Resources
PPT Slides: Power of Questioning; Handouts: Strategies and Tools to Support Growth and Development in Questioning
Click here to be linked to the Google Doc
Essential Questions
- Clarify the goal of what an essential question is designed to do — the aim is sustained inquiry and rich discussion increasingly facilitated by students, not a hunt for “the” answer that the teacher thinks is correct.
- Engagement is not something you can give to students. They have to be active participants.
- “You may find that you are re-considering things that you thought you understood. That is normal – even desirable.”
- Learning is “messy” — have to make mistakes, change your mind
- “Questioning what we think we know is psychologically difficult and learners predictably resist it.”
- “Inquiry is not a spectator sport: each of you needs to listen actively and participate.”
- “Making mistakes is an expected part of learning. If you never take a risk of making a mistake, you’re not likely to improve.”
Quotes above come from Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe’s book on Essential Questions (ASCD, 2013)
Essential Questions, Part 2 from Authentic Education on Vimeo.
Essential Questions (ASCD DVD, 2013) 45-minutes from OAV on Vimeo.
Probing Questions
Resource #1: Explanation and examples
Resource #2: Explanation and examples
Resource #3: Images on bottom share examples
Student-Driven Questions
Resource #1: How to Make More Beautiful Questions Come Back to School
Resource #2: A Truly Great Question
Resource #3: TED Talk by 2nd Grade Teacher
Resource #4: QFT technique