Thinking Through Quality Questioning Facilitated by Beth D. Sattes RESA 3 June 25-27, 2014

Thinking Through Quality Questioning

Facilitated by

Beth D. Sattes

RESA 3

June 25-27, 2014

Essential Question

How can quality questioning enhance

teacher and student

thinking and learning?

(c) Walsh & Sattes, 2014 2

Organizing for Work in Collaborative Groups

What? Roles and norms for collaborative group work

Why? To promote effective group functioning and support learning of all members

How? Review roles & responsibilities for group members (p.6, Activity Packet); assign roles for first activity. Individually, review the norms for thinking and learning in community—and select the one that you will target today. Share your choice with others in your group.


Learning Targets

1. To explore the connections between classroom questioning and student thinking and learning

2. To make meaning of a framework for quality questioning

3. To reflect on the value of norms to promote a culture of thoughtfulness in classrooms and schools


Learning Targets

4. To create, review, and edit quality questions that activate student thinking and learning

5. To consider alternative teacher moves to deepen and extend the knowledge and thinking expressed in student responses

6. To identify specific strategies, protocols, and other practices that I would like to transfer to my work setting


What Do I Know and Want to Know About the Learning Targets?

What? Think-Puzzle-Explore

Why? To make meaning of the learning targets, connect to prior knowledge, and stimulate curiosity about the topic under study

How? Select one of the learning targets, identify what you think you know and any questions you have about it.

(page 7, Activity Packet)


Debriefs

• As we model interactive learning strategies throughout our time together, we will stop and ask you to reflect:– Did the activity engage you? In what ways?– Did the activity cause you to think? What

about the process encouraged thinking?– How and why might you use this with school

staff or learning teams?– How and why might teachers use this with

students?

Debrief Think, Puzzle, Explore

• In what ways did Think, Puzzle, Explore engage you in thinking?

• What was the value and why?

• How might you use this strategy with students in your class? What would you hope to accomplish? How would you modify it?

Find a Partner

• Put your name on your handout, Find a Partner.

• When directed, find someone from a different table to sign your appointment sheet for “Knowledge Economy.” Sign their sheet for Knowledge Economy.

• Wait for partner talk directions.


FRAMEWORK FOR THINKING THROUGH QUALITY QUESTIONING


Questioning IS a Process

• Questions

• Participants(Questioner & Respondents)

• Responses

• Reactions

• Culture


Framework for Thinking Through Quality Questioning


Overview of the TTQQ Framework

What? Table-team Jigsaw

Why? To understand the organizing framework of Thinking Through Quality Questioning

How? Assign one of the components to every member of your team (from 1-5.) Find a partner with the same assignment. Individually review associated overview and chapter, looking for main ideas and significant graphics. Discuss with your partner, using key questions on note-taking page (p. 9). Prepare to share main ideas with team mates. (See pp. 8-13 in Activity Packet.)


What is our understanding of

thinking?

What is Thinking?

• Think is the 12th most frequently-used verb in the English language…but how well do we understand what it means?

--Making Thinking Visible, p. 5


What do we mean when we say,“Students should be thinking” or“Students must think to learn”?

Next Generation Standards, ELA

• compare and contrast key elements, similarities and central ideas in texts (K)

• refer to text to summarize, infer and determine main idea or theme; (3rd)

• trace and evaluate the argument and specific claims in an informational text, assessing whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient to support the claims (7th)

• They analyze, defend and support views using reading, writing, speaking, listening (10th)

• stimulate thoughtful exchange of ideas by posing and responding to questions from diverse perspectives (11th)


Next Generation Standards, Soc. Studies

• students will begin to think deeply about the citizen’s role in American government and society (2nd)

• evaluate existing rules and laws and predict the changes that would take place without them; (2nd)

• compare and contrast different forms of government worldwide and their influence on historic world events (6th)

• classify and evaluate the different types of world trade organizations (6th)

• Teachers will engage students in critical thinking and problem-solving skills as students learn and work with factual historical content, geography, civics, economics and other social studies concepts (11th)


Next Generation Standards, Math

• Reason abstractly and quantitatively. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others. Model with mathematics. (3rd)

• Students use linear equations and systems of linear equations to represent, analyze, and solve a variety of problems (8th)

• make conjectures (8th)• build relationships among complex numbers, vectors,

and matrices (Math IV)• Students advance their thinking about trigonometric

functions to a more abstract level (Math IV)


Thinking in the Knowledge Economy: Say Something

• Stand up (take your activity packet) and find your “Knowledge Economy” partner.

• Turn to p. 14 in your Activity Packet, and read the assigned excerpt from Sawyer related to “Thinking in the Knowledge Economy.”

• Turn to your partner, and “say something” about this excerpt. Listen as your partner “says something” about the passage.


Cognitive Development

“The mind develops in response to challenge or disequilibrium, so any intervention must provide some cognitive conflict; the mind grows as we learn to become conscious of and so take control of, its own processes; and cognitive development is a social process promoted by high-quality dialogue among peers supported by teachers.”

(p. 39, Visible Learning for Teachers, John Hattie)


Model of How Thinking Works

Adapted from Willingham, Why Kids Don’t Like School, 2009, p. 11

Input from External

Environment

Working Memory—

Where Thinking Occurs

Long-term Memory(storehouse of

factual & procedural knowledge)


Page 51, TTQQ

What is Thinking? What Does it Look Like in the Classroom?

What? Affinity mapping

Why? Activate prior knowledge and consolidate ideas about thinking; share with colleagues

How? Respond individually and silently to the prompt, p. 15, writing one idea per sticky note. Share and analyze with group members per protocol.


How is Thinking Related to Questioning?

Respond to the following prompt:

When students are “thinking,” what is going on in their heads?

What are you expecting them to be doing?

Work individually and silently. Record each idea on a separate sticky note.


Speculate

In what ways does quality questioning activate student

thinking?


Individually think about the component of TTQQ that you investigated during the jigsaw activity. In what ways does that component of quality questioning prompt student thinking?

Speculate

1. Find the colleague with whom you discussed your assigned component during the jigsaw activity.

2. Create two statements that suggest the relationship between your component of QQ and student thinking.

3. Write each of your two statements on separate large post-its; post on the appropriate wall chart.

4. Share your work products with other members of your table team. Add to your affinity map, if appropriate.


Debrief Affinity Mapping

• In what ways did this thinking routine engage you in thinking?

• What was the value and why?• How might you use this strategy with students?

What would you hope to accomplish? How would you modify it?

Create a Culture for Thinking


Classroom cultures that support student questioning, thinking, and learning

What? Visual Synectics (four-corner)

Why? Surface prior knowledge about the characteristics of classroom cultures that seem to engage students in thinking and learning

How? Individually reflect in response to a prompt (p. 16, Activity Packet.) When directed, select a simile that is like your thinking. Share with colleagues as indicated.


Characteristics of Classroom Culture for Thinking and Learning

Respond to the following prompt individually, jotting down your ideas on page 16 of the Activity Packet:


What do you consider to be the characteristics of a classroom culture

that nurtures student thinking and learning?

Which of the following visuals is most similar to the classroom culture you envisioned? Select 1.

(c) Walsh & Sattes, 2014

Sea Shore Jungle

Flower Garden Ocean Reef30

Debrief Visual Synectics

• Find your “thinking routines” partner. Talk about what the four-corner synectics accomplished in terms of engagement and thinking. What was the value and why? Be ready to share.

• Then discuss how you might use this type of routine with your students. What would you hope to accomplish and how would you modify it?

Norms to Create a Culture for Thinking and Learning

Classroom Norms

Purposes of Questioning

Wait Times

Participation


Norms Associated with Thinking Through Quality Questioning

• Purposes of Questioning

• Think Time

• Participation


p. 143, TTQQ

What do students believe to be the purposes of teacher questions?

What do you believe your students think is the primary purpose of your questions?1.Stimulate them to think about a topic

2.See if they know the right answer

3.Give credit to those students who know the right answer (or have done their work)

4.To find out if a student is listening

Walsh & Sattes, 2014 34

Purposesfor Questioning

“I suggest that there are only two good reasons to ask questions in class: to cause thinking and to provide information to the teacher about what to do next.”

