I spend a lot of time working with Professional Learning Communities. I am always striving to ask catalytic questions that will help PLCs creatively approach the instructional issues they face with their students.
Two of the most powerful questions I use with PLCs are…
“What’s up?”
“In what ways might we…?”
U.P. and I.W.W.M.W.
For example, I was working with a first grade PLC when one of the teachers mentioned that she has a parent volunteer work with students one-on-one to practice their addition and subtraction facts. The rest of the team pointed out that won’t work in their classroom because they have no parent volunteers.
When struggling with an issue or question, it is often important to get to the underlying assumption. Tim Hurson, author of Think Better, calls this “What’s U.P.?” What is the underlying principle? I pointed out to the PLC that in this case the underlying principle with having a parent volunteer was not access or lack of access to a parent volunteer, but the concept or idea of one-on-one practice with addition or subtraction facts. In other words, “What’s U.P?” with parent volunteers is students getting one-on-one practice.
So I asked, “In what ways might we create opportunities for students to have one-on-one practice with addition or subtraction facts without parent volunteers? In what ways could we automate the process so that parent volunteers where not necessary?
One teacher quickly pointed out that she could have student work together as partners with flash cards. Another said students could use the computer center and an addition or subtraction program. The teacher with the parent volunteer said she would ask if the parent could visit other classrooms on different days. Other ideas were offered up as well.
The bottom line is that the PLC moved from a problem that seemed to be insolvable to coming up with and sharing ideas by first identifying the underlying problem, asking themselves, “What’s Up?” After discovering the underlying principle, they then asked themselves, “In what ways might we…?”
Great questions lead to great results.
The Great 8: Catalytic Questions
1. In what ways might you help your PLC to be more creative in their thinking?
2. When was the last time you asked your PLC to try a new thinking or creativity technique?
3. In what ways might you “sell” the idea of trying new thinking or question generating techniques?
4. How might the PLC change if one day you only allowed them to ask question. No statements, just questions?
5. If your PLC fail to ask enough questions of each other, in what ways could you ensure that they do? Tally number of questions asked? Mandate a certain number of questions?
What might it look like when you ensure questions get asked?
6. How might your PLC respond if you instructed them not to ask any questions? How would they feel about the need for questions if they were not allowed to ask any?
7. What patterns typically arise in your PLCs that prevent or discourage questions being asked? How can you anticipate and prevent these patterns from developing?
8. How would your PLC processes or protocols benefit from a fresh look at them?
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