Top Three Questions
Identify one upcoming lesson and develop at least three (3) high quality questions. Post these questions on the blog along with a synopsis of how you think these questions impacted students. Please revisit the blog prior to our face-to-face meeting on April 27th to see how everyone’s implementation went.
8 Comments
- Christen Tulli replied:
I’m doing an assignment with students where they listen to 50′s and 60′s music, study the lyrics, and connect it with The Outsiders and the characters. All of these questions are effective ask students to compare and contrast, assess, or relate themes back to the novel. I think that this assignment’s questions have room for differing opinions and will inspire lively discussions! Here are three questions I’m thinking about using:
1. How would the Socials have related to the themes in the lyrics for The Who’s “My Generation”? How would the greasers have related to the song? Compare and Contrast the personalities of these two groups and then decide which group would have enjoyed this son the most.
2. How might the song “I’m so lonesome, I could cry” relate to the theme of social ostracism in the book?
3. Evaluate the song “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” and assess whether this song’s lyrics effectively represent the plight (and journeys) of the Greaser characters.
April 16th, 2009 at 10:34 am. Permalink.
- gjlyman replied:
Thanks for sharing your questions Christen. These are really good. I think students are going to really get into Question #1 – which is good because that is high level in a number of ways. Question #3 looks like it might give you an opportunity to practice your probing skills. Consider what you might say if a student answer is simply “yes.”
April 17th, 2009 at 8:54 pm. Permalink.
- Cindy replied:
I have been asking a lot more higher-level thinking questions and am getting better at thinking of them, but not so good at actually planning to ask them! Some of them come to me right in the middle of the lesson.
Here are some I used in Math 8: Compare and contrast surface area and volume. What are the similarities and differences in theoretical and experimental probability? These are 2 different lessons but I got some good responses from the students. I could tell they were really thinking about it and wanted to come up with a good answer to share.
In Algebra, I asked “How is the process of rationalizing the denominator similar to or different from finding an LCD?” and was trying to make the connection to previous learning. Quite a few had good answers and I think everyone got something out of the ensuing discussion.
April 24th, 2009 at 3:02 pm. Permalink.
- Gaynell replied:
I’m particularly interested in your Math 8 questions. What type of response format did you use? What indicators helped you know students were really thinking?
We need to come up with a strategy for documenting your “on the fly” questions so you have them for future reference.
I’m wondering about a running log that is kept by students (maybe on a rotating responsibility basis). The teacher could say “write that down” and later go back and make reference notes that would help set the stage for next year.April 27th, 2009 at 7:03 am. Permalink.
- Christen Tulli replied:
Cindy, I like your question about comparing two processes! Compare and contrast is such a great way to get students to closely analyze the steps to a process. I think a way to make this assignment even more in-depth (and to integrate English curriculum- yay!) would be to have students create a Venn diagram comparing these two processes. It would be a sneaky way of getting students to write in math class and could be used as a reference in the future if a student were to forget a step in the process.
April 27th, 2009 at 10:00 am. Permalink.
- Linda Hubard replied:
My questions have to do with 5th grade reading. I wanted to see how deep they could dig and have been a bit disappointed in the responses. Many were just pat answers. But my group is immature and is NOW ready for the 5th grade. I hate to think I was expecting too much from them. Here they are:
1. Why do you think story “A” was chosen for this textbook? Think about what the people who choose it were thinking.
2. Story “A” and story “B” are similar, right? Explain how that is so by giving at least 3 reasons for your thoughts.
3. Think of your dream for the future. Do you see what you will have to do? What will that be? Are there any obstacles like physical (your body) or emotional (like fear) to keep your dream from happening? What will you do about them?
I am looking forward to other people’s reactions to these to see if I am on the right track.
See you at HH.April 27th, 2009 at 1:59 pm. Permalink.
- Anne Williams replied:
I have been working on asking more high level questions, but more recently I have been working with my students on their writing of higher level questions and answering them. One thing I did was to share with the students questions at each level relating to a familar story (Goldilocks and the Three Bears).
Knowledge: List the items used by Goldilocks while she was in the Bears’ house.
Comprehension: Explain why Goldillocks liked Baby Bear’s chair the best.
Application: Demonstrate what Goldilocks would usee if she came to your house.
Analysis: Compare this story to your real life. What events could not really happen?
Synthesis: Propose how the story would be different if it were Goldilocks and the Three Fish.
Evaluation: Judge whether Golilocks was good or bad. Explain (defend) your answer.Then groups would practice writing questions for each level on a story we read and critiqued them.
Then the students had to write questions of each level for a book they read on their own. Here are some.
If you were the author, what factors would you change during the race in New York? Why?What do you see as other possible outcomes, if Little Bub had not followed school master Morgan? Explain your answer?
What would happen if Little Bub had not won the race? Support your answer.
Judge the value of Little Bub out of 4 stars, with one being the lowest and four being the highest. Support your answer.
I am excited to see the questions they are creating.
April 27th, 2009 at 9:48 pm. Permalink.
- Todd Rigler replied:
I have been teaching my 10 grade IB students the constitution.
The following are questions that are possed for class discussion:
Is the Constitution relevant today?
How might the government work today if either the VA plan or the NJ plan were accepted?
Why do you think that the idea of judicial review was left out of the Constitution?I usually have to probe the kids to get to the deeper meanings but they usually do well with them. I just need to work on my wait times.
April 28th, 2009 at 11:35 am. Permalink.