Standard 1: Listening and Speaking Students will listen and speak effectively in a variety of situations.

2.1.S.3 ​Students will ask and answer relevant questions to seek help or get information to confirm understanding.

Student Actions

Teacher Actions

• Students ask questions to seek help when needed.

• Students ask questions to confirm information.

• Students answer questions to confirm their understanding of a concept.

• Students ask questions and provide answers that are relevant to the task or topic being discussed. 

• Teachers explain and provide examples of questions that are used to seek help with a problem or confirm understanding of a concept.

• Teachers provide opportunities for students to generate relevant questions to seek help or confirm understanding.

• Teachers monitor and provide opportunities for students to receive feedback while developing or answering questions. 

• Teachers provide opportunities for students to answer questions given by the teacher or peers.

• Teachers help students ask follow-up questions that remain on topic.

• Teachers revisit questions to confirm understanding. 

Recommendations

Key Terms & Related Objectives

When students have difficulty asking relevant questions, teachers can…

• remind students what is being discussed.

• provide prompts and question stems directly related to the topic or text, such as “Why does the character…”, “When do we…”, “How do I…”, “How would you feel if…”

• model types of questions and have students repeat the questions or think of similar questions.

When students have difficulty answering questions appropriately, teachers can…

• remind students of the question and prompt them to answer the question and not provide unrelated information.

• provide answer stems, such as “I think that…”

• have students answer questions with the teacher or peers the student feels most comfortable with and then move to different groups.

When students do not ask questions to seek understanding, teachers can…

• reassure students that the classroom is a safe place to ask questions.

• check in with students to see if they have questions.

• provide some question stems for seeking help, such as “Can you clarify…”, “I need help understanding…”

• 2.6.W.1: Ask questions about topics of interest