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Our observations of the lesson demonstration

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Our observations of the lesson demonstration

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Notice and make notes on what you notice about:

1) the Teachers' practice of questioning

2) the purpose/s of the questions

3) the nature and types of the questions

4) the role of the teacher

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View the video and respond to these two prompts

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View the video and respond to these two prompts

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What ideas in the video resonate with you, and why?

Based on the ideas in the video, which do you put into practice as an EL teacher?

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i) Listen and respond to the podcast, Inquiry Through Dialogue in English Language Teaching and Learning.

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i) Listen and respond to the podcast, Inquiry Through Dialogue in English Language Teaching and Learning.

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Why do you think skilful questioning is important for student learning?

How can skilful questioning be enacted in your EL classroom?

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Inquiry Through Dialogue in English Language Teaching and Learning

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ii) Having established the importance of skilful questioning in your EL classroom, view the two MLUs and respond to the following:

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ii) Having established the importance of skilful questioning in your EL classroom, view the two MLUs and respond to the following:

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list the considerations you will take into account when posing questions in the teaching and learning of EL.

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Question 1 : What ideas in the video resonates with you, and why.

Both closed and open questions play a crucial role in teaching and learning, each serving its own specific purpose.

The importance of maintaining silence after asking a question, allowing the respondent time to think and provide thoughtful, high-quality answers.

How we interpret the responses is just as important as the question itself.

Question 2 : Based on the ideas in the video, which do you put into practice as an EL teacher?

English language teachers can implement the use of leading questions, probing questions, funnelling, and rhetorical questions in various ways to promote critical thinking and guide student exploration:

1. Leading Questions: These are used to guide students towards a specific answer or idea, to clarify concepts or reinforce learning.

2. Probing Questions: These are used to encourage students to elaborate on their reasoning or thought process.

3. Funneling: This technique can be used to guide students through a process of discovery.

4. Rhetorical Questions: These are used to provoke thought, often without expecting an answer.

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Response to Podcast 'Inquiry Through Dialogue'

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Response to Podcast 'Inquiry Through Dialogue'

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Question 1 : Why do you think skilful questioning is important for student learning?

Skilful questioning plays a key role in fostering deeper learning among students:

Promotes active engagement: prompts students to take an active role in their learning, moving away from passive absorption of information.

Encourages critical thinking: Thoughtful questions encourage students to practise higher order skills of analysing, evaluating, and integrating information.

Fosters collaboration: Questions that encourage group discussions or problem-solving promote teamwork.

Question 2 : How can skilful questioning be enacted in your EL classroom?

1) Ask more open-ended questions that get students to explain, justify and elaborate on their answers.

2) To facilitate peer-to-peer exchanges or discussions.

3) Scaffold questions based on the language abilities of the students.

4) To assess students' understanding and identify areas where students may need additional support.

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1) Question Sequencing : start from simple to more complex questions

2) Reflection : to reflect on the questions asked and assess whether they have helped to achieve the objectives of teaching and learning.

3) Incorporate technology : use technology to introduce varied question formats.

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Question 1: I think the idea of wait time is something that still does resonate with me. I often fall into the trap of wanting to jump in to either correct or complete a student's answer. I also think it is very important to have the process of interpreting and clarifying students' responses; by modelling the way, we are also demonstrating how a proper dialogue can and should take place.

Question 2: I think broadly speaking, as an EL teacher and as a form teacher conducting CCE lessons, open-ended questions and probing questions are the main ones I use in class.

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Question 1: I feel that it is important especially in the modern world/society that we live in. It allows for students to be co-constructors of knowledge, instead of passive consumers of information. It also allows for students to learn to work collaboratively in group settings, and all these are useful, practical and valuable skillsets in the 21st century (E21CC).

Question 2: I feel it is a lot to do with providing platforms for group work, scaffolding and teacher-modelling in terms of showing how to ask probing and open-ended questions, and how can responses sound and look like when probed/asked.

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conciseness

clarity

access to language for the different readiness levels of students

lesson focus/outcomes

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What ideas in the video resonate with you, and why?

1) The quality of our life is defined by the questions we ask. When we question certain aspects of our life, we hone our critical thinking skills and in turn make better decisions. The lack of questioning could unfortunately lead to complacency and stagnation.

2) The importance of silence or wait time when asking questions. We have to allow students to internalise the questions and formulate their answers without being pressured to answer immediately. While the silence in the classroom can be awkward, giving time for students to think can allow them to better comprehend a particular concept.

Based on the ideas in the video, which do you put into practice as an EL teacher?

Questioning happens at every stage of CLEARR. For example, for Contextualisation, I usually ask funneling questions where I ask closed questions first before moving on to open questions. For the topic of outdoor sports, initial questions include 'Have you tried any outdoor sports before?' or 'Can you name me some examples of outdoor sports?'

Probing and leading questions are important in honing different language skills. These not only encourage the students to analyse their answers but act as a form of guidance to attain the correct answer. I find these very useful in comprehension lessons when dissecting inferential questions.

