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DQ Notebook - Best Practices Share

Adriane Musacchio

Hi Everyone! 

I love starting and ending my units with the infamous DQ (Driving Question) Notebooks. I am curious to hear from other folks who have used this tool in the past or maybe plan on using it this upcoming school year. How do you use this tool in your classroom? 

I typically spend two full lessons on the DQ Notebook in my classroom. One at the start of the unit and one at the end of the unit. Here's how I roll it out in my classroom:

  • In the beginning of the Unit before students have learned anything, I have them write an answer to the Driving Question for 10 minutes.
  • We then set discussion goals with one another.
  • Then, use the remainder of the period (30 or so minutes) to have an open discussion.
  • For the last five minutes, students are welcome to add to their writing based on the discussion had in class that day. 
  • At the end of the Unit, we repeat this process and add in the bit about how our thinking has evolved and/or changed. 

These discussions are really magical by the time we get to the second half of the year. We sometimes have to work through some awkward silence in our first couple of DQ discussions. But, it is all worth it by the end of the year when students are pretty much running the discussions all on their own. Here's an example of some of the discussion goals we have come up with in the past: 

    

Parents

  • I totally relate with the awkward silence at the start of the year! It takes students a while to get a good class dynamic going, and even once they do have one it seems to go right out the window when it comes to discussions like these. I tell my classes that yes, we will actually sit here in awkward silence for as long as it takes. Do you always do the discussions as a whole class or do you sometimes alternate with small groups?

  • in reply to Andrea Wong

     Agreed! I will say- what does help is the accountability portion as well. I tend to give a DQ discussion grade after we engage in one of these discussions. I grade them based on the goals they set as a class. But, it took me a couple of goes at it to recognize that grading a class of 30-34 students for verbal participation really is not so equitable. If the students take notes during the discussion and share their responses to their peers' thinking on paper, I also count that for credit. 

    You bring up a great point about small group v. full class. Last year, when we came back from being fully remote. I started these DQ discussions in small groups only. Then we built our way up to full class. This year I kind of just leapt right into the full class discussions, but was faced with a lot more awkward silence at the start of the year. Starting small and then expanding to full class can be a nice differentiation tool! When things get silent for a bit too long, I sometimes jump into the discussion and ask them to turn and talk for a few minutes and then return to full class discussion mode. 

    Fishbowl discussion mode could also work for this too! 

  • in reply to Adriane Musacchio

    Thanks,  for sharing the progression of how you have used your discussion methods. I really like that students helped to create the norms and goals. I have given such "requiremnts" for discussions before, but I agree that it is much more meaningful when students can come to those decisions through their own deliberation.

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