Skill Review Sheet Questioning

Graduate Standards - AITSL

Professional Practice: 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 5.2 Plan and implement effective teaching and learning
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Question Type
Do you feel your
questions were clearly
structured and readily
understood by the
students?

Did you use a variety of

question types?

Mostly. Although initially my questions were too difficult or too

easy.
Important to have a clear understanding of students' prior
knowledge so questions could be used effectively to
encourage active learning.

Initially, my questions were too simplistic, only asking

questions that checked for prior knowledge and
comprehension. As I got to know students better, I was able
to increase engagement and curiosity with questions that
asked students to synthesize and evaluate a concept we
were working on. "What do you think about...?"

Initially, my questions were unbalanced. Later I started to

What balances was there pepper them right throughout the lessons. First checking for
between the various
comprehension, then asking for a deeper analysis of the
questions types?
concept, then asking how it could be applied in real world
examples etc.
I noticed that as the questions got deeper, fewer students
responded to them.
Consider both why and
when you made use of
the different question
types?

WHY?
In some lessons, I used questions to give me an understanding of
student knowledge and comprehension. In some lessons, I used
questions that encouraged students to think / research / be active
in their learning. "What do you think will happen if...?"
WHEN?
Questions I used were different when introducing a new concept
(needed to check for comprehension) to questions used when
applying a maths concept to real world applications "How is this
relevant to...?"

Distributing and Directing Questions

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Did you recognise any

pattern in the distribution
of your questions
amongst the students?
Consider reasons for this
pattern?

How have you directed

questions to the group?

Have you used wait

time?

Did you make eye

contact with the group as
you directed your
questions?

Some students keen to answer - always had hand straight

up. Tried to include quieter students, which was easier once I
knew their names.
If a student was uncomfortable with a question, I would try to
elaborate or direct question to another student.

Looking at whole class and with broad gesturing so as to

include everybody. Elaborating and clarifying what I was
asking for if no response.
Also, less threatening indirect questions, "Hands up if you
didn't quite follow this step...?"
Used wait time to allow students to synthesize information.
Realised that there is a short time limit though. If wait time is
too long, no student was comfortable to break the wait. Need
to encourage responses by elaborating, "What about....?"
When in front of the class, always tried to stop, turn to class
and then ask (possibly pointing to something visual).
When in middle of room or behind class (particularly if we
were all looking at a problem on the board), I wouldn't be
able to make eye contact so would use a verbal cue and
then ask question, "what about Example 2 on the board,
what is the coefficient of the highest power?"

Reactions to Students Responses

How do you deal with
correct responses? Do
you qualify any praise
given?
How do you deal with
incorrect responses?
How do you deal with
students who stumble
and grope for an answer?

"Perfect"
"Exactly"
"Well done"
"That's right"
"Nearly..." ...wait
"What about...?" ...wait
Give a short time for student to add to their response but not
stony silence so they feel uncomfortable otherwise they
won't try to answer next time. Possible add to the question
with further information.

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Eye contact is encouraging and respectful.

Do you keep eye contact
with the students until
Don't cut students off - even if they are getting it wrong.
they have completed an
Those are great opportunities for students to evaluate ways
answer? Do you cut
other students are approaching a problem / solution.
students off and go onto
the next point before they
have finished
responding?
Can use student responses to reinforce key points.
What use do you make of
the students responses
to develop the teaching
point? Have you
redirected any questions
in order to add to an
initial response?

Are you the only

evaluator of the students
answers?

"Exactly! That's the right answer but lets think about why
that's the answer? Can you try to explain why we get that
solution? Why does subtracting a negative number result in
addition?"

That's certainly not my intention. I hope not!

Students are encouraged to think about and evaluate each
others responses. If they are correct, why? If they are
incorrect, why?
This school encourages cooperative learning in every
lesson. As long as students are on task, it is acceptable for
them to talk during lessons - to be asking each other
questions and giving each other solutions.

Did you communicate

Initially, I didn't do this well as my requests were given
clearly to the students the verbally to students. My mentor quickly gave me feedback to
requirements of the
double up requests with written requirements on the board.
lesson?

Overall Comments
Questions are great for evaluating students' prior knowledge and comprehension of a
concept. They are also a powerful tool to capture the attention of the class, arouse
interest, and encourage deeper learning.

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