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​Effective questioning is a powerful tool that can significantly enhance student engagement and learning. Some of the ideas that resonate with me would be

1) giving the respondent time to answer or wait time. I believe that this pause encourages deeper thinking and leads to more thoughtful answers. By giving the respondent wait time, we are also modelling to the other students the value of patience.

2) the use of open-ended questions. By utilizing questions that begin with "how," "what," or "why", I am able to promote critical thinking and elicit detailed responses. I always use Open-ended questions when conducting oral lessons.

Based on the ideas in the video, which would I put into practice as an EL teacher?

I would use more Open-ended and Probing questions when conducting lessons on Oracy, Writing and Comprehension.

For Composition, by asking open-ended questions, students would be able to share opinions, experiences, and imagination. By doing this, their writing becomes more personal and meaningful.

As for Comprehension, by including either open-ended or probing questions, students are encouraged to reflect on how they know what they know. This promotes metacognition in class.

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2b

Why do you think skilful questioning is important for student learning?

Skilful questioning is key for meaningful student interaction, student collaboration and knowledge construction to take place. When students are asked to discuss in pairs or groups, They have to generate possibilities and respond to questions. Good questions encourage them to evaluate new ideas and be active in the construction of knowledge.

How can skilful questioning be enacted in your EL classroom?

Skilful questioning can be carried out at every stage of CLEARR. By focussing on learning-focussed interaction, I have organised mini debates or oral presentations to build a strong foundation in listening and oral skills. By using language purposely, students can offer and exchange feedback/ ideas to their classmates.

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Considerations:

clarity and conciseness of the language

accessibility of language to students

lesson objectives

intent of the question

the cognitive level of the question

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1) Through Skilful questioning, teachers encourage more listening, speaking, and oral interactions among students, which improves the quality of classroom dialogue. This creates meaningful and purposeful opportunities for language learning.
2) In addition, through skilful questioning, students build on each other’s responses, leading to the co-creation of newer and richer ideas, fostering a collaborative learning environment.
3) Teachers' thoughtful questions expose students to rich content and prompt active discussions. This not only deepens understanding but also encourages students to reflect on their thinking, supporting meaningful learning and metacognitive development.

Skilful questioning can be enacted by having group work when doing Oracy so that students can have more social interaction and learn from each other. Through skilful questioning from both the teacher and groupmates, students not only learn content knowledge but also build their listening skills.

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Some considerations I will take into account when posing questions in the teaching and learning of English. 

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Some considerations I will take into account when posing questions in the teaching and learning of English. 

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1. Firstly, I will carefully consider if my questions have clear content focus so that I can help my student achieve the LO of my lesson.

2. Secondly, I will ensure that quality of my questions are concise and clear to meet the learning needs of my group of students.

3. Finally, I will consider crafting questions that engage my learners at various cognitive levels to enable all my students to taste some degree of success.

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Effective questioning is a powerful tool for promoting deeper understanding, critical thinking, and engagement in various setting. By carefully crafting questions that encourage reflection, exploration, and analysis, individual can foster learning, enhance communication and facilitate more informed decision-making. The ideas from the video that resonate me would be the advanced questioning techniques : eg the probing questions, rhetorical questions, leading questions. These type of questioning techniques allows creativity and used to spark curiosity, stimulate discussion and keep students actively involved in the learning process.

Question 2

By asking probing questions, educators can gauge student comprehension and identify areas where further clarification or support is needed.

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Question 1: Why do you think skilful questioning is important for student learning?

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Question 1: Why do you think skilful questioning is important for student learning?

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Skilful questioning is crucial for students' learning as it fosters engagement, deepens understanding and promotes critical thinking. by strategically asking questions, educators can diagnoses student comprehension, encourage active participation, and stimulate higher-order thinking skills. Engagement and Motivation Questions can capture students' attention, making learning more relevant and encourage them to participate actively in the learning process

Diagnosing Understanding

Questioning allows teachers to assess students' knowledge levels, identify misconceptions and tailor instructions accordingly

Deepening Comprehension

Thought-provoking questions can help students analyze information, make connections between concepts and develop a more profound understanding of the material

Question 2: How can skilful questioning be enacted in your EL classroom?

Skilful questioning in an EL classroom can be enacted by using a variety of question types, providing wait time for students to think, and encouraging higher-order thinking. Strategies like Think-Pair-Share, Phone a Friend, and Question boxes can be also used to promote engagement and deeper learning.

Using Different Question Types;

Closed questions; Open-ended questions

Higher-order questions

Wait Time; allow students sufficient time after asking a question to formulate their responses. This encourage higher order thinking which allows students to analyze, evaluate, and create not just recall information.

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1) Questioning can profoundly influence conversations and relationships, helping to build relationships and foster deeper connections with the respondent. In classroom settings, some students tend to be reluctant responders due to a variety of reasons, which could potentially be a lack of motivation, lack of emotional security (fear and shyness), uncertainty about their answers etc. Through the use of open questions to show interest in their personal lives, it helps to build better TSR for the students to feel a greater sense of comfort and motivation during lessons to share.

2) I use a mix of open questioning and specific funneling questions to help guide my students in answering questions and carry on conversations and discussions in class. I also allow wait time for the students to think through their responses, during which I maintain silence and sometimes break line of sight to avoid putting pressure on them.

