I believe as educators we have to ask better questions, so that our students in turn can learn to ask better questions. Questions are powerful in our classrooms. When crafting a question a teacher must decide if is the question is to pre-assess, lead learning, check for understanding, or for reflection?
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These questions are designed to give you information on students’ level of understanding of a concept. For these questions, you want to make student thinking visible. Avoid yes/no, multiple choice, or a simple recall of information. Instead ask students to elaborate in their explanation. Think about starting the questions with words such as:
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Reflection questions are designed to get students to think about the lesson or make a connection with the learning or content. I believe that reflection questions are what drive students to connect information and push their own learning further. Some ideas for reflection questions are:
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If you haven’t read A More Beautiful Question by Warren Berger, I highly recommend it. The books focuses on the power of inquiry to spark breakthrough ideas. (Below is the book trailer.)
I would love for anyone to share their journey in questioning or any learning that they have been involved in that has helped them craft stronger questions that guide inquiry.