Questioning PDMs. Stahl & Ms. LynchJanuary 30, 2012

EQ: What makes a ‘good’ EQ ‘great’?

Literacy Team Goal: To evaluate and analyze the types of questions we ask in class (essential, focus, pivotal) based on Bloom’s Taxonomy to ensure that our questions promote higher level thinking among our students.

Rationale/Supporting Data/Research:

Wiggins & McTighe, Understanding By Design

Social Education 72(6), pp 326–329, 2008 National Council for the Social StudiesJune 2011, August 2011, and January 2012 Regents Scholarship Data

Text Based Discussion (Final Word Protocol)

Purpose: To use research-based literature to discuss and explore the role that Essential Questions play in the classroom in order to gauge a deeper understanding of a topic.

Time: Approximately 30 minutes in groups of 4

Protocol:

Step 1: Sit in a circle and identify one time keeper/facilitator

Step 2: Each member of the group takes 5-7 minutes to review the article that was read the night before. Each person needs to identify one of the “most” significant ideas from the text--underlined or highlighted in the article. It is often helpful to identify a “back up” quote as well. Please keep in mind the following pivotal questions when choosing your quote:

How does the article relate to my content?How does the article relate to my teaching practice and philosophy of education? What are some key components of an EQ? Why?

Protocol cont.Step Three (Go-Around): The first person begins by reading his/her quote from the article. In less than 3 minutes the person describes why the quote struck him/her. For example, why do does she/he agree/disagree? What issue does it raise for him/her? What are you wondering about in relation to the quote?Step Four (Response): Continuing around the circle, each person responds to that quote and what the presenter said. Briefly in less than a minute. The purpose of this response is to:

Expand on the presenter’s thinking.Provide a different lens or interpretation of the quote. Clarify the presenter’s thinking. Question the presenter.

Step Five (Last Word): The presenter reflects on all that s/he has heard, and comments on any new insights or opportunities that have arisen in one minute of less. Step Six: Continue until all members of the group have shared. Step Seven (Debrief): How can we apply this to our future work?

Benjamin Bloom’s Taxonomy and

Essential Questions Bloom’s Taxonomy (1956) is a classification of learning objectives that educators set for their studentsBloom’s Taxonomy divides education objectives into three “domains”: Cognitive, Affective, and Psychomotor (sometimes described as knowing/head, feeling/heart, doing/hands)Within the domains, learning at higher levels is dependent on having attained prerequisite knowledge and skills at lower levelsThe goal of Bloom’s Taxonomy is to motivate educators to focus on all three domains, creating a holistic learning environment

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Bloom’s Taxonomy: Question StartersKNOWLEDGE • remembering; • memorizing; • recognizing; • recalling identification and • recall of information

• Who, what, when, where, how ...?

• Describe

COMPREHENSION • interpreting; • translating from one medium

to another; • describing in one's own words; • organization and selection of

facts and ideas • Retell...

APPLICATION • problem solving; • applying information to

produce some result; • use of facts, rules and

principles • How is...an example of...? • How is...related to...? • Why is...significant?

ANALYSIS • subdividing something to show how it is put

together; • finding the underlying structure of a

communication; • identifying motives; • separation of a whole into component parts

• What are the parts or features of...? • Classify...according to... • Outline/diagram... • How does...compare/contrast with...? • What evidence can you list for...?

SYNTHESIS • creating a unique, original product that may

be in verbal form or may be a physical object;

• combination of ideas to form a new whole • What would you predict/infer from...? • What ideas can you add to...? • How would you create/design a new...? • What might happen if you combined...? • What solutions would you suggest for...?

EVALUATION • making value decisions about issues; • resolving controversies or differences of

opinion; • development of opinions, judgments or

decisions • Do you agree...? • What do you think about...? • What is the most important...? • Place the following in order of priority... • How would you decide about...? • What criteria would you use to assess...?

Excerpts From the FieldGood questions “are ones that pose dilemmas, subvert obvious or canonical ‘truths,’ or force incongruities upon our attention.”

-Quoted in Understanding by Design, Wiggins & McTighe, 127

Excerpts From the Field“The use of questions as a curricular framework is, of course, not new. Socrates used it, asking questions such as ‘What is virtue?’ ‘What is justice?’ and ‘What is good?.’ In Socratic Circles: Fostering Critical and Creative Thinking in Middle and High School, Matt Copeland (2005) summarizes ‘Socratic Questioning’ as a means of using 

..questioning to bring forward already held ideas in the students’ minds, to make them more aware and cognizant of the learning and understanding that has already occurred…Socratic questioning is a systematic process for examining the ideas, questions, and answers that form the basis of human belief. It involves recognizing that all new understanding is linked to prior understanding, that thought itself is a continuous thread woven through our lives rather than isolated sets of questions and answers. (6) -Jim Burke, What’s the Big Idea?, 1

Excerpts From the Field“Instead of thinking of content as stuff to be covered, consider knowledge and skill as the means of address questions central to understanding key issues in your subject…For example, if a content standard calls for students to learn about three branches of government, then a questions such as ‘How might a government guard against abuses of power?’ helps stimulate student thinking about why we need checks and balances, what the framers of the Constitution were trying to achieve, and other governmental approaches to balancing power.”

