Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers

Quick Write - Reflection Part #1: Think about the questions you asked students (or staff) yesterday. Write down 3-5 of them. Part #2: What does your own experience say about the effectiveness of using cues, questions, and advance organizers to activate students' prior knowledge?

Thought for the Day: “It is probably safe to say that cueing & questioning are at the heart of classroom practice. In fact, research in classroom behavior indicates that cueing & questioning might account for as much as 80% of what occurs in a given classroom on a given day.” ~Robert Marzano (Classroom Instruction that Works)

The Question is More Important than the Answer… What is the Research? On average, teachers ask 80 questions each hour. How many questions do students ask in that same time period? TWO! (Kagan,1999) SO……… If teachers ask for questions from their students instead of always calling for answers, think how much more students could learn!

Individually, reflect on the following questions: 1.) How do you use cues and questions before a learning experience? (How often do you use this strategy?) 2.)How often do you ask students questions that require them to make inferences? (Provide an example.) 3.) How do you monitor the affect of using cues and questions on students’ learning? Reflection:

Research  Cues and questions should focus on what is important as opposed to what is unusual.  “Higher-level” questions produce deeper learning than “lower-level” questions.  Waiting briefly before accepting responses from students has the effect of increasing the depth of students’ answers.  Questions are effective learning tools even when asked before a learning experience.

Never Say Anything… Read the article, Never Say Anything a Kid Can Say! Complete the Graphic Organizer Provided. Discuss the article with your team.

Steve Reifman: Teaching Kids to Think About Their Thinking A A METACOGNITION Reflective Feedback – article “Finessing Feedback” from the Educational Leadership Read article – in teams come up with a question-type feedback from feedback that you have currently posted…change this constructive feedback to questioning.

Combination Notes As you watch the grade level video, record important information… After you have reread your written notes from the first column, create a plan for your classroom of what you’re thinking… Video 1 Title:__________________________________________ Video 2 Title:__________________________________________ Big Idea Summary Statement: Examples of cuing an advance organizer

Recommendations for Classroom Practice on Questions and Cues According to Marzano: Use Explicit Cues Ask Questions that Elicit Inferences Use Analytic Questions

Recommendations for Classroom Practice on Questions and Cues Use Explicit Cues Preview of what about to learn Activates prior knowledge Should be straightforward Examples:  Tell what lesson is about  Tell the students what to look for

Two Categories of Questions  Inferential Help students fill in gaps from a lesson, activity, reading  Analytic Often require students to use prior knowledge in addition to new knowledge to analyze, critique information

Inferential Questions Answer is implied Read between the lines Student fills in gaps Use prior knowledge Use new knowledge

Inferential Questions Four categories: 1. Things and people 2. Actions 3. Events 4. States (of Being)

1. Things and People What affect does the fairy godmother’s visit have on Cinderella’s life?

2. Actions How did Cinderella feel after the ball?

3. Events What is the significance of the ball? From whose perspective (Cinderella got to meet her Prince Charming.

4. States (of Being) The fairy godmother changed Cinderella’s outside appearance. What changes probably occurred in the way she felt inside?

Question Writing Activity (Cont.) : With your partner, write 1 question about the topic you previously chose that could be used to help students analyze the topic (analyze errors, construct support, and analyze perspectives). OlympicsSnow Days Broken LegThanksgiving

Implementation Recommendations: Pace yourself. Ask questions when you introduce new content, not just at the end of a learning experience. Ask high-level questions. (Inferential and Analytic) Provide wait time. Preview the big picture. Give students and overview of what the lesson will cover. Use multiple modes. (Verbal, Written, etc.)

Rick’s Reading Workshop Mini Lesson G8U G8U Discuss with your table an observation about this video – in reference to questioning. Share

Higher Order Questioning How to Teach Thinking Skills within the Common Core (7 key student proficiencies of the New National Standards) by Bellanca, Fogarty & Pete. – has mini lessons for each of the Thinking Skills found in Common Core! Research and Inquiry – topic – find all information on it makes you think more deeply! Exploring multiple sources both primary and second to form opinions and theories.

DOK Levels - RBT Depth of Knowledge questioning – RIGOR METER Article: Insect Olympics – read and create 3 text-dependent questions at various levels. DISCUSS butterfly-migration-project-video butterfly-migration-project-video

Advance Organizers An Advance Organizer is an organizational framework teachers present to students prior to teaching new content to prepare them for what they are about to learn. Discussion question: What are some ways you have you used advance organizers in your classroom?

Generalizations based on research: 1. Should focus on what is important not unusual. 2. Higher level advance organizers produce deeper learning. 3. Most useful with information that is not well organized. 4. Different types produce different results. Advance Organizers

Recommendations for Classroom Practice on Advance Organizers Use all 4 types of advance organizers 1. Expository (Brief Synopsis) 2. Narrative (Storytelling) 3. Skimming 4. Graphic Not the only types Advance organizers come in many formats

Expository Describes content Written or oral Can include text and/or pictures Helps see patterns Example: Neurons are nerve cells that transmit nerve signals to and from the brain at up to 200 mph. The neuron consists of a cell body (or soma) with branching dendrites (signal receivers) and a projection called an axon, which conduct the nerve signal. The axon, a long extension of a nerve cell, and take information away from the cell body. Myelin coats and insulates the axon increasing transmission speed along the axon. The cell body (soma) contains the neuron's nucleus (with DNA and typical nuclear organelles). Dendrites branch from the cell body and receive messages.

Narrative Story format Makes personal/real world connections Makes unfamiliar seem familiar Example: Before beginning a unit about the experience of immigrant groups who moved to the U.S., Mr. Anderson told the story of his grandfather, who immigrated from Sweden.

Skimming Preview important information quickly by noting what stands out in headings and highlighted information Pre-reading questions or SQ3R (survey, question, read, recite, review) can be helpful before skimming Example: When beginning a new lesson, gives students 60 seconds to skim an article paying close attention to headings, subheadings, and the first sentence of each paragraph. This helps students become aware of what information they will be learning when they read the article more carefully.

Graphic Organizers Type of nonlinguistic representation which visually represents what the students will learn Examples:

Thinking about problem-solving in questioning Common Core videos can also be found at eos.com/ eos.com/

Questions to think about:  Why is it important that teachers use the instructional strategy of Cues, Questions and Advance Organizers in their instructional practice?  How can the use of the Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers instructional strategy help reinforce student learning?

References Marzano, R. J. [et al.] (2001). A Handbook for Classroom Instruction that Works. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Marzano, R.J. and Pickering, D.J. (2005). Building Academic Vocabulary Teacher’s Manual. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Marzano, R. J., Pickering, D. J., and Pollock, J. E. (2005). Classroom Instruction that Works: Research-based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. Wolf, Dennis Palmer. “The Art of Questioning”. Academic Connections; p1-7, Winter 1987

This document/product/software was supported in whole or in part by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, (Award #Q27A090111A, CFDA A, awarded to the Ohio Department of Education). The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, and no official endorsement by the Department should be inferred.