questioning techniques sandy macut sc high school principal
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Why do you ask questions? 47% managerial 43% informational 10% higher-order National Educational ServiceTRANSCRIPT
Questioning Techniques
Sandy MacutSC High School Principal
Today’s Essential QuestionsHow 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?
Why do you ask questions?
47% managerial
43% informational
10% higher-order
National Educational Service
QuestioningTeacher provides focused feedback
and questions to students that : Activate prior knowledge Probe students’ conceptual
understanding Lead to deeper understanding
Progressing from simple questions to more difficult ones
that require reasoning helps students develop cognitive
abilities and critical thinking skills.
(Kappa Delta Pi, Fall 2005)
Why Questioning MattersInstruction 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.
What Are Good Questions?
They help students make sense of the content/topic.They are open-ended, whether in answer or approach.
There may be multiple answers or multiple approaches.They empower students to unravel their
misconceptions.They not only require the application of facts and
procedures but encourage students to make connections and generalizations.
They are accessible to all students in their language and offer an entry point for all students.
Their answers lead students to wonder more about a topic and to perhaps construct new questions themselves as they investigate this newly found interest.
Question their background knowledge first!
Guide students from the known to the unknownUse cues, questions, and organizers to set the
stage for learningBefore new knowledge can be incorporated
into student’s existing schema, the schema must be activated
Start by asking what students already knowFocus 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!
BLOOM’S REVISED TAXONOMYCreatingCreating
Generating new ideas, products, or ways of viewing thingsDesigning, constructing, planning, producing, inventing.
EvaluatingEvaluating
Justifying a decision or course of actionChecking, hypothesising, critiquing, experimenting, judging
AnalysingAnalysing
Breaking information into parts to explore understandings and relationshipsComparing, organizing, deconstructing, interrogating, finding
ApplyingApplying
Using information in another familiar situationImplementing, carrying out, using, executing
UnderstandingUnderstanding
Explaining ideas or conceptsInterpreting, summarizing, paraphrasing, classifying, explaining
RememberingRemembering
Recalling informationRecognising, listing, describing, retrieving, naming, finding
Webb’s Depth of Knowledge are:
DOKWebb's Depth of KnowledgeDepth of Knowledge is the degree of depth or complexity of knowledge standards and assessments require; this criterion is met if the assessment is as demanding cognitively as the expectations standards are set for students.
DOK is NOT.....about Verbs - Verbs are not always used appropriately.about "difficulty" - It is not about the student or level of difficulty for the student - it requires looking at the assessment item not student work in order to determine the level. DOK is about the item/standard - not the student.
DOK is....about what FOLLOWS the verb. What comes after the verb is more important than the verb itself. It is about the complexity of mental processing that must occur to answer a question.
Remember DOK...Descriptive, not a taxonomyFocuses on how deeply the student has to know the content in order to respond.Not the same as difficulty.
Handouts
Hess’ Cognitive Rigor Matrix & Curricular Examples: Applying Webb’s Depth-of-Knowledge Levels to Bloom’s Cognitive Process Dimensions – Reading
Hess’ Cognitive Rigor Matrix & Curricular Examples: Applying Webb’s Depth-of-Knowledge Levels to Bloom’s Cognitive Process Dimensions - Writing
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
For students, 3+ seconds wait time :
Improves achievementImproves retentionIncreases number of higher cognitive responsesIncreases length of responsesIncreases number of unsolicited responsesDecreases failure to respondIncreases amount of quality evidence used to
support inferencesExpands variety of responsesIncreases student-to-student interactionsIncreases number of questions posed by students
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 askedIncreases number of higher cognitive
questions asked
Research by the Department of Labor says students spend…
22% reading and writing 23% speaking 55% listening
A question is useless if you do not LISTEN carefully to the response. IT IS WHAT YOU DO WITH THE RESPONSE THAT COUNTS!
Effective Questioning
To be an effective questioner, it is better to
use the student’s response to guide your next question than to use your question to
guide the student’s response.
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.
How do students feel about questions?
Generally they 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.
Your response to their answers will determine whether or not they continue to
answer!
Acknowledge correct responsesListen 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
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
Don’t Forget:Ask questions that focus on most important
elements of the lessonAsk questions before and after material is read
and studiedScaffold 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 questionsMore than 3 seconds for higher cognitive
questionsAllow generous wait time for lower ability
students
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?
Classroom Questioning Article
“School Improvement Series” Close-up #5 by Kathleen Cotton http://educationnorthwest.org/webfm_send/569