Ideas Galore: Discussions & Questions

Once again the quote "The more you know the more you don't know" rings true yet again!  Discussion and asking questions is an intriquing topic.  Our methods book offered some really cool ideas like pair share, class discussion and various procedures but this is simply the foundation.  Below are five really cool resources to read, listen to or try.  

1. High Prep, Low Prep, Medium Prep

This is a blog and podcast written by Jennifer Gonzalez on a blog called "The Cult of Pedogogy".  She offers a list of fifteen different techniques some of which are high preparation for teachers and students and some are low prep that we can add into various types of lessons.  Here are a few examples:

1. Gallery Walk: Groups travel from discussion/question posters either created by the teacher or student.  She offers ideas on making a recording method throughout to help with accountability.  This is done in small groups.  One additional idea would be to have a reflection guide at the end. 
2. Concentric Circles (a.k.a. speed dating): Have two circles facing each other or two parallel lines.  The teacher can create quesitons and students switch partners for each question. 
3. Philosophical Chair: Agree or disagree type statement is read and then students two students can discuss it but other students can buzz in and take the hot seat as different views come about. This would be really cool with some agricultural issues or food science/food labeling or even animal health and welfare. 

Seriously check out this blog and podcast!

2.  Types of Questions to Ask:

Epistemological: Why does the author believe that ___?
Experiential: What have you encountered that makes you think that ___?
Communicative: How does the author rhetorically convey her theme?
Political: What groups would take issue with the implicit message that ___?

Question Source: Stephen Brookfield

3. Provide question stems:

We recently talked about scaffolding in moodles and in class and I think a great way to do this to help  build our students up to great discussion is to give students prompts to create questions.  This example is in an eighth grade class, but I think the concept is great. 

Check out an example here:

4. Building questions, Quantum Teaching:

The book Quantum Teaching by Mark Reardon offers great ideas about asking discussion and debriefing questions.  Here are the key questions to start the process. 

What happened?

What did you learn?

How can you apply what you have learned?

5. Socratic Questions

This resource provides examples of how to expand thinking and expand questions.  This helps to clarify thoughts and ideas and then expand upon them and ask for other evidence and ideas.  This helps move us from binary (yes or no) questions to open ended discussion questions. There is a list of many questions here!