Questioning and

Discussion in the
Secondary ELA
Classroom
22 October 2018 – PM Session
Walnut Hills High School
 Icebreaker! (maybe a boat breaker…)
Reflection Stems
When I taught __(topic or theme)__,
RED students were successful because…
In the AM session, I learned
ORANGE __________ and it will help me …

When I hear the words “questioning

YELLOW and discussion”, I think of
___________ because…
In my classroom, questioning and
GREEN discussion work best when I
___________...
Today’s Agenda
-Icebreaker
-Review Norms and Logistics
-Morning Session Recap
-Focus Questions = Routes to Discussion
-Balancing Text Sets for Engagement
-Creating a Strategy Bank, Next Steps
-Plus/Delta Review
Norms/Logistics
•“All Teach, All Learn.”
•Engage with the work.
•Be reflective in questions and responses.
•Seek solutions, not roadblocks.
•Take care of your needs.
AM Session Review
1.What is the impact of the lessons and
strategies I use in the classroom?
2.What are two key roles questioning
can play in making learning visible?
3.How can I increase productive
student discourse in my classroom?
Questioning and Discussion:
Different boats, same river.
Funneling Questions vs. Focusing Questions
Funneling Questions vs. Focusing Questions
FUNNELING QUESTIONS:
Students “guess what’s in the
teacher’s brain.”
“closed questions that
constrict students speculation”
“lead the student through a
procedure, without adequate
attention to connections.”
FOCUSING QUESTIONS:
“open up students’ thinking and
provide you with more insight into
their processes”
“prompt the learner to move beyond
answering the ‘what’ by considering
the ‘how’”
Requires strategy to “provide the
right amount of feedback,
differentiation, and support that your
students need.
Break.
 Focus Questions in our Curriculum –
Routes to Discussion
Focus questions within our curricula
pave routes of self-reflective awareness
as students continue to study.
Grade 9, Unit 2
Unit Thematic Question:
Once one has an awakening, does one
have an obligation to act?
Unit Focus Question:
-What causes people to act out
against oppression?
-What causes some people to not act
out against oppression?
“The Lottery” and Tradition
Tradition as element for questioning obligations to act
Informational readings all are about tradition, but primarily outdated traditions.
How does a tradition influence obligation? When do we decide that a tradition is
outdated?
Connecting to the Focus Question
Each of you has three targeted passages from “The Lottery”, as well as one
supplemental informational text.

With your groups, evaluate the readings. Think about moving the questioning from
funneling to focusing. What do you want your students to discuss?

Think about discussion processes. How will your students discuss these passages?
What product do you want?
Questioning and Discussion Strategies:
Thus far…
-Strategic Grouping -Fishbowl
-Environmental Changes -Accountable Talk
-Think/Pair/Share -Chat Stations
-Turn and Talk -Jigsaw
-Small Group Discussions
-Think Time (Think, Write, then What did we miss? Is there
Talk) anything else we can add to our
list?
-Think/Group/Share
-Online Tools
Questioning and Discussion Strategies:
Adding to Your Bank
Use the materials coordinating with “The Lottery”
Think about strategies we have NOT used thus far today.

Use the Questioning and Discussion Strategies bank to find a new strategy that you
believe would be successful in your classroom.

How could you use this strategy? Share the strategy and your implementation with
your group.
Next Steps
-Where can we implement the questioning and discussion strategies tomorrow?

Write on a Post-It where you feel like one of these strategies can be implemented
almost immediately.

On another Post-It, write down where you need to include some intentional steps to
ensure that your questioning and discussion is effective.
Reflection
I feel truly uncomfortable with my ability to lead
RED successful questioning and discussion in my
classroom.
I understand the processes of questioning and
ORANGE discussion, but feel like I will still have major
issues with management.
I love using questioning and discussion
YELLOW techniques in my classroom, but I need to reflect
more to be intentional with the strategies.
I am a superfly expert when it comes to
GREEN classroom questioning and discussion.
+/
I LIKED… I WONDER IF…
Thank you for
your
engagement
and
participation!