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For each of the following exchanges, write a follow-up question you might ask, taking into account both the participant's response and the leader's question.
Note: There is no single "best" follow-up question for any of these situations. Many different follow-up questions can be effective in the exact same situation. The skill of leading Shared Inquiry Discussion is in asking consistently effective follow-ups.
- Leader: Why does Jack trade his cow for the five beans?
Student: He kind of has to, because he's a snotty kid.
Your follow-up question:
Click here for analysis.
- Leader: Why does Jack trade his cow for the five beans?
Student: Because it stopped giving milk.
Your follow-up question:
Click here for analysis.
- Leader: Why does Jack trade his cow for the five beans?
Student: I don’t know.
Your follow-up question:
Click here for analysis.
- Leader: Why does Jack trade his cow for the five beans?
Student: I'd never do that.
Your follow-up question:
Click here for analysis.
- Leader: Why does Jack trade his cow for the five beans?
Student: When they wake up the cow won't give milk. So Jack said he'd get a job, but his mother said no, to go sell the cow and start a shop. Then on the way he met this funny old man who showed him the beans and Jack didn't want to but the guy talked him into it. And then his mother got real mad and sent him to bed without supper. So he probably
shouldn't have done it.
Your follow-up question:
Click here for analysis.
- Leader: Why does Jack trade his cow for the five beans?
Student: 'Cause he's really smart.
Your follow-up question:
Click here for analysis.
- Leader: Why does Jack trade his cow for the five beans?
Student: He kind of has to, because he's a snotty kid.
Common entries:
- Why does he have to?
- What do you mean by "snotty kid?"
- Why does being a snotty kid mean he has to make the trade?
- When was he snotty?
There is no single "best" follow-up question. Any of these might be very effective. What is most important is that the leader is trying to understand what the student means, and why the student thinks that way.
Follow-up questions that encourage your students to explain themselves will help you and everyone else to understand.
Go on to the next Leader-Student exchange.
- Leader: Why does Jack trade his cow for the five beans?
Student: Because it stopped giving milk.
Common entries:
- How does that help us understand why Jack made the trade?
- Let's all try to find where in the story Jack trades his cow?
- Um, could you say that again?
- Why did it stop giving milk?
A good way to lead discussion is to learn to turn your responses into questions. A follow-up question like #3 is a good example. As leader, if you don’t understand the comment, it is helpful to allow students to repeat and explain themselves.
The most important thing is to try to understand your student. Certainly #1 will help. Even #2 might be helpful to break things down and get a fuller explanation.
At times even the most experienced leader finds himself asking a question like #4. Unfortunately there is no way for the student to respond, and it is most likely to elicit an “I-don’t-know.” The leader should then simply back up and ask the student to repeat or explain his answer.
Go on to the next Leader-Student exchange.
- Leader: Why does Jack trade his cow for the five beans?
Student: I don’t know.
Common entries:
- Can someone else give us an idea?
- Do you remember what Jack was supposed to do with his cow?
- Can you find in the story where Jack trades his cow for the beans?
- Why don't you know? Didn't you read the story?
Most leaders hear the "I-don’t-know" response at some time. The most important thing is to maintain an atmosphere appropriate to Shared Inquiry. A follow-up question like #4 is likely to create a lot of counter-productive pressure on students. After all, interpretive questions do not have easy answers. So it is important to create an environment of trust, where students can think out loud, ask questions, and not feel as if they are being tested and should have all the answers.
Some common causes of the "I-don't know" response include:
- The student did not understand, or even hear the question.
- The student did not understand the story as when he read it.
- The student is genuinely perplexed by the problem in the question.
Go on to the next Leader-Student exchange.
- Leader: Why does Jack trade his cow for the five beans?
Student: I'd never do that.
Common entries:
- Why not?
- Why do you think Jack did?
- Can you find the part where the man says "I don’t mind doing a swap with you?"
- Has anyone ever offered you something really amazing?
Turn your response, whatever it is, into a question, and the result will often be effective.
Follow-up questions like #4 have to be used very judiciously. In this situation it is very possible that asking the student about her own experience might help her generate an understanding of Jack. As the leader, however, you have to be careful that the group doesn’t spend too much time talking about their own amazing offers.
Go on to the next Leader-Student exchange.
- Leader: Why does Jack trade his cow for the five beans?
Student: When they wake up the cow won't give milk. So Jack said he'd get a job, but his mother said no, to go sell the cow and start a shop. Then on the way he met this funny old man who showed him the beans and Jack didn't want to but the guy talked him into it. And then his mother got real mad and sent him to bed without supper. So he probably
shouldn't have done it.
Common entries:
- Is there any specific part of that that really helps you understand why Jack traded his cow?
- Was there something that suggested that the old man talked him into it?
- Why do you say that Jack doesn't want to make the trade?
- Why shouldn't he have made the trade?
The story itself is a kind of understanding, so it's not uncommon for students to repeat the story in order to answer a question. After all, in a story one thing leads to another.
But in Shared Inquiry it is important to articulate this logic in a more direct manner. Asking the student to be more specific might help. Careful listening might also help you isolate the beginnings of an answer just in the way the student retells the story.
Entry #4 Raises an important issue. In discussion students will often offer comments that evaluate a character’s action or whether the story says something valuable. Sometimes following-up on these evaluations can help a student isolate exactly what he or she feels is meant by a passage, or can even help the student clarify the idea he or she is trying to articulate. But it is important not to lose the interpretive focus of the discussion. It would be very easy for this discussion to degenerate into a debate about whether Jack should have made the trade, and to forget to figure out why Jack did make the trade.
Go on to the next Leader-Student exchange.
- Leader: Why does Jack trade his cow for the five beans?
Student: 'Cause he's really smart.
Common entries:
- Why would it be smart to trade the cow for only five beans?
- What makes you say that Jack is smart?
- Since he is obviously stupid enough to get into an oven, how can you possibly think he's smart?
- How does the part about no one giving Jack a job fit into your idea that he's smart?
Inevitably a student will say something that just strikes you as "wrong." Follow-up questions like #3 are not constructive, and can easily become argumentative. The first two follow-up questions more effectively turn this reaction into helpful follow-up questions.
Another constructive way to turn this reaction into a question is to raise a different part of the story. Depending on how it is said #4 might be as argumentative as #3. However, if the leader can raise the passage in a non-judgmental way, this can be an effective strategy for helping students develop their ideas and interpretations.
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