1. Leadership Consultant KEDC
Great Questions
Improve
Student Engagement
Part 2
As we dig into our Common Core State Standards,
Sue A. Davis
Leadership Consultant KEDC
11/18/2018

2. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
When you see “Him,”
What is expected of all students or
What is the benefit to students.
When you see “Her,”
Questioning strategies or
Teacher actions.
11/18/2018
Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

3. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
In general, research shows that instruction involving questioning is more effective than instruction without questioning.
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4. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
Teachers often have little or no training in questioning techniques, so being familiar with the research is a good place to start.
Improving in this area requires a reflective and metacognitive approach.
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Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

5. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
WHY ASK QUESTIONS?
Teachers ask questions for a variety of purposes, including:
To actively involve students in the lesson
To increase motivation or interest
To evaluate students’ preparation
To check on completion of work
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6. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
To develop critical thinking skills
To review previous lessons
To nurture insights
To assess achievement or mastery of goals and objectives
To stimulate independent learning
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Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

7. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
An Educative Question must be designed by the teacher
In view of a particular purpose
In consideration of a discrete content focus
Relative to the use of a determined level of cognition
An educative question must be conceived
1) in view of a particular purpose
2) in consideration of a discrete content focus
3) relative to the use of a determined level of cognition
Three Characteristics or Recitation Questions:
1)What is in a question is not the thing that question asks about
Teachers do not raise a question in recitation because they do not know the answer or because they are curious as to the student’s answer. Teachers have other reasons for asking questions for which they have the answer and presume (or at least hope) that students have the answers. What are some of these reasons?
INVITE PARTICIPANTS TO RESPOND HERE:
Possible responses: Make sure a given students knows the answer, check on whether students did homework; drill and practice; review for a test.
2)Answers are known before asking and confirmed after asking.
In general, there is only oneanswer to a question raised in recitation, and the teacher has determined before the recitation what the correct answer is.This is true whether
11/18/2018
Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

8. Recitation Two Contexts for Oral Questioning
What is in question is not the thing the question asks about.
Answers are known before asking and confirmed after asking.
The questioner reacts to the answer with an evaluation as to its correctness.
Three Characteristics or Recitation Questions:
1)What is in a question is not the thing that question asks about
Teachers do not raise a question in recitation because they do not know the answer or because they are curious as to the student’s answer. Teachers have other reasons for asking questions for which they have the answer and presume (or at least hope) that students have the answers. What are some of these reasons?
INVITE PARTICIPANTS TO RESPOND HERE:
Possible responses: Make sure a given students knows the answer, check on whether students did homework; drill and practice; review for a test, assess prior knowledge; closure on a lesson, bell ringer for beginning class).
2)Answers are known before asking and confirmed after asking.
In general, there is only one answer to a question raised in recitation, and the teacher has determined before the recitation what the correct answer is. This is true whether the question is factual or interpretive, simple or complex, and so on.
3)The questioner reacts to the answer with an evaluation as to its correctness or incorrectness.
11/18/2018
Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

9. Discussion Two Contexts for Oral Questioning
Questions are open for discussion rather than closed for an answer.
The teacher is NOT the source of the answer.
Discussion is characterized by an exchange of talk.
On the other hand, discussion looks and feels a lot different from recitation.
In discussion
Questions are open for discussion rather than closed for answer
The teacher is not the source of the answer (i.e, the teacher has not determined the correctness of an answer before it is offered. Here is where I believe an oral open response question can be used to facilitate student discussion in small groups with responses shared with the whole group.
Discussion is characterized by an exchange of talk – a mix of statements and questions from both students and teachers.
11/18/2018
Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

10. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
Purpose of Question
Recitation
Discussion
To get students to talk
To review and assess what is known
To get students to think
To work out understanding of content
Role of Teacher
Recitation
Discussion
Speaks at every turn
Speaks in questions
Evaluates the student answers as to correctness
Does not speak at every turn,
but yields floor to students
Does not always speak in questions but also makes comments
Poses question for discussion
Asks questions that perplex self
On the other hand, discussion looks and feels a lot different from recitation.
In discussion
Questions are open for discussion rather than closed for answer
The teacher is not the source of the answer (i.e, the teacher has not determined the correctness of an answer before it is offered. Here is where I believe an oral open response question can be used to facilitate student discussion in small groups with responses shared with the whole group.
Discussion is characterized by an exchange of talk – a mix of statements and questions from both students and teachers.
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Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

11. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
Recitation questions should be structured so that most elicit correct responses.
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12. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
Plan and write out the questions to be used in a lesson.
How many are lower cognitive questions?
Higher cognitive questions?
Is the percentage appropriate for the age and ability level of your students?
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Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

13. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
We are not referring to questions that fill class time or that are carelessly lifted from teacher’s manuals, programs, or other sources.
We are referring to
Educative Questions.
An educative question must be conceived
1) in view of a particular purpose
2) in consideration of a discrete content focus
3) relative to the use of a determined level of cognition
Three Characteristics or Recitation Questions:
1)What is in a question is not the thing that question asks about
Teachers do not raise a question in recitation because they do not know the answer or because they are curious as to the student’s answer. Teachers have other reasons for asking questions for which they have the answer and presume (or at least hope) that students have the answers. What are some of these reasons?
INVITE PARTICIPANTS TO RESPOND HERE:
Possible responses: Make sure a given students knows the answer, check on whether students did homework; drill and practice; review for a test.
2)Answers are known before asking and confirmed after asking.
In general, there is only oneanswer to a question raised in recitation, and the teacher has determined before the recitation what the correct answer is.This is true whether
11/18/2018
Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

14. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
Some Cautions for our Students include:
Build in the opportunity to “pass”
Put them on the clock for extended activities (Tell them, “you have 1 minute to answer correctly”)
Direct Instruction / Questioning Time K-3 Less than 5 min. followed by activity or application
4-7 5:2
8-12 8:2
Age + 2.
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15. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
Time !
Use it wisely!
Plan for its use.
Keep kids “on the clock.”
Quick estimate: age + 2 for attention span.
Never
forget your most precious resource is
Time !
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Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

16. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
Follow a series of steps so they can successfully respond to the question.
Adjust your answer after hearing others !
Share your answer !
Keep your answer a secret!
Decipher the Question !
Attend to the Question !
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Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

17. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
Helping Students Who Respond Incorrectly
1. Cue use symbols, words, or phrases to help student recall
2. Clue use overt reminders, “starts with …,” “related to …”
3. Probe Look for reasoning behind an incorrect answer or for clarity when response is incomplete.
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Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

18. Protocols for Questioning Episodes
Discussion Questions
A teacher may choose any number of strategies for students to follow in order to bring about rich discussion. The most important thing here is a shift in mindset. For a true discussion to occur, the teacher cannot think that there is only one right answer or that they should lead students to a specific conclusion. The teacher must let the students talk with each other.
Day One: Students prepare (research, read, write, create, experiment, design) an individual series of questions related to the chosen topic.
Day Two: Students break into small groups to discuss the topic, using their own and others’ questions to guide the discussion.
Day Three:Students meet for a shorter period of time in their small groups to discuss any thoughts they may have had since the discussion. It is the final, individual reflection sheet that is submitted to the teacher.
11/18/2018
Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

19. Protocols for Questioning Episodes
Recitation Questions
It is wonderful when a teacher asks a series of lower cognitive questions that spiral to higher levels – and the students follow along. But to get there, a teacher must teach the students how to engage in the questioning session that is a part of an entire classroom “period.”
Step One: Design a series of questions that will generate relatively rapid responses.
Step Two: Prepare a method for guaranteeing the random selection of students for their responses.
Step Three: Allow for a student to “opt out for now” [PASS, Come back to me, not yet] or to get help [table partner, elbow partner, call a friend, check their notes]
Step Four: Ask the question to the entire group, first. WAIT. Repeat the question. WAIT. Then call on a student to respond.
Step Five: WAIT, making eye contact with several (if not all) students around the room. Affirm, prod, probe, clue, clarify as necessary.
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Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

20. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
Wait Time :
the time you give to a student to process information
Steps:
Pose the question
Wait Time I: pause 3-5 seconds after posing the question
Student Responds
Wait Time II: pause at least 3-5 seconds after the student responds
Other students complete their thinking
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21. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
Managing Time and Wait Time
Improvements in student achievement
Increases in the number of higher cognitive responses generated by students
Increases in the length of student responses
Increases in the number of unsolicited responses
Decreases in students’ failure to respond
Increases in the amount and quality of evidence students offer to support their inferences
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Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

22. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
Managing Time and Wait Time (cont)
7) Increases in contributions by students who do not participate much when wait-time is under three seconds
8) Expansion of the variety of responses offered by students
9) Decreases in student interruptions
10)Increases in student to student interactions around content
11)Increases in the number of questions posed by students
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Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

23. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
Increasing Wait Time beyond 3 seconds is positively related to the following teacher outcomes:
Increases in flexibility of teachers responses, with teachers listening more and engaging students in more discussions
Increases in teacher expectations regarding students usually regarded as “slow”
Expansion of the variety of questions asked by teachers
Increases in the number of higher cognitive questions asked by teachers
11/18/2018
Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

