Purpose and Essentials
As Rothstein and Santana (2015) state, QFocus is not a question for them to answer but, rather, a focus for questions that they will create" (p. 28). This is a shift in how teachers normally see prompts and their purpose in the classroom. Prompts traditionally spark the creation of a product or answers and detailed responses. Research suggests that more students can reach the higher levels if provided more time to develop questions instead of answers. This does not mean you completely replace one with other, but rather a better mixture of the two.
Rothstein and Santana (2015) provide the definition to start the journey:
"Question Focus: A stimulus for jumpstarting student questions. It can be a short statement or a visual or aural aid in any medium or format that can stimulate student thinking that will be expressed through their questions" (p. 28).
Rothstein and Santana (2015) provide the definition to start the journey:
"Question Focus: A stimulus for jumpstarting student questions. It can be a short statement or a visual or aural aid in any medium or format that can stimulate student thinking that will be expressed through their questions" (p. 28).
Effective QFocus Traits
- It has a clear focus
- Main emphasis should be brief and simply stated; students will generate more questions if the QFocus is sharply delineated.
- It is NOT a question
- Purpose is to get students asking questions and not confusing them with wanting to answer
- Provokes and stimulates new line of thinking
- This stimulates stronger responses and a larger flurry of questions
- Does not reveal teacher perference and bias
- This QFocus is not a restatement of what the students know or can guess as the teacher's belief
tip: Try placing the words must or always in your QFocus. This automatically seems to rise questions by the reader. A natural tendency to prove it wrong.
Examples and Explanations
- Biology Class
- QFocus: The cell
- This would be considered too broad and not offer a sharp enough hook to get students going
- QFocus: The inside of the cell
- Much more focused and implied different levels of knowledge/mastery for students to demonstrate
- QFocus: The cell
- Math Class
- QFocus: Math anxiety
- Wording is too general when considering how students might answer
- QFocus: Defeating math anxiety
- Addition of the verb prompts students to be proactive; may reduce time spent getting started when students generate questions
- QFocus: Math anxiety
- High School History
- QFocus: Miranda rights protect the rights of the accused.
- While the QFocus does follow each of the guidelines, it still seems to be missing something. Consider adding must or always into the QFocus to motivate students to investigate the topic.
- QFocus: Miranda rights always protects the rights of the accused.
- Notice the difference in adding the word? It calls into the accounts and history of accused who were not protected and perhaps begins even with students pulling from something read in ELA or viewed at home.
- QFocus: Miranda rights protect the rights of the accused.
Designing a QFocus
Pros and Cons of QFocus Ideas
Rothstein, D., & Santana, L. (2015). Make just one change: Teach students to ask their own questions. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press