checking for student understanding
Strategic Questioning
Inspired by Pearsall (2012), I used his 'Top Ten' subtle question techniques designed for classroom discussions. The strategies focus on high order thinking and they provide a range of question stems that are mapped against Bloom's taxonomy and are grouped from foundation questions focusing on recall and explanation, through to high-order questions based on evaluation and design. I especially use Question Relay, Wait Time/Pause Time, Inverted Questions and Bloom's 21th Century Rich Questions strategies which I found most useful in my teaching practicum.
Inspired by Pearsall (2012), I used his 'Top Ten' subtle question techniques designed for classroom discussions. The strategies focus on high order thinking and they provide a range of question stems that are mapped against Bloom's taxonomy and are grouped from foundation questions focusing on recall and explanation, through to high-order questions based on evaluation and design. I especially use Question Relay, Wait Time/Pause Time, Inverted Questions and Bloom's 21th Century Rich Questions strategies which I found most useful in my teaching practicum.
Bloom's 21st-century Taxonomy Questions
Asking students 'rich' questions offers a challenge since they don't have clearly defined 'correct' answers. There may be some wrong answers, but there will be a whole bunch of right ones. The elements in the Bloom's revised taxonomy are (from the lowest to the highest): remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating.
After watching the 'Child of Rage' video clip with my Year 11 Psychology students, I posed various questions to which answers reflected this framework. Above are illustrations of some of the questions that I used.
Questioning Technique Inventory Sheet
After watching the 'Child of Rage' video clip with my Year 11 Psychology students, I posed various questions to which answers reflected this framework. Above are illustrations of some of the questions that I used.
Questioning Technique Inventory Sheet
I used this sheet in collaboration with my mentor teacher. During my 15 minute class discussion I asked her to place a mark in the box each time I used one of the Strategic Question techniques.
Focus areas: 3.3, 3.5, 4.1, 5.1, 5.2
Focus areas: 3.3, 3.5, 4.1, 5.1, 5.2
Hard cover source: from Classroom Dynamics: A Teacher's Handbook (p. 21), by G. Pearsall, 2012, TLN Press.
Race to the Bell
This is a great class review activity where students take turns either asking or answering a question on the topic they have been studying. The game starts with the whole class standing. If a student asks or answers a question, they can sit down. The goal of the game is that the whole class is seated by the time the lesson ends / the bell goes off.
This is a great class review activity where students take turns either asking or answering a question on the topic they have been studying. The game starts with the whole class standing. If a student asks or answers a question, they can sit down. The goal of the game is that the whole class is seated by the time the lesson ends / the bell goes off.
The Up 'N' Down Game
A quick quiz activity where students choose between two possible answers by standing up or sitting down. For example, a series of statements are provided and students stand up if true or remain seated if they believe the 'fact' to be false. When revising a conditional form in Year 10 Italian class, I came up with sentences some of which were grammatically correct and others incorrect, and students had a go at scrutinizing each sentence and rating it true or false.
Quizzes
Coming up soon...
Sequence Strips Activity (Checking for understanding 'how to get there', Italian)
Sequence Strips Activity (Checking for understanding 'how to get there', Italian)