General Introduction

This blog is part of my Differentiation and Adaptive Teaching Knowledge Base.

I use the terms differentiation and adaptive teaching synonymously. To me, they are the same, as genuine differentiation has always involved adapting your planning and your teaching to meet the needs of the learners in front of you.

For me, differentiation is all the practical strategies, activities and techniques teachers use to personalise learning.

For ease, we can break that down into my five categories of differentiation: Activities, Questioning, Words and Writing, Things the Teacher Can Do and Things You Can Ask Learners to Do or Use.

This blog falls into the category of questioning.

Using Challenging Questions to Differentiate

Challenging questions are those that push learners to think differently about a topic.

They may be harder than normal questions, more profound, more complex, more unusual, more esoteric or more creative.

In fact, challenging questions can take on a whole range of different forms.

The key thing, that remains common throughout, is that for a question to be challenging it ought to stray beyond the standard type of thinking that goes on in the classroom.

Here are some examples of challenging questions, along with explanations of why they are challenging.

What is 56732 x 281?

This question is hard.

It involves more difficult calculations than have been required in the main activity.

Such a question takes the core premise of the main activity – in this case multiplication of large numbers – and enhances the degree of difficulty associated with it.

What does it mean to ‘do wrong’?

This question is profound.

It asks learners to consider a concept that has been used during the lesson, but which has not been interrogated directly.

In this sense, the question is also philosophical; it asks learners to analyse a concept or category they rely on in their thinking.

In this case, the concept of right and wrong (or, more broadly, morality).

If we take ‘good’ to mean that which society seeks to promote, and we assume that individuals in society will gain benefits from doing what it wishes, why then do people still commit crimes?

This question is complex.

The effect has been achieved using qualifying clauses.

These modify the question, and learners must take this into account when answering.

Therefore, there is more for them to think about.

How might life be different if graphs did not exist?

This question is unusual.

It takes an aspect of the lesson (in this case graphs) and asks learners to think about it in a way that is alien to what was required in the main activity.

Through the creative thinking this prompts, learners will deepen their understanding of the topic.

What might have made a different outcome possible in the War of the Roses?

This question is creative.

It is asking learners to think imaginatively about the topic.

Through doing this, learners must look at what they have been studying from different angles and perspectives.

It encourages lateral thinking and the making of connections.

So, we have five simple, easy ways you can quickly come up with challenging questions for your learners.

Questions that will push them to think differently, and in greater depth, about what you are teaching them.

To recap, the five methods are:

• Ask hard questions that take the focus of the main task and ratchet up the level of difficulty.
• Ask profound questions that focus on the core concepts and categories learners have been thinking about.
• Ask complex questions that learners must analyse, make sense of and which demand similarly complex answers.
• Ask unusual questions that put learners on the back foot, causing them to stop and look again and what they thought they knew.
• Ask creative questions that open up the possibility for imagination, lateral thinking and making connections.

How can challenging questioning help you to differentiate?

Challenging questions help learners to think about ideas and information in ways that are different to the standard approaches taken in the classroom.

This is why they are challenging.

Different challenging questions lead to different outcomes.

Having a range of options for developing challenging questions means you can create variety for your learners, which aids motivation.

While challenging questions are good for stretching the thinking of more-able learners, a variety of learners can engage with them.

The key thing to remember is that the level at which they do this will likely be determined by their prior knowledge or understanding.

Open and Closed Questioning and Differentiation

Open and closed questions have different structures.

Here are some examples:

• (1.1) How old are you?
• (1.2) What do you think – yes or no?
• (1.3) Did it happen on Monday?
• (2.1) What does youth feel like?
• (2.2) What are your thoughts?
• (2.3) When might it have happened?

In each of the cases 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3, the question structure demands a specific response.

The respondent has only a few options available (and these have been stated or implied by the questioner); they are expected to provide a short answer – a little piece of information.

In the cases 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3, the questions have been left open.

They are not circumscribed and, in fact, invite the respondent to give longer, more detailed answers – ones that explore and articulate the contents of their mind.

