Explicit Development of Emotional Intelligence Skills to Improve Special Education Teacher Leadership

As a general construct, emotional intelligence encompasses emotional, personal, and social abilities influential upon one’s overall capability to effectively deal with environmental demands and pressures (McCallum & Piper, 2000). Emotional intelligence was further defined by Schutte, Malouff, Bobik, Coston, Greeson, & Jedlicka (2001) as the ability to adaptively recognize, express, regulate, and harness emotions. Diverse cognitive or emotional intelligence skills vary by age, gender, and developmental level (Gardner, 1995), which thereby impacts one’s level of competency or FLOW (Csikszentmihaly, 2013).

Accountability of teacher preparation and graduate leadership programs remain an ongoing process. Both the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP, 2019) and the Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation (AAQEP, 2022) provide standards that expect teacher preparation and graduate leadership program curriculum to address leadership skill development. Emotional intelligence has been linked to effective leadership (Goleman, 2002, 2008b). Unfortunately, within too many accredited programs, emotional intelligence behaviors are implicitly presented rather than explicitly taught and thereby reliably assessed. However, a study by Anderson (2017) indicated a direct correlation between a leader’s demonstrated emotional intelligence behaviors in the workplace and stakeholders’ perceptions of optimal school climate,

Outcomes of Anderson’s (2017) research noted it is not yet known if and to what degree public schools that are led by leaders exhibiting high emotional intelligence (EQ) would have teachers exhibiting high EQ.  Furthermore, would such schools be more likely to then be perceived as intentionally inviting, having students with higher socio-emotional skills, or have comparatively more diverse learners receiving education in an inclusive setting?  These questions invite further research on the impact of typically demonstrated emotional intelligence and effective teacher leadership within special education settings.

 A study by Byron (2001) found institutes of higher education (IHE) that focus upon emotional intelligence behaviors produced successful outcomes. However, Cobb and Meyer (2000) cautioned that any program seeking to develop emotional intelligence skills “should be empirically defensible, measurable, and clear enough to serve as a basis for curriculum development" (18).  For instance, Sanders’ (2010) quantitative study examined the perceptions of professors that focus upon educational leadership in their work within IHE. Specifically, Sanders sought to identify the professors’ understanding of competencies related to emotional intelligence and the extent to which these competencies were being included within their IHE teacher leadership programs. Left unanswered was whether or to what extent the teacher leaders’ demonstrated emotional intelligence related to stakeholders’ perceptions of optimal school climate

Given teaching is considered one of the most stressful occupations (Palomera, Fernandez-Berrocal, & Brackett, 2008), increasing the importance of emotional intelligence skills training is crucial because professional development in emotional intelligence skills can support teachers’ coping skills within a stressful environment. Teacher burnout becomes more predictable in relation to stress. By contrast, teachers exhibiting high emotional intelligence use more positive, well-adapted, coping strategies to deal with different sources of stress at school, thereby feeling greater job satisfaction (Palomera et al., 2008).

Teacher leadership can be present in different forms for varied purposes, including management, instruction, and school reform. Teacher leadership may be structured either formally or informally as it evolves through presented opportunities and explicit needs within schools. Leadership advancing Invitational Education (IE) theory encourages people to tap into their unlimited potential (Purkey & Novak, 2016). Based on her meta-analysis, Billingsley (2007) found support in the literature for the expectation that serving the needs of students with disabilities requires multiple layers of leadership across school-wide and district-wide levels. Therefore, it makes sense that an intentionally inviting leader’s increased ability to effectively interact with diverse stakeholders would mitigate barriers that confront teacher leaders and their ability to support diverse learners.

To leverage the social, structural, and fiscal, resources beneficial for students with disabilities York-Barr, Sommerness, Duke, and Ghere (2005) suggested teacher leaders should provide the vision, direction, and plans for special education and encouraged prospective teacher leaders to collaborate and advocate across multiple levels within their educational systems.  As a result, prospective teacher leaders would learn to project a concrete understanding of the correlation between the degree to which they are connected to stakeholders within the school and the degree to which they can influence diverse learners’ ability to be connected, feel supported, and optimally succeed within the culture of that school.

