1. Leadership Programme - Teaching and Learning
Teaching & Learning
HWGA Publishing
L. Observation
Beyond Expected Progress
Marking & Feedback
A. Teachers Workload
W. Scrutiny
IS IT TYPICAL?
L. Walk
A GUIDE TO
Engagement through Questioning
LEARNERS
Progress & Learn
PUBLISHING
O. Inspector
How many are on board? How do you know?
Leadership Programme - Teaching and Learning
18th May 2016

2. Mike Hughes – Educational Trainer.
“If I ran a school, I’d give all the average grades to the ones who gave me all the right answers, for being good parrots. I’d give the top grades to those who made lots of mistakes and told me about them and then told me what they had learned from them.” ( Buckminster Fuller, Inventor of the geodesic dome)
To be able to understand how students learn we need to be able to dissect our lessons and see how we are teaching them.
Mike Hughes – Educational Trainer.

3. Dissecting a lesson
To be able to reflect on the following questions we really need to have information (data) to help us be objective.
What do the students know, understand or can do differently compared to the start of the lesson? (Learning)
What progress have they made from A (Starting Point) to B (Outcome)? (Progress)
How does the teacher know that the majority of students have progressed? (AfL)

4. Types of Questions (Depth of Learning)
Receiving Information compared to Making Sense - Teacher Talk versus Learner Talk
(80/20 Split)
Open versus Closed - Who is answering them? (Engagement)

5. What is the balance of Open and Closed Questions in this lesson?
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Time
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Closed
What is the balance of Open and Closed Questions in this lesson?
Is it always important to start a lesson with closed questioning? Why?
How would this compare to your lesson?
Is there anything unexpected about the questioning here?

6. Open vs Closed Questions
CLOSED QUESTIONS - Definition
A closed question can be answered with either a single word or a short phrase.
Thus 'How old are you?' and 'Where do you live?' are closed questions. A closed question can be answered with either 'yes' or 'no'.
Using closed questions
Closed questions have the following characteristics:
They give you facts.
They are easy to answer.
They are quick to answer.
They keep control of the conversation with the questioner.
OPEN QUESTIONS - Definition
An open question is likely to receive a long answer.
Although any question can receive a long answer, open questions deliberately seek longer answers, and are the opposite of closed questions.
Using open questions
Open questions have the following characteristics:
They ask the respondent to think and reflect.
They will give you opinions and feelings.
They hand control of the conversation to the respondent

7. Knowledge / Remembering
Blooms Taxonomy
Synthesis
Evaluation
Application
Analysis
Understanding
Knowledge / Remembering
Higher Order Questions
Encouraging deeper learning to occur, beyond the resources and objective provided in lessons
Lower Order Questions
Encouraging students to grasp the core concepts of the lesson

8. You have 3 minutes to look at the image and using The Blooms Taxonomy Triangle, pose questions in relation to the image which escalate in challenge
“The Wheel of Fortune”

9. What would happen if Fortune was not intervening in his reign?
Do you think he was a good/bad King based on the image?
What does it tell you about this King’s reign?
As this image is titled “The Wheel of Fortune” explain why the people are in different positions?
What do you think the image represents?
How many people were on the Wheel?

10. MEDC = RICH LEDC = POOR Where were these Jeans made?
Why were so many countries involved in making these jeans?
Has fashion connected the world? Would you say this is a form of Globalisation?
If these Jeans cost £90, what is the reason for such a high price?
Did each country get paid the same? Explain
Why does fashion use the LEDC countries?
LEDC = POOR
Is Globalisation Fair to ALL?

11. What does student engagement look like when observing?
The students had a starter activity on the board when entering the classroom. Teacher assisted.
The teacher gave new information to students on a powerpoint with some questioning
After 10 minutes the class were on task with the teacher initially instructing small groups then they could step back and facilitate 2/8. After 12 minutes group work the teacher gave further instructions.
Analysis
Questions:
Look at the colours on the graph. How much time do you notice you have spent giving instruction. If the chart is all blue for a long period of time how engaged are the students? What do you expect the students to be doing whilst you are instructing?
Reflect upon:
In your lessons where does the emphasis lie between transferring information and helping students make sense of it?
Does the graph match up with what you thought you did in the lesson?

12. Lesson 1

13. Lesson 2

14. Questioning for challenge
Questioning is the one assessment tool in our teacher toolkit that requires very little pre-planning. It is a resource up your sleeve ready to use at any time.
How many questions do you think you ask in a 1 hour lesson?
What types of questions do you ask?
Do your students ask questions beyond to clarify?
How many students are you asking questions to?
Do you have an approach to get all engaged?
Do you use names or hands up?
Why do you ask the questions that you have asked?
Do you plan your questions before a lesson?

