Critical Thinking and Effective Questioning

1. Critical Thinking and Effective Questioning •NameEleni Vasileiou• Which of the four face-to-face institute or Elluminate session topics did you select to report on and why?Higher Order Questioning in the Classroom (on-line session 1) because it has proved an excellent teaching tool in terms of differentiating instruction and has provided me with invaluable insights into lesson design. In addition, it has shown the most immediate results compared to other practices piloted.• With whom did you pilot this new practice and at what grade level did you undertake your pilot? 1st , 2nd and 3rd grade Junior High School students 1

2. Connections with Colleagues • sharing my positive experience during instructional talk • exchanging ideas as to how problems that have arisen could be overcome 2

3. Successes • Ensuring greater participation by calling on students randomly (applying the “numbered heads” technique) or allowing for students’ calling on their classmates to respond • Boosting struggling learners’ confidence initially by asking questions I knew they could answer and gradually moving up Bloom’s Taxonomy pyramid • Spotting students’ misconceptions and building on students’ prior knowledge • Building smoother connections during the different stages of the lesson • Uncovering students’ thinking by engaging tasks (especially by asking them to defend their reasoning against different points of view and “what if” questions) 3

4. Challenges • Challenging students with questions which apparently were above their level of comfort resulted in getting vacant looks instead of an answer • Allowing for thinking time after a question for struggling learners slowed down the lesson’s pace and led more gifted learners to lose interest • On the other hand, not allowing ample time for a task that required higher order thinking skills discouraged struggling learners • Instinctive and rather unexpected answers which either disrupted the lesson or changed the course of the lesson I had designed to be delivered 4

5. Next Steps • Better planning – such as task cards or assignment sheets for all lessons so as to differentiate instruction according to readiness • Regularly varying questions/ tasks to maintain interest • Appropriate time allotment for different tasks to cater for all students’ abilities and needs • Insisting on the principle of mutual respect being non-negotiable thereby not allowing students to respond to their classmates’ answers in a judgmental way 5