1. Leadership Consultant KEDC
Great Questions
Improve
Student Engagement
As we dig into our Common Core State Standards,
Sue A. Davis
Leadership Consultant KEDC
11/20/2018

2. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
What do the “gurus” (experts) say about questions and learning?
11/20/2018
Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

3. 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.
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Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

4. 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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Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

5. 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.
11/20/2018
Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

6. 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
11/20/2018
Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

7. 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
11/20/2018
Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

8. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
One important finding is that questions that focus student attention on important elements of a lesson result in better comprehension than those that focus on unusual or interesting elements.
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9. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
A teacher may vary his or her purpose in asking questions during a single lesson, or a single question may have more than one purpose.
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Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

10. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
John Dewey
What’s in a question you ask?
EVERYTHING.
It is a way of evoking stimulating response or stultifying inquiry.
In essence, it is the core of teaching.
11/20/2018
Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

11. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
J. T. Dillon
An educative question is purposeful, clearly focused, carefully conceived and well-formulated.
It does not occur in our mind; we must find it. It does not take on a shape; we must give it form. It does not present itself; we must deliver it. … To conceive it requires thought, to formulate it requires labor, and to pose it, tact.
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Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

12. 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 designed by the teacher
As it relates to the task at hand;
As it reflects the curriculum and CCSS;
And it reviews, extends or challenges student thinking.
11/20/2018
Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

13. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
An Educative Question
Increases student engagement in the curriculum
Helps students to focus on what is important
Improves the rate and degree of student learning
Enhances the transfer of learning to other areas
11/20/2018
Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

14. 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
11/20/2018
Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

15. 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.
11/20/2018
Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

16. 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.
11/20/2018
Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

17. 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.
11/20/2018
Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

18. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
Recitation questions should be structured so that most elicit correct responses.
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Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

19. 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
11/20/2018
Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

20. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
How does an “educative question” relate to an LDC Module?
4 minutes: 1 for thinking; 3 for listening to and sharing with others
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Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

21. 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 !
11/20/2018
Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

22. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
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Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

23. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
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Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

24. Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC
Five student behaviors that boost their ability to pay attention: S L A N T
Sit Up.
Listen.
Ask and answer questions.
Nod your head.
Track the speaker.
11/20/2018
Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

25. Managing Time for Instruction and Wait Time
Less than 10% of class time should be spent on classroom clerical duties.
60% or more classroom time should be spent on instructional activity with active participation – the consistent engagement of the mind of all the learners with that being learned.
30% or less should be spent on facilitation of learning or guided practice of the curriculum
11/20/2018
Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

26. 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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Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

27. 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

28. 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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Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

29. 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

30. 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

31. 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
11/20/2018
Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

32. 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.
11/20/2018
Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC

33. 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.
11/20/2018
Sue A. Davis Leadership Consultant KEDC