Questioning and Discussion Techniques
What is component 3B?
While teaching a lesson, a teacher may choice to use questioning to quickly and efficiently evaluate understanding and to guide learning. For students, questions can challenge their understanding, increase engagement, and guide them through learning. Questions do not always need to be answered, and a teacher might use a rhetorical question for some deep thinking. A series of low cognitive challenge questions could be used to review or work through a multi-step problem. Teachers are not the only ones who need to know how to question; it is a skill that should be taught to students too. Group discussions are a good way for teachers to teach this skill and a way for students to practice it.
Why do you need it?
Questioning allows teachers to be actively assessing student understanding during a lesson. It can also be used to challenge students to think outside of the box and deepen their understanding. Questions can be used to connect ideas, build on previous learning, and guide learning to meet objectives. Questioning can spark student interest and increase engagement, and therefore is a technique all teachers should be using.
What are the elements?
Quality of questions/prompts: A good question or discussion is going to cause students to challenge what they already know, create new schema, and use critical thinking skills. Low cognitive challenge questions are useful for reviewing previous material or working through multi-step problems.
Discussion techniques: Discussion is not a teacher explaining content, but rather students and teacher working together through content. The teacher is still guiding the lesson through questioning and prompting, but students are using critical thinking to teach themselves.
Student participation: If not prevented by the teacher, there will be a handful of students who always answer questions and discuss, while everyone else just listens. The teacher should try to prevent this by using different strategies or asking questions directly.
In the classroom:
*A teacher gives students time to respond. If a student does not respond instantly, the teacher should not answer the question or move onto another student. Sometimes students need time or prompting.
*A teacher calls on all students to answer questions, and not just the ones that always volunteer. This allows the teacher to assess everyone's understanding, and not just that of outgoing or high achieving students.
*A teacher teaches students questioning and discussion skills by assigning students to come up with three discussion questions as homework. This questions could then be used for discussion, essays, or test questions.
What is component 3B?
While teaching a lesson, a teacher may choice to use questioning to quickly and efficiently evaluate understanding and to guide learning. For students, questions can challenge their understanding, increase engagement, and guide them through learning. Questions do not always need to be answered, and a teacher might use a rhetorical question for some deep thinking. A series of low cognitive challenge questions could be used to review or work through a multi-step problem. Teachers are not the only ones who need to know how to question; it is a skill that should be taught to students too. Group discussions are a good way for teachers to teach this skill and a way for students to practice it.
Why do you need it?
Questioning allows teachers to be actively assessing student understanding during a lesson. It can also be used to challenge students to think outside of the box and deepen their understanding. Questions can be used to connect ideas, build on previous learning, and guide learning to meet objectives. Questioning can spark student interest and increase engagement, and therefore is a technique all teachers should be using.
What are the elements?
Quality of questions/prompts: A good question or discussion is going to cause students to challenge what they already know, create new schema, and use critical thinking skills. Low cognitive challenge questions are useful for reviewing previous material or working through multi-step problems.
Discussion techniques: Discussion is not a teacher explaining content, but rather students and teacher working together through content. The teacher is still guiding the lesson through questioning and prompting, but students are using critical thinking to teach themselves.
Student participation: If not prevented by the teacher, there will be a handful of students who always answer questions and discuss, while everyone else just listens. The teacher should try to prevent this by using different strategies or asking questions directly.
In the classroom:
*A teacher gives students time to respond. If a student does not respond instantly, the teacher should not answer the question or move onto another student. Sometimes students need time or prompting.
*A teacher calls on all students to answer questions, and not just the ones that always volunteer. This allows the teacher to assess everyone's understanding, and not just that of outgoing or high achieving students.
*A teacher teaches students questioning and discussion skills by assigning students to come up with three discussion questions as homework. This questions could then be used for discussion, essays, or test questions.
Resources:
Babies at the blackboard. (2008). [image] Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/audiolucistore/7359286694 [Accessed 6 Nov. 2017].
PDE SAS. (2011). The Framework for Teaching Evaluation Instrument. [online] Available at: http://static.pdesas.org/content/documents/danielson_rubric_32.pdf [Accessed 06 Nov. 2017].
Babies at the blackboard. (2008). [image] Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/audiolucistore/7359286694 [Accessed 6 Nov. 2017].
PDE SAS. (2011). The Framework for Teaching Evaluation Instrument. [online] Available at: http://static.pdesas.org/content/documents/danielson_rubric_32.pdf [Accessed 06 Nov. 2017].