—Dylan Wiliam, Embedded Formative Assessment, p. 79

35Walsh & Sattes, 2014

Norms Related to the Purposes of Questioning

What? Say Something

Why? Make personal and shared meaning about four norms related to the purposes of questions

How? Individually read an assigned passage. When you finish, turn to your partner and “say something” about what it means to you. Listen as your partner says something to you about the reading.

(See p. 17, Activity Packet)


Norms Related to the Purposes of Questioning

• Use teacher questions to prompt your thinking, not to guess the teacher’s answer.

• Use mistakes as opportunities to learn: This is a risk-free classroom.

• Use follow-up questions to think about and self-assess your first responses and to modify or extend your thinking.

• Be open to wonder and ask, not just to know and answer.


Possible Norms for K-2 Students Related to the

Purposes of Questions

•When I ask a question, say what you think…not what you think I want you to say.

•When I ask a follow-up question, I want to hear more about what you think.


Possible Norms for 3-5 Students Related to the

Purposes of Questions

• Use questions as prompts to think about what you know or believe about a topic.

• When I ask a follow-up question, I want to hear more about what you think.

• Ask questions of your own when you are curious or confused or to seek reasoning or evidence.




• Think Time

• Participation


p. 143, TTQQ

The length of time a teacher waits after asking a question before naming a student to respond

(Minimum: 3-5 seconds)

Wait

Time

1

Afford Time for Thinking


Answering As a Process: How does this connect to your understanding of “thinking?”


Page 53, TTQQ


Listen to the question

Understand what is

being asked

Answer to self

Answer out loud

Why Wait Time 1 is necessary…

Responding is a PROCESS…that requires time

The length of time a teacher waits after a student stops talking in response to a question before giving feedback or calling on another student

(Minimum: 3-5 seconds)

Wait

Time

2

Provide Time to Process


Wait Time Patterns

Teacher Question

Student Answer

Teacher Reaction

Wait Time 1

Wait Time 2

Talk by students

comes in bursts

PAUSE

PAUSE


Benefits of Wait Times

• Read through the benefits found to be associated with consistent use of wait times. (p. 54, TTQQ)

• Individually, select the one that you would most value in your classroom.

• When time is called, share around in your group: which one did you select and why?

• As a group, speculate as to why providing these silent time might result in such benefits.


Think Time Norms

• Use the pause following the asking of a question to think and to formulate your response.

• Use the pause after your answer to reflect and add to or change it.

• Use the pause following a classmate’s answer to compare it with your own. Be ready to agree or disagree and to add your ideas.


Possible Think Time Norms for K-2 Students

• ?— Think—Talk—Think

• ?—Think—Listen—Think


Possible Think Time Norms for 3-5 Students

• We all need time to think before we respond to a question.

• We all need time to think about what we are saying as we respond out loud.

• When we listen to others, we need time to think about what they are saying so that we can understand and compare their thinking to our own.




• Think Time

• Participation


p. 143, TTQQ

Assessing Beliefs AboutParticipation: People-Graph

What? Assessing your beliefs about student participation through volunteering

Why? To reflect individually and dialogue with colleagues about issues related to student participation

How? Read each statement, and decide the extent to which you agree or disagree. Position yourself on a continuum, 10 (strongly agree) to 0 (strongly disagree)


Statement #1

All students are involved in responding to questions that teachers pose in whole group settings.


0 10Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree

Statement #2

Allowing students to volunteer (by raising their hands) leads to a low rate of participation in the answering of questions.



Statement #3

I believe that a greater number of students would be prepared to answer questions if teachers eliminated hand-raising and used a randomized method of calling on students—or otherwise decided which students should answer which questions.



Responding Matters:Think-Pair-Share

Responding to questions matters. “So when teachers allow students to choose whether to participate or not . . . they are actually making the achievement gap worse.” —Dylan Wiliam, Embedded Formative Assessment, p. 81


Participation Norms

• Raise your hand only when you have a question—not to volunteer to answer.