It is the nature of closed questions that they generate limited and specific information.

That’s why we use them!

Because, in some situations, that’s exactly what we want.

Like when we check learning, or test recall.

However, if we only ask closed questions, we miss out.

First, overuse of closed questioning tends to lead to a situation in which learners always assume there is a right answer.

Some learners, often those who are less confident, may respond to this by avoiding answering, or by guessing.

Neither of which helps us to elicit accurate information about what learners think and know.

Second, closed questions can reveal if a learner knows something, but they don’t tend to reveal more than that.

Follow-up questioning lets us draw out more information.

But if we only ask closed questions, we are making life harder for ourselves than it needs to be.

Asking a higher proportion of open questions is good for differentiation.

It means that we can assess more clearly what learners think and why – and then use this information to modify our teaching.

Open questions give learners opportunities to share their thoughts and ideas about a topic.

This contrasts with closed questioning which – generally – is used to request specific answers.

Open questioning diminishes the stakes.

Learners are less likely to feel they are in a game where they can lose (by not giving the correct answer) and feel embarrassed.

They are therefore more likely to engage with your questioning.

If open questioning is used consistently over time, learners will come to see that learning in the classroom is a collaborative process in which all can take part, and in which all are made to feel at ease.

The key is to find a balance.

And to recognise that a balance between closed and open questioning is good for learning and, by extension, differentiation.

For me personally, that balance tips in favour of open questioning.

What do you think?

How can you use open and closed questions to help you differentiate?

Open questions help the teacher to gain more information about what learners think.

They can use this to adapt their teaching, so it more closely matches the needs of their learners.

Open questions diminish the stakes.

They make it less likely that learners will perceive questioning as a failure/success exercise and more as a collaborative learning experience.

Open questions are more accessible than closed questions.

They do not rely on learners having a certain, specific piece of information.

Instead, they allow all learners to share what they think.

Finding a balance means you can draw on the benefits of both open and closed questioning – the ideal scenario.

Tailoring Questions to Individuals

Just a few brief thoughts on tailored questioning to finish.

It’s easy to overlook the fact that any time we ask a learner a question, we have an opportunity to differentiate.

This is because we can tailor the questions we ask to the learner in front of us.

We can even imagine a teacher who does most of their in-lesson differentiation through highly targeted, individualised questioning.

This teacher’s focus would be on using questions to consistently mediate learners’ experiences in their lessons.

They would use questions to scaffold, prompt, direct, open up, challenge, probe, clarify and encourage.

All of which helps learners to access the learning, find the right level of challenge for them, and make great progress.

To summarise, in the context of differentiation, individual questioning is of great benefit for two reasons.

First, it allows the teacher to tailor their questions to specific learners.

Here’s an example.

Topic: The use of imagery in poetry writing

Question to Learner A, who is highly skilled at English

• How might poets seek to control what readers see in their minds?

Question to Learner B, who finds English more difficult

• What images could you use to make a reader think of sadness?

You will note that the difference here is one of degree.

In the first case, the question is essentially an abstract matter – it asks the learner to deal with generalities.

In the second case, the question is more concrete. It asks the learner to think about a specific example of the use of images.

This example illustrates how individual questioning lets the teacher quickly and easily personalise learning, based on their assessment of where the learner in front of them is at.

The second benefit inherent to individual questioning is that it results in learners having time in which to talk with the teacher.

This means the teacher can elicit information from them and can continually update their assessment of where the learner is at.

How can you use individual questioning to differentiate?

Individual questioning involves the teacher pitching questions to specific learners.

Therefore, the teacher tailors their questions to the needs and ability levels of those learners.

The teacher can use individual questioning to target specific learners in the class.

This can be in parallel to the main activity, or it can supplement the activity.

In either case, the teacher can stretch and challenge the thinking of more-able learners or support and scaffold that of less-able learners.

The teacher can use the information they elicit from individual questioning to update their assessment of a learner’s knowledge and understanding in real-time.

This gives them further options for subsequent personalisation.