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1) Skilful questioning provides students with the opportunity to:

co-construct and create knowledge

use language purposefully and meaningfully

offer and exchange ideas and perspectives

give constructive feedback to one another

All these allows students to use the language in a meaningful manner for them to better integrate the information they have learnt.

2) I can enact skilful questioning by providing the platform, space and time for meaningful conversations to take place in the classroom.

Firstly, expectations must be set so that students are aware that they can share their perspectives without judgement and offer feedback constructively to one another.

Next, create the time and space for meaningful conversations to take place by setting aside a fixed amount of time weekly to conduct conversations based on various topics of interest.

Various platforms to allow student collaboration and fostering engagement can also be provided to increase the variety and sense of motivation in the students, such as through ITT in SLS, Padlet, open classroom discussions or use of other Edtech tools like Classpoint.

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1) Ensure clear and concise questions to make it easier for students to process them

2) Engaging students at various cognitive levels so as to develop their critical thinking skills

3) Use of various questioning sequence techniques at appropriate junctures during the lesson to develop the students' responses to achieve the specific learning objectives of the lesson

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1. Questions are not only used to obtain information. It can be used to control a conversation/provoke thought/show interest.

2. Be quiet and let the person answer your question. Try to avoid feeling uncomfortable while doing so.

As an EL teacher, I often ask multiple choice questions. Students do not wish to verbalise their answer and prefer using hand signs like thumbs ups.

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Interesting ideas I resonate with:

1. Questions have other purposes like showing interest and diagnose problems, not just to obtain information.

2. Good questions lead to good decisions.

As an EL teacher, I often lean more towards MCQ when asking the whole class. I tend to avoid open-ended questions because I find it challenging to respond on the spot. I think I need to learn more about funneling questions.

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One idea that particularly resonates with me is the importance of building strong relationships with pupils. Establishing trust and rapport creates a supportive learning environment where students feel comfortable express themselves and engaging more deeply with the language.​

As an English language teacher, I actively practice this by getting to know my students individually, understanding their interests, and incorporating those interests into lesson plans. This approach not only makes lessons more engaging but also demonstrates to students that their experiences and perspectives are valued. This is also a strategy in DI.

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Skilful questioning stimulates critical thinking, encourages active participation, and deepens understanding of concepts taught.

Teachers can plan purposeful questions etc ask questions that align with the lesson objectives and encourage deeper thinking. We can also utilize wait time and allow pupils to discuss their responses etc "Think-Pair-Share”.

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I will consider using different question types to engage pupils at various cognitive levels . We can start with narrow type of questions for lower primary followed up higher level or specific questions once they are familiar with skilful questioning.

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Q1) Skilful questioning helps students think more deeply and express their ideas clearly. It encourages meaningful dialogue, where students build on each other's thoughts. This supports stronger understanding, better communication skills, and a more engaging learning environment.

Q2) Teachers can use probing questions to deepen thinking. Create a safe space where all answers are valued also encourages students to speak up and share their ideas. Use advanced questioning techniques, allowing wait time, and encouraging student-to-student questioning, help deepen thinking and build communication skills.

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MLU 1

1) Concise and clear questions

short and to the point

use language that students can understand

2) Clear content focus

focus on helping students achieve learning objectives

3) Direction and structure for the lesson

make links to what they already know

probe deeper through further questioning

MLU 2

1) Questions can be posed in a sequence where each succeeding question can be built to the previous response.

2) Consider students' readiness and cognitive levels to pose appropriate question to deepen their understanding and to keep them engaged.

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What ideas in the video resonate with me, and why?

1. The quality of answer is dependent on the quality of the question asked. Being an educator, I tend to plan my lessons with guiding questions with some expected student responses in hope of eventually ‘leading’ them to the expected learning outcome. Worried that students might deviate from the lesson, I am guilty at times of using too many close-ended questions. This in turns it kills the joy of learning and made learning less authentic. Honing the art of skilful questioning, I believe educators will then be able to strike a balance to enrich lessons with a mix of varied questionings.

Based on the ideas in the videos, which do you put into practice as an EL teacher?

2. I tend to vary my questionings in EL lessons based on (i) the type of text, (ii) purpose of the lesson (i.e. vocabulary/comprehension - literal/inferential etc.) and most importantly (iii) the readiness level of my learners (for students who are more proficient to deal with higher order questionings so they can elaborate more. Whereas, my students who are struggling to have more scaffolding).

3. The importance of wait time, as I am teaching a group of struggling readers and comprehenders, I find myself having to chunk and giving them more time to internalise before they are able to answer the questions. There are times where they have the answers but they are just trying to figure out how to phrase the answer.

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Why do you think skilful questioning is important for student learning?

With the ever changing demand in society, our EL syllabus have evolved to include a greater emphasis on oracy, listening and speaking. Having said that the quality of questions would determine the quality of answers. As such, skilful questioning plays an important role to work as guiding probes for students to co-construct higher quality presentations through collaboration and communication. This in turn, allows us to develop confident EL speakers, who can better engage in deeper conversations in current trends and issues presented in multi-modal platforms.

