1. Questioning Teacher provides focused feedback and questions to students that :
Activate prior knowledge
Probe students’ conceptual understanding
Lead to deeper understanding

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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!

5. 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

6. 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?

7. 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 Design Wiggins & McTighe

8. 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?

9. “Fat” v. “Skinny” Questions

10. “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

11. “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

12. What kind of question is used most?
60% lower cognitive
20% higher cognitive
20% procedural

13. 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.

14. 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

15. 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)

16. 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.

17. 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

18. Discussion Web Reasons No Yes Conclusion Made giant mad
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
Made giant mad
Wrong to steal, go to jail
Giant had possession of his stuff
Jack got trapped
Didn’t ask permission
Reasons
Was it all right for Jack to take things from the giant’s castle? No
Yes
Conclusion

19. 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

20. 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.

21. 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.

22. 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.

23. 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.

24. 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.

25. 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.

26. 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

27. 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

28. 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

29. 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

30. 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.

31. 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.

32. 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

33. 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

34. 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

35. 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

36. Use the WASL stems document to help you know what kinds of questions students will need to handle on the WASL

37. Classroom Questioning
“School Improvement Series” Close-up #5 by Kathleen Cotton
Mentoring Minds Critical Thinking Wheel developed by Michael L. Lujan.
Haynes, Judy. “How to develop questioning strategies.” everythingESL.net 2004, 4/12/07.
questioning_strategies.php

38. Self-reflection
Review 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.