Card

Parking Lot

This instructional strategy allows participants to “park” questions for later resolution.

Parking Lot

Summary

A poster is placed in a strategic place in the classroom where students can leave questions that are off-topic or semi-related to classroom discussion for later resolution. When time allows, the teacher spends a few minutes answering questions from the Parking Lot for the class.

Procedure

A poster labeled "Parking Lot" is placed in a visible place in the classroom, or a section of the board is reserved for this purpose.
Explain the concept of the Parking Lot to students.
When a question arises that is inappropriate for the current discussion, the student with the question writes it on a sticky note and discreetly attaches it to the Parking Lot.
Parking Lot questions are answered by the teacher (or discussed by the class) when time allows.
Optional Technology Integration: Students may use a video device to create a recording of their questions. These recorded responses could be published in a secure location such as Google Classroom, a private or unlisted class YouTube channel, or a class blog for the teacher and/or classmates to provide feedback.