How can skilful questioning be enacted in your EL classroom?

As an educator, be ready to take on the role of a facilitator rather than being the know-all. Students tend to feel more comfortable when they work collaboratively and allow room for students to explore. In a lesson, we might not know all and encourage students to find out more to deepen the conversation. As much as possible, relate the lesson to current trends and issues, so as to make the lesson relevant and authentic for the students.

In the current complex cyber world, it is important to guide students to be discerning users through questionings so they will be more critical in their everyday reads.

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Key considerations in taking into account when posing questions.

1. Language accessibility in my questions posed ( need to concise with clarity).

2. Questions posed with an end in mind. Clear learning focus that enables students to be clear of their success criteria/learning outcome.

3. Sequence of questions

- being flexible to use the various strategies depending on your class discussion, intent of lesson and students’ readiness.

4. Through multi modalities, possible to work alongside with students through to co-construct and deepen understanding. Teachers need not always be the one posing questions.

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Q1) What ideas in the video resonate with you, and why?

Leading questions are intended to guide students to think deeper yet too much scaffolding may stifle their thoughts or narrow it.

Q2) Based on the ideas in the video, which do you put into practice as an EL teacher.

We use the advance questioning techniques. Leading: To activate prior knowledge and to elicit responses that are favourable to us. We also use it to build students' confidence in responding to questions. Probing questions: Allows students to think more deeply about the information they recall for their answers. We also use it to support assessment for learning to truly understand and where they need help.

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1) choice of language used in questioning should be accessible to students

2) purpose of question asked

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1a) wait time is very crucial in questioning. The silence allows students to carefully think of an answer before answering

1b) different types of questions (whether leading or probing etc) should be used purposefully

2) As an English teacher, I would say open ended questions and sometimes leading questions are the types I use most often in class.

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Q1:

Good questions encourage pupils to be more engaged in the lesson.

They also bring about further thoughts and depths in the subject matter.

How you interpret the questions is as important as the questions themselves.

Q2:

Importance of silence & ample wait time after asking each question.

Balance the use of close and open questions

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Question 1:

The quality of questions determines the quality of answers. If one gets better at asking questions, one gets better answers. Giving the respondent time to answer the question or "wait time" allows the respondent to think before answering.

Question 2:

I usually ask leading questions, probing questions and rhetorical questions in my lessons.

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Question 1: It is important to create a supportive learning environment with our students first before expecting them to be able to express themselves and engage deeply with language.

The way we interpret students' responses matter just as much as the questions we asked.

Question 2:

Giving students time to think in silence encourages thoughtful, high-quality answers. There must also be a balance of differentiated questions.

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Question 1:

Skilful questioning stimulates thinking in students. It fosters deeper learning and understanding of the subject, as well as encourages engagement in the learning process. It also hones students' listening and oracy skills.

Question 2:

Ask open-ended, probing and engaging questions that encourage critical and deep thinking. Use "wait time" and Think-Pair-Share to promote learning and discussion.

Students can be encouraged to generate questions from others' responses too.

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Question 1: Skillful questioning will lead to high-quality responses. When used effectively, such questioning guides students to collaboratively co-construct ideas, refine their thinking, and improve the quality of their presentations.

It also encourages active participation and helps students strengthen their communication skills, leading to confident speakers.

Question 2: Skillful questioning encompasses of open-ended questions to encourage students to explain, justify, and elaborate on their answers.

Scaffolding students' responses will also allow them to deepen their learning.

Facilitating PTP discussions will benefit those who are uncomfortable to be heard in the open.

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Key considerations when posing questions:

1. ensure clear and concise questions that are short and to the point, using language within the grasp of the students

2. ensure questions have clear content focus to help students achieve learning objectives

3. ask questions that engage students at various cognitive levels

4. use question sequencing to prompt student thinking and enhance their learning

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Question 1

Questioning plays an important role in discourse. Different types serve various purposes. Using them skilfully is an art that can be developed. At its fundamental level, questioning helps build relationships – allowing one to be clear, precise and heard.

Question 2

Students can be made to feel valued through the types of questions we ask and through the acknowledgement of their answers.

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a) Based on the video, I really like the idea of the Probing, Funneling and Rhetorical Questions. These Questions allow my students to think deeper especially when we are reading a text. I feel that these questions would allow my students to be more discerning and empathetic readers as they make meaning out of what they are reading. I like the funneling questions as the structure of using open question, together with a series of questions, would lead to focused question and specific answer.

b) I think, often, I used the Leading questions and Probing Questions, more so during my comprehension or reading lesson. But I would like to learn more and practice in my class is the 'wait time' and funneling questions, it is really intriguing at how questioning could widen so much of the students' learning scope.

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Why is skilful questioning important and how would I enact it in my EL classroom through Knowledge Building (KB)?

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Why is skilful questioning important and how would I enact it in my EL classroom through Knowledge Building (KB)?

