H IGHER O RDER T HINKING Q UESTIONS Lesson Plan Review

P URPOSE OF THE R EVIEW To determine professional development needs for teachers in the area of lesson planning. To provide feedback, consistent across the District, on the lesson plans. To focus on higher order thinking skills questions.

W HY D OES IT M ATTER ? CAHSEE and CST questions are written primarily at the Apply, Analyze and Evaluate levels of Blooms Taxonomy. Students must be able to think critically to be college and career ready in the 21 st century. The National Common Core Standards require students to think and perform at higher levels than ever before.

W HAT S N EW Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Costas

D IFFERENCES ? S IMILARITIES ?

Q UALITIES OF A G OOD Q UESTION Makes you think Can have more than one answer Makes you reread, rethink, or check to make sure Can be asked in different ways Cant be answered just in the book Makes you want to know more Makes you smarter Is not simple or quick Requires more than a one-word answer Provokes other questions Promotes discussion and explanation Is tied to the learning objective

T HE T AXONOMY T ABLE

T HE C OGNITIVE P ROCESS D IMENSION The six categories comprising the cognitive process dimension are comparable to the original six cognitive levels. The updated categories in order of increasing complexity are: Remember (Knowledge) Understand (Comprehension) Apply (Application) Analyze (Analysis) Evaluate (Evaluation) Create (Synthesis)

S IX C OGNITIVE D IMENSIONS … N INETEEN C OGNITIVE P ROCESSES Cognitive DimensionsCognitive Processes RememberRecognizing, Recalling UnderstandInterpreting, Exemplifying, Classifying, Summarizing, Inferring, Comparing, Explaining ApplyExecuting, Implementing AnalyzeDifferentiating, Organizing, Attributing EvaluateChecking, Critiquing CreateGenerating, Planning, Producing

T HE K NOWLEDGE D IMENSION 1. Factual Knowledge – knowledge of discrete, isolated content elements, bits of information. It includes knowledge of terminology and knowledge of specific details and elements. 2. Conceptual Knowledge – knowledge of more complex, organized knowledge forms. It includes knowledge of classifications and categories, principles and generalizations, theories, models and structures

T HE K NOWLEDGE D IMENSION 3. Procedural Knowledge – knowledge of how to do something. It includes knowledge of skills and algorithms, techniques and methods, as well as knowledge of the criteria used to determine and/or justify when to do what within specific domains and disciplines. 4. Metacognitive Knowledge – knowledge about cognition in general as well as awareness of and knowledge about ones own cognition. It encompasses strategic knowledge; knowledge about cognitive tasks, including contextual and conditional knowledge; and self-knowledge.

H OW DO YOU USE THE TOOLS TO CLASSIFY A QUESTION ? Locate the verb within the question Locate the noun within the question Classify the verb by reference to the cognitive process dimension Classify the noun by reference to the knowledge dimension The question is placed at the intersection of the two dimensions

Questioning Behaviors Questions for Reflection Identify instructional purpose.What is the purpose of the question? -Is it to reinforce knowledge, or to engage students in discussion that causes them to think at higher levels? -In what ways do the questions build group cohesiveness or involve, interest, and motivate students? Determine content focus.For which facts, concepts and skills are learners accountable? -Are these facts, concepts and skills important? -Do the questions, taken together, lead to essential learnings and enduring understandings? -Is the content aligned with district and state standards/assessments? Select cognitive level.At what cognitive level are students responding? -Are students remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating or creating? -Are student responses at the level of the questions? -Do the questions include a variety of cognitive levels during the course of the lesson? -Do students have the prerequisite knowledge to respond correctly? Consider wording and syntax.Do students understand the question? Do they understand what is being asked of them? -Is the meaning clear? -Is the question specific? Is it limited to a single topic? -Is the question tightly worded? -Is the question phrased so that it can be spoken with ease? Reflect on related beliefs.To what extent do the students share the following beliefs? -Good questions help students learn. -Divergent thinking is important.

Q UALITY Q UESTIONS ARE S ELDOM A SKED BY C HANCE ! Quality questions are the muscles of classroom instruction. As we build these muscles, we increase the power to lift our students learning and thinking to new heights. However, like powerful muscles, quality questions are seldom created by chance. Rather, we must craft them according to instructional purpose, content focus, desired cognitive level, learner needs and interests. Source: Quality Questioning Research-Based Practice to Engage Every Learner – Jackie Walsh and Beth Sattes