Through their educator and leadership preparation programs, every IHE can benefit from encouraging teaching practices that require increased competence in emotional awareness as well as cognition. The results of a study by Rojas (2012) asserted three needs for optimal emotional intelligence development among prospective teachers:

1.  Development of emotional intelligence begins with a commitment to change.
2. Application of emotional intelligence learning is optimized within environments favorable to emotional intelligence development.
3. Pursuit of an ideal allows interdependent application of all other emotional intelligence competencies.

Within the context of emotional intelligence, at least two perspectives are possible: maximal emotional intelligence performance and typical emotional intelligence performance (Gignac, 2010). Typical performance is a more reliable indicator of actual behavior (Sackett, Zadeck & Fogli, 1988). Gignac (2010) and Palmer, Stough, Harmer & Gignac (2009) suggest typical emotional intelligence is purely relevant to the actual demonstration of emotional intelligence skills. Therefore, typical emotional intelligence performance perspective grounds the Genos Emotional Intelligence inventories (Palmer et al., 2009).

Five factors that can be influenced by every leader’s demonstrated emotional intelligence provide a specific framework that contributes to school success or failure. The five powerful factors: People, places, policies, programs, and processes (the Five P’s) become highly significant due to their separate and combined influence (Purkey & Siegel, 2013). Interdependently, the Five P’s provide limitless opportunities for evaluation and development of organizational climate. Grounded in Invitational Education theory, the Five P’s “address the total culture or ecosystem of almost any organization” (Purkey & Siegel, 2003, p. 104). Therefore, the Five P’s contribute to the creation of a positive school climate and ultimately a healthy and successful organization (Purkey & Siegel, 2013).

As noted above, various elements produce an effective educational leader. Clearly, emotional intelligence competencies have been correlated with leadership potential (Charbonneau & Nicol, 2002; Dries & Pepermans, 2007). Yet, further examination of the relationship between emotional intelligence and effective educational leadership remains an ongoing need. Increased understanding of emotional intelligence as a concept and development of participants' emotional intelligence will further enhance any IHE’s leadership development programs (Sadri, 2012).

The field of education would benefit from further understanding the correlation between themes such as emotional intelligence, perception of school climate, and effective leadership capable of monitoring and adjusting indicators of success that optimize and sustain educational reform. The awareness and management of emotions, as well as perception of emotions by others, provide critical elements for success as a leader (Cherniss, 2010). Ideally, this article positively influenced your acceptance that our constantly and rapidly evolving society, will benefit from resilient leaders that possess and demonstrate high levels of emotional intelligence.  Therefore, you are intentionally invited to become an advocate for explicit development of emotional development skills as part of every IHE’s teacher preparation and graduate leadership programs.

 

 

To Cite:

Anderson, C. J. (July 30, 2022). Explicit development of emotional intelligence skills to improve special education teacher leadership. [Web log post] Retrieved from http://www.ucan-cja.blogspot.com/

 

References

Anderson, C. J. (2017). Examining demonstrated emotional intelligence and perceptions of inviting schools. Journal of Invitational Theory and Practice, 23, 35-61.

 

Billingsley, B. S. (2007). Recognizing and supporting the critical roles of teachers in special

            education leadership. Exceptionality, 15(3), 163-176. doi:10.1080/09362830701503503

 

Byron, C. M. (2001). The effects of emotional knowledge education in the training of             novice teachers. (Order No. 3014883, Columbia University Teachers College). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, , 103-103 p. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/251642822?accountid=7374. (251642822).