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a) Skilful questioning is important in class as it involves various impact in our teaching and students' learning. When a teacher is skilful in using questions in her teaching, it helps to enhance students' interactions between peers and teachers. Through this interaction, students will learn to collaborate and deepen their understanding in the topics they are discussing or learning. Through this collaboration, students then learn to generate possibilities, allow reasoning to be visible and evaluate the ideas that they have generated. Only through these dialogues that students construct knowledge and become creative inquirers.

b) I enact skilful questioning in my EL classroom by building a knowledge building(KB) culture in class. During KB lessons, my students would be given a stimulus question that could be evaluative or rhetorical type question, students will take part in the idea generating exercise which allow students to pen down their ideas upon which we would then continue with improvable ideas where students will read each other's ideas and build on it by including questions, feedback or suggestion as they comment on their peer's ideas. After this exercise, they will then look at all the comments and questions that they had pen down and discuss using these to address or answer the stimulus question that was given to them earlier.

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Importance of the quality questions and sequencing in EL classroom teaching

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Importance of the quality questions and sequencing in EL classroom teaching

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When I'm using questions to deepen my students' thinking during my lesson, I need to consider and craft quality questions such as:

the question needs to be concise and clear in order to lead my students to provide a specific answer required.

Clear content focus- this will provide a clear intent of the question

provide direction and structure for the lesson

allow students to be engaged at various cognitive level starting with literal type of questions building up to complex questions.

Questions Sequencing would help students to acquire skills at different cognitive level for example:

start with the same cognitive level - same path

Extend and lift to allow students to be stretch and think deeper

Circular Path- could lead them back to look at the initial focus.

Narrow to Broad or Broad to Narrow depending on the intent of the question.

Backbone of key questions with probing questions that consist of Literal, Inference and Evaluative questions to create a platform for students to be creative inquirers and construct knowledge.

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Q1. Helps them to interact, collaborate and construct knowledge effectively.

Q2. Through peer interaction and collaboration with awareness of PACC. Modelling by the teacher and emphasis on empathy and social awareness.

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a) Based of the video, asking questions to my lower primary students allow them to think deeper on the topic

b) Based on the ideas in the video, I would like to explore how questions can help trigger my student's curiousity and think deeper about the topic.

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Intent of lesson

Lesson objectives

Learners' readiness

Structure and direction of lesson

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Question 1:

I strongly believe in the importance of asking the right questions to elicit responses from the receiver, and how the inability to do so will in turn yield undesirable results. It also reminds me about the root-cause analysis approach where probing, when carried out effectively, will help one to address the root cause of the problem instead of immediate symptoms.

Question 2:

I typically ask probing questions when I wish for my students to provide reasoning for their responses; hinging a lot on the ‘why’ and ‘what’. These responses obtained during lessons function as assessment evidence for me to adjust my lessons accordingly.

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2a

(1) What ideas in the video resonate with you, and why?

It is important to ask questions effectively as it helps us to gain clarity, encourage meaningful conversations, show engagement & critical thinking, build relationships and solve problems efficiently.

Wait time after asking questions is also crucial as it allows students to process the question and encourages more thoughtful and reflective responses, rather than quick, surface-level answers. It reduces pressure and creates a more relaxed environment where students feel less rushed and thus reduce anxiety.

(2)Based on the ideas in the video, which do you put into practice as an EL teacher?

I would try to use more open-ended questions as it would encourage deeper thinking and reflection. Open-ended questions keep discussions flowing instead of just asking closed questions where students reply with a simple "yes" or "no". This also helps to promote conversation. Open-ended questions also help to foster creativity and problem-solving.

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Skilful questioning is important as it:

Enhance quality of interaction

Heightens students collaboration – making their thinking and reasoning visible, evaluate their own and peer responses and generate new ideas

enables students to co-create their knowledge and learning, thus promoting them to become creative explorers in their learning

Skilful questioning can be enacted in EL classroom by:

scaffolding the type of questions students will formulate

role-modelling the types of questions to be asked

pre-empting students on how to react and evaluate responses in a positive manner

using appropriate questioning strategies and practising wait-time to ensure pupils that their responses are heard and valued

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(1) I feel that skilful questioning is important as good questions would encourage students to analyze, evaluate and synthesize information rather than just recall facts. It also checks for understanding where teachers can assess what students know, identify misconceptions and tailor instructions accordingly. It can also spark curiosity, invite participation and create a more interactive learning environment.

(2) Skilful questioning can be enacted in the EL classroom by:

(i) using open-ended questions

(ii) employing wait time

(iii) asking questions that cover different cognitive levels such as remembering, understanding, applying, analysing, evaluating, creating etc

(iv) having students to discuss the question in pairs or small groups

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Impt of Skilful Questioning & Enactment in EL C/R

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Impt of Skilful Questioning & Enactment in EL C/R

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Question 1:

Skilful questioning will facilitate students to think critically before responding, and the responses will in turn facilitate students’ effective collaboration and co-construction of knowledge in classrooms. When students are engaged, the learning is further enriched.

Question 2:

I attempt to do so in every EL lesson, focusing on teasing out students’ responses and in turn after giving wait time, for students to use talk moves to respond/share their views about their peers’ responses. Other strategies used will also include use of collaborative platforms such as google drive or Padlet, allowing students to view peers’ responses and give peer feedback.

