4 steps to engaging students with effective questioning

Summary

In this video, host Glenn Wagner explores the art of questioning in the classroom. He emphasizes the importance of engaging all students, not just the eager few, by reframing questions to include wait time and opportunities for private sharing before public response. Wagner introduces four steps to enhance student participation and discusses the impact of question framing on class dynamics. Using role-play and examples, he illustrates how adjusting the way questions are asked can lead to a more dynamic and inclusive learning environment.

Takeaways

• 📚 Teachers commonly ask questions in class to check for understanding and engage students.
• 🤔 Asking questions can also be used to challenge students' existing knowledge and encourage deeper thinking.
• 🗣️ Research indicates that teachers ask up to 80% of the questions in a classroom, emphasizing the importance of how questions are framed.
• 🔄 Four steps are introduced to ensure all students can engage with the questions asked, rather than just a few enthusiastic participants.
• 🌟 The way questions are framed can significantly impact student participation and the classroom dynamic.
• 🕒 'Wait time', the pause between asking a question and expecting an answer, is crucial for allowing students to process and respond.
• 📈 Increasing wait time can lead to longer, more accurate answers, and a decrease in 'I don't know' responses.
• 👥 Encouraging students to share their thoughts privately with a partner before answering publicly can enhance engagement and understanding.
• 📈 Using Bloom's Taxonomy can help teachers gauge the level of thinking their questions will elicit and adjust wait time accordingly.
• 🔧 Reframing questions to include wait time and private sharing opportunities can lead to a more dynamic and participatory classroom environment.

Q & A

Why do teachers ask questions in the classroom according to the transcript?

Teachers ask questions in the classroom primarily to check for understanding and to engage students with the topic being studied. They also aim to challenge students' current knowledge to provoke thought and better answers.

What is the impact of how teachers frame their questions on student participation?

The way teachers frame their questions significantly impacts student participation. If questions are framed in a way that includes all students, it can lead to more engagement and participation compared to singling out a specific student.

What are the four steps Glenn Wagner suggests to engage all students with questions in the classroom?

The four steps suggested are: 1) Planning the question and the level of thinking it will elicit, 2) Considering the wait time based on the complexity of the question, 3) Providing opportunities for students to share privately before publicly, and 4) Holding students accountable by asking them to share publicly.

How does using Bloom's taxonomy help in framing questions for the classroom?

Using Bloom's taxonomy helps teachers to gauge the level of thinking their questions will provoke, which in turn affects the amount of wait time and the complexity of the answers expected from students.

What is the recommended wait time for students to absorb a question and formulate an answer according to the research mentioned?

Research suggests that teachers should give their students between 3 to 5 seconds or longer to absorb a question and formulate an answer to increase the length and correctness of responses and to encourage more volunteers.

Why is extending wait time before students answer questions considered important for psychological safety?

Extending wait time allows students to think and formulate answers in their own minds, which contributes to a feeling of safety and the confidence to participate, as it accommodates different processing speeds among students.

What does sharing privately mean in the context of classroom questioning, and why is it beneficial?

Sharing privately means having students discuss their answers with a peer before sharing publicly. This is beneficial as it allows students to test their understanding, correct misunderstandings, and feel more confident in their answers before presenting them to the whole class.

How can teachers hold students accountable for their answers after giving them wait time and opportunities to share privately?

Teachers can hold students accountable by asking them to share their answers publicly after they have had the chance to think and discuss privately, ensuring that each student is prepared to present their understanding of the question.

What is the purpose of reframing questions in the classroom as suggested by Glenn Wagner?

Reframing questions is intended to create a more inclusive and engaging learning environment where all students have the opportunity to participate, think critically, and feel confident in their ability to answer.

How does the approach to questioning outlined in the transcript contribute to a dynamic and interesting classroom?

The approach contributes to a dynamic and interesting classroom by encouraging active participation, critical thinking, and a safe environment for students to express their thoughts, which can lead to more productive discussions and deeper understanding of the subject matter.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Engaging Classrooms Through Effective Questioning

The paragraph introduces the video's focus on the importance of teachers asking questions in the classroom. Host Glenn Wagner discusses why teachers question students, including checking for understanding and engaging them in the topic. The video aims to demonstrate how to involve all students in answering questions, not just the few who are eager to participate. Glenn outlines four steps to achieve this engagement and emphasizes the impact of question framing on student participation.

05:01

🕒 The Power of Wait Time and Private Sharing in Classroom Questions

This paragraph delves into the concept of 'wait time'—the period between asking a question and expecting an answer—and how it can enhance student participation. Glenn suggests that increasing wait time can lead to longer, more accurate responses and a decrease in 'I don't know' answers. He also introduces the strategy of 'sharing privately', where students discuss their answers with a peer before sharing publicly, which can boost confidence and correct misunderstandings. The paragraph concludes with a demonstration of how to reframe questions to include wait time and private sharing.

Keywords

💡Questioning

Questioning in the video refers to the act of teachers posing questions to students during lessons. It is a fundamental teaching strategy that serves multiple purposes, such as checking for understanding and stimulating critical thinking. In the script, questioning is highlighted as a common practice that can be optimized to engage all students, not just the most vocal ones. The video emphasizes the importance of how questions are framed and delivered to encourage participation.

💡Engagement

Engagement in this context means actively involving students in the learning process. The video discusses various strategies to ensure that all students are mentally and actively involved in the classroom discussions. It is central to the video's theme as it aims to show teachers how to create a more dynamic and interactive learning environment through effective questioning.

💡Understanding

Understanding, as used in the script, refers to the students' comprehension of the material being taught. Teachers use questions to gauge whether students are following the lesson and to challenge their current knowledge, prompting them to think more deeply. The video suggests that questions should be designed to check for understanding and to push students to refine their thoughts.

💡Wait Time

Wait time is the period teachers allow after asking a question before expecting a response. The video stresses the importance of providing adequate wait time for students to process the question and formulate an answer. It is presented as a critical factor in increasing the length and correctness of student responses and in reducing the number of 'I don't know' answers.

💡Psychological Safety

Psychological safety in the classroom is the feeling of being comfortable to take risks without fear of negative consequences. The video suggests that by extending wait time, teachers can create an environment where students feel safe to think and respond, which is crucial for fostering an engaged and participative classroom.

💡Participation

Participation refers to the active involvement of students in classroom activities, particularly in responding to questions. The video aims to provide strategies to increase participation beyond just the most eager students, ensuring that all students have an opportunity to contribute to the learning process.

💡Bloom's Taxonomy

Bloom's Taxonomy is a framework that classifies educational goals into a hierarchy of complexity and specificity. The video mentions using it as a lens to gauge the level of thinking a question will elicit, which can help teachers decide on the appropriate wait time and the type of language to use when framing questions.

💡Accountability

Accountability in the video refers to holding students responsible for their learning by expecting them to answer questions and participate in class discussions. It is part of the strategy to ensure that all students are engaged and contribute to the classroom dialogue, which is essential for a productive learning environment.

💡Sharing Privately

Sharing privately is a strategy where students discuss their answers with a partner before sharing them with the whole class. The video suggests this as a way to allow students to test their understanding, correct misunderstandings, and build confidence before public participation, thus enhancing engagement and the quality of responses.

💡Reframing Questions

Reframing questions involves restructuring the way questions are asked to encourage more student participation and deeper thinking. The video provides examples of how to reframe questions to include wait time and opportunities for private sharing, which can lead to more meaningful and inclusive classroom discussions.

Highlights

Teachers commonly ask questions in the classroom to check for understanding and engage students.

Mara suggests asking questions to confuse students about what they think they know to push them for better answers.

Engaging students in the topic is crucial for learning, as it allows them to think and get excited about the subject.

Research indicates that teachers ask up to 80% of the questions in a classroom.

How teachers frame questions significantly impacts student participation.

Glenn Wagner introduces four steps to engage all students with classroom questions.

Framing questions to include all students rather than singling out one can increase engagement.

Using Bloom's taxonomy can help gauge the level of thinking questions will elicit from students.

The language used in questions can affect how many students feel able to participate.

Wait time is essential for allowing students to process and answer questions.

3 to 5 seconds of wait time can increase the length, correctness, and volunteer rate of answers.

Extended wait time provides psychological safety for students to think and answer.

Sharing privately among peers before public sharing can enhance understanding and confidence.

Holding students accountable by asking for answers after private sharing ensures engagement.

Reframing questions with wait time and private sharing opportunities can lead to a more dynamic classroom.

Glenn Wagner encourages teachers to reframe their questions to create a more engaging classroom environment.

Providing wait time and opportunities for private sharing before public answers can reduce stress and increase participation.

Transcripts

hey everyone welcome to activate your

classroom I'm your host Glenn Wagner I

think that there's one thing that

teachers do in probably most classrooms

throughout the planet is to ask their

students questions during a lesson

here's a few teachers talking about why

they question their students during

their lessons Okay Mara why do you ask

questions in the classroom well the most

common reason is of course checking for

understanding seeing if my students are

following what I'm explaining um but

then the other way that I like to ask

questions is to get them confused about

what they think they know and to put

push them to come up with better answers

to previous questions uh to make them

think to find out what they know to find

out what they know that is wrong and I

need to tackle it I I think for me it

really comes down to just engaging the

students in the topic that we're going

to be studying so um yeah getting them a

chance to think about that and then

hopefully get excited to learn more

about it now the research shows that

teachers do most of the question asking

in the classroom some studies show up to

80% of all the questions asked in the

classroom is from the teacher now how

you frame those questions in other words

how you deliver them to the students is

going to have a huge impact on the

amount of participation that you're

going to see in your classroom in this

video I'm going to show you four steps

that you can take that will allow all

students in your classroom to engage

with the questions that you ask them and

not just those two or three really Keen

students that love to participate let me

show you how it's done all right we're

going to do a little bit of roleplay now

I'm going to ask a a fictitious class a

question on weather and climate it's

going to be a simple question and I want

you to watch How I frame the question

and the question might look something

like this okay class yesterday we

learned the differences between weather

and climate John what are the

differences between weather and climate

please now that is a perfectly

reasonable question to ask the students

it's based on the work from the previous

day and arguably the kids should know it

but if you notice how I frame the

question I've chosen exactly one student

to engage with that question leaving the

rest of the students unengaged

how do we fix it well let me show you

those four steps that we need to do in

order to get all the students engaging

with the questions you ask in the

classroom all right so go and ask your

questions but as you do so uh think

about the level of thinking that those

questions you're going to ask are going

to elicit in the minds of the students

because this is ultimately going to

affect the amount of weight time that

you want to give the kids in order to

engage with the question and to

formulate an answer more on wait time in

a moment in order to gauge that level of

thinking you might want to use Bloom's

taxonomy as that lens through which the

students are going to engage with your

questions so for example uh are your

questions of the understanding and

remembering sort little bit lower level

uh or are they applying analyzing or

even creating something new uh if that's

the case then again you have to think

about the uh amount of time that you

give the students to be able to engage

with those questions finally uh consider

the type of language that you use when

when you frame the questions so in our

previous question we said you know what

are the differences between weather and

climate well you could soften that a

little bit and say something like you

know what are some of the differences

between weather and climate now this

matters because perhaps not all the

students remember everything about

weather and climate from the previous

lesson and so this allows you know many

of the students to remember a few things

and to be able to volunteer an answer so

that they can also participate and

engage with your questions the way time

between when a question is asked and

when you wait for an answer is

critically important in creating an

engaging learning environment in your

classroom the general rule simply is

this that the greater the amount of

thinking the higher the level of the

thinking the greater the weight time you

need to give to the kids otherwise

they're not going to be able to

participate they're not going to be

feeling safe to do so so how much wait

time well researchers who've looked at

question asking in the classroom have

found that when teachers give their

their students anywhere between 3 and 5

Seconds or longer to uh absorb the

question and then formulate an answer

they noticed that three fantastic things

started happening first they found that

not only did the length of the answers

uh increased but the correctness

increased as well next the number of I

don't knows dropped off dramatically

finally researchers noticed that the

number of volunteers to answer those

questions increased dramatically and

this is exactly what you're looking for

to create that engaging learning

environment that you so want for your

classroom finally something that you

perhaps don't see in your classroom and

that is that psychological safety that

you give the students when you extend

that wait time to answer the question

gives them a chance to think a chance to

formulate answers in their own mind and

that again gives students that that

feeling that they've got time to process

because we all know that students take

different amounts of time to process a

question and come up with an answer so

give them that extra time so that they

can all participate in your classroom

now let's go back and reframe that

question previously and to add in some

weight time and also to soften the

language just a little bit the question

might look something now like this okay

everyone I want you to think back to

yesterday's lesson on the differences

between weather and climate that we

learned what I'd like you to do is to

take about 10 seconds and I want you to

try and remember what some of those

differences were and then I'm going to

pick two two or three of you to share

your answers so be ready because I might

pick you you ready

go sharing privately is probably the

most powerful thing that you can do when

framing questions in your classroom so

what does this mean well once you've

delivered the question once you've given

the students the appropriate wait time

have them turn to a peer have them turn

to a partner and explain their answer

and in this way you can get every single

student engaged with your question

they're talking about it they're

interacting with you each other around

it which is exactly what you want for an

Engaged classroom now sharing privately

does three very important things for the

student first the student can test their

understanding of both the question and

the answer before they have an

opportunity to share

publicly next the students can then

correct their misunderstandings or

misinterpretations of the question and

this way they can come to an agreement

hopefully uh surrounding the answer to

your questions finally as I always tell

my students if you can explain it you

understand it which means that you feel

confident enough in your answer to be

able to turn to a partner a peer or even

a complete stranger and be able to

explain your reasoning and feel very

confident that you're

correct all right now you have every

right as a teacher to hold each student

in your class accountable for their

answers you've given them the weight

time you've given the opportunity to

share privately and test their

understanding so go ahead ask a a a some

students what their answers might be now

when you go and ask the question uh to a

student you can actually turn it into

sort of a group uh answer if you will

and you'd frame the question maybe a

little something like this now John and

Jane it looked like you two are having a

good discussion around the differences

between weather and climate uh Jane what

were you and John

remembering now almost every time the

student will say we thought that and

then they'll give their answer and that

provides that little again a little more

emotional safety uh to answer in in a

public situation so that if there is a

problem then the person can then lean on

their partner to come in and give him a

little bit of a hand now let's reframe

that question one last time that brings

in weit time as well as the opportunity

to share privately and it's going to

look something like this now yesterday

we learned the differences between

weather and climate uh I want you to

think back to yesterday's lesson I'm

going to give you about 10 seconds and I

want you to think about what those

differences were all right silently to

yourself here we go all right turn to a

partner and share your answers with each

other and see if you can together come

up with the correct answer and then I'm

going to pick one or two of you to share

your answers with the entire class ready

go okay let's sum up uh begin your

question asking by planning up the the

question the level of thinking that the

question is going to listen in the minds

of the students next uh consider the

wait time surrounding the complexity of

your question uh in this video uh the

question on weather and climate pretty

low level uh probably didn't require a

huge amount of weit time compared to

higher end thinking but make sure you

provide that weight time very very

important to me the secret sauce to

engaging your class around the questions

you ask is giving them an opportunity to

share privately uh in this way uh the

stress is low before they share publicly

I rarely ask a question in my class

without giving the kids an opportunity

to share

privately finally hold the kids

accountable for their learning get them

to share publicly feel free to ask any

kid in the classroom the answer to the

question that you posed okay here's two

sets of questions for you to look at uh

on the left side is the original

question and on the right side is the

reframed question now I think you'll see

in the reframed questions uh either wait

time has been given or wait time plus

sharing privately has been given before

they share publicly pause the video and

have a look and you can see the

differences between the two questions

now all right go back and reframe some

questions in your classroom now so that

you give the students wait time and you

allow them to share privately before

they share publicly I think you're going

to see a highly engaged classroom a lot

of productive talk around the questions

that you ask thanks for watching

everyone uh I'm your host Glen Wagner

for activate your classroom uh please

hit the Subscribe button below gives me

further encouragement to create videos

in the future on how to make classrooms

a more Dynamic and interesting place for

both teachers and students thank you

again