The Power of Questions: List of "happenings" in the classroom

After completing the first three chapters in The Power of Questions, I kept a journal of the "happenings" in the classroom that bothered me, that interested me, and those that excited me.

Events that Bothered Me

• A student with a significant speech and language disorder continues to struggle with simple directions, social situations, and most academic information, even after several attempts at various intervention strategies.  How can I really and truly help this student when her test scores are not quite low enough to qualify her for further special education services?
• I am struggling with finding time to meet with each of my guided reading groups daily and would like to create a schedule so that my lower-level reading groups are getting the time that they need to make progress.
• I have been working daily on implementing the Daily Five pieces for use in guided reading.  When we practice these pieces as a class, everything goes smoothly.  However, when we break into guided reading groups, I notice a significant number of behaviors occurring.  How can I enhance independence without interrupting each behavior?
• When analyzing the weekly student surveys I give regarding feelings about certain parts of the school day, I notice a pattern of very low feelings happening on the bus.  I question how I can help to improve these feelings when I am not there.

Events that Interest Me

• I notice that my lower readers are able to get 100% consistently on their spelling tests and am wondering how I can transfer these skills to reading and writing.
• I have a Chinese ELL student who is very advanced academically.  However, she lacks the skills necessary for problem-solving academically when she does not know an answer, and also in social situations with other students.  I am wondering if and how I can take a step backwards to help her gain these skills.   

Events that Excite Me

• I notice a particular group of students really trying hard to help others all the time, but not for recognition, just because they want to!
• Our new reading series allows for all students to have a voice, as we are all reading books about the same topic. I have been impressed by the connections that students have made with each other and also connections with background experiences that they have had.  I wonder how I can help other students make connections who have less extensive background knowledge.
• We practice handwriting through the introduction of our spelling words, and I've noticed that some students have really improved even just after a few times.  I question how I can help other students transfer these skills with a lack of time in our schedule to spend more time on handwriting.

**Please find my specific questions about these "happenings" underneath the applicable strands.**

Six Hats

White Hat: sharing the facts and figures
Red Hat: expressing feeling and emotion

When completing the reading for this month about the white and red hats, I will admit that I was a bit skeptical about the usage of this method.  I wondered how effective it would be if members of a meeting were constantly saying, "Put on your red hat," or "Let's use our white hat thinking."  However, when I applied it to my own problem, it started to become more clear.

The problem I chose to address with a coworker for our assignment is one that I feel very passionately about.  Unfortunately, I feel that I play the role of the "Pleaser" that Randy Fujishin discusses in Creating Effective Groups: The Art of Small Group Communication.  In most cases, I would rather avoid conflict at any cost than really fight for my own opinion.  Overall, I have never been very opinionated, but I know that learning to communicate my needs and opinions effectively would impact my life very positively.  When I worked through this difficult situation with a coworker using both my white and red hat, I realized that when using them together, I could communicate this problem without being totally confrontational.

I think that reading about each of the last four hats more in depth will help me to become a more effective communicator.  Sometimes problem solving is prevented due to lack of skills in interaction and/or processing. However, I think that the way in which the hats are used and the order in which they are presented could really help with organizing problem-solving methods.

Thus far, I have really only reflected on how I can use the hats to overcome my own problems, or how I can use them in my classroom to help the class come up with a solution to a problem.  With more information on the other hats, I hope to be reflect more on how they can be used in large group discussions, such as grade-level or staff meetings.