 Charbonneau, D., & Nicol, A. M. (2002). Emotional intelligence and leadership in adolescents. Personality and Individual Differences, 33, 1101–1113 doi.org/10.1016/s0191-8869(01)00216-1

 Cherniss, C. (2010). Emotional intelligence: Toward clarification of a concept. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 3, 110–126. doi:10.1111/j.1754-9434.2010.01231

 Cobb, C.D., & Mayer, J.D. (2000). Emotional Intelligence: What the research says. Educational Leadership. 58(3). 14-18. Retrieved from: http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/nov00/vol58/num03/toc.aspx

Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (2019). CAEP Accreditation Standards.           Retrieved from http://caepnet.org/accreditation/caep-accreditation/spa-standards-and-report-forms

 

Csikszentmihaly, M. (2013). Creativity: The psychology of discovery and invention (Reprint edition.). New York: Harper Perennial. ISBN 9780062283252.

 

Dries, N., & Pepermans, R. (2007). Using emotional intelligence to identify high potential: A metacompetency perspective. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 28(8), 749–770. doi:10.1108/01437730710835470

 

Gardner, H. (1995). Reflections on multiple intelligences: Myths and messages. Phi

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Gignac, G. E. (2010). Seven-Factor model of emotional intelligence as measured by

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doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000041

 

Goleman, D. (2006a). Emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam Books.

 

Goleman, D. (2006b). The socially intelligent leader. Educational Leadership, 64(1), 76–

            81. Retrieved from: http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept06/vol64/num01/toc.aspx

 

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            School, and in the Workplace (pp. 118-135). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.  ISBN:   0-7879-4984-1

 

Palmer, B. R., Stough, C., Harmer, R., & Gignac, G. E. (2009). The Genos Emotional

            Intelligence Inventory: A measure designed specifically for the workplace. In C.

            Stough, D. Saklofske, & J. Parker (Ed.), Assessing emotional intelligence:

            Theory, research & applications (pp. 103-118). New York: Springer. doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-88370-0_6

 

Palomera, R., Fernandez-Berrocal, P., & Brackett, M. A. (2008). Emotional intelligence

            as a basic competency in pre-service teacher training: some 135 evidence.

            Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology, 6(2), 437-454.

            Retrieved from: http://www.investigacion-            psicopedagogica.org/revista/articulos/15/english/Art_15_276.pdf

 

Purkey, W. W., & Novak, J.M. (2016). Fundamentals of invitational education (2^nd ed). The International Alliance for Invitational Education. Retrieved from: https://www.invitationaleducation.net/product-category/books/

Rojas, M. (2012). The missing link: Emotional intelligence in teacher preparation. (Order

No. 3495309, Arizona State University). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, , 220.

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Sanders, S.C. (2010) Emotional intelligence, a necessary component of educational

            leadership programs, as perceived by professors of educational leadership

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            (2001). Emotional intelligence and interpersonal relations. Journal of Social

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York-Barr, J., Sommerness, J., Duke, K., & Ghere, G. (2005). Special educators in inclusive

            education programmes: reframing their work as teacher leadership. International Journal

            of Inclusive Education, 9(2), 193-215. doi:10.1080/1360311042000339374

  

Educator Preparation Programs Need to Explicitly Develop Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Skills

Emotional intelligence has been linked to effective leadership (Goleman & Boyatzis, 2002, 2008).  Therefore, the curriculum for educator preparation and school leadership programs must explicitly address leadership skill development.  However, in many programs, the expectation is often for emotional intelligence behaviors to be implicitly developed rather than explicitly taught.  Without effective leadership, education reform cannot take place (Creighton & Jones, 2001).  Effective educational leadership programs result from program experiences as well as the quality of entering candidates (Creighton & Jones, 2001).  Unfortunately, preparation programs remain pressured to accept adequate numbers of candidates to justify the program’s cost and existence (Creighton & Jones, 2001).  This increases the need for optimal curriculum efficiency rather than effectiveness.

