Michael Parker

MUED 380
Jesse Rathgeber
9/29/16
Allsup & Baxter Better Questions? Better Discussions! Reponse
1) Discuss your understanding of open, guided, and closed questions. For
each type of question, give a brief definition and two examples questions
(six in total) that you might have asked during your past three in-class peer
teachings (e.g. coordinated movement, pattern movement, and song
teaching).
The three types of questioning highlighted in this article conveniently
build upon one another in a cyclical manner and are crucial to develop a
students fullest understanding of the content.
Open questions do not have a definitive answer but rather ask the
opinions of the students pertaining to the music they have listened
to/are performing. This line of questioning allows teachers to best
assess the original trains of thought for each student and can help to
tailor a lesson plan towards aspects that students may need to
consider more. Some examples of open questions in a music
classroom are:
o What did you like about the movement with the song?
o If you could right a sequel piece of music to this one, what
would you do?
Guided questions help direct students towards more specific
musical aspects or goals but allows them, quite frequently, the
freedom to think and answer in a still opinion-based manner. Some
examples of guides questions are:
o Which instruments gave this piece an African sound?
o What changed in the music to make us change our
movements?
- Closed questions have a specific right or wrong answer and help
students label the musical aspects that they hear. While these
questions are helpful, they should be used after other lines of
questioning have been used to open students minds to the music,
first. Some examples of closed questions are:
o What is the meter of this piece?
o What is the general chord progression behind this song?
2) Discuss your understanding of analytical, judicial, and creative question
frameworks. For each framework, give a brief definition and generate one

question (three in total) that you might have asked in your song teaching
from 9/22.
As with the three lines of questioning, these three frameworks build
upon one another and can work in a cyclical manner to help students gain a
deeper understanding of the music.
The analytical framework focuses the students attention on specific
musical aspects and help them to practice musical vocabulary. This
frame helps students see how different musical aspects connect to
each other and their role within a piece of music. An example of an
analytical question would be:
o What type of articulation was the singer using?
The judicial framework challenges students to make decisions about
the music and express opinions. This line of questioning allows
students to apply previously gained knowledge, discuss these ideas,
and form and change opinions on the music. An example of a judicial
question would be:
o What was your favorite part of the melody and why?
- Finally, the creative framework gives students the most freedom in
answering because they are now forming original ideas rather than just
opinions. This frame can often be overlooked in upper-level music
classrooms, (particularly repertoire-based ensembles); however, this is
one of the most important aspects of music to incorporate to help
students grow as musicians. As example of a creative question would
be:
o What can you change about this piece to make it more
meaningful for you?
3) According to the Allsup & Baxter as well as your based on your own
developing thoughts about teaching, why would you want to use questioning
in your teaching rather than only relying on direct instruction? How might
questioning be problematic in your teaching?
Questioning allows us to hear what our students are thinking. If we
wish to design a truly student-centered curriculum, we must ask them
questions so that we may know what are students are capable of and upon
what they may need to improve. Hearing other students share ideas is also
oftentimes the catalyst that some students need in order to access deeper
levels of thinking, which can work in a cyclical manner.
It is often said that this form of teaching, or a Socratic seminar can
be one of the most difficult but rewarding forms of teaching. At times, our
questions to students may be too vague or generalized for them to give an

answer to, in which case we can then back up and ask simpler questions that
will guide them to the answers of more difficult ones. We must also make
sure that we have equipped our students with the necessary skills and
knowledge to be able to listen to the music and answer the questions
accurately and honestly.
4) Conceptualizing your upcoming short song teaching, how might this
article specifically impact how you design and lead the experience? What are
your main takeaways that you can apply to this upcoming teaching
assignment?
Incorporating this style of teaching into not only this upcoming
teaching but also any future teachings will help our students gain the most
out of their musical learning experiences. For example, I now know that I will
think ahead even more to potential issues that students might face in
listening to or learning a song and include specific guided questions that
direct them to have more concrete answers. I also really appreciated
Pogonowskis framework for critical listening. I can often forget to
incorporate all of these aspects into a lesson plan, and now that I have labels
for each of the levels, I will be more conscious of them and will be able to
better incorporate them into lesson plans.