Make it clear to pupils that you welcome their questions. Provide a variety of routes by which they might ask you questions.
Three such routes are: putting your hand up, writing a question in your book, writing a question on a slip of paper and handing it in to the teacher.
By giving a number of routes, you can avoid two pitfalls.
First, the possibility that a succession of questions will interrupt the flow of an activity or create so many transitions that behaviour takes a downward turn.
Second, the possibility that some students will not favour a certain way of asking questions and so will avoid asking them altogether.
By providing multiple routes, it is likely that all pupils will find at least one approach that suits them.
At the beginning of a unit of work, set up an activity in which the class decides what questions are to frame the lessons that are to come.
One way to do this is as follows:
Divide the class into groups. Assign each group a lesson (lesson 1, lesson 2 and so on). Give each group a set of resources. These should be about the aspect of the topic you want to cover in their lesson.
Invite the groups to look through the resources and to then discuss their thoughts.
When they have done this, they should pick out what they think is most interesting and use it to create some questions they would like answered.
Point out that the questions should be sufficiently ‘big’ to warrant a whole lesson of investigation.
Each group then settles on a single question. This will be used to frame their lesson.
The teacher collects the questions in and uses them to inform their planning.
Appoint two or three ‘question-spotters.’
During activities which involve discussion, these students walk around the room listening to the conversations of their peers. They should carry a clipboard or notebook with them and a pen.
Every time they hear a good question, they write it down and make a note of who said it.
At the end of the activity, the ‘question-spotters’ share with the class some of the best questions they heard.
For each question, they explain why it was good and what benefits it brought to the people involved. The class congratulates all the students whose questions were spotted.
If this method is employed regularly, and if praise is consistently given to all students whose questions are spotted, two things are likely to occur.
First, pupils will think carefully about the questions they are asking. This is because they will want to ask good questions in the hope of them being spotted and subsequently commended.
Second, because the question-spotters will be explaining why the various questions are good, students will get a better understanding of how to structure high-quality questions.
Have students lead activities during your lessons in which you would normally do a lot of questioning.
For example: a starter activity, a discussion task or a reflective plenary.
The student who takes on the role of teacher (or students – a few could do it together) ask questions in your place.
You might want to provide them with some time in advance to prepare; this will depend on who the student is and how confident they are with the task.
