Quality Questioning June 22, 2010

1. Quality QuestioningJune 22, 2010 Goals of Questioning Criteria for Quality Questions Answering Student Generated Questions

2. All of our knowledge results from questions, which is another way of saying that question-asking is our most important intellectual tool. • Learning is viewed by some as a social activity that requires students to interact with their teacher and peers as they engage with the content. • If questions are vehicles for thought, then the questioning process determines who will go along for the ride. Teacher questioning behaviors affect which students learn how much. • The questioning process is not only a vehicle for eliciting answers from students. It can also keep them thinking and learning beyond an initial correct response. What teachers do with student responses has a dramatic extent to which students continue their journey of thinking and learning.

3. Characteristics of Quality Questions Purposeful Clear Content Focus Engage students at varied and appropriate cognitive levels Clear and concise

4. Purpose Recitation *Ask students to remember or recall facts, provide definitions, demonstrate comprehension *Usually look to teacher for an evaluation of correctness Test review, see if students have read and understood a passage, check completion and comprehension of homework, drill and practice, get students to talk, model good questioning Discussion *Teacher poses a thought provoking, open-ended question *Students do not wait for assessment of responses but engage in dialogue with one another Practice in thinking out loud, encourage students to hear and respect diverse points of view, improve listening skills, work out understanding of a topic, make connections, transfer learning to different contexts, offer evidence to support ideas

5. Clear Content Focus Select a “Big Idea” worthy of discussion. Make sure it connects to the standards. Tie it to the needs and interests of your own group of students Worth Being Familiar With Important to know and do “Enduring Understanding”

6. Engage Appropriate Cognitive Levels

7. Clear and Concise Clear meaning Minimum number of words necessary to convey meaning Age appropriate

8. Student Answering Belief Statements Good questions help students learn. All students can respond to all questions. All students’ answers deserve respect.

9. Feedback • ∙Prompt full and complete answers. • Listen with interest. • Try and understand students’ thinking. • Wait Time 1 – after asking a question before designating someone to answer • Wait Time 2- after a student responds before the teacher reacts or comments

10. Feedback: Is our purpose to bring closure or extend student thinking and talking? Silence Elaboration Redirection Refer back to students’ answers

11. Student Generated Questions “Give a student a question to answer and she will learn the passage she has just read. Teach her how to ask a question and she will learn how to learn for the rest of her life.” Set up classroom norms about listening with respect and attention. Teach students conversation skills. Give students assigned roles to practice during a discussion session. Encourage students to talk to one another instead of the teacher. Arrange classroom so that students can see each other. Give students question stems.