15. FWD – Taking students beyond the average and moving them forward
Further
Questions/Activities to take the learner further.
Learners can recall and also analyse and apply learning to a new context. Contextualise, Analyse, Evaluate, Think beyond
Wider
Questions/Activities to broaden the leaner’s experience and make links. Learners can make links to other learning or experiences. Comparing/contrasting, Make links, Draw Analogies
Deeper
Questions/Activities to get deep learning. Where learning is embedded and clearly understood. Learners can draw on prior knowledge and apply it. Application, Ask Questions, Enquire Further

16. Explain what a high achieving student looks like in the classroom?
Further
Explain what a high achieving student looks like in the classroom?
Originality
Creativity
Going beyond the basic
Wider reading
Deeper understanding
Analysing
High level of vocabulary
Use of subject terminology
Clear written communication
Clear oral communication
Dedication
Home study
Wider research
Dedicated
Focused
Motivated
Completing all the work
Funnel Questions – Taking a question and exploring further.

17. How do you create an activity with a high challenge?
Further
Activities that Provide
challenge
How do you create an activity with a high challenge?
I bet you can’t think of three reasons…
Completing this in ten minutes will be a challenge, but I know you’re good enough… let’s go for it!
I bet you can’t think of more examples than me – beat the teacher
Thinking of questions to challenge peers or the teacher
Timings and pace
More challenging material – higher reading ages
Not giving all the information in one go – search for meaning exercises

18. Using language for higher learning Using ‘words for thinking’
Imagining
Comparing
Giving reasons
Making connections
Explaining
Contrasting
Analysing
Discussing
Finding solutions
Problem solving
Listening
Asking questions

19. Wider
Making Connections

20. Chunking Questions – more or less detail
Probing Questions – to draw out specific detail
Open or Closed Questions – Yes/No or a long answer
Clear Questions – simple and unambiguous
Tag Questions– turning a statement into a Q.
Funnel Questions – seeking more detail
Leading Questions – to help you go down a particular route
Linking Questions – to move the discussion around a group
To take learning wider we need to keep questions going in the classroom to the point where the students are asking them.

21. Questioning - Who are you asking? Know your audience?
Ask an individual
Identify that you are going to come to them in a moment to ask them a question. Thinking time allows a deeper and more meaningful response.
Ask a selection
To ask a small group, first identify them, and also let them know how they should make themselves visible. For example:
'Who here has got a Toyota car? Please put your hands up.‘
Asking everyone
Even if you are asking the group as a whole, again give them a prompt to let them know that they should wake up (if they were daydreaming) and start thinking. You can do this by asking for a volunteer:
'Who can tell me what this means?‘ ‘I will be asking you all to contribute in a few moments’
Linking Thinking
Link the answers together so ideas, opinions and thoughts bounce off one another. I like the idea Peter gave about ….. What do you think Jane?
'Who else has an opinion on this?'

22. Why? How? Who? What? When? What if?
Deeper
Why? How? Who? What? When? What if?
Method of questioning
Use questions to elicit answers that provide you with useful information.
Use questions to test the other person, checking what they know.
Use questions to involve people, retain their interest and encourage them to engage.
Use questions to get other people to think and discover things for themselves.
Use simple stock questions to start a conversation.
Use tag questions (e.g. ...,aren't you? ...,isn't it? ...,won't they?) to turn statements into questions.
In a pair – label yourselves A and B.
A tell B something about your last holiday.
B you must listen carefully and get ready to ask some questions.
Once finished – Extend the dialogue by B asking questions about A.

23. Questioning – Chunking
Deeper
Questioning – Chunking
Chunking down - Asking questions to get fine detail
Moving away from concepts/ideas towards detail/logistics/facts
Sometimes when you are teaching you are speaking at a very high level, covering general ideas and themes. Concepts and big ideas can be confusing so asking the right questions to gain more detail is when you chunk down to the nitty gritty.
The goal is to find out more through probing questions, fill in the empty gaps in your picture, test the reality of the situation, and so on. The more you ask chunking questions, the more you will find further detail. Chunk down by asking questions such as:
How did you know/do that?
Why did that happen?
What happened about...?
What, specifically,...
Tell me more about...
What is the root cause of all this?

24. Chunking up – Asking questions to get an overall view and opinion
Moving away from facts and figures towards opinion and strategy
Sometimes the learner you are teaching is already down in the details and you need them to think deeper. To chunk up, you are doing the opposite of chunking down - looking for a more generalized understanding. This includes looking for overall purpose, meaning, linkages, etc.
Chunk up by asking questions such as:
What does this mean?
Let's look at the bigger picture...
How does that relate to...?
What are we trying to achieve here?
Who is this for? What do they really want?
For the More Able you should use Up and down questioning to fit the purpose of the task
You can use both methods together as a way of building a broad understanding. For example:
Start at a high level of chunking to define the initial problem.
Chunk down to find possible project goals.
Chunk up to review and agree the project.
Chunk down to build an understanding of the problem.
Chunk up to look for problems in the overall system.
Chunk down to find specific actions to address.

25. Debate Task
Big statement - Students that do not achieve English and Maths by aged 16 should be held back and made to repeat Year DISCUSS
2 teams
Elect 1 team leader
Team A is for and Team B is against
5 minutes to create your argument including questions for the other team.
5 minutes open debate chaired by Sally.
You must take turns and put your hand up to speak.