-Wiggins & McTighe, Understanding by Design,107

Excerpts From the Field“ ‘Higher-level’ questions produce deeper learning than ‘lower-level’ questions (113), especially when used ‘before a learning experience to establish a ‘mental set’ with which students process the learning experience’ (140)”

-Quoted in Jim Burke’s What’s the Big Idea?: Question-Driven Units to Motivate Reading, Writing, and Thinking, 2

Excerpts From the FieldMartin Nystrand (1997) and his colleagues conducted hundreds of observations in eighth and ninth-grade English classes finding that,

Good discourse facilitates learning…Wittrock (1990;Wittrock & Alesandrini, 1990) shows that students’ retention of new information is enhanced when they are able to relate it to their personal experience and especially when they do so in their own words…Discussion and interactive discourse promote learning because they elicit relatively sustained responses from students. By helping students weave various bits and pieces of information into coherent webs of meaning, dialogically organized instruction promotes retention and in-depth processing associated with the cognitive manipulation of information. -Martin Nystrand, Opening Dialogue: Understanding the Dynamics of Language andLearning in the English Classroom ,28

Excerpts From the Field “Generally, college faculty who participated in our study have concerns about the habits of mind of their first-year students. Among the narrative comments, we find assertions that students ‘are mire diligent than in the past, but less able to tackle difficult questions, and much less curious’; ‘students today seem unwilling to engage in the hard work of thinking, analyzing, unless it is directed to their most immediate interests’; ‘students overemphasize the skill dimension of the discipline, and ignore the communication dimension.’

–Jim Burke, What’s the Big Idea?: Question-Driven Units to Motivate Reading, Writing, and Thinking, 5

Essential Question Performance Criteria Step One: Research to support (evidence)

-Refer to websites -Refer to Understanding by Design

-Use prior knowledgeStep Two: Create Criteria (see template)

Step Three: Electronic Gallery Walk -What are the commonalities and differences

between the criteria we have chosen?

Assessing the Essential Question Step One: Assess/Analyze our EQ’s using AoIT criteria & Test the criteria

-Each group will receive 3 EQs that AoIT teachers are currently using in their classrooms  

Step Two: Revise EQ’s/criteria based on this process

Wrap Up/Reflect What are our next steps?

 Where are we now and where do we want to be by June?

How can your revise your upcoming EQ?

Lunch: 12-12:45

Criteria Underdeveloped Developing

Effective Highly Effective

Activates prior knowledge

Stimulates students to answer the question independently

Should be able to be revisited throughout the year(s)

Has multiple answers

Connects to personal experiences

Inter-disciplinary/Cross-curricular

Accessible to all students

Allows students to explore different perspectives Debatable with proper evidence

Vocabulary is direct and accessible

Vocabulary and phrasing challenges students

Relates directly with Common-Core Standards

Essential Questions from Wiggins and

McTigheIn what ways is algebra real and in what ways is it unreal?What makes writing worth reading?What is the difference between a scientific fact, a scientific theory, and a strong opinion?How precise must we be?To what extent does art reflect culture or shape it?Must a story have a beginning, a middle, and an end?

To what extent is U.S. history a history of progress?Who is a “winner” in athletics?What makes a mathematical argument convincing?Is art a matter of taste or principles?Is science compatible with religion?What is healthful eating?To what extent is DNA destiny?Is everything quantifiable?

Essential, Focus, and Pivotal Questions:

Making the ConnectionGoals:

-Putting it all together and making the big connection. -Modeling good questioning.  -Define our questioning terms.  -Standardizing questioning and lesson planning at AoIT.

Questioning Umbrella

Questioning Umbrella Defined

Questioning UmbrellaExample

Questioning Examples: Using Bloom’s

TaxonomyEssential Question: Who decides what is right and wrong?  

FQ: How can we effectively debate what we believe is right and wrong? 

Pivotal Questions:

• Think about a time in your life that you made the wrong decision. What was this decision? Why was it wrong? And, how did it make you feel? (Level I,II)

• How can I establish valid arguments for what I believe in? (Level I, III if they will apply it)

• How did you feel as someone sitting outside of the fishbowl? What about as someone on the inside? (Level I)

• When someone said something that you did not agree with how did you react? (Level I)

• What did today’s activity teach you about yourself and your own individual ‘moral compasses? Did any of your morals, values, and or views change or develop? Explain. (Level IV, Level V, Level VI)

• Did you always agree with what your group members believed in? How similar/different was your “Moral Compass” to the others? Explain. Give examples. (Level IV, Level V, Level VI)

Lesson Plan AnalysisStep One: Watch video of teacher and take low inference notes on the questions the teacher asks. (10 min)

 Step Two: Categorize questions using the Bloom’s Taxonomy graphic organizer and assess teacher using the Charlotte Danielson rubric. (5 min)

 Step Three: Group Discussion. (15 min)

Perfecting our EQ’s, PQ’s, and FQ’s

Task: Chose one teacher to share his/her unit/lesson plan. Using what you learned today revise the lesson/unit incorporating EQ’s, FQ’s, and PQ’s.Presentation of revised EQ and Lesson Plan using PQs and FQs.

Silent DiscussionThis is a great way to get hesitant students to participate in a discussion. This written activity is a wonderful lead-in to a whole class discussion.In groups, each member begins with a different prompt written on a sheet of paper—this could be a quote, question, provocative statement, or picture.Group members respond to the prompt on their paper, writing down their response, answer, or questions the prompt elicits. After 2-3 minutes the paper will be passed to the left and the next group member must respond to what their peer has written. This process continues until all group members have responded to all prompts.Group members are encouraged to write the whole time! Try your best to respond to ALL responses, and not the prompt itself.