• Listen with respect to other points of view in order to fully understand and learn.

• Monitor your talk so others can contribute.


Possible Participation Norms for K-2 Students


• Think about your participation. Try to talk…but not too much.

• Encourage others to speak by asking them what they think.

Possible Participation Norms for 3-5 Students


• Be ready to say what you think you know about all questions, not just the ones for which you think you have the “right” answer.

• Do not raise your hand to volunteer to answer a question. Wait for the teacher to call on you.

• Listen carefully to others, and be ready to “piggyback” on their thinking.

Teach and Reinforce Norms for Thinking

What? Here’s What, So What?, Now What?

Why? To reflect on the suggested norms, select those you believe to be most important, and commit to when and how you might introduce them to your class.

How? Read through the norms and select those you want to try in your classroom. Think about how they might benefit student learning and participation (Record in the So what? Column.) Decide what, how and when you want to introduce them to students (Now What?) p. 17, Activity Packet


Changes in Roles and Responsibilities

What? Final Word

Why? To provide an opportunity to review resources from TTQQ and engage in a structured dialogue with colleagues to consider new roles and relationships for teachers and students

How? Individually read the three charts (identified on p. 18 of AP.) Identify three important ideas that you would like to discuss further with colleagues. Follow the protocol outlined on page 18 after explanation by facilitators.


Changes in Roles and Responsibilities

Review the following in TTQQ:Figure 3.5, Expected Changes in Student Behaviors, on

p. 59 Figure 6.2, Shifts in Teacher Role and Relationships

with StudentsFigure 6.3., Shifts in Student Role and Relationships

with One Another, p. 138

As you read, identify three important ideas—and their location in the text—for further discussion.


Debrief Text-Based Protocol,

Final Word




Developing StudentResponse-ability


Developing Student Response-ability

• Hold students accountable for formulating responses to questions.

• Develop student capacity to ask questions.

• Provide opportunities for students to learn collaboratively.

• Teach skills of collaborative discussion.


Questioning for Discussion

•What are the distinguishing features of student discussion?•Why is it important to engage students in discussion?•What are the important roles for students in discussion?•How does the role of the teacher as facilitator of discussion differ from the traditional teacher role in the classroom?•How can we help students understand the value of becoming skilled discussants?•What is the value of framing questions for discussion as a collaborative activity?


Teach Skills of Collaborative Discussion

• Central to ELA Speaking and Listening Standards

• Related to WV Educator Evaluation System for Teachers, Standard 3


ELA Speaking & Listening Standards—Comprehension and Collaboration

1. Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.


ELA Speaking & Listening Standards—Comprehension and Collaboration

2. Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

3. Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric.


WV Educator Evaluation System for TeachersStandard 3: Teaching

Element 3.2: Motivates and engages students in learning, problem solving and collaboration

Element 3.2, Distinguished

The teacher facilitates student-led learning activities leading to deep understanding of the content.

The teacher provides students with extensive opportunities to collaborate and peer-assess using appropriate technologies to gather information, problem-solve, and share learning


Recitation

• Recitation is the most common context for classroom questioning. Typically, the teacher asks a question, calls on one student to respond, gives an evaluation of the rightness or wrongness of the answer, and asks another question.

• This is also called I-R-E…Initiation, Response, Evaluation


Recitation

T

S

S

S


Discussion

• According to research, discussion appears in classrooms less than 3 percent of the time. In discussion, the teacher typically poses one open-ended question. Students are challenged to think deeply, listen respectfully to one another, talk to one another, and develop new understandings.

• The teacher question provides focus. Student thinking and interactions determine the depth and dimensions of discussion.


Discussion

T

S

S

S


Consider the Purposes of Questioning in Discussion

• Review the 1st part of the chart on p. 19 of the Activity Packet.

• Reflect on the questions provided beneath the chart, jotting down your ideas.

• When directed, exchange ideas with your “Discussion” partner, preparing to share with the whole group.


Consider the Characteristics of Questions in Discussion

• Review the 2nd part of the chart on p. 19 of the Activity Packet.

• Reflect on the question provided beneath the chart, jotting down your ideas.

