QuestioningTeacher provides focused feedback

and questions to students that :

Activate prior knowledge Probe students’ conceptual

understanding Lead to deeper understanding

What do you know about questioning techniques?

Give one, get one: 2 minutes to think, 2 minutes to share

• Under “Give one” write:– What do you know about questioning

strategies?– What problems do you have with questioning

in your classroom?

• Under “Get one” write two new things you learn from two other partners.

Why Questioning Matters:

• Instruction which includes posing questions during lessons is more effective in producing achievement gains than instruction carried out without questioning students.

• Oral questions posed during classroom recitations are more effective in fostering learning than are written questions.

• Questions which focus student attention on the most important points of the lesson result in better comprehension than questions which do not.

• Questioning makes student thinking visible and provides immediate feedback to the teacher.

Question their background knowledge first!

• Guide students from the known to the unknown• Use cues, questions, and organizers to set the

stage for learning• Before new knowledge can be incorporated into

student’s existing schema, the schema must be activated

• Start by asking what students already know• Focus on content that is most important, not on

what students will find most interesting (hopefully you can make important content interesting!)

• You can discover and clear up misconceptions by taking time to ask questions before you begin a unit of study!

Hook their interest! Make questions an “itch”, not a “scratch”

• Odd fact, anomaly, counterintuitive example• Provocative entry question• Mystery• Challenge• Problem or issue• Experiment—predict outcome• Role-play or simulation• Personal experiences• Emotional connection• Humor

Making Hooks “hookier”:

• How does a peer group influence the beliefs and actions of early adolescents?

• Was Gorbachev a hero or a traitor to this country?

• How do the structure and behavior patterns of insects help them survive?

• Who do some people act stupid when they are in groups?

• Who blew it?

• What good is a bug?

The goal in design is neither to pander to the students’ likes nor to cause them to fear bad results. The design challenge is to tap intrinsic motivation more effectively. As Bruner put it long ago, “The best way to create interest in a subject is to render it worth knowing, which means to make the knowledge gained usable in one’s thinking beyond the situation in which learning has occurred.”

Understanding by DesignWiggins & McTighe

Today’s Essential Question

• How do students benefit when questioning is used as an instructional strategy?

• How can teachers improve the use of questioning strategies?

• If students don’t like answering questions why should we ask them?

• How can I get my students to answer questions without violating the Geneva Convention?

“Fat” v. “Skinny” Questions

“Fat” Questions• Higher cognitive questions

– require students to take knowledge and/or skills they have learned and manipulate that information to create an answer or to support an answer with logically reasoned evidence.

• “Fat” questions are also called – Open ended (no definite answer)– Interpretive– Evaluative– Inquiry– Inferential– Synthesis

“Skinny” Questions

• Lower Cognitive questions– Recall verbatim or in student’s own words

material previously read or taught by the teacher

– “Skinny” questions are also called:• Fact• Closed (only one right answer)• Direct• Recall• Knowledge

What kind of question is used

most?

• 60% lower cognitive

• 20% higher cognitive

• 20% procedural

Should All questions be “Fat”?

• “Skinny” question more effective when teacher wants to give factual knowledge and help students commit those facts to memory

• If using “skinny” question, level of difficulty should elicit correct responses

• In classes above primary level, a mix of “fat” and “skinny” questions is superior to exclusive use of one or the other.

Benefits of Higher Cognitive Questions:• Using more than 20% produces superior

learning gains for secondary students• Using 50%+ increases:

– On-task behavior– Length of student responses– Number of relevant contributions volunteered by students– Number of student-to-student interactions– Student use of complete sentences– Speculative thinking on the part of students– Relevant questions posed by students– Teacher expectations about student abilities, especially for

students regarded as slow or poor learners

Teach students to write different Levels of Questions:

In the text:• Right there!: You can put your finger on the

place in the text where the answer is found.• Pulling it together: You have to put the answer

together using different parts of the text.In my mind:• On my own: The answer is not in the text, but

reading the text will help you know how to answer.

• Author & me: You have to answer by combining what you find in the text with what you already know. (For more advanced students)

Concept Question Chain

• Select an important concept or theme from text• Write a chain of questions about this concept of

theme that include:– Right there– Think and Search– On My Own

• After students have read and written answers, lead a discussion of the questions.

• Follow up with a performance task that demonstrates their understanding.

Discussion Web

• Students read and think individually• Students compare thinking with a partner• Partners pair up with another set of

partners and groups of four compare thinking and discuss.

• Call on a spokesperson from each group to share the group’s thinking

• Open topic up for further discussion whole group

Discussion Web

Reasons

Conclusion

No YesWas it all right for Jack to take things from the giant’s castle?

Made giant mad

Wrong to steal, go to jail

Giant had possession of his stuff

Jack got trapped

Didn’t ask permission

Really Jack’s things anyway

Giant was mean

Jack didn’t think he was stealing

He’d be richer

He & his mother had nothing left

Questioning techniques• Knowledge: Eliciting factual answers,

testing recall and recognition• Comprehension: translating interpreting,

and extrapolating• Application: to situations that are new,

unfamiliar, or have a new slant for students

• Analysis: breaking down into parts, forms• Synthesis: Combining elements into a

pattern not clearly there before• Evaluation: According to some set

criteria and state why

Knowledge• What do you remember about . . . ?• How would you define . . .?• How would you identify . . .?• How would you recognize . . .?• Describe what happens when . . .?• How? Where? Who? Why? What? When?