24. Random Selection of Students for Responses to Questions
Teachers who devise a way to guarantee that each and every student is “on the hook” for learning during either recitation or discussion questions will overtly improve student engagement.
However, even on a good day, teachers have an action zone.
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25. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
Randomizer
Pick Me
Team Shake
Others?
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26. Random Selection of Students for Responses to Questions
Index Cards or Tongue Depressers: Write each student’s name on 2 cards or tongue depressers. Shuffle or mix them together. Ask the question FIRST for the entire class. Repeat the question. Pull out a name and repeat the question for that individual. Use appropriate wait time, hear student response, and replace name back in stack or pile. Ask a second question, and pull another card.
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Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

27. Random Selection of Students for Responses to Questions
2) Numbered Desks
Put a small piece of masking tape on each student desk. Number the desks by writing on the masking tape.
Ask the question. Pull a number out of a hat, and that person answers.
And so on.
11/18/2018
Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

28. Random Selection of Students for Responses to Questions
3) Numbered Heads Together
>Students form small groups and number off in each group
>Teacher asks a question
>Students put their heads together to work out the response
>Teacher calls number and students in each group with that number raise their hands
>Teacher calls on one to answer
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Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

29. Other Ways for Students to Respond to Questions
Signaled Response: Have every student signal the answer. Example: “thumbs up if true, thumbs down if false, to the side if not sure.”
Work Samples: Have students write their answers (chalk or white boards, large cardstock); teacher circulates or students hold up answers.
11/18/2018
Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

30. Other Ways for Students to Respond to Questions
Pairs Check: Students work in four-person teams (two pairs consisting of a coach and worker each). Pairs complete a short assignment that reinforces lessons, checking answers with the other half of their team. Coaches and workers trade jobs after each problem.
Individual Responses: Yes, sometimes you just have to call out someone’s name to bring them out of the fog.
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Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

31. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
Positively probing for correct answers, a teacher sees the following results.
Redirection and probing (often researched together) are positively related to achievement when they are explicitly focused, e.g., on the clarity, accuracy, plausibility, etc. of student responses.
Redirection and probing are unrelated to achievement when they are vague or critical, e.g., “That’s not right, try again;” “Where did you get an idea like that? I’m sure Suzanne has thought it through more carefully and can help us.”
11/18/2018
Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

32. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
Helping Students Who Respond Incorrectly
Rephrase pose the same question in different words
Redirect pose the same question to a different student; then go back to the first student for reinforcement or clarification
Hold accountable later Check back later in the lesson with the student who responded incorrectly to make sure they now have the right answer.
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33. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
What to Do if a Student Asks a Question During Recitation or Discussion
If the question is relative to the learning objective, answer it.
Ask yourself:
Who is the question for?
Do I know enough about it?
Am I ready to teach this now?
Is it worth abandoning what I’ve planned?
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Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

34. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
By randomly selecting students to respond to educative questions, responding appropriately to incorrect answers and student questions, a teacher improves the opportunities for students
To focus their attention and energy on the content and task at hand;
To retain pertinent learning longer:
To transfer the learning to other areas of experience, and
To increase the rate and degree of learning.
They learn faster and deeper.
11/18/2018
Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

35. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
Positively probing for correct answers, a teacher sees the following results.
Redirection and probing (often researched together) are positively related to achievement when they are explicitly focused, e.g., on the clarity, accuracy, plausibility, etc. of student responses.
Redirection and probing are unrelated to achievement when they are vague or critical, e.g., “That’s not right, try again;” “Where did you get an idea like that? I’m sure Suzanne has thought it through more carefully and can help us.”
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Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

36. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
Spiraling Questions from Lower Cognitive to Higher Cognitive Content and Back Again
All students need to be brought into the recitation or discussion from some place (another class, a different activity, lunch, breaks, interruptions).
The teacher does this by asking lower cognitive questions (prior knowledge, review, reminders) first, and then going to higher order questions with the time is right.
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Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

37. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
Teaching Students to Draw Inferences
P.D. Pearson, in his research document “Changing the Face of Reading Comprehension Instruction,” defines a simple model that provides some basic steps which can help students make connections between what they know and what they are seeking to learn.
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38. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
Teaching Students to Draw Inferences
Pearson suggests teachers complete all the steps in this process by way of demonstration, then gradually shift responsibility for all but the first step to the students.
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39. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
Teaching Students to Draw Inferences
Step One: Ask the inference question.
Step Two: Answer it.
Step Three: Find clues in the text to support the inference.
Step Four: Tell how to get from the clues to the answer (give line of reasoning).
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40. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
Drawing appropriate inferences provides students the opportunity to
Transfer learning
Internalize learning as related to their working on the response
Learn the process for inferring
Participate in higher order activities that require the identification of patterns, items of importance, and evidence
Communicate student thoughts that are closely related to core curriculum
Increase the rate and degree of learning
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Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

41. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
Guidelines for Classroom Questioning
The handout provided comes from
“Classroom Questioning” by Kathleen Cotton from the North Western Regional Education Laboratory.
She reviewed 37 research documents related to classroom questions and compiled this list after careful analysis.
11/18/2018
Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC