Teacher Resources
Teach Like a Champion: The Gifted Connection
Quality Questioning
In a classroom atmosphere conducive to good questions and questioning, students realize a shared responsibility for their learning. (Francis Hunkins, Teaching Thinking Through Effective Questioning)
Quality questioning is dependent on the teache'rs knowledge and understanding of higher order thinking. Models abound for teacher use. The state has adopted Norman Webb's Depth of Knowledge model within the Colorado Standards. As a new teacher, choose a model with which you are familiar and use it daily to level your questions on the model's hierarchy.
Lemov dedicates an entire chapter to Challenging Students to Think Critically. While critical thinking is important, be sure to challenge all students, especially gifted and advanced learners, to use higher cognitive skills such as evaluation, synthesis, and creativity through the use of open-ended questions. For more information on how to ask quality questions that require thinking at higher levels visit the Adams 12 Gifted and Talented Services page on the district's website. There is a series of PowerPoints for educators on Quality Questioning.
Technique 3: Stretch It
This technique should be used often with gifted and advanced students. Especially if data from pre-assessments show these students to have a firm grasp of a skill or standard. Another way for teachers to know if they need to "stretch it" is through what Lemov refers to as hit rate. When students answer correctly 100% of the time, the questions are not rigorous enough to provide students with the opportunity to "get it wrong, then get it right." Questions that extend knowledge and stretch student thinking at higher levels of cognition will be an integral component of differentiation for those students. ( Included in quality questions and their answers should be the use of technical vocabulary discussed in the Setting High Academic Expectations section.)
Technique 25: Wait Time
The higher the level of questioning the more wait time will be necessary for students to think. Reflective thinking and metacognition (thinking about thinking) are also valuable thinking processes that require time to ponder. When students are in the "flow" they often lose track of time and become lost in the process of thinking.
For younger students who might not yet have the ability to sit and think for longer periods of time, the "give me five" technique can be used to elicit more thoughtful responses. Often the first few responses to open-ended question are predictable and superficial. By asking students for five responses, thinking is pushed beyond pat answers.
Technique 26: Everybody Writes
This is another technique that allows more time to think before answering. Keep in mind that some might find writing too difficult. If that is the case, more thinking will go into the writing process than answering the question. Offering other avenues to assist in processing information is another form of differentiation. The purpose of the Everybody Writes technique is not to evaluate or grade the writing assignment, but to allow time to cultivate ideas. So allow students to draw, work with clay or walk around as they think.
Lemov, Doug. Teach Like a Champion. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2010. Print.
Advanced Academic Services Department