Questioning

Asking Questions That Make Students Think

Part 1 of Better Questions

How can we ask questions that make students think rather than just remember?

Creating Sequences of Questions

Part 2 of Better Questions

High-level questions on their own simply aren't enough. We must create sequences of questions!

Developing Questions that Prompt Thinking in Math

Part 3 of Better Questions

Math is a particularly tricky subject for asking higher-level questions. Here are a couple of techniques I've used to prompt students to think, not merely calculate.

Running A “Notice, Wonder” Lesson

Part 7 of Better Questions

Use these puzzling images to build a classroom culture that is comfortable with curiosity, ambiguity, and taking intellectual risks.

Who Asks The Questions? And Who Answers?

Part 5 of Better Questions

What would the pie chart look like for these three situations: the teacher asks the students, a student asks the teacher, or a student asks another student a question? I can tell you my pie chart would have been very lopsided.

Updating Old Questions: Conflict and Character Change

Part 1 of Updating Old Questions

I update an old question about conflict and character change in the story Hatchet.

Improving Wait Time

Part 4 of Better Questions

How much time do students get to think? How much time do students need to think? How can we bring those into alignment?

Updating Old Questions: Name That Genre

Part 3 of Updating Old Questions

How I'd improve a low-level question about a story's genre.

Updating Old Questions: Identify Figurative Language

Part 6 of Updating Old Questions

So students can identify a simile, metaphor, and hyperbole. What next?

Improving Evaluative Questions

Part 6 of Better Questions

How to improve questions at the "evaluate" level of Bloom's Taxonomy.

Updating Old Questions: Volcano from Two Perspectives

Part 5 of Updating Old Questions

How I'd break down and rebuild a task about judging a volcano.

Updating Old Questions: Comparing Two Leaders

Part 4 of Updating Old Questions

How I'd upgrade a dull "which one is better" question.

Updating Old Questions: Pay Raise

Part 2 of Updating Old Questions

How I'd update a low-level, overly engaging math question.

Updating Old Questions: A Mere Model of a Cell

Part 7 of Updating Old Questions

This task is all about the product, but completely ignores how students will think.

Updating Old Questions: Designing A Character’s Bedroom

Part 8 of Updating Old Questions

Fixing an under-developed (but interesting) task that was originally part of a choice menu.