Critical Questions and the Construction of Knowledge

I really liked this section from Hobbs book because I think that critical questions are a huge part of good teaching pedagogy. One of the things that we have discussed in some of my English Education classes is that students need to build their own knowledge at least somewhat because then the knowledge that they gain is more transferrable (meaning that they are more likely to use it in the future). I think that critical questions allow students to build their own knowledge and work together as a class to analyze and synthesize the ideas they have about any given text or media. In my classroom, I will use critical questions to inform my conversations by identifying key points about the text my class is looking at and then I will form questions that will guide my students towards a better understanding of those key points. For example, if I was teaching the text, To Kill a Mockingbird, I wouldn’t just tell students that the book talks about racism because of examples a,b, and c in the book, instead I would identify moments in the book where the theme of racism comes up and then I would ask critical questions about that specific scene or moment in the book. I might ask questions like: 1) What do the characters reactions in this scene tell us about the author’s intention? 2) What information is missing from the scene (e.g. is there a character in the scene who we don’t hear from)? 3) Could there be more than one perspective about this scene and if so, what are some examples? 4) What does the author define as good or valuable in their message from this scene and do you think that perspective is accurate?
Using questions like these can generate a really good discussion and then from there I can even ask critical questions that are more in tune with the way the conversation goes, as long as I keep the conversation in focus. Another really great way to use these in a classroom chalk talk. For those of you who don’t know what a chalk talk is, here is a brief explanation: the teacher writes an open-ended, critical question on the board before students arrive to class, when it’s time for the chalk talk, the teacher tells the students that they should use whiteboard markers to write short answers to the question by creating a web of ideas (lines connect responses like in a brainstorming web), students have to comment a specific number of times and they can answer the question and comment on other people’s answers. Students are not allowed to talk at all during the exercise, everyone is completely silent. If you want to, you can even add more questions to the conversation as you feel like your students are ready to move onto more analysis and synthesis. I hope this explanation is clear. I remember doing a lot of these in high school and they were really fun because they get students writing, they allow students to do their own analysis and synthesis and scaffold their understanding with their peer’s comments. Also, when you have two or three markers up there and people are commenting at a rapid pace, it really allows for a larger discussion because essentially more than one person can comment at a time.
As for modifying the critical questions, I would want to format them in a way that linked to the text I was covering in class, like I did in the first paragraph. That way I am helping to guide the discussion without asking closed questions that can’t spark a conversation. I may also want to modify or avoid some of these questions if I was using them for a peer edit. For example, I may want to avoid questions like, “do you think the author’s perspective is accurate?” and instead use questions like “does the author support his or her claim effectively?” In doing so, I can still use critical questions when peers are critiquing themselves, but the phrasing allows for constructive analysis instead of destructive criticism that leads to arguments instead of learning.
I think that the texts from this Seeing and Writing chapter could be great examples of texts that can be used with critical questioning. All of the essays are very idea-driven and they are short enough for the whole class to read one and discuss it. Or you could read different essays in small groups and then have discussions in the smaller groups. Besides that, you can also talk about how the texts themselves analyze or utilize different types of media and how that affects the overall message of the text. For example, in the article that we read, the author cites and/or discusses several ulterior media sources (like Salman Rushdie’s book or the quote from Thich Nhat Hanh). Students could find those instances where the author supports his claim with other texts and then they can analyze and criticize how he uses them within his own text. Students could then go to those texts and read them or look at them or watch them and then see if they glean the same meaning from them as the author of this essay. From there, you could have a great discussion about perspective and how it shapes the way we understand and connect to media forms. You can also use the photos in the section to get students thinking about how an image can represent or mislead a viewer as you discuss whether the images really represent the photographers “home” or an important place to them. You could also talk about different values when it comes to places. Like the photo of the old building that is falling apart, some people value places with history while others value places that are new and cutting edge. Again, this could lead to a very interesting discussion if you utilize some form of the critical questions in the Hobbs text.