Teacher Tips by Jerry Bowling

Questions lie at the heart of discussion-based teaching. Questions serve a vital role for sustaining learning beyond the classroom. But how a teacher constructs and poses questions requires skill and practice that can make a difference between a sustained, engaging conversation and a session that goes nowhere.

Some Types of Questions

Beginning teachers can benefit from using a mix of questions and preparing them in advance. The starting point here is in recognizing certain categories or types of questions:

• Relational questions call for comparisons. Example: “How does this concept relate to what we studied about Paul’s Jewish heritage that we discussed last week?”
• Clarifying questions probe deeper for evidence. Example: “What do you find in this text that supports your viewpoint?”
• Big-idea questions search for what’s most important. Example: “What insight is most valuable from today’s lesson?”
• Experiential questions seek personal relevance. Example: “What are some ways to apply Jeremiah’s admonition to return to the Lord?”

Some Discussion Methods

No matter what mix of question types you use, you should use them in such a way that all voices in your class are heard and valued. The teacher who simply stands up front and poses questions runs the risk of having one or two assertive students dominate the discussion. Here are some techniques to encourage broad participation:

• Double Wheel. Prepare in advance several open-ended questions such as in one or more of the four types above. During class, group students into two concentric circles of equal numbers. Have those in the inside circle face outward and those in the outside circle face inward. Then give each learner one or more slips of paper on which you have reproduced questions, one question per slip. Have each learner pose his or her question(s) to the other learner of the facing pair for response. (Alternative: Instead of open-ended questions, use incomplete statements such as “I think Peter’s greatest challenge was …”) After one minute of discussion, signal students in the outside circle to move one person to the right and use a different question. Repeat the process as appropriate for the size of your class.
• Conversation Circles. Arrange student seating in circles of four or five. Pose (or write on the board) a question for discussion within the circles. Any student can begin the responses within the respective circles. Announce that (1) the response is limited to one-minute’s duration and (2) no interruptions are allowed. When you call time after the minute, the person on the first respondent’s right responds to the same question, same rules. Repeat until all four or five in the circles have responded. Debrief as a whole class.

Some Best Practices

As you can see from the types and methods above, it’s important to construct your questions in advance—don’t just use whatever comes to mind in the middle of teaching! A good starting point is the five questions that come with each lesson in this commentary; these are almost always of the “experiential” (application) type.

As you either construct your own and/or modify the ones that come with each lesson, follow these best practices:

• Make each question ask about one thing only
• Order questions in a logical sequence.
• Make questions answerable (not too broad).
• Focus questions on transformation more than mere information.

Jerry Bowling, “Discussion Tools That Work,” in The NIV Standard Lesson Commentary, 2020–2021, ed. Ronald L. Nickelson, Jane Ann Kenney, and Margaret K. Williams, vol. 27 (Colorado Springs, CO: Standard Publishing, 2021), 232.