Here’s a Depth and Complexity worksheet I used to use with my students: I look at it now and shudder. I was making so many mistakes here. Let’s just zoom out and imagine that I asked the same questions at a book club with fellow adults. Me: What is this story’s main theme? Him: Oh, […]
Differentiation TechniqueAsk Better Questions
Read The OverviewFour Types of Questions You Can Ask
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.
Specific Examples of “Ask Better Questions”
Don’t Just List ⚖️ Ethical Issues
Here’s an example of a question I asked my students: ⚖️ What moral or ethical issues are raised in this book? What controversies exist? Now, the first problem is that this question is way too wordy. I often gave my class rough drafts of questions. Nowadays, I want to make sure to proofread, revise, and […]
Beware Vague Questions
I’ve been doing tons of work to re-write old questions. You can see all of my updated questions here and, if you’re a Depth and Complexity person, you can see my Depth and Complexity re-writes here. I’ve gotten pretty good at spotting how I can fix my bland, low-level questions. But one problem is un-fixable. […]
Introducing Ourselves With Depth and Complexity and Frames
A go-to activity to introduce the prompts of depth and complexity to students while they also introduce themselves to their new classmates.
Climbing Blooms With A Science Lesson
How I’d push a mere science demonstration to higher level of Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Curiosity Skill: Encouraging Students to Ask Other Students
If you want to make a massive change in the culture of your classroom, move from teachers asking students all of the questions to students asking each other questions!
How long should we wait after asking a question?
I might ask the best questions in the world, but if I don’t give students even three seconds to think, those questions aren’t doing their job. Here’s what we know about Wait Time.
Ask Sequences, Never One-Off Questions
Beware one-off questions. Any question that we prepare should have a natural follow-up question. And those follow-ups should push students up Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Inquiry Training: Teach Students To Ask Better Questions
Inquiry Training is a model of instruction that looks a lot like 20 Questions. You’ll teach your students to ask more helpful questions and to avoid rushing to a hypothesis too quickly.
Sharpening Questions
With some small changes, we can turn fluffy opinion questions into thought-provoking evaluation questions.