• When directed, exchange ideas with your Discussion partner, preparing to share with the whole group.


Watch a Video: Teacher- Guided DiscussionRead the description of the classroom video, p. 21, Activity Packet. As you watch, look for the following:

What evidence do you see or hear that students are thinking deeply?

What has the teacher done to prepare the students so that this discussion “works”?

What went well to make this an effective discussion?

What might the teacher have done differently to make this a more effective discussion and learning experience?


Hold Students Accountable for Answering

Responding to questions matters. “So when teachers allow students to choose whether to participate or not . . . they are actually making the achievement gap worse.”



Making Thinking Visible: Use of “Thinking Routines”

“In earlier research, we found that teachers who are successful at promoting students’ thinking tend to develop, adapt, and make use of specific routines to scaffold and support students’ thinking. These simple procedures usually consisting of only a few steps, provide a framework for focusing attention on specific thinking moves that can help to build understanding.” (p. 45, Making Thinking Visible, Ritchhart, Church, & Morrison)


“Thinking Routines”“Thinking routines become a part of the fabric of the classroom over time.” (p. 45, Making Thinking Visible, Ritchhart, Church, & Morrison)

“Through ongoing use of routines, this idea that questions not only drive learning but also are outcomes of learning becomes embedded in

the learning process.” (p. 49, Making Thinking Visible)


Personal Reflection

• What do you believe to be the strongest arguments for teaching students thinking routines and using these on a consistent basis?

• Review the thinking routines (learning activities) used to this point in our session. Which 3-5 do you believe would be most appropriate for your students? Why?

• Discuss with your “thinking routines” partner.


FRAME QUALITY QUESTIONS


Frame Quality Questions

• Determine content focus.

• Consider instructional function.

• Stipulate expected cognitive level.

• Match to social context.

• Polish grammar and word choice.


1. Content Focus

• Aligned with learning goals? (Rigor)– Promotes identified content standard(s)– Related to identified student learning target

• Addresses student needs, interests, and experiences? (Relevance)– Within students’ zone of proximal

development– Related to real-world experiences

• Connected to other concepts in subject under study or to other subjects? (Relationships)


Consider the Interconnectedness of Knowledge Across Students’ Experiences(Relevance & Relationships)


Christenberry’s Questioning Circles, p. 24, TTQQ

Consider Content Focus

What? Sentence, Phrase, Word

Why? Read about the importance of selecting a content focus which is rigorous, relevant to students, and related to prior knowledge

How? Individually read the passages from TTQQ as designated in your Activity Packet on page 22. As you read, select an important sentence, phrase, and word from the passage.


Debrief Sentence-Phrase-Word




Add Rigor and Relevance

• Calculate the area of a rectangle that is 8 feet by 4 feet.

• Imagine that you and a friend want to create a space where his dog can play and run. You have 24 feet of fencing. Think of three possible shapes you could create in which the dog could play and run. Which of the three would provide the greatest area for the dog?


2. Purposesfor Questioning

“I suggest that there are only two good reasons to ask questions in class: to cause thinking and to provide information to the teacher about what to do next.”



What instructional function is the question intended to further? √ Essential Question

(integrating unit or lesson of study)

√ Hook Question (motivating/engaging)

√ Diagnostic Question (activating prior knowledge/conceptions)

√ Check for Understanding (formative assessment)

√ Probing/scaffolding (getting behind student thinking; assisting in concept development)

√ Inference Question (drawing conclusions)

√ Interpretation Question (inviting analysis)

√ Transfer Question (using in novel settings)

√ Predictive Question (strengthening cause & effect thinking)

√ Reflective Question (supporting metacognitive thinking)


What’s the Purpose?

What? Review Functions of Questions and Reflect on Practice, and Share

Why? To think about the purposes for which I (or teachers in my school) ask questions and to consider how we might enrich our use of questions for different purposes

How? Individual assessment; sharing with colleagues (p. 23, Activity Packet)

90(c) Walsh & Sattes, 2014


Original Question Revised Question

What happened to Wilbur when he was two weeks of age?

