Question Renovation
As a teacher, I didn’t know how to ask questions well! I had basically no training. But I asked hundreds each day. Now, I’m renovating my embarrassingly bad old questions!
Taking Flashcards Up To “Analyze”
We had a pack of animal flashcards. But my kid can already read. So here’s how we took these low-level cards up to Analyze – in three different ways.
Help my students remember these confusing terms!
If you want students to memorize, you can’t aim for memorize. You have to aim higher – and then memorization comes along for free.
When A Math Puzzle Isn’t Very Puzzling
It looks like a fun puzzle. But it’s actually just a low-level worksheet in disguise!
Over-Scaffolding Writing
Here’s what happens when we make a scaffold the final product.
How *Not* To Ask Questions About A Novel
These “discussion questions” highlight so many of the problems we’ve been looking at.
Two Questions I Won’t Ask About A Famous Quote
Let’s do more than ask, “What did this person mean?”
What Makes An Antagonist Effective?
It’s really fun to take an already good sequence, tweak it, and get something even better!
Going Beyond “Define These Terms In Your Own Words”
“Define these terms in your own words” may contain depth and complexity… but it’s neither deep nor complex!
Beyond “Describe How This Changed Over Time”
I want to go beyond just listing how a character changed. Let’s get students thinking about that change!
Going Beyond “Identify a Story’s Problem”
My students were stuck telling me a story’s problem and solution. Let’s get thinking!
I didn’t proofread my questions.
When I look back at the questions I asked students, one thing really pops out. I did not try answering my own questions. As a result, my students got untested rough drafts.
Matching Flowers and Pollinators
How to add a couple of Analyze-level tasks to this Synthesize activity.
Don’t Just Paraphrase A Poem!
What if, instead, we re-wrote the poem in the style of a different poet?
Upgrading “Put The Events In Order”
I often see this question on language arts and social studies worksheets: “Put these events in order.” Yes, it’s low-level, but the real problem is that it’s a one-off. Let’s make a sequence of questions about the order of events.
Updating Old Questions: Addition With Missing Pieces
How can I go beyond asking 20 variations of 622 + 77 = ___?
I asked about Caesar vs Alexander, but somehow skipped Analyze.
A big ol’ table that looks like comparing, but it’s really more about remembering.
Updating Old Questions: A math question that’s TOO high level?!
What happens when we ask a math level that scares off 83% of our students? Don’t lower the ceiling! Lower the floor through scaffolding.
Multiple Perspectives on Veterans’ Day
We can’t just list multiple perspectives.
Improving A Task About Designing A Character’s Bedroom
An under-developed task in which students designed a character’s room.
A Math Question That Moves Around on Bloom’s
I was aiming for engagement rather than higher-level thinking.
Updating Old Questions: A Mere Model of a Cell
Why are my best biologists just restating facts we already know?
Going Beyond “Name That Genre!”
What can we do once students correctly identify a story’s genre?
Improving Identify the Figurative Language
What do we do after a student can identify the type of figurative language?
Updating Old Questions: The Planets’ Order
Oops! I just asked my students to put the planets in order! Here’s what I could do differently…
Updating Old Questions: Volcano from Two Perspectives
Just because we have two perspectives doesn’t mean we have a great question!
Making Categories of Famous Structures
A task about famous structures that stops at the bottom of Bloom’s.
Practice Context Clues with Classics
Most context clue worksheets have incredibly low expectations.
Updating Old Questions: A Congress At School?
Let’s go beyond listing Congress’ powers and consider fairness if a school had a legislative branch.
A Playlist That Shows A Character’s Change
Here’s how I’d take one task from my choice board and focus on making it great!
Healthy Donuts!? Framing a Math Project with a Big Idea
Instead of jumping straight to calculations, what if we framed this math concept with a big idea?
Upgrading A Research Report
So many “research reports” are really just “regurgitation re-writes.” Here’s one way to take a research report to a much more interesting level.
I Compared Characters, Yet Stayed At “Remember”
I set up an Analyze question, but never actually asked it! All of these questions are at the “remember” level.
Graphic Organizers Are Not Final Products
Ending with a Venn Diagram is like comparing two vacation spots… but never actually going on the vacation!
Which is longer: a Ray or a Line?
Let’s move beyond memorizing definitions and get kids grappling with the fascinating concept of infinity!
What could we do with this Wax Museum event?
How one might revamp a “Wax Museum” project into something that focuses more on thinking than product.
Tweaks To A Character Study
A teacher sent me a sequence of questions about the story My Father’s Dragon. Based on what you’ve read so far, what is one word you could use to describe Elmer? What from the story made you choose this word? Think of other books you’ve read. What character from another story you know is similar […]
Question Renovation Techniques
A few techniques I found myself using as I renovated old questions from my classroom.
Rewriting a Sentence With Different Coordinating Conjunctions
The first unit in our writing program was always teaching the coordinating conjunctions. It always felt goofy teaching this to 6th graders – especially a gifted magnet class. I mean… do they really not know the difference between “and” and “but”?
Making Awful Graphs
Sometimes we can learn a lot by doing something the wrong way. Here are six ways your students can purposefully design awful, misleading graphs.
Poe’s The Raven
The Raven is a great starting point for students’ to learn about Poe. Not only does the poem clearly demonstrate “tone,” but it is a figurative language tour de force. Plus, there are some amazing readings available online!
Taking “Noting Details” To A Higher Level
By 6th grade, our reading program’s comprehension skills have become a bit basic for most of my gifted students. I’ve been working on increasing the depth and complexity of these skills. In this case, “Noting Details” has become “Explicit Vs. Implicit Details.”