Stop and write a knowledge question you could use in tomorrow’s lesson.

Comprehension• How would you compare …? Contrast…?• How would you clarify the meaning…?• How would you differentiate between…?• How would you generalize…?• How would you express…?• What can you infer from…?• What did you observe…?• How would you identify…?• Elaborate…?• What would happen if…?

Stop and write a comprehension question you could use in tomorrow’s lesson.

Application• What actions would you take to perform…?

• How would you develop…to present…?

• What other way would you choose to…?

• What would the result be if…?

• How would you demonstrate…?

• How would you present…?

• How would you change….?

• How would you modify…?

• How could you develop….?

• Why does… work?

Stop and write an application question you could use in tomorrow’s lesson.

Analysis• How can you classify…according to…?• How can you compare the different parts…?• What explanation do you have for…?• How is…connected to…?• Discuss the pros and cons of ….• How can you sort the parts….?• What is your analysis of …?• What can you infer …?• What ideas validate…?• How would you explain…?• What can you point out about …?

Stop and write an analysis question you could use in tomorrow’s lesson.

Synthesis• What alternative would you suggest for…?• What changes would you make to revise…?• How would you explain the reason…?• How would you generate a plan to…?• What could you invent…?• What facts can you gather…?• Predict the outcome if…?• What would happen if…?• How would you portray…?• Devise a way to…• How would you compile the facts for…?

Stop and write a synthesis question you could use in tomorrow’s lesson.

Evaluation• What criteria would you use to assess…?• What data was used to evaluate….?• What choice would you have made….?• How would you determine the facts….?• What is the most important….?• What would you suggest….?• How would you grade….?• What is your opinion of….?• How could you verify….?• What information would you use to prioritize…?• Rate the …

Stop and write an evaluation question you could use in tomorrow’s lesson.

Another way to classify questions:

Core questions• Cue, direct thought &

experience• Focus on:

– Observation– Recall– Compare/contrast– Grouping – Labeling– Classifying– Predicting– Sequencing– Inferring

Processing questions• Narrow focus of

discussion• Elicit a variety of

responses from different students

• Let students give evidence for their ideas

• Help students create relationships between ideas and evidence

Wait-time

• Average wait time teachers allow after posing a question is one second or less

• Students whom teachers perceive as slow or poor learners are given less wait-time than students teachers perceive as more capable

• For lower cognitive questions successful wait time is 3 seconds

• For higher cognitive questions the more wait time teachers give, the more engaged students become and the better they perform

For students, 3+ seconds wait time :• Improves achievement• Improves retention• Increases number of higher cognitive responses• Increases length of responses• Increases number of unsolicited responses• Decreases failure to respond• Increases amount of quality evidence used to

support inferences• Expands variety of responses• Increases student-to-student interactions• Increases number of questions posed by students

And for teachers, 3+ second wait time:

• Increases flexibility of teacher responses (teachers listen more and engage students in more discussions)

• Increases expectations for students usually perceived as slow

• Expands the variety of questions asked

• Increases number of higher cognitive questions asked

How to respond to student answers:

• Use student responses to form your next question and narrow the focus of the discussion

• Probing questions help you know how deeply the student is thinking

• Teacher redirection and probing help student achievement when they focus on clarity, accuracy, plausibility of student responses.

How do students feel about questions?

• Generally fear them, which stops learning

• We usually only ask a 2nd question when the first response was wrong = students have an aversion to the 2nd question

• If redirection/probing are vague or critical (“That’s not right; try again”; “Where did you get an idea like that?”) students may not continue to respond and achievement does not improve.

Your response to their answers will determine whether or not they

continue to answer!• Acknowledge correct responses

• Listen carefully to student responses!

• Praise of student responses should be sincere and credible and should be used sparingly.

• Establish community where all answers are accepted as a gift – model this for your students

Teach students how to state their opinions – civic

discourse• I think, I feel, I believe . . .

• Support with reasons, facts, details

• Use reasonable tone of voice – good manners

Don’t Forget:• Ask questions that focus on most important

elements of the lesson• Ask questions before and after material is read

and studied• Scaffold lower ability students: ask lower

cognitive questions, gradually transitioning to higher cognitive questions. Ensure student success during questioning experiences.

• Teach students strategies for making inferences.• 3 seconds for lower cognitive questions• More than 3 seconds for higher cognitive

questions• Allow generous wait time for lower ability

students

Teaching inference making

• Model first– Ask an inference question– Answer it– Find clues in the text to support the inference– Tell how to get from the clues to the answer

• Have students practice with simple text

• Gradually have students make inferences with more difficult text

Use the WASL stems document to help you know what kinds of

questions students will need to handle on the WASL

• http://www.k12.wa.us/assessment/WASL/Readingpubdocs/WASL6,7,8,10.xls

Classroom Questioning

• “School Improvement Series” Close-up #5 by Kathleen Cotton http://www.nwrel.org/scpd/sirs/3/cu5.html

• Mentoring Minds Critical Thinking Wheel developed by Michael L. Lujan.

• Haynes, Judy. “How to develop questioning strategies.” everythingESL.net 2004, 4/12/07. http://www.everytingesl.net/inserivdes/questioning_strategies.php

Self-reflectionReview today’s essential questions:

• How do students benefit when questioning is used as an instructional strategy?

• How can teachers improve the use of questioning strategies?

Fill out “Taking Action” sheet to reflect on what you learned.