Questioning Technique Pocketbook

Research shows that when teachers think more about questioning – deepening their understanding, extending their range of strategies and planning their questions – responses from pupils improve and engagement and learning increase. Teachers’ questions play a critical role, not just for the thinking they provoke, but in the modelling of questioning skills and the development of curiosity. Using cartoons, diagrams and visual prompts to support the text, this highly practical Pocketbook is suitable for all teachers. It separates out the elements of questioning – framing them, delivering them, and responding to the answers – and offers both simple tweaks and fundamental shifts to turn instinctive practice into a highly effective teaching and learning tool. An introductory chapter looks at how questions stimulate learning and includes a range of questioning taxonomies and models. This leads on to how to build ‘a questioning environment’ that encourages participation, sharing, exploration and thoughtful responses. A section entitled ‘Framing Questions’ identifies different kinds of questions and how they work, and subsequent chapters cover ways to deliver questions and respond to the answers you are given. A final short section provides checklists for monitoring and improving practice. Gorden Pope has over 25 years’ experience in education as a teacher, LA adviser and now an independent consultant and Associate MA Ed. Tutor. He specialises in developing and delivering CPD in teaching and learning for teachers in the UK and overseas.