The Role of Questioning in Purposeful Interactions

Questioning is the heart and soul of any open-ended inquiry-based program, whether it is in an inquiry-based curriculum or a collaborative inquiry. When teaching and learning is about posing questions that are invitations to think and those that come from genuine problem of practice or curiosity, then the learning environment takes on a whole new dimension. Just like questioning is at the heart of any collaborative inquiry, it is also an essential component for purposeful interactions. There are so many effective and well-researched professional resources on questioning. May be the amount of literature out there points to the importance of this skill in a teaching-learning environment. We ask our students all kinds of scaffolding, extending and challenging questions to move and push their thinking. But what role do these kinds of questions play in mentorship? As a mentor, how can we encourage and empower out teacher candidates to ask us questions, if we don't ask them any? As I think deeply about this collaborative inquiry, I can evaluate my own practices as a mentor teacher. I think a lot of my interactions with my teacher candidate are restricted to telling and not asking. Does that mean, that I am not setting high expectations for teacher candidates or that I do not expect them to be able to answer deep, rich questions? When I am comfortable about asking deep, rich questions of my students, I can surely do the same as a mentor. As I mentor my teacher candidate, my goal for this year will be to ask rather than tell, to let them discover through discussion, dialogue and purposeful interactions, the various nuances of an open-ended inquiry-based program.

I would like to extend this invitation to my colleagues, all the mentor teachers who are part of this inquiry. 

For Mentor Teachers:

What question will you ask your teacher candidate that will make him/her think deeply, critically and creatively about ___________ (inquiry-based program, assessment, 21st century learning competencies, curriculum, pedagogy, effective physical and/or social environment etc. just to name a few)?

For Teacher Candidates:

Start recording the questions YOU ask your mentor teacher. What kind of questions are these? Do they make you think about any of the above teaching practices in a way you have never considered before? 

I will start posting some questions in the comment section of this post. Feel free to post yours. It would be interesting to question our own questioning practices, reflect on them as we refine our mentorship skills and commit to purposeful interactions with our teacher candidates. If questioning is at the heart of an open-ended, inquiry-based program, then our interactions with future teachers of this program should model deep, rich questions that come from genuine curiosity and confusion about this kind of teaching and learning.

How the Collaborative Inquiry Model Aligns with the Ontario Leadership Framework (OLF)

Collaborative inquiry is a professional learning protocol that empowers educators to be self-directed learners by providing them with a rewarding professional learning experience. Teams of educators come together to question, gather relevant evidence, create action plans, and analyze the results, all for student success. In Collaborative Inquiry, A Facilitator's Guide, many educational leaders such as Reeves (2010), Katz, Earl and Ben Jafar (2009), Stoll (2010) are quoted to "promote collaborative inquiry as a strategy for strengthening teaching and learning." In the Ontario Leadership Framework, there are many leadership practices that align with the collaborative inquiry model of professional development. These are some explicit connections:

• Building collaborative cultures and distributing leadership
• Structuring the organization to facilitate collaboration
• Stimulating growth in the professional capacities of staff
• Building staff member's sense of internal accountability

The collaborative inquiry model creates opportunities for the principal, the instructional leader, to build a culture of collaboration at various levels of the organization. Though this collaborative inquiry focuses on improving the instructional program, it also demonstrates how various stakeholders and agencies come together to commit to a shared vision of the school.

How this Collaborative Inquiry Aligns with York University's Year 1 Practicum Learning Outcomes

When I started planning for this collaborative inquiry, I was only thinking about a project outline and its alignment with the expectations of my course. I spoke to York University's Faculty of Education Course Director, Janette Holmes, as well as several other professionals, my principal, my course professor, as well as my colleagues to get their input and feedback as well as their support. However, as I delved deeper into the planning and researching stages in my inquiry, I started to realize that if we have to understand the true implications of Purpose in the teaching-learning process, we have to go beyond just the scope of this collaborative inquiry whose title is "Purposeful Interactions". The concept of purpose is key to understanding the actions we take and educational philosophy and beliefs we hold. For this collaborative inquiry to be successful, there has to be purpose in it for ALL the stakeholders, students, mentor teachers and student teachers. This led me to think about this inquiry's implications for the Year One teacher candidates. What do they get out of this? I started to wonder: What if the challenge of practice that we felt as mentor teachers, a disconnect between the expectations of our inquiry-based classroom and the traditional planning and teaching methodology of teacher candidates, starts to become a challenge of practice for the teacher candidates? What if they start to feel the disconnect between what they are expected to do in the Year One Observation Year and our collaborative inquiry? What is in it for the Teacher Candidates? Having identified this challenge as part of the larger challenge of practice, I started to research the University's expectations. I found many outcomes outlined for the Year One Teacher Candidates aligned very well with this collaborative inquiry. Here is a link for the YEAR ONE Practicum Learning Outcomes.
These are some outcomes that directly align with this collaborative inquiry:

Teacher candidates will

Actively engage in the work of the school and classroom to understand the role of all stakeholders [1] in creating and sustaining an engaging, inclusive, safe and equitable learning environment.