Accountability of teacher preparation and school leadership programs remain an ongoing process (CAEP, 2013).  ).  Typically, students’ evaluation of faculty, pre-admission compared to post-graduation surveys, and the annual state/accreditation council review of the program, produce the data used to ascertain each program’s success.  School leaders identify courses as ineffective because it takes years before graduates actually have a school leadership position.  This causes coursework to become either forgotten or outdated (Bottoms & O’Neill, 2001).  Implementation of processes that develop broader leadership skills in decision-making and problem solving must therefore serve a significant role within school leadership preparation programs (Marzano, Waters, & McNulty, 2005; Short, 1997).

Sanders’ (2010) quantitative study examined the perceptions of professors that focus upon educational leadership in their work within institutes of higher education (IHE).  Specifically, Sanders sought to identify the professors’ understanding of competencies related to emotional intelligence and the extent to which these competencies were being included within their IHE teacher leadership programs.  Left unanswered was whether demonstrated emotional intelligence related to perceptions of an optimal school climate. Maulding et al. (2010) sought clarification of the correlation between the twenty-one leadership behaviors identified by Marzano et al. (2005) and student achievement.  In contrast to findings posited by the Marzano et al. (2005) meta-analysis, the Maulding et al., studies (2010, 2012) clearly indicated a lack of correlation between emotional intelligence of school leaders and student achievement as evidenced by the school’s performance level.

A study by Byron (2001) found educational programs that focus upon emotional intelligence behaviors produced successful outcomes.  Byron (2001) cited the benefits of attending to “the cultures of learning, to the individual's current abilities, propensities, and current conceptions, and to fundamental reorganizations of behavior, not just acceleration and fine-tuning" (Grotzer & Perkins, 2012, p. 510).  However, Mayer and Salovey (1997) cautioned against focusing solely upon one dimension or sub-skill of emotional intelligence.  Any program seeking to develop emotional intelligence skills “should be empirically defensible, measurable, and clear enough to serve as a basis for curriculum development" (Cobb & Mayer, 2000, p. 18).  

Teaching is considered one of the most stressful occupations (Palomera, Fernandez-Berrocal, & Brackett, 2008).  This increases the importance of emotional intelligence skills training because professional development or training in emotional intelligence skills can support teachers’ coping skills within a stressful environment.  Teacher burnout becomes more predictable in relation to stress.

By contrast, teachers exhibiting high emotional intelligence use more positive, well-adapted, coping strategies to deal with different sources of stress at school, thereby feeling greater job satisfaction (Palomera et al., 2008).  Surveyed teachers identified the ability to regulate emotions as indispensable for reaching reach academic goals (Palomera et al., 2008).  Emotional intelligence skills training become essential to mitigate teacher burnout, thereby affecting an educator’s professional longevity, personal satisfaction, and student learning.

Studies involving teaching and learning typically focus upon knowledge, cognition, and skill.  Studies involving teacher beliefs or practices allow researchers to make observable measurements.  Despite this propensity, Hargreaves (2001) emphasized the need to address emotional practices since emotions are embedded within the conditions and interactions of teaching.  Therefore, educator and leadership preparation programs will benefit from including  intentional invitations to increase competence in emotional awareness in the pursuit of realizing full human potential (Purkey & Novak, 2016).

For optimal emotional intelligence development among prospective teachers, Rojas (2012) advocated for three needs:

1.      Development of emotional intelligence begins with a commitment to change.

2.      Application of emotional intelligence learning within environments favorable to emotional intelligence development.

3.      Pursuit of an ideal allows interdependent application of all other emotional intelligence competencies.

Action research projects within capstone courses can assess each program’s measurable outcomes.  Results of program completion need to include competency development in subject matter knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and caring teacher leadership skills.  Course objectives need to align with these three competency areas (CAEP, 2013).  Capstone research courses require that the students identify research questions relevant to their program-based studies, review and analyze important research related to the topic, design an action-research study using qualitative or quantitative methodology, and reflect on the implications of this study to enhance the quality of teaching and leadership.  

