2.4 Questioning skills
Let鈥檚 now consider how you can use questions to open up thinking and discussion in your mentoring meetings.
According to John Whitmore (2004), questions should serve two purposes in developmental mentoring:
RAISING AWARENESS and ENCOURAGING RESPONSIBLITY.
Click on the information hotspots below to see some example questions
To raise a trainee's awareness of their own situation and gain a sense of their current reality, a mentor may ask:
- What strategies have you used this week to establish good relationships with pupils?
- How do you know the pupils were learning?
- What are the pupils doing differently this week compared to last week?
- How will you know when you have the class all engaged 鈥� what does this look like to you?
- In a few words sum up what it鈥檚 like for you in your classroom this week compared to last?
To encourage a trainee to take responsibility, a mentor may ask:
- What are different options available to you?
- Thinking about your current target, on a scale of 1 鈥� 10, how would you rate your progress?
- What can realistically be achieved by next week?
- What are you now doing as a consequence of your target/s?
- Based on our conversations, what would you change to move your teaching practice forward?
You will notice that these are all open questions, mainly starting with What and How. All encourage your trainee to re-frame their thoughts and to explore better ways to move forward.
However, it is worth considering that not all questions are received as they are intended. Some questions can even hinder the mentoring conversation.
For example:
QUESTION:
When you were planning this lesson, did you look at the learner profiles and the school assessment policy?
REFLECTION:
This is a closed question which could suggest that a 鈥榥o鈥� answer will lead to a negative judgment.
Rephrase the following question so that it's open and non-judgmental.
Why did you think it was a good idea to change the order of the activities today?
You entered:
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