a claim at the onset of his work that inquiry-based learning, where the students ask the questions and construct meaning from their experiences, has been highly-valued in education but under-employed. He argues that teachers can easily fall into the “I am smarter than you so I know the really important questions to ask, so just answer the questions I create.” I am reminded of Dr. Baker’s comments about how teachers will continue to teach how they were taught. I believe Meyers is making visible the reality that even when teachers say they are being inquiry-based, they are either consciously, out of uneasiness, or subconsciously, out of a schematic framework hardwired into their brains still doing what was done to them. Meyers challenges teachers to pay attention to their practices of questioning and realize that if we are going to be inquiry-driven, we have to trust our students to ask questions that are substantial. How do we do that? Well, he doesn’t just say—“Tell them to create questions!” He provides a framework of understanding.
Questioning has Layers and Levels and Critical Thinking Develops
To create great questioners, Meyers does imply that teachers must be readily available to guide students as they read literary works. With that mandate, Meyers empowers teachers to empower their students with ten levels of questioning. In reading this text, I interpreted Meyers’ induction of each strategy to build on a previous strategy. The irony here is that the levels of questioning seems to increase linearly in demand for higher critical thinking, but it is stated that questioning itself is circular! Overall, Meyers points out that great questioning does involves a starting point and a guide (the teacher), but students must be given the chance to create questions that may not be THE BEST. We must eschew our immediate notion to correct and give students a chance to test their questions in real, authentic discussions with peers.
Overall, I think the most helpful part of this article is the methodical breakdown of the types of student-lead discussions that can be generated. Often times I just tell my students—create five questions: (who, what, where, when, and why). This framework encourages students to expand and allows my job as teacher of literature to be at an equal level with my students. They are the facilitators in the classroom through their own questioning.
When I read this article, I was somewhat disappointed. I believe that questioning does reflect a desire to learn and know, and questions also allow us to recognize when something important comes up, but the ability to question a text is learned. I think Meyers makes it seem too simple, and providing us with ways to formulate questions does not show students how to notice what's important or what's worth noticing in a text, which is a fundamental property of a questioning culture. In my experience, students ask superficial questions when prompted and I think that making a learning environment active requires that students learn how to critically analyze a text before real, genuine, and authentic questions can be formulated and discussed. I don't think there's any argument that teachers talk too much even when we know it's not the most effective form of instruction, yet Meyers does little to offer ways in which students can actively and critically engage in text - and this is necessary for authentic questioning and discussion to occur. It's not as simple as formulating questions.
ReplyDeleteSo, listening to both of you, I agree with Travis that as teachers we often think our questions are best, or at least better than students' questions. But then, when I read Dawn's comment, I thought how important it is to model questioning to students, particularly questions that have no fixed answer. Even modeling confusion and explaining the reason for confusion might be something teachers need to model.
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