Currently, explicit course work in both emotional intelligence behaviors within the workplace and development of school climate based on Invitational Education theory is missing from too many undergraduate teacher preparation and graduate teacher leadership programs.  A moderately strong correlation was found between the demonstration of a leader’s high emotional intelligence behaviors and the perception of a positive school climate (Anderson, 2016).  Therefore, course objectives throughout each undergraduate teacher preparation and graduate leadership program should intentionally invite skill development that advances emotional intelligence competencies to optimize school climate. 

To Cite:

Anderson, C.J. (December 31, 2017) Educator preparation programs need to explicitly develop 
                 emotional intelligence and leadership skills [Web log post] 
                 Retrieved from http://www.ucan-cja.blogspot.com/

References

Anderson, C.J. (2016). A correlational study examining demonstrated emotional

                intelligence and perceptions of school climate. ProQuest 1771637101

Bottoms, G. & O’Neill, K. (2001). Preparing a new breed of school principals: It’s time

               for action. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. 464 388)

Byron, C. M. (2001). The effects of emotional knowledge education in the training of

                novice teachers. (Order No. 3014883, Columbia University Teachers College).

                ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, (251642822).

Cobb, C.D., & Mayer, J.D. (2000). Emotional Intelligence: What the research says.

                Educational Leadership. 58(3). 14-18.

Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (2013). CAEP Accreditation

                Standards. Retrieved from http://caepnet.org/caep-accreditation-standards/

Creighton, T. B. & Jones, G. D. (2001). Selection or self-selection? How rigorous are

          our selection criteria for education administration preparation programs?

         (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. 457557)

Goleman, D., & Boyatzis, R. (2008). Social intelligence and the biology of leadership.

                Harvard Business Review, 86(9), 74–81. Retrieved from:

http://hbr.org/2008/09/social-intelligence-and-the-biology-of-leadership/ar/1

Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R., & McKee, A. (2002). Primal leadership: Realizing the power

        of emotional intelligence. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press

        doi.org/10.1002/hrdq.1063

Grotzer, T. A., & Perkins, D. N. (2012). Teaching intelligence: A performance conception, 492-516. 

           Chapter in Handbook of Intelligence, Sternberg (Ed). NYC, NY: Cambridge University 

           Press. Online ISBN:9780511807947. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511807947.023

Hargreaves, A. (2001, December). Emotional geographies of teaching. Teachers College

           Record, 103(6), 1056-1080. doi.org/10.1111/0161-4681.00142

Marzano, R. J., Waters, T., & McNulty, B. A. (2005). School leadership that works:

                From research to results. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and

Curriculum Development

Maulding, W. S., Peters, G. B., Roberts, J., Leonard, E., & Sparkman, L. (2012).

                Emotional intelligence and resilience as predictors of leadership in school

                administrators. Journal of Leadership Studies, 5(4), 20-29.

                doi.org/10.1002/jls.20240

Maulding, W. S., Townsend, A., Leonard, E., Sparkman, L., Styron, J., & Styron, R. A.

                (2010). The relationship between emotional intelligence of principals and student

                performance in Mississippi public schools. Academic Leadership (15337812),

                8(4), 67.

Mayer, J.D. & Salovey, P. (1997). What is emotional intelligence? In P. Salovey & D.

                Sluyter (Eds.), Emotional development and emotional intelligence: Implications

                for educators. 3-31. New York: Basic Books.

Palomera, R., Fernandez-Berrocal, P., & Brackett, M. A. (2008). Emotional intelligence

                as a basic competency in pre-service teacher training: some 135 evidence.

                Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology, 6(2), 437-454.

Purkey, W. W., & Novak, J. M. (2016). Fundamentals of invitational education.

              (2^nd Ed). International Alliance for Invitational Education. Retrieved from:

              http://invitationaleducation.net/product/category/books

Rojas, M. (2012). The missing link: Emotional intelligence in teacher preparation.

