 Textbooks tend to be written in declarative statements  “the civil war stated on April 12 th, 1861”  Educators should change learning from declarative to interrogative.  “What day did the civil war start”

 Every field of study comes from a cluster questions.  Two reasons:  1. Answers are Needed  2. Answers are Highly Desired  Field only thrives from the creation of fresh new questions that are taken seriously.

 Questions Define:  1. Tasks  2. Express Problems  3. Delineate Issues  Answers tend to stop thought.  An Educators job is to improve students ability to “Ask the right Questions”.

 Classrooms should avoid feeding students tons of facts & statements to memorize.  Students should come to class prepared.  Thinking is of no use unless it goes somewhere.  Questions always determine where thought goes.

 Purpose  Information  Interpretation  Assumption  Implication  Point of View  Relevance  Accuracy  Precision  Logic

 Most High School Students tend to ask Dead Questions.  Forces the teacher to become the generator of all questions in a classroom.  Teachers must move students from Superficial Questions.  Low level questions = Low level understanding  Silent student = Silent Mind

 Your Generated Questions must Stimulate Thought, be comfortable with silence.  Implement a 10 second rule, builds productive tension. Use a cold call if no one responds.  Always be open to learning something new, and don’t be afraid of saying “I’m not sure”.  Teacher must stay away from long speeches or lectures.

 Classroom becomes instantly dynamic.  Students become Active Participants which makes them Active Learners.  Critical thought comes from the application of Socratic Dialogue.

 It establishes higher thinking-  Which Forms Reasoning-  Which reconstitutes our level of thinking and creates  Strong Inner Voice.

 Respond to all answers with a further question (that calls upon the respondent to develop his/her thinking in a fuller and deeper way)  Seek to understand–where possible–the ultimate foundations for what is said or believed and follow the implications of those foundations through further questions  Treat all assertions as a connecting point to further thoughts

 Treat all thoughts as in need of development  Recognize that any thought can only exist fully in a network of connected thoughts. Stimulate students — through your questions — to pursue those connections  Recognize that all questions presuppose prior questions and all thinking presupposes prior thinking. When raising questions, be open to the questions they presuppose.

 First thing that you must do is Pre Think the main Question you want discussed.  Do this by using Prior Questions to establish dialogue.  You can use Bloom’s or Rhodes' Typology to create questions.

 What is history?  What do historians write about?  What is the past?  Is it possible to include all of the past in a history book?

 How many of the events during a given time period are left out in a history of that time period?  Is more left out than is included?  How does a historian know what to emphasize or focus on?  Do historians make value judgments in deciding what to include and what to leave out?

 Is it possible to simply list facts in a history book or does all history writing involve interpretations as well as facts?  Is it possible to decide what to include and exclude and how to interpret facts without adopting a historical point of view?  How can we begin to judge a historical interpretation?  How can we begin to judge a historical point of view?

 Students should come to class prepared.  Must read text, take notes attempt to analyze.  Must be ready to ask questions.

Have theses types of Questions posted on your white board, everyday.  How do you know…?  Where did you get…?  Why did you do…?  What does…tell you?  What does…mean?  Where on your (graph, motion map, diagram)…?

 What if we changed…?  How is this problem different from…?  How is this problem similar to…?  Is there another way to do this?  What is key to solving this problem?  How does…compare to…?

 Allow students to present without interruption  Promote peer questioning  Show respect for student conclusions  Get students to agree  Let students feel that a new idea is theirs  Make students feel that they have contributed.

 Discourage students from deferring to authority.  Find a classroom setting that encourages interaction. Small groups or place students in a circle.  Don’t be scared of size, this can be used in any size classroom.