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.

Serial Questioning

Serial questioning means asking a series of questions.

You can do this:

• In direct conversation with a learner, a group or the whole-class.
• As a segment of a lesson.
• As an overarching framework for a whole lesson.

Serial questioning has two major advantages in terms of differentiation.

First, it allows the teacher to challenge learners by asking a series of questions that get progressively more difficult.

By taking such an approach, the teacher is likely to keep most (or all) of the class engaged while encouraging them to think in ways that are increasingly more complex.

An example of this would be during a segment of a lesson when the teacher gives learners a set of questions to answer.

Each one requires a written response that is a little more complicated than what came before.

Learner progress is therefore scaffolded – each question takes learners a little bit higher, helping them to access what comes next.

Second, it allows the teacher to actively respond to the answers learners give.

This is only possible if the teacher is asking a series of questions in conversation.

It is not possible if the questions are written down.

An example would be if the teacher was in conversation with a learner who was struggling to come to terms with the work.

Through using a series of questions, the teacher could lead the learner from what they do know to what they need to know to be successful.

At each stage, the information provided by the learner helps shape the next question the teacher asks.

It is an interactive process, led by the teacher’s developing understanding of where the learner is at and how the gap to where they need to go can be narrowed.

When planning a series of questions, think carefully about how to ensure they get progressively more challenging.

One easy option is to use Bloom’s Taxonomy.

By moving up the taxonomy, you can guarantee an increased level of challenge.

For example, you might plan ten questions based on the six levels of the taxonomy:

• Question 1: Knowledge
• Question 2: Comprehension
• Question 3: Comprehension
• Question 4: Application
• Question 5: Application
• Question 6: Analysis
• Question 7: Analysis
• Question 8: Synthesis
• Question 9: Evaluation
• Question 10: Evaluation and Synthesis combined

Another option is to imagine a continuum running from concrete to abstract.

Generally, concrete questions are easier to answer than abstract ones.

So, you could plan a series of questions that get increasingly abstract and be confident that this will result in an increasing level of challenge.

Here’s an example:

• How many characters are in the story?
• Who do you like most in the story?
• What do we know about your favourite character?
• Can you describe what your favourite character looks like?
• Can you describe what your favourite character is like when they are with other people?
• Why might your favourite character behave this way?
• If you could step into your favourite character’s mind, what do you think they would be thinking?
• What if your favourite character came to life? What would it be like to spend a day with them? Would the two of you get on? Would you ‘gel’?
• When we read a story, do we ‘live’ with the characters in our minds? Why?

Question five is the inflection point here.

That’s when we flip from more concrete to more abstract.

Note how the focus moves increasingly away from things we can see, hear, measure and confirm (concrete) to things that are more conceptual, ambiguous and uncertain (abstract).

A final point to note is that if you are asking a series of questions in conversation with a learner, and therefore not planning them in advance, you can call on both Bloom’s Taxonomy and the concrete to abstract continuum and use these to frame your verbal questioning.

How does Serial Questioning differentiate?

Serial questioning offers the opportunity to challenge the thinking of the whole class or an individual learner through a gradual increase in the difficulty level of the questions being asked.

When serial questioning is used in conversation, it provides the teacher with the chance to respond to what learners say.

This means they can shape the questions they ask to suit the needs of the learner.

Through using serial questioning in conversation, the teacher can help learners to bridge the gap between what they know and what they need to know, whatever their starting position.

Using a framework to underpin your serial questioning can give you confidence that the level of challenge is increasing with each successive question you ask/plan.

Question Planning and Differentiation

We’ve just thought a little bit about question planning in the context of serial questioning.

Now, let’s dig into question planning and differentiation in a little more depth.

Here are three ways you can think about your question planning.

Are there any learners of whom I particularly want to ask questions? If so, what questions will I ask them?

It might be that you have identified a learner who is very able and that you want to develop some challenging questions to ask them.

Alternatively, you might have noted that two learners seem to be having a great deal of difficulty with the work and would benefit from some supportive questioning.

A third possibility could be that you have a learner who is quiet.

In this case, some targeted questioning will help you to elicit information from them regarding where they are at and how they are finding the topic.

The simple principle here is that you ask yourself the question before you plan your questions.

Doing this means you can tailor your questioning to individuals.

But it also means you can plan questions that serve your own ends.

Take the third case as an example.