             (Order No. 3495309, Arizona State University). ProQuest Dissertations and

             Theses, 220.

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                leadership programs, as perceived by professors of educational leadership

                (Doctoral Dissertation).

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                72 (2), 86-99. doi.org/10.1207/s15327930pje7202_5

Knowledge of Questioning Strategies Promotes a Classroom That Embraces Higher Order Thinking

An engaged classroom promotes vibrant discussions and active interactions.  This setting promotes higher order thinking skills (HOTS).  The foundation for this environment is the teacher’s ability to plan and implement effective questions that lead not only to answers but to more questions. Questions can be classified by:

                                                        I.            Convergent and divergent,

                                                     II.            Effects of questions upon people,

                                                  III.            Bloom’s taxonomy,

                                                  IV.            Types of questions (Lehnert (1978), and

                                                    V.            According to the purpose of the question.

I.                 I. Convergent and divergent questions:

In theory the perfect convergent (closed-ended) question would have only one answer and the perfect divergent (open-ended) questions would have infinite answers.  However, most question will fall on a continuum between having more than one answer and a finite limit.  In most situations the better question is probably the one that will provide the most answers. For example: if I start a lesson on trees by making an overhead statement to involve the students in a visualization activity I could make the following statements: Close your eyes and imagine a silver maple tree or close your eyes and imagine a tree.  The first statement would probably have few students with mental images of a silver maple tree, but the second would probably have all students with mental images of a tree.  If I were to have them describe their tree, the information would suggest the range of understanding of trees the students have.  Open-ended or divergent questions can be used to encourage greater involvement and provide a more accurate assessment than closed-ended or convergent questions.

Convergent questions (closed) have direct answers (What is 2 + 2?). They are generally used to focus on something. For example:

• What is your name?
• What is in that container? 
• What are you doing? 
• What is three groups of four? 
• What kind of animal has six legs?
• What is the last book you read?

Divergent questions (open-ended) have indirect answers (How can we use this battery?).  They are generally used to try and encourage a number of answers and lead to critical thinking, creativity, and problem solving. For example:

• What does the name Miranda make you think about? 
• What could you put in the container? 
• What else could you be doing? 
• What different representations can be made for three groups of four? 
• If we go outside and find an animal with six legs, what will it look like? 
• How were the last two books you read different?

II.               II.  Effects a question has on the person answering the question.

Cognitive opportunity to gain information or understanding

Affective or emotional cost or benefits related to the question and attempts to answer it.

Focusing attention or expanding attention or distracting the students' attention.

Stimulating more questions or answers: A convergent question is less stimulating than a divergent question because divergent questions have many answers.

Difficulty related to the complexity of the question’s syntax, sophistication of information needed to answer the question, the difficulty of the process needed to answer it, students’ interest, and ability.

Motivation related to the need of the question to be answered by the individual. Is it their question?  Are they curious?  What is the duration of curiosity?  Curiosity increases when the individual believes they can find a solution, should know a solution, need to know a solution, and want to know a solution.

Ability of the student to process the question:  Variables which affect this are the student’s ability, interest, developmental level, background, resources available, time, and community mores.  If a question can’t be answered should it be asked?

III.              I I I. Bloom’s taxonomy:

Can be used to classify the type of question as to the level of cognition that is required to arrive at an answer (see handout) and the affective response the person may have as a result of it.  Bloom’s taxonomy can be used to guide an inductive and deductive investigation.  If students start with questions from the knowledge level, answer those questions, then ask questions from the comprehension level, answer those, and continue up the hierarchy to evaluation that would be an inductive inquiry.  Conversely if they start with an evaluation question, answer it, then ask a synthesis question, answer it, and proceed down the hierarchy it would be a deductive inquiry.  This does not mean that the hierarchy needs to be moved along in a linear fashion.  It could be used to evaluate a series of questions to see if other questions could be formulated to provide a more detailed analysis of a topic.

