How Gallagher and Ascher’s Divergent Questions can ensure students are thinking rather than merely remembering.
All AboutQuestions
Reader Question: Analog Clocks
A reader wrote in, asking how to differentiate for a task like reading analog clocks. What to do with a student who has mastered this skill?
Creating Research Questions
Last time I showed how to use the Wikipedia Wormhole to find interesting topics for research. Now we’ll look at how to form interesting questions to investigate those topics.
Better Questions: Wait Time
Asking good questions is one thing, but do we give students the space to formulate a good response? Let’s talk about wait time.
Better Questions: Measuring Questions and Statements
Continuing the series on questions, we’ll take a look at a simple tool for analyzing your own questioning patterns.
Better Questions: Gallagher and Ascher’s 4 Types of Questions
We continue the series on questioning by looking at four types of questions: memory, convergent, evaluative, and divergent.
Better Questions: Who Asks Whom?
Asking questions is such a basic tool of teaching, yet how many of us have ever been taught to ask good questions? In this opening to a series about questioning, we’ll explore how to get students asking each other questions.
Inspiration From Socrates
As my students learn about Socrates, countless avenues of discussion open up. Time does not permit a deep enough study, so here are three raw ideas inspired by Socrates: taking a stand, the truth of history, and the power of questions. Have fun!
Ask Creative Questions
Is this the message I want to give to my gifted students? “Follow the directions?” This is a room full of students who are creative, flexible, divergent thinkers. These are the future Noble Laureates, inventors, and revolutionaries. Let’s allow them (or better yet: force them) to exercise their creative muscles.
Transforming Textbook Questions
Here’s a “critical thinking” question from the Houghton Mifflin selection “Beneath The Royal Palms:” “Why did Alma’s family decide to make nativity figurines?” To me this is asking for low level thinking, certainly not what I would consider “critical.” Now, let’s transform this into a beautiful and rigorous question suitable for your gifted kids.