(from Charlotte’s Web)

When Wilbur was two weeks of age, Mr. Arable moved him outdoors. What evidence can you provide to support Mr. Arable’s decision?

Compare the Questions Below by Purpose

3. Cognitive Level

“Learning is a consequence of thinking.” David Perkins, Smart Schools

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Remembering is a consequence of processing

information—making personal meaning, making connections to what one already knows, transferring learning to a new setting, and so forth.


The Original Bloom Taxonomy


Knowledge Dimension

Facts

Concepts

Procedures

Metacognition

Cognitive Process Dimension Remember Understand Apply Analyze Evaluate Create

Taxonomy Table, Revised Bloom


Cognitive Process Dimension

1. Remember2. Understand3. Apply4. Analyze5. Evaluate6. Create

See pp. 31-37, Chapter 2, TTQQ


Cognitive Dimensions of Revised Bloom Taxonomy

What? Jigsaw

Why? Deepen understanding of six levels of the Revised Bloom Taxonomy by learning about and teaching one; strengthen shared understanding of the kind of thinking required at each cognitive level

How? Use Jigsaw Cooperative Learning as outlined on activity sheet, p. 24


Assignments for Jigsaw

1. Blue index card = Remember

2. White index card = Understand

3. Pink index card = Apply

4. Green index card = Analyze

5. Purple index card = Evaluate

6. Yellow index card = Create


Identifying Cognitive Levels of Expected Responses to Questions

What? Numbered Heads Together

Why? To review the cognitive levels of the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy by naming the level of thinking required to answer a question.

How? Number off in your group from 1-5 or 1-6.

When a question is presented, talk together in your groups about what level of thinking is required to correctly answer the question.


Numbered Heads Together

At what level of cognition would a student need to think to answer this question?

Who was the leader of the U. S. Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s?




What one word best describes the character of Martin Luther King?




When did West Virginia become a state?




What is one way that the two characters in the book are different? Find a passage

in the text to validate your answer.


Debrief Numbered Heads Together




Importance of Thinking at Higher Levels

“When students use higher levels of cognitive processing to recode information and facts, they are more likely to have long-term recall of the information.” (Walsh and Sattes, p. 21-23)


“There are one-story intellects, two-story intellects, and three-story intellects with skylights. All fact collectors who have no aim beyond their facts are one-story men. Two-story men compare, reason, generalize, using the labor of facts collectors as their own. Three-story men idealize, imagine, predict—their best illumination comes from above the skylight.”

--Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1872, “The Poet at the Breakfast Table”

Three-Story Intellects


1st—Recall

Remember Recall

Recognize Identify

Retrieve

2nd—Use

Understand Apply Execute Implement Explain Interpret Summarize Analyze Differentiate Organize Infer Compare

3rd– Create Evaluate Check

Critique Generate Plan Design


Language of Thinking

InferPredict

Distinguish Conclude Create AppraiseCompare




What are some of the products we use today that resulted from the space program?

Are the subsequent discoveries and inventions worth the cost of space exploration?

Compare the Questions Below for Cognitive Level of Response

Increasing the Cognitive Complexity of a Math Question

The Smith family has three children, aged 5, 7, and 9. What is the average age?

The Smith family has three children. No two of them is the same age. Their average age is 7. What might be the ages of the children? Be ready to defend your answer.


4. Social Context

• Whole Group

• Pairs

• Collaborative Groups

• Individuals

• Project-Based Learning


Exploring the Social Context: Who Will Answer, and How?

What? A-C-E (Agree, Challenge, Extend)

Why? To reflect individually and with a small group about the ways in which social context affects student engagement

How? Read, beginning with the first full paragraph on page 39 and continuing through page 40 of Thinking Through Quality Questioning. Use the template on page 26 of your Activity Packet to guide your thinking. Share around in your small group using the protocol provided by facilitators.


Debrief Text-Based Protocol, ACE




Changing the Context

• Is book a noun?

• Write down 4 nouns and one verb. Ask your partner to identify the nouns. Check his work. If you disagree, provide a rationale.


Compare the Questions Below. How does the context produce more engagement?


Should the government sponsor pharmaceutical research?