Knowledge questions.

• Where are the major fishing grounds?
• What is the quantity of fish caught?
• Where are the major whales?
• What do the major whales eat?

Comprehension questions.

• What are some reasons why fish are plentiful in these regions?
• What relationship is there to fish and whales?

Application questions.

• If you went fishing where would you fish?
• If you were a whale where would you fish?

Analysis questions.

• What are the characteristics of a good fishing place?
• What are the environmental factors for whale survival?
• What trends are there in fish populations?
• What trends are there in whale populations?

Synthesis questions.

• What needs to be done to maintain the fish population?
• What needs to be done to maintain the whale population?

Evaluation questions. Simple evaluation questions which can be answered with a yes or no need to have follow-up questions which ask the student to give reasons for their decision or consequences of the decision.  As students begin to write reasons and list consequences new questions at different levels will arise and need to be answered.  For example many students would think that all whaling should be stopped.  However, they may ask the question, "Who is whaling?" (comprehension).  The answer of Japan, Eskimo cultures, and Norwegian cities will lead to higher level questions and probably to an evaluation of should any or all of these continue?

• Should something be done to maintain the fish population?
• Should something be done to maintain the whale population?

IV. Types of questions have been classified by Lehnert (1978) according to the first word of the question.

A. Questions beginning with what, when, where, why, who, and which.  Most of the time these questions are divergent (open-ended).

     1. “What questions” ask for a determination of cause, judgment, and properties.  What caused something to happen (antecedent)?  What did something cause to happen (consequence)?  What enabled something to happen?  What opinion does a person have for an action (judge)?  What are the properties of an object or concept?

     2. “Why questions” ask for goals, expectations, and requests.  Why did you do that?  Why don’t you do this?

     3. “Where questions” ask for location or process.  Where is it?  Where would you begin to solve it?

     4. “Which questions” ask for identification of a person, place, event, or object.

     5. “When questions” ask for time of an event or process.  When was he born?  When do you capitalize nouns?

     6. “Who questions” ask to identify a person or group of people.  Who was the first person on the moon?  Who should be elected for class president.

B. Questions beginning with how and have.

     1. “How questions” ask for a procedure and quantity.  How would you solve this problem?  How much do you have?

     2. “Have questions” ask for yes and no responses.

C. “I questions” begin with 'is'.  They ask for verification, permission, and clarification.  Is this the answer?  Is it all right for me to go?  Is this the way to solve the problem?

V. According to the purpose of the question.

Categories such as:

•        Factual questions: Used to get information.  Usually started with what, where, when, why, who, and how.
•         Explanatory questions: Used to get reasons, explanations, broaden discussion, get additional information.  Such as: What other aspects are related to this issue?  Should you consider...?
•         Justifying / Probing questions: Used to challenge old ideas, develop new ideas, and to get reasoning, and proof.  Such as: Why do you think so?  How do you know?
•         Leading questions: to introduce new ideas, and advance ideas. Such as: Should we consider this?
•      Hypothetical questions: Used to infer what if, and if this, then what?
•      Decisional questions: Used to make decisions between alternatives, to get agreement, and to move the discussion along or close it.

An effective classroom that exhibits cooperative learning, high expectations, and utilization of higher order thinking skills (HOTS) does not occur by happenstance.  Effective classrooms plan for success.  A foundation of planning for academic success is having awareness of question approaches and willingness to implement diverse questioning strategies. Ideally, this article increased awareness, elevated knowledge, and promoted willingness to plan for increased academic success!   

To cite:

Anderson, C.J. (March 31, 2017) Knowledge of questioning strategies promotes a classroom that embraces 
                higher order thinking.  [Web log post]  Retrieved from http://www.ucan-cja.blogspot.com/

Reference:

Sweetland R, (n.d.) Ways to classify questions. Retrieved from

                http://www.huntel.net/rsweetland/pedagogy/teach/question/classify.html Revised by Anderson (2012)