Project Train (Tutelage and Revitalizing on Arts of Questioning for Improvement and Nurturance)

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

The teacher's questions can be considered as the most powerful device to lead, extend and control communication in the classroom. The style of interaction between teacher and students can be seen as a recycling process: "teacher's question-students' responses-feedback" (Dillon, 1990; Westgate & Hughes, 1997; Yang, 2002). This illustrates the dominant role the teacher's questions play in classroom interaction. It is the aim of this study to determine the art of questioning of the faculty of the Isidro Cuadra Elementary School for School Year 2018-2019.

METHODS

This study made use of the descriptive correlation design and atotal of 8 faculty served as respondents. It describes the level of the teachers' art of questioning along the quality of questions, technique of questioning, handling student answers and questions. Data gathering instrument used a 45-item questionnaire prepared by the researcher based on readings. Ten items deal with the quality of questions, fifteen items on the techniques of questioning, ten items on handling students' answer and ten items on handling the students' questions.

RESULTS

This study run from June to November 2018 has uncovered that training, mentoring and LAC sessions about the Art of Questioning greatly affects the performance of teachers in the discussion, elaboration, application and evaluation of lesson. Through comprehensive workshops by expert speakers, brainstorming and sharing of ideas, huge impact on the performance of teachers was observable during the latter part of the School Year. During the monitoring in June 2018, 8 out of 8 teachers received low score in the Indicator No. 33 (Applies a range of teaching strategies to develop critical thinking, as well as higher-order thinking skills) of COT-RPMS Rating Sheet. After six months of training and monitoring, the number of teachers went down from 8 to 0, a clear indication of 100% improvement among the teachers.

DISCUSSIONS

The results of the study revealed that the teachers always asked interesting, thought provoking, and challenging questions; used varied techniques in questioning; gave positive and encouraging remarks; and welcomed students' questions graciously. Therefore, it is highly recommended that teachers master a great art of questioning to further encourage the students to answer questions and participate actively during class discussions; further enhancement of the art of questioning and varied techniques and dynamics in questioning should be developed; and an enhancement program should be provided to the teachers such as: seminars and training-workshops; respectively.