Any strategy that raises the level and status of questioning in my room is useful. I found that there were times when a student asked a great question but that it was just no the time to go into that topic too deeply. I have also found that there are times when I have a 5-10 minutes gap in my lesson where these topics would fit into nicely.
The Great Wall of Questions is my attempt to solve these two problems at once. If a student asks a great question, then I proclaim ‘get it on the board!’ to the delight of the person that asked. They know that if it goes on there I think it is an important question, one that is worth thinking about for a longer period of time. When there is a good moment I will take a question and try to get students thinking about some answers or at least ways to find the answers (I am going to avoid just answering the questions as much as I can). Here are the rules:
- A question only goes on the board if it has come out of genuine curiosity (rather than an attempt to get their name on the board)
- Their name goes with the question and the color of the stickie determines which class it came from
- When the question has been addressed (different from answered), a small dot goes on there so we can see what needs to be looked at in the future.
I only have four questions on there so far this semester (after 8 school days). I am hoping that by the end of the semester the board will be full. Here goes….
Pumphrey's Math 