Asking Better Questions

Why should you focus on developing your questioning?

• Differentiation without lots of extra effort

• A variety of techniques enhances lessons

• Creates a culture of participation and enquiry

• Encourages students to take risks

• Promotes deeper thinking

Planning Questioning

• Planning WHAT questions to ask

• Planning WHO to ask them to

• Planning HOW to ask them

Is Did/does

Can Would Will Might

What

Where/

when

Which

Who

Why

How

HigherLower

Higher

Lower

The Question Matrix

Journey to deeper thinking

What Who Where When How Why

Identify

Describe

Explain

Analyse

Evaluate

Predict

HigherLower

Hig

her

Lo

wer

The Bloom’s Question Matrix

Journey to deeper thinking

SOLO

levelVerbs What Who Where When How Why

IdentifyDefine

DescribeOutline

AnalyseDistinguish

Explain

ArgueEvaluateJustifyPredictProve

PrioritiseTheorise

HigherLower

Hig

her

Lo

wer

The SOLO Question Matrix

Journey to deeper thinking

For a lesson you’ll be teaching next week…

• Examples of lower-order questions

• Examples of higher-order questions

Now, how to ask them?

Why is PPPB useful?

• Encourages teachers to take risks and tease out deeper learning in class.

• Useful for differentiating objectives and learning experiences by varying our questioning techniques.

• NO more closed questions in our classrooms.• No donkeys!

Thinking time…

What do you think of Donkey’s response to Shrek in the clip?

1. POSE

a. Give the context of your PPPB approach to the class. It is important they know what is happening before it becomes common-place…

b. Insist on hands down before the question is delivered.c. Provide a question or a series of questions, ensuring that

you ask the students to remain reflective.d. Pose the question to the class; not an individual.e. WAIT…

2. PAUSE...

a. This is the difficult part. To stop talking…b. Ask the class to hold the thought... think... and think again...c. If students are captivated and engaged, try holding the

silence for a little while longer (a calculated risk) and...d. Still push the boundaries. Keep the reflection for as long as

possible….before you,e. Pounce!

3. POUNCE!

a. Insist that a response to the question comes from student A , directly and as fast as possible!

b. Of course plan in your mind who you are going to ask, before speaking to the class.

c. Name student A to respond and don't move from the student…d. Possibly don't speak and nip any comments, grunts or noises in the bud! Its

magic when you can hear, see and feel a captivated learning audience. We've all seen it.

e. Wait for an answer... pause... decipher the support needed, especially if no response is evidently on its way. (Of course, at this stage, you can instigate various strategies for peers to support the questionable student A).

f. If student A does manage to answer, the fun part starts here...

What’s your question?

4. BOUNCE!

a. Ask another student their opinion of the first response.b. Develop by asking a third student to say what they liked about

the first two answers.c. “Can you give an alternative answer…?”

“Can you explain his answer?” “Which one do you think is most convincing?” “Can you add something?”

d. Ensures the entire class can be called upon at any given time by just returning to Pose or Pounce.

e. Ensure that all your students understand the concept. Test it before moving on. Don't accept student E or student K shouting out the answer to maintain pace or behaviour.

PPPB in action

“I don’t know…”• “I know you don’t know yet. What do you think?”

• “The answer n. gave was…” How did he get there?”

• Give two options; ask which they agree with most.

• Scaffold an answer: ‘On the one hand, Curley’s Wife is the villain of the story,

yet on the other…’

• Revert to hands-up mid-discussion (Is it right to leave great thinking

unshared?)

• Embark on a round of quick-fire closed questions to cue memory and then go

back to the original question

• Stop the discussion and teach!

Summary

• Teasing out students’ thinking skills and understanding, is far more important than ‘moving on’ to the next stage of the lesson.

• For our students to demonstrate (or aim for) higher-order thinking skills, we need to ask higher-order questions!

• The most reliable way to do this is to plan them in advance.