Strategies that Work Teaching for Understanding and Engagement

1. Strategies that WorkTeaching for Understanding and Engagement Workshop 5 Questioning Debbie Draper & Julie Fullgrabe Curriculum Consultant (Northern Adelaide)

2. Questioning • How many questions does the average teacher ask in a day? • What fraction of teaching time is spent asking questions?

3. Questioning is an area characterised by a good deal of ‘instinctive’ practice. • An average teacher asks 400 questions in a day • That’s 70,000 a year! • One-third of all teaching time is spent asking questions • Steven HastingsTES 4 July 2003

4. Questioning • Why do teachers ask questions?

6. Research on Wait Time In a classroom, the mode time between asking questions and requiring an answer is … Less than 1.5 seconds.

7. Think Time Research: Students According to Stahl (1994), when students are given three or more seconds of undisturbed think time: • the length and correctness of responses increases; • the frequency of non-answers or “I don’t know” decreases; • more students volunteer appropriate answers; and • the scores of students on academic achievement tests tend to increase.

8. Think Research: Teachers • Questioning strategies tend to become more varied and flexible. • The quantity of questions decreases but the quality and variety of questions increases. • More questions are asked that require more complex processing and higher-order thinking.

10. Research tells us.... • Student generated questions are much more effective in raising comprehension achievement than teacher questions ...so... how do we teach students to ask relevant questions?

11. Good thinkers ask questions before, duringand afterreading (or listening)

12. Questioning Models • What questioning models do you know and use explicitly?

13. Bloom’s Taxonomy

15. Question Matrix EVENT SITUATION CHOICE PERSON RESAON MEANS PRESENT What Is? Where/ When is? Which did? Who is? Why is? How is? PAST What did? Where/ When did? Which did? Who did? Why did? How did? POSSIBIL-ITY What can? Where/ When can? Which can? Who can? Why can? How can? PROBAB-ILITY What would? Where/ When would? Which would? Who would? Why would? How would? PREDIC-TION What will? Where/ When will? Which will? Who will? Why will? How will? IMAGIN- ATION What might? Where/ When might? Which might? Who might? Why might? How might? (C. Weiderhold ‘Co-operative Learning and Critical Thinking’ in Langrehr, Better Questions, better Thinking Book 2, Longman Cheshire, Melbourne, 1993)

17. EVENT SITUATION CHOICE PERSON RESAON MEANS PRESENT What Is? Where/When is? Which did? Who is? Why is? How is? PAST What did? Where/ When did? Which did? Who did? Why did? How did? POSSIBIL-ITY What can? Where/ When can? Which can? Who can? Why can? How can? PROBAB-ILITY What would? Where/ When would? Which would? Who would? Why would? How would? PREDIC-TION What will? Where/ When will? Which will? Who will? Why will? How will? IMAGIN- ATION What might? Where/ When might? Which might? Who might? Why might? How might? Questions can be: • Thickor thin

18. EVENT SITUATION CHOICE PERSON RESAON MEANS PRESENT What Is? Where/When is? Which did? Who is? Why is? How is? PAST What did? Where/ When did? Which did? Who did? Why did? How did? POSSIBIL-ITY What can? Where/ When can? Which can? Who can? Why can? How can? PROBAB-ILITY What would? Where/ When would? Which would? Who would? Why would? How would? PREDIC-TION What will? Where/ When will? Which will? Who will? Why will? How will? IMAGIN- ATION What might? Where/ When might? Which might? Who might? Why might? How might? Questions can be: • Open or closed

20. Questioning models.... ...can be useful as a scaffold for question generation for teachers and students. ...are not necessarily completely different or distinct from each other

21. How do I teach this strategy?

22. Why?

23. Establish the purpose • What is a question? • Why do we ask questions? • When do we ask questions?

25. Modelled: • Model by think aloud – ask questions whilst you are reading a text aloud. • Talk to students about the different types of questions: • 5W and H • open and closed • thick and thin • here, head and hidden • The model you use will depend on your context.

26. Read a suitable text to students. • Think aloud and jot down your questions on post-it notes. • As you generate questions ask students to contribute their own ideas. • Talk to students about the types of questions and classify them accordingly • Talk to students about the purpose of the questions – and what sorts of questions are suitable for the purpose e.g. Questions for fiction texts may be different to questions suitable for non-fiction texts.

27. Guided • Provide opportunities to students to ask questions after shared and guided reading. Provide feedback and encourage students to ask a range of questions. • Continue to model as necessary.

28. Independent • Provide opportunities to ask and answer questions in all learning areas. • Provide scaffolds as required.

29. Independent Strategies • Reciprocal Teaching/ Reciprocal Reading After explicit teaching of all strategies, students are taught different roles for team work e.g.

30. The Questioner

32. Read the handout – how could you use or adapt these questions for your context? How would you model, guide and set independent tasks?

34. Take a Question Strategy Folder Read the card and discuss. Is this a useful model for your context? Why or why not? Swap folders with another group and repeat.

35. Consider... • How can you use the gradual release of responsibility to teach the Questioning Strategy to staff or students? • Use the handouts, cards etc to support your thinking.