+Using Good Questioning and Discussion Techniques to Enhance Student Learning K-6

Edmonds School DistrictP12 Summer InstituteAugust 22. 2013Presenter: Nancy Katims

+Agenda

Learning Target

Starter Activity and Introduction

Levels of Questions

Types of Questions

Responding to Questions

Summary of Learning

+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.

+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.

+Which of the following do you think is the most true?A. It is better to ask more questions than fewer

when trying to determine if students have attained a certain concept or understanding.

B. It is very important that questions posed to students are not ambiguous.

C. The best questions are those that are open-ended rather than selected response (e.g., multiple choice).

D. The way that a teacher responds to students’ answers is as important as the way the teacher poses a question.

From a teacher’s perspective, what purposes did that activity serve?

+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.)

+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.

+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).

+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?

+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”)

+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

foremostLearning target should guide the activity,

not the activity guiding the learning target

Use of active specific verbs To be clear to students and teachersTo be measurable

+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.

+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.

+Levels of Questions (adapted from Art Costa)

Level 1 – Knowledge(Surfing)

Define NameObserve ListDescribe ReciteNote Identify

Level 2 – Reasoning (Snorkeling)

Analyze InferGroup SequenceSynthesize ClassifyCompare/Contrast

Level 3 – Extending(Scuba Diving)

Evaluate ImaginePredict SpeculateJustify HypothesizeApply a principle Interpret

+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.

+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:1. A question at the knowledge level 2. A question at the reasoning level3. A question at the extending level

+Levels of Questions - Activity

Determining the main idea of a piece of informational text

Example questions:

1. Knowledge: Name three details that would support the main idea of this piece of text.

2. Reasoning: Explain how those details support the main idea.

3. Extending: Do you agree with the author’s main idea? Why or why not?

+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!

+ 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.

+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?”

+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?

+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.

+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.”

A. When Goldilocks went into the house.

B. When Goldilocks fell asleep in Baby Bear’s bed.

C. When the three bears came home and found Goldilocks.

D. When Goldilocks jumped up and ran out of the room.

+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

A. 9B. 15C. 18D. 36

+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.

+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.

+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.

+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.

+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.

+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.

+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.

+Responding to Students’ AnswersRead 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?

+Video of a Short Class DiscussionPick-a Side video:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/quick-classroom-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.

+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.

+Which of the following do you think is the most true?A. It is better to ask more questions than fewer

when trying to determine if students have attained a certain concept or understanding.

B. It is very important that questions posed to students are not ambiguous.

C. The best questions are those that are open-ended rather than selected response (e.g., multiple choice).

D. The way that a teacher responds to students’ answers is as important as the way the teacher poses a question.

+Summary of Learning

Please complete an exit slip with:

1. How do you feel about our learning today?A. It clarified my thinking about questioning techniques.B. It muddled my thinking about questioning techniques.C. It did not change my thinking about questioning

techniques.

2. Please explain why you chose your response above.

3. Do you need additional district support in implementing the use of effective questioning and discussion techniques in your classroom? If so, what might help?

4. Anything else you’d like to add?