If I have reflected on who is in my class and identified a couple of shy learners from whom it’s harder to elicit information, then I’m well placed to plan questions that are specifically intended to deal with this challenge and help me get the information I want.

Information I can then use to better help the learners in question.

Are there any types of question that I would like to ask? If so, what are they?

It might be that you want to push the thinking of the whole class by getting them to evaluate some of the ideas on which you have been working.

Alternatively, you might want to encourage greater reflection.

Or it may be that you feel not enough independent learning has been taking place and that some creative questions could help rectify the situation.

The goal here is to think about the different questioning possibilities that are open to you and to select one that fits with your goal.

Let’s take evaluative questioning as an example.

Imagine we’ve been teaching a unit of work, and we feel that learners have really got to grips with the content but are struggling to push their thinking beyond the surface.

A little reflection makes us realise that a lesson focussing on evaluative questions, where learners are compelled to make judgements about the content we’ve been teaching them, is a simple remedy.

Therefore, we sit down and plan a battery of evaluative questions to use with them in the next lesson.

This gives us confidence that we’ll be able to get everyone in the class thinking at a higher level than they were previously.

What information would you like to elicit from the learners in your class? What questions will help you draw this out?

To ensure your teaching is meeting the needs of your learners, you might like to focus on eliciting certain information from them (with this then informing what you do next).

Planning questions in advance will help you to ensure you draw out the information you require.

For example, you might want to assess how many of your learners are harbouring misconceptions around the topic you are teaching.

When planning your next lesson, you include a series of hinge questions.

These are questions that focus on the key pieces of learning on which everything hinges.

They are designed to draw mistakes and misconceptions into the open.

On delivering the lesson, the hinge questions reveal that there is one area of the topic where a significant minority of the class still have a major misconception.

This is helpful!

You now know this and, therefore, have the information you need to do something about it.

Without having planned your questioning in advance with the express intention of revealing misconceptions, this information might have remained hidden until a later date.

Which would have made your life harder, as addressing misconceptions early is always easier than addressing them later on.

How can question planning help you to differentiate?

Planning questions in advance allows you to target specific learners.

You can challenge and support those learners who are more-able or less-able.

Planning questions in advance means you can focus on eliciting the information you want from your learners.

This makes it easier for you to adapt your teaching to meet their needs.

Planning questions in advance means that you do not have to think them up during the lesson.

This means you are better placed to observe and interact with your learners.

This helps you to fine tune your teaching and to remain flexible in response to what is happening in front of you.

Using a Question Range

Mountain ranges are made up of a collection of different peaks.

All of these have things in common but also retain individual differences.

It may be that one of the peaks is particularly tall; that another is largely inaccessible; that a third is frequented by day-trippers; and that a fourth is blanketed by snow.

A question range is, in principle, the same as a mountain range.

It contains several items that are in large part alike, but which also retain (sometimes significant) individual differences.

Let us imagine that a mountain-climbing club has organised a trip to a mountain range.

Upon arrival, the group splits in three – the separate assemblies being based on experience and ability.

One group sets off to tackle the most taxing climb, another ventures onto an intermediate route, and the third chooses the easiest option.

At the end of the day all the mountaineers meet up and swap stories.

They have two things in common: the experience of climbing a mountain and the experience of having been tested.

Despite having climbed different mountains.

Each group found a mountain that was challenging for them, given their existing ability level.

The same principle applies during a lesson when a teacher makes use of a question range.

It involves them having a range of questions of varying levels of difficulty.

They ask some of these questions to the whole class, some to certain groups and some to specific learners.

Here are four ways you can create your own question range.

Concrete to Abstract Continuum

As described above.

Ask a variety of questions along the continuum to vary the level of challenge.

Concrete questions deal with facts, examples and specifics.

Abstract questions deal with ideas, concepts and generalities.

Abstract questions are generally harder to answer than concrete ones

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Again, as mentioned above.

The taxonomy is a hierarchy of mastery.

As we move up it, the level of challenge increases.

You can have a range of questions, containing different degrees of challenge, by using different levels of the taxonomy:

• Knowledge
• Comprehension
• Application
• Analysis
• Synthesis
• Evaluation

More or Less Sophisticated Language

By changing how you phrase your questions, you can make the language in which you ask them more or less sophisticated.

This is a simple way through which to vary the level of challenge.

You can even develop a suite of questions in advance, that run the gamut from simple, straightforward language to highly technical, subject-specific