I’m going to make a statement. If you agree, move to this end of the continuum. If you disagree, move to the other end. You can stand anywhere along the line to represent your opinion.•The government should sponsor pharmaceutical research.(After students have moved…) Gather with two or three others who are standing near you and share the reasons you chose your position.


Changing the Context

• Is 52 an even number?

• Write down 4 even numbers and one odd number. Ask your partner to identify the even numbers. Check his work. If you disagree, provide a rationale.


5. Grammar and Word Choice

Are your questions clear, succinct, and understandable when delivered orally?

How can breaking a potential question into smaller “chunks” improve its understandability?

How can we reword questions to improve their understandability and increase their cognitive demands?


Compare the Questions Below for Understandability

Original Question Rewritten Question

What were the causes leading to the American Revolution, and how could it have been prevented?

“Taxation without representation” was one of the colonists’ rallying cries against England. In what different ways might England have addressed this concern to reduce the chances of a revolution?

Walsh & Sattes, 2014117

Anatomy of Question Formation: Template for Planning

What? Review QQ Planning Template

Why? To learn about a tool (p. 27, Activity Packet) that teachers might use for collaborative planning of quality questions, noticing the important inputs

How? Follow along as facilitators provide an example (separate handout). Consider how you and your colleagues might adapt this tool for use in collaborative team planning.


Question Planning Template

• WV Next Generation Standard(s)

• Essential Question

• Learning Target(s) and how Assessed

• Guiding Questions (including response format)

• Expected, Acceptable Student Responses


Challenge: Framing Questions

• Organize into pairs or triads of similar grade and/or subject area. Use template, p. 27.

• Select a unit and lesson and WV standards.

• Create or revise 1-3 guiding questions that will drive student thinking about the content standard(s) on which this lesson focuses.

• Use resources that you brought with you (or can find on-line)—draft questions, text, teacher text, etc.


Criteria By Which to Assess Your Questions (pp. 28-29)

(c) Walsh & Sattes, 2014

Connects to interests, real-life,

or prior content

Results in active

engagement and discussion

with peers

Is clear, understandable,

and succinct

Sets expectation that all students will

formulate a response

Promotes a specific

instructional purpose

121

Critical Friend Feedback• Write your question on the table cloth.

Include the standard and grade level of your class.

• At your table, read each question aloud, talking about the six criteria. (pp. 28-29)

• When one pair/triad has shared the question, the others talk about how the question meets the criteria, and how it might be improved.


Critical Friend Feedback

• Move around from table to table. Using the post-it notes, add your positive comments. Also add questions you have about the question(s) and any suggestions you have for improvement.

• Continue to move until time is called.


STRENGTHEN THINKING-TO-LEARN BEHAVIORS


Strengthen Thinking-to-Learn Behaviors

• Expect thoughtful responses

• Afford time for thinking

• Scaffold thinking and responding

• Make thinking visible


ScaffoldingTeacher scaffolding assists students in correcting or extending their knowledge and thinking.

Which of the following is NOT appropriate when scaffolding?

1. Providing students with the correct answer

2. Asking students to repeat the question

3. Asking questions to get behind student thinking


ScaffoldingWhat does a teacher need to find out and/or keep in mind when scaffolding?

1. The expected (i.e., correct or acceptable) answer

2. The thinking behind the answer given by a student

3. The knowledge and skills required to give an acceptable answer

4. All of the above


Scaffold Student Thinking and Learning

Say Something

“Scaffolding is the help given to a learner that is tailored to that learner’s needs in achieving his or her goals of the moment. The best scaffolding provides this help in a way that contributes to learning.” —Sawyer (2009, p. 11)


Two Pieces of Data Requiredfor Effective Scaffolding

• Learning Goals (or Learning Targets)

• Student’s Current Level of Understanding (determined by questioning)


Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

Level of Potential Development

ZPDZPD

Actual Development Level


Say Something

“For example, telling someone how to do something or doing it for them may help them accomplish their immediate goal; but it is not scaffolding because the child does not actively participate in the construction of knowledge. In contrast, effective scaffolding provides prompts and hints that help learners figure it out on their own.”—Sawyer (2009, p. 11)


Scaffold Student Thinking

What? Four-Square Share

Why? To explore a shared reading (pp. 58-61, TTQQ) and to deepen comprehension by summarizing one’s own understanding and listening to others’ perspectives

How? Organize into groups of 4. As you read the assigned passage, make personal meaning. Summarize your understanding when you complete the reading. Follow the protocol in your handout (p. 30) for discussion.