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Some considerations that I will take into account:

1) be clear of intent of questions

2) be concise

3) ensure cognitive level of the question

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To have clarity on what is the lesson intention of that day’s lesson first, then decide on the type of open-ended question sequence to ask. When planning the questions to ask, to also bear in mind what constitutes quality questions.

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Response 1:

The quality of the question determines the quality of the answer. (I have some reservations about this.)

We can use questions for an array of purposes such as showing interest and promoting further thought.

We can consider if we want a qualitative or quantitative or both before asking questions.

We need to allow for wait time and silence after asking a question.

Response 2:

I already use a lot of questions (i.e. leading, probing, funneling, rhetorical questions and others) in my EL lessons.

I particularly enjoy socratic seminars as students are given the autonomy to co-construct knowledge through critical thinking, discussing and questioning.

However, a questions-based lesson or a lesson where the teacher functions as a facilitator through questioning requires a certain level of student readiness and a lot of time.

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Response 1:

It encourages critical and inventive thinking, promotes active participation and allows for deeper understanding.

It provides students with a rich language environment to increase their language exposure and foster positive interactions.

It gives students meaningful opportunities to use and work on their communication and collaboration skills.

Response 2:

I can use it to promote curiosity and creativity, sound reasoning and decision-making as well as metacognition, allowing students to hone their abilities to manage complexities and ambiguities.

I can use it as scaffolding by giving the right amount of support to help students think more deeply and succeed. By matching questions to their readiness, I can guide them without making it too hard or too easy.

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Considerations:

Quality questions are concise and clear

Keep questions short and to the point

Identify language that is not accessible to students

Quality questions have a clear content focus

Pose questions that help students achieve the learning objectives

Quality questions provide direction and structure to the lesson

Pose questions that help students make links to what they already know

Help students probe deeper into the topic using further questions

Quality questions engage students at various cognitive levels

Use the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy when designing questions

Sequencing of questions

Same path

Extend and lift

Circular path

Narrow to broad

Broad to narrow

Backbone of key questions with probing questions

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Question 1:

Wait time is important to allow the receiver to process a response

How we interpret the response is equally important to the quality of the questions posed

Question 2:

For my P5 class, I tend to use more open-ended questions as they are able to manage them.

For my P3 middle-low ability class, I realise that I tend to ask close ended questions more often than open-ended ones. I do this as my open-ended questions tend to be met with silence. But once I give them options to choose, they use that as a springboard to further elaborate their ideas. Perhaps that is considered a form of differentiated instruction?

I am interested to see how funneling questions can be applied in my lessons to make my students' thinking visible, especially in composition writing lessons.

I usually use leading questions and probing questions in lessons.

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Why is skillful questioning important for student learning?

It encourages students to make meaning of the content they are presented with

Generate active discussions and promote student interactions

Allows students to form and evaluate perspectives while also practising higher order thinking

How can skillful questioning be enacted in your EL classroom?

Provide students the appropriate language and norms when it comes to the co-construction of meaning (e.g. Talk moves)

Model skillful questioning to students, and allow them the opportunity to apply the same questioning when they provide feedback for their friends' work.

Considerations to take into account in the teaching and learning of EL:

Ensure that questions posed do not fall under only one category under Bloom's Taxonomy.

Ensure that question is constructed concisely and clearly so that student can direct their attention to the requirements of the question

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Question 1:

One thing that resonates with me is the purpose of the type of question that we ask. As each question has a different type of purpose for example, while an open-ended question is meant to gather further detail, a closed-ended question is supposed to get a more focused response. Thus, the importance of knowing the purpose of what it is we are trying to achieve before asking the given question

Another thing that I have learnt is the importance of silence. This is crucial especially since it provides the listener the time and space to think about the question thoroughly before responding.

Question 2:

As an English Teacher in the classroom, I would usually use a variety of questions during lesson time. When it comes to responding to a given text or resource, I would prefer to ask open-ended question. The reason for this is I would want to provide students with a broader scope when providing their response. I try not lead them into a response, as I would like to really know how they feel regarding a certain issue.

In addition, giving the students a 'silent' space to think about a question is crucial to. I try not to rush them when it comes to giving a response. As I want them to really think about an issue and to provide a good response, I will need to give them the time to really think about it.

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Question 1 :

It enables students to be better engaged during the lesson; to really think about what it is that they think about whatever it is that the teacher is going through. In addition, it promotes a higher level of thinking; not just merely restating whatever it is that has been taught.

Question 2 : How can skilful questioning be enacted in your EL classroom?

One way would be to ensure that I ask a combination of question types; to include open-ended questions along with closed-ended questions. This will enable the students to explain why they think in a certain manner. In addition, it will help to structure the discussions that the students have during lesson time. They will have something concrete when interacting with their peers.

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MLU 1:

One thing to take into consideration is the clarity and conciseness of the language. This is to ensure that the students know exactly what it is that is being asked. In addition, there would need to be clear content focus; this means that it would need to be coherent with the learning objectives. In that same light, the questions will need to provide direction and structure for the lesson; relevant to what is being taught. Otherwise, it will be taken out of context. Finally, the questions will need to engage the learners at different cognitive levels. This is crucial especially since the classroom consists of students with very diverse needs.