The following provide some examples of how teacher candidates might demonstrate their acquisition of these understandings: In red, are the ways how this outcome aligns with the CI

• Develop strategies and tools for communicating effectively with families, school faculty and staff, and community; (Communicate with participating faculty)

• Research current practices to contribute to a newsletter or website at local classroom or school/community level; (Our CI Blog)

• Support capacity building in curriculum and community through initiatives such as literacy night, math program after school, family fit night, action teams for student leadership, alliances, anti-bullying, safe schools, community initiatives, etc.; (CI initiative that builds capacity within the faculty and TCs)

• Develop and share understandings of technology as a tool for communication and learning (e.g., blended learning, social media, website, interactive whiteboards etc.); (Using Google Apps for Education, GAFE, Blogger, Google Slides, Google Forms to communicate, share and reflect)

• Participate beyond the teaching day by attending division or staff meetings, participating in extra-curricular, etc.; (CI as an initiative beyond the day-to-day workings of the classroom

Demonstrate a professional manner in keeping with the Ontario College of Teachers Standards of Practice and Ethical Standards of Practice (OCT Professional Standards).

• Participate in ongoing professional learning (attending workshops, grade level meetings, staff meetings, PD, conferences) (CI is an ongoing professional learning opportunity)

Develop professional relationships with students, teachers, other teacher candidates, school staff, parents and others. (CI will provide an authentic opportunity to engage in professional dialogue)

• Engage in ongoing professional dialogue with mentors, other staff & TCs;
• Focus on professional communication.

Actively engage 100% of the day in the work of the school to support student learning. (CI will enable Teacher Candidates to engage in co-planning and ask relevant questions to evolve in their teaching practices)

Under the direction of the MT work with small, groups, individual students, special needs students;

Co-plan and co-teach with the MT;

Keep a daily professional journal in a practicum binder;

Keep a learning log in a practicum binder;

Ask pertinent questions about school programming;

Throughout this inquiry, teacher candidates will engage in open-ended inquiry as professionals which can then translate into inquiries for students in class in the same manner. Teacher candidates will document this journey for their own portfolio as expected from them as part of the Year One outcomes. This collaborative inquiry will be an excellent opportunity for them to investigate learning and reflect critically on the links between theory and practice as they engage in powerful, professional, purposeful interactions.

What is purposeful interaction? Why inquire about it?

Purposeful interactions are learning-focused conversations that lead to meaningful and authentic professional learning. Professional learning leads to student success and students are at the heart of everything we do in the teaching-learning community. Professional learning has "the greatest effect when it is clearly focused, practical, guided by current research and shared among educators in a supportive, risk-free learning community." (Partnering for Success: Getting the most from Ontario's New Teacher Induction Program, September 2010) There are several professional learning opportunities offered by the board to teachers of the board. But I do believe that professional learning that happens at the grass root level, in the classroom, in the school halls or staff rooms, in the form of professional dialogue and purposeful interactions,  in a timely fashion when there is an authentic need for it sticks. These kind of professional interactions are to educators as effective feedback is to our learners. If focused, purposeful, professional interactions have such a positive impact on student and educator self-efficacy and success, then it is worth inquiring about. It is worth having a professional dialogue on purposeful interactions. Collaborative inquiry is a very effective platform for any professional dialogue and purposeful interactions as it enables educators to learn in a supportive and risk-free environment. Though purposeful interactions can involve many stakeholders in a teaching-learning community and as a principal, all of these purposeful interactions are absolutely significant to student success, in this collaborative inquiry I want to focus on interactions between student teachers and mentor teachers.

My Rationale: As a principal, I want to foster learning in the school and around the community. Part of fostering learning is building capacity within the school and the larger community. I already know that there are resources in the school as teachers who are running a rich inquiry-based program. Our school also has a great partnership with York University's Faculty of Education program through which we welcome student teachers into our classrooms and mentor them in a safe, risk-free non-evaluative manner. This is a great platform to focus my inquiry on- purposeful interactions between mentor teachers and host teachers that lead to professional learning. This is even more significant this year as this is the first year when York University's Faculty of Education launched the two-year program of education in which the first year is focused on observation rather than teaching. Imagine the learning opportunities this year can create for our student teachers who will be the future teachers in our school system as well as the opportunities for our mentor teachers to continue to refine their practice through professional relationships and purposeful interactions.

Problem of Practice: For the past three years, we have been hosting student teachers through York University's Faculty of Education program. We have welcomed student teachers into many inquiry-based classrooms that are empowering our students through inquiry. However, we have also felt a disconnect between how student teachers are planning and preparing to teach in these open-ended, and inquiry-based classrooms and how programs are being run in these classrooms on a day-to-day basis. Hence, it is imperative that as mentors, we prepare our future teachers for the type of teaching and learning that focuses on 21st century skills and competencies while addressing the big ideas through curriculum expectations. This can be done when we have purposeful interactions between mentor teachers and host teachers.

The Question: How does effective purposeful interaction between the mentor teacher and the student teacher lead to professional learning in an inquiry-based classroom?