Debrief Four-Square Share




Standard Stems• Stems to Extend Student Thinking

oCan you say more about ___?• Stems to Clarify or Narrow

oCan you give me an example?• Stems to Build Accountability for Evidence

oWhat made you say that?oWhat is your evidence?oWhat are your criteria for evaluation?


Scaffold Student Thinking and Learning

What? Collaborative analysis of a class transcript

Why? To deepen understanding of scaffolding of student thinking

How? Read and analyze a class transcript and share understandings with colleagues (separate handout)


Creation of Possible and Probable Student Responses

• Review the template, page 31, Activity Packet. • Find a partner, with whom you have not yet

worked. Come and get an assignment from the facilitator.

• Together, read the question and the answer that the student gives.

• Brainstorm other teacher options, choose one, and role play the asking, responding, and probing/prompting.


Creation of Possible and Probable Student Responses

• Now get back with the partner with whom you created your question.

• Together, identify four possible and probable student responses to your question. Record them on the template, p. 32.

• Select one of the responses. Brainstorm teacher options, choose one, and role play the asking, responding, and probing/prompting.


What does student responsibility look and sound like?—Meta-cognitive Skills

To provide a springboard for thinking about student responsibility, individually read the “vision for student learning”: italicized passage, page 2, TTQQ.

As you read, underline the discrete student responsibilities that are implicit in this vision.

How might you teach these to your students? Record then share with an elbow partner.


What specific student responsibilities for learning are implicit in the

reading?

Cycle of Student Learning and Thinking


Studies of Metacognition

• People who “monitor their own understanding” as they learn, retain their learning better. (NCR, p. 78).

Strong Learners and Problem-Solvers

Less Competent Learners and Problem-Solvers

Monitor their thinking regularly Inconsistently monitor their thinking

Are able to explain the processes they used and give a rationale

Cannot give complete explanations of the strategies they use nor why

Will try a different approach if they are unsuccessful

Tend to stick with a strategy even when it isn’t working


Reflective Questioning• Individually, complete the left-hand column of p.

32 in the Activity Packet, “Reflective Questioning,” responding to the question related to goals for your students and your own questioning practice.

• When you have completed responding to this question, turn your attention to the right-hand column and record ideas about what might support or help you attain these goals.

Reflective Questioning

• Organize into teams of three.

• Select a role for each member: Interviewer, Reflector, and Observer.

Reflective Questioning

Purpose: To reflect deeply on your own goals and to learn from your colleagues—while practicing questioning, active listening, and analysis skills

Role of Interviewer (p. 33, Act. Packet)

Interviewer: Use reflective questions to help your conversation partner go deeper into her/his reflection.

Your role is to listen intently, probe gently when necessary, promote thinking and reflection, and help the reflector make meaning for himself or herself.

Listen and question to understand, not to judge.

Role of Reflector

Reflector: Consider the questions from the interviewer. Use these questions to think more deeply about your goals and what might help you attain these.

Talk openly about your ideas and questions. Feel free to introduce your own questions as you think.

Role of Observer (p. 34, Activity Packet)

Observer: Listen carefully to the interview.

A. What does the interviewer say and do that prompts reflective thought? Include questions, comments, and non-verbal behaviors.

B. Listen for insights and unfolding meaning in the comments of the reflector. Think about what this speaker is saying and its deeper meaning.

Debrief Reflective Questioning

• Think about the process of reflective questioning. What was the value? What did you learn?

• How might you use this reflection tool in team meetings? What would you hope to accomplish? How would you modify it?

• How might you modify this protocol for use with students?

Documents

Thinking Through Quality Questioning Facilitated by Beth D. Sattes RESA 3 June 25-27, 2014