MLU 2:

One thing to take into consideration will be the importance of question sequencing. This can be based on any of the following options:

same path, extend and lift, circular path, narrow to broad, broad to narrow, backbone questions to relevant digressions

Having said that, it is also crucial to bear in mind feedback from the students. This will play a key role in how I ask questions in the classroom; the flexibility and adaptability of it.

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Reflecting on our understanding of skilful questioning

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Reflecting on our understanding of skilful questioning

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i) What is/are the purpose(s) of the questions I pose in class?

ii) What difference do my questions have on my students’ learning?

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What ideas in the video resonate with you, and why?

- The creativity and wisdom in choosing the right type of question to support one's purpose and how this might differ for the type of audience we have.

Based on the ideas in the video, which do you put into practice as an EL teacher?

- Taking time to craft the set of facilitating questions is something I do but I'm open to moving away from them and follow the lead of my students and their responses.

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Question 1:

I like how the video captured that asking is just as important (or sometimes, even more important), so as to elicit a response.

There is a place for open and closed questions, depending on the objective of that particular lesson.

Question 2:

I think as an EL teacher, we definitely need to use all the different questioning techniques to facilitate discussions and deepen thinking. Each of the 4 questioning techniques can serve a variety of objectives.

Eg: Rhetorical questions to provide food for thought during opinion/topic based discussions, or probing questions to help deepen thinking when engaging with a text.

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1. I believe that there is a place for both open and closed qns depending on the level of readiness of our students. I believe that open questions for LR students will need further scaffolding (leading qns, funneling etc). I also agree that wait time should be given for a response (but of course the qn of how much time is enough/too much time is debatable).

2. At the moment, I feel that I do put into practice all of the qns mentioned in the video; chosen according to my perceived readiness of a student. I try not to use closed qns and rhetorical qns too much (if at all), as I believe it restricts students' thinking (not sure if this thinking is right!). I also use the diff qn types at varying frequency with different classes.

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Importance:

Student engagement - The learning needs to be meaningful, purposeful and interactive. Learning focused interactions are necessary for students to deepen their own learning

How it can be enacted:

Scaffolding of responses either during class discussions or even during individual work

Explicitly teaching some types of questions that can be asked and teacher modelling how to respond to these questions

Providing wait time for students to formulate responses

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Reflecting on our understanding of skilful questioning

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Reflecting on our understanding of skilful questioning

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i) What is/are the purpose(s) of the questions I pose in class?

ii) What difference do my questions have on my students’ learning?

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1. Keep all questions concise & clear

2. Clear content focus (learning objective)

3. Direction & structure for the lesson

4. Engage students at various cognitive levels

5. Asking questions in a sequence: Moving from simple to more complex cognitive levels

6. Sequencing & tiering questions according to the task, learning objective and readiness of the students

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1. The different types of questions that we can ask and the intention of using the different types. Practising wait time is so important as we tend to not give enough time for our students to process their thoughts and provide a response.

2. Asking different question types for different contexts.

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Question 1:

effective questions in powerful to promote deeper understanding, critical thinking, engagement and more.

the careful crafting of questions helps us to guide students' learning, reflection, communication and thus allows students to make better, informed decisions.

Question 2:

I usually practice "Wait Time" with my students after asking a question. This encourages students to think and come up with a high-quality answer.

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(i) To engage students, assess their understanding, promote critical thinking and foster deeper learning.

(ii) The type of questions asked: leading questions in order for us to clarify further.

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(Room 6) Hazilah, Deviga, Tina and Vicki

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(Room 6) Hazilah, Deviga, Tina and Vicki

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(i) Use of rhetorical questions to direct students' thinking towards the topic (not really expecting a response)

Check for understanding

Promote engagement and participation, encourages thinking

Emphasise on learning points/Redirecting students back to the main topic

When questions are asked and students respond, students feel valued to have their thoughts heard during the discussion

(ii) Probing questions, application questions, analytical questioning skills; different types of lessons require different sets of questions to deepen their understanding or for students to apply different set of skills

Clarifying questions help to identify student gaps and misconceptions - through this, you will know if students are with you or in dream land :-P

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Part i

Depending on the purpose of questioning, type of lesson and desired learning outcomes we might ask a range of questions including open and closed questions as well as all question types under the revised Bloom's Taxonomy.

Part ii

For lower progress learners, questions provide them with the support and scaffolding needed to arrive at the final responses. The questions must be accessible to the students so that they can understand them. For high progress learners, open ended questions are useful for us to understand their thought processes and ensure that the metacognitive processes were meaningfully engaged. Questioning requires some on-the-spot adjustments depending on the students.

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Purpose:

Tr assess students' thinking

Ss assess their own thinking

helps students reflect on the content

help Ss crystalise their own thoughts

What difference does it make for their learning?

