Questioning
Starter
Think of a question you might have used in the past
week in your classroom – write it on the handout sheets
Questioning
A critical element in outstanding T&L
Think of a question you have used in the past week in your
classroom
Share it with the group
Training Outcomes
1.
Understand that high quality questioning promotes
the highest level of learning and therefore progress
2. Self-evaluate the range of questions you ask
3. Self-evaluate the way you choose who answers
questions
4. Begin to plan of how to use todays strategies in
daily practice
The Big Picture
 CH intro
 Types of questioning (5 mins) – CH
 Dylan Williams
 Examples of how to use questioning to really push deep learning CH/GH
 Deciding who to ask – hands up / random selection / whiteboards / Traffic
lights (5 mins) – GH
 Plenary and feedback
Types of questioning……..
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Are you looking forward to half term?
Do you know the Lord’s Prayer?
So how much is 3 X 4 twelve, right?
Why didn’t you complete your homework?
We really should be getting started now, shouldn’t
we?
 As you envision that you had just lost everything in
Hurricane Katrina…What personal learning's or
insights will you carry forward to future situations
Exert from our Lesson Obs proforma
G2O book extract
Dylan William and questioning
 http://www.fromgoodtooutstanding.com/2012/05/ofs
ted-2012-questioning-to-promote-learning
Types of questions explained
 Are you looking forward to half term?- Verification – you already know the
answer!
 Do you know the Lord’s Prayer? Closed – can be answered ‘yes’, ‘no’ or ‘I
can’
 So how much is 3 X 4 twelve, right? Rhetorical – the answer is given in the
question.
 Why didn’t you complete your homework? Defensive – cause justification,
resistance or self protection.
 We really should be getting started now, shouldn’t we? Agreement –
seeking agreement with your opinion or answer.
 As you envision that you had just lost everything in Hurricane
Katrina…What personal learning's or insights will you carry forward to
future situations? Empowering prepositions –Hidden meanings below the
surface.
Improved questioning technique
“Pose, Pause, Pounce, Bounce”
 The teacher poses a question, pauses to allow pupils
time to think, pounces on any pupil (keeps them on
their toes) and then bounces the pupil’s response
onto another pupil.
TIGGER
Pose Pause Pounce Bounce
Types of question
CH relates this to starter exercise
How is your questioning?
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Do you ever consciously plan / audit your questions?
How good are the key questions you plan for each lesson?
How well do the questions you ask relate to the learning objectives?
Do the questions you ask challenge thinking?
How often do you ask further questions that really probe
understanding?
How many questions do you ask to which you don’t know the
answer?
How often do the learners ask the questions?
How often do you ask the learners to generate probing questions?
How do the questions you ask promote learning?
Choosing who to ask
4 ideas
1. Random name generator
2. Sticks (or similar)
3. Numbers on the desks
4. Old School
School Policy?
NO HANDS UP! ?
Plenary (CH)
Recall your question from the starter earlier…
In light of what you know now, rewrite your question.
How has it changed?
How will your questioning change?
Quality questions
 How do questions promote learning?
 Good questions stimulate thinking, and often generate more questions to
clarify understanding.
 Good questions generate informative responses often revealing not only
misconceptions and misunderstanding, but understanding and experience
beyond that expected.
 Good questions encourage learners to make links.
 Good questions push learners to the limit of their understanding.
 Good questions from pupils push teachers to the limits of their
understanding too, and challenge them to find better ways of explaining.
 Good questions offer opportunities for learners to hear others’ answers to
questions, it helps them to reflect on their own understanding.
Unproductive questions
Questioning can fail because:
 questioning techniques are inappropriate for the material.
 there may be an unconscious gender bias.
 there may be an unconscious bias towards most able or more
demanding students.
 students don’t have enough thinking time. (1 second average)
 learners don’t have any idea as to whether they are the only
ones to get it wrong/right.
 learners fear being seen by their peers to be wrong.
 questions are too difficult.
 questions are too easy.
Successful AFL
This is NOT a mechanism that is expected to be seen….
IT is an educational ethos.
Some questions for you!
 Do I ask the best questions?
 Do I choose who answers questions in the best way?
 Do I develop the skills of best ways to question with
my pupils?
What next?
How do we teach / promote students to ask the BEST
questions for maximum learning?