QFT stands for Question Formulation Technique. It requires students to generate and prioritize their own questions about a topic.
Today we are working on our first QFT for the year. For many of my third graders this is the first time they will have experienced the strategy so it will be highly scaffolded over the course of the year and this time will be heavy with teacher support.
For today we are just reviewing the rules for generating questions:
1. Ask as many questions as you can
2. Do not stop to judge, answer, or discuss the questions
3. Write down every questions exactly as it is stated
4. Change any statement into a question
After using this technique with my students last year, I find number two, to be the MOST challenging step in the process. It is so hard not to want to praise and reward a student for generating a "good" question. Judging in a positive manner should not occur either.
Normally I like to have students create their questions in a shared Google Doc but we don't get our chromebooks until this afternoon and we are on a time crunch for this lesson (it will be part of a bigger lesson involving bills and laws) we will have to record questions the "old fashioned" way on pencil and paper.
So today we will review our rules for generating a question and students will generate questions based on the following focus statement:
"Rules are important for communities to run successfully."
Simple. Next time we complete a QFT we will move further into the process.
Check back for a blog post with more detailed comments on how to facilitate a QFT in your classroom.
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