Gives us a clue why they have certain understanding

helps us to identify and close learning gaps

Ss can discuss with their partners when we sense that they don't understand

Helps to make learning more focused for the Ss. Guides and scaffold learning for Ss

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Room 2: Gemma, Pei Yiing, Charlotte, Jessica

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Room 2: Gemma, Pei Yiing, Charlotte, Jessica

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Purpose of questions:

Purpose of posing questions: Hierarchy of the bloom's taxonomy

Guiding students and leading them to a particular learning outcome/objective. Types of questions may change according to the situation and the students' responses

Questioning adapts to the task at hand

Getting students to articulate their thoughts and making their thinking visible during class discussions

Impact:

Better able to guide students to the task - Question: How do you facilitate the questioning process from the students (developing the metacognition to go through the questioning process)

Thinking about their own thinking (Metacognition) - Respond using the talk moves and framing responses

Use of engaging tools (Class points) - more participation from low progress learners, but also provides a platform for more questioning from their responses

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1. To seek clarification; check on understanding, to encourage participation; to encourage them to show their thought process; develop their communication skills; reveal misconceptions

2. Build their confidence; shape classroom culture.

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think about whether it benefits them.

asking questions also helps me reflect on what I am teaching.

check understanding, participation and to activate active learning.

Activate existing schema & draw upon that to enrich what's being taught.

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1. She asked a number of comprehension questions and got the students to elaborate and explain.

2. Questions stimulated their thinking.

3. Comprehension questions to check for understanding.

4. Facilitator: trying to get the students to respond, inquiry through dialogue.

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1) teacher asked lots of open questions and relate it to the video. She made students elaborate answers by asking more guiding question

2) guide students, engage them in discussions, identify misconceptions and ask more probing questions.

3) open ended questions, leading questions, trigger questions and pause at appropriate time to check student's understanding. Probing questions to get more student's responses

4) facilitator

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Teachers' Practice of Questioning:

Teacher was accepting, open to all types of questions received from the students

More of a facilitator - students ask questions, but she also redirects some of the questions

Safe environment for asking questions

Scaffolded questions

Student voices - each of them were heard and were given the assurance to share

Clarifying questions - What makes you say that, to clarify thinking process and confirm predictions

Purpose(s) of the questions:

Safe environment & enabling student voices - allowed them share more freely and ask more questions

Assess students' learning

Get the students to take on different/multiple perspectives, and get them to connect it to personal experiences

Metacognition - thinking about their own thinking

Nature/Types of questions:

Open-ended questions

Literal, Inferential questions

Role of teacher:

Facilitator of the different questions and then allowing students to come to their own conclusions and answers their own questions.

Improve quality of interaction amongst the students (asking other students do you agree)

Empowering students and helps them feel like they can ask without feeling judged

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1) Teacher actually builds on the responses of students and uses those responses to come up with new questions (e.g. "Does anyone agree or disagree with _____?" "Anyone has a different perspective from David or Janice's opinion?" "do you have the same views or other views?")

Teacher pauses at closed ended questions

2) Questions probe thinking about the video and bring students to focus on different parts/aspects/words/visuals of the video

3) Started off with open ended questions

Probing questions to illicit answers (How did you arrive at this answer? - through this, students has to think closely about the evidences)

Perspective taking questions

Closed ended questions (with pauses)

4) Teacher actually did not explicitly give content but facilitated discussion for the students to take charge of generating content

Teacher tried to bring across prediction skills

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1) Teacher seems to have planned the questions beforehand - deliberate planning of the questions posed during the lesson

One possible limitation: teacher seems to not really deviate from the “scripting” — can’t really respond dynamically to the questions

2) Purpose of the questions: clarification, elaboration (“what made you said so”), recall

—> based on Bloom’s taxonomy

Also, to allow students to listen & respond to one another (IRE); students curates their answers based on others’ responses

3) Nature & type: open-ended; deliberate attempt to enrich the discussion by asking other students their opinions

4) Role of teacher: facilitator; get students to think, instead of giving the answers straightaway (encompasses evaluator, instructor, etc.)

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Types of questions

Clarifying questions

Creativity, getting them to think out of the box

probing questions

why do you say that?

scaffolding

lower P need teacher to model

Questions to bring students back on track

Questions to link to their own experiences

sibling relationships

Purposes

encourage collaboration

promoting discussion

deepening understanding

engaging students

Roles of teacher

facilitator

promoting discussion

ensure everyone participates

Elicits answers from the students

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1) Interesting to get students to ask questions in the beginning

2) use questions to clarify and try to bring students' thoughts to more definition

3) use open ended questions and directed questions to students who are not too participative

4) thought provoking questions such as 'Do you identify with any of the characters? / Who do you identify with? Why?

5) Role of the teacher - a facilitator

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Room 6 -

1) Utilise both closed questions and follow them up with open-ended questions. Uses questions that encourage student-student discussion. Deliberate and intentional use of wait time - ideal amount given.

2) Stimulate thinking, reasoning & deep reflection in the students. Use of closed questions to help with the pace of the lesson.

3) Aligns with Bloom's Taxonomy, opinion-based questions allow students to share their experiences and relate to the subject topic.

4) Facilitate the discussion - provides a safe space for an exchange of ideas and opinions to take place. Encourages participation from everyone & uses positive reinforcement.