1. Using Good Questioning and Discussion Techniques to Enhance Student Learning K-6
Edmonds School District
P12 Summer Institute
August
Presenter: Nancy Katims

2. Agenda Learning Target Starter Activity and Introduction
Levels of Questions
Types of Questions
Responding to Questions
Summary of Learning

3. Our Learning Target
We will be able to create and ask more intentional questions and respond more effectively to students’ answers – in order to stretch students’ thinking, stimulate good discussions, and gather evidence to inform teaching and learning.

4. Strategies to be used in workshop
Model some questioning and discussion techniques.
Example:
After asking a question, might call on participants at random, not based on hand raising.
Move between modeling strategies and debriefing about the strategy from a teacher’s and/or learner’s perspective.

5. Which of the following do you think is the most true?
It is better to ask more questions than fewer when trying to determine if students have attained a certain concept or understanding.
It is very important that questions posed to students are not ambiguous.
The best questions are those that are open-ended rather than selected response (e.g., multiple choice).
The way that a teacher responds to students’ answers is as important as the way the teacher poses a question.
Choose the option that you think is best, and go to that corner of the room (A/B/C/D). Discuss with the others in your group why you think that is the best option. You can change your mind in the middle if you want to as part of the discussion.

6. From a teacher’s perspective, what purposes did that activity serve?
Use random calling on folks. Some purposes of the activity -- gets people engaged; up and moving after lunch; gets them thinking about the concepts to be presented; gets them curious about the “right” answer. This models a formative assessment technique in the area of questioning – will refer to this later when discuss questioning.

7. The Importance of Effective Questioning
Research strongly supports that effective questioning and discussion techniques lead to increased student learning!
That’s why questioning and discussion are the only instructional strategies specifically referred to in the Danielson framework.
Have central importance to teachers’ practice.
Must be used to deepen student understanding rather than as recitation or verbal quiz.
Note that a “question” may be phrased as a statement or prompt. (Ex: Please summarize today’s learning target.)

8. Danielson Framework – Component 3b
Questions/prompts of high quality cause students to think and reflect, to deepen their understanding, and to test their ideas against those of their classmates. When teachers ask questions of high quality, they ask only a few of them, and provide students with sufficient time to think about their response, to reflect on the comments of their classmates, and to deepen their understanding.

10. Strategic Questioning
Carefully constructed questions can:
Further students’ thinking and arouse interest (e.g., through good discussion questions)
Elicit evidence of student understanding (e.g., through good diagnostic questions).
Positively affect students’ behaviors and self concepts (e.g., through the response to students’ answers).

11. The First Step - The Learning Target
The first step to creating effective questions is having an effective learning target.
What are the characteristics of an effective learning target?
Use random calling.

12. Characteristics of Effective Learning Targets
Manageable (i.e., lesson-sized)
Measurable
Meaningful (i.e., scaffold to a standard, clear to students)
Made First
(the 4 M’s from “Teach Like A Champion”)

13. Effective Learning Targets
No matter how you phrase the characteristics of a good learning target, all conceptions require–
Careful teacher planning
Focus on the student learning first and foremost
Learning target should guide the activity, not the activity guiding the learning target
Use of active specific verbs
To be clear to students and teachers
To be measurable

14. Connections between Learning Targets and Questioning
Effective questions help:
Move students’ thinking toward the learning target.
Determine the extent to which students have met the learning target.

15. Connections Between Learning Targets and Questioning
Use of active specific verbs in the learning target helps to frame good questions!
The verb in the learning target suggests the level of question you are asking.

16. Levels of Questions (adapted from Art Costa)
Level 1 – Knowledge
(Surfing)
Define Name
Observe List
Describe Recite
Note Identify
Level 2 – Reasoning
(Snorkeling)
Analyze Infer
Group Sequence
Synthesize Classify
Compare/Contrast
Level 3 – Extending
(Scuba Diving)
Evaluate Imagine
Predict Speculate
Justify Hypothesize
Apply a principle Interpret

17. Levels of Questions
See handout for a more comprehensive list of examples of specific verbs, question stems, and activities that tap the three levels of thinking.

18. Levels of Questions - Activity
You are working with your students on being able to determine the main idea of a piece of informational text.
Working with the person next to you, write three questions that would fit within a unit on main idea:
A question at the knowledge level
A question at the reasoning level
A question at the extending level
Random call on people. Then ask another person if they agree with what the first person said. Have them talk to the person directly about it.

19. Levels of Questions - Activity
Determining the main idea of a piece of informational text
Example questions:
Knowledge: Name three details that would support the main idea of this piece of text.
Reasoning: Explain how those details support the main idea.
Extending: Do you agree with the author’s main idea? Why or why not?

20. Levels of Questions – Student Involvement
Consider working with your students to create a version of the “levels of questioning” chart at their level.
Then have them create questions themselves at different levels within a given unit or lesson.
They need to be able to answer their own questions.
Have pairs of students trade questions and try to answer each other’s questions.
Have pairs of students evaluate the level of thinking tapped by each other’s questions.
This type of activity would be considered “distinguished” on the Danielson framework!

21. Two important kinds of questions: Discussion (Danielson 3b)
Types of Questions
Two important kinds of questions:
Discussion (Danielson 3b)
Diagnostic (Danielson 3d)
Both need thoughtful planning.
They have different purposes and need to be designed to meet their purpose.

22. Discussion Questions Main purposes:
promote, reveal, and/or enhance student thinking
gather information for guiding a discussion.
Different types:
Have multiple-defensible answers.
Deliberately ambiguous.
Represent differences of opinion.
Require analysis and reasoning.
Often stimulate follow-up questions, such as:
“Why do you think that?”
“What is a reason behind your thinking?”
“Do you agree or disagree with what ______ said? Why?”

23. Discussion Questions – Examples
We began this workshop with a discussion question.
Read “Example Discussion Questions for Different Purposes.”
What do these examples have in common?
How are they different?
What do these

24. Diagnostic Questions
Designed so that incorrect responses quickly and efficiently elicit:
student misconceptions
partial understandings
likely difficulties
common errors, or
alternative assumptions.
Have interpretable wrong answer choices as well as at least one interpretable correct answer choice.
Allow teachers to adjust instruction “on the fly,” based on student responses.

25. Diagnostic Questions – ELA Example
Learning Target = Recognize the characteristics of a story’s turning point.
Example diagnostic question:
Identify the climax/turning point in the story “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.”
When Goldilocks went into the house.
When Goldilocks fell asleep in Baby Bear’s bed.
When the three bears came home and found Goldilocks.
When Goldilocks jumped up and ran out of the room.

26. Diagnostic Questions – Math Example
Learning Target = Determine the mean of a set of numbers.
Example diagnostic question:
What is the mean of these numbers?
4, 9, 9, 15, 23, 26, 40 9 15 18 36

27. Effective Diagnostic Questions -- Characteristics
Built on the one important concept of the lesson critical to students’ understanding.
Quick to present and assess.
Provide response from all students simultaneously.
Correct answer is interpretable -- students get it correct for the right reason.
Students’ responses will help teacher know which way to proceed with the lesson.

28. Diagnostic Questions
Do not need to be multiple-choice, but multiple- choice questions have advantages:
When answer choices are carefully crafted, the work of interpreting incorrect responses has already been done.
25-30 student responses can be quickly grouped into the one correct category and 3-4 categories of incorrect answers that represent different understandings and misunderstandings.
See handout on Steps to Developing a Good Diagnostic Question.

29. Diagnostic Questions Possible actions to follow diagnostic questions:
Adjust instruction according to student responses, based on whole group or small group needs.
Use as a springboard to a productive classroom discussion, if student responses warrant a discussion.

30. The Question-Answer-Action Cycle
Question: The teacher plans and asks a well-constructed question linked to the learning target.
Answer: Students respond in some way.
Action: The teacher closes the cycle by taking some appropriate instructional action based on evidence reflected in the student responses.

31. The Question-Answer-Action Cycle
Question: The teacher plans and asks a well-constructed question linked to the learning target.
Answer: Students respond in some way.
Action: The teacher closes the cycle by taking some appropriate instructional action based on evidence reflected in the student responses.

32. Danielson Framework – Component 3b
Students’ responses to questions are valued; effective teachers are especially adept at responding to and building upon student responses and making use of their ideas.

33. Responding to Students’ Answers
The way a teacher responds to a student’s answer can be as important as the question itself in terms of the learning elicited.
If a teacher asks a high-level question but allows incomplete or low-level responses, then even a well-constructed question does not accomplish its purpose.

34. Responding to Students’ Answers
Read the list of Teacher Practices that Create Rich and Meaningful Question-and-Answer Sessions.
Which practices do you use regularly?
Which practices do you want to try to use more frequently?
IF there is time, have them share their thinking with a partner.

35. Video of a Short Class Discussion
Pick-a Side video: warm-up?fd=1
Think about how the teacher responds to the students’ answers.
What one suggestion from the list of teacher practices would you give this teacher to enhance student learning during her “Pick-a-Side” discussion?
Turn to the person next to you and share your idea.

36. Questioning Techniques
Review the list of questioning techniques. Identify one technique that you would like to use in a lesson that you are planning for the fall.
Be ready to share your ideas with the larger group.

37. Which of the following do you think is the most true?
It is better to ask more questions than fewer when trying to determine if students have attained a certain concept or understanding.
It is very important that questions posed to students are not ambiguous.
The best questions are those that are open-ended rather than selected response (e.g., multiple choice).
The way that a teacher responds to students’ answers is as important as the way the teacher poses a question.
Revisit this question from the beginning. How many would change their answer? Take a finger count with A = 1, B = 2, etc.

38. Summary of Learning Please complete an exit slip with:
How do you feel about our learning today?
It clarified my thinking about questioning techniques.
It muddled my thinking about questioning techniques.
It did not change my thinking about questioning techniques.
Please explain why you chose your response above.
Do you need additional district support in implementing the use of effective questioning and discussion techniques in your classroom? If so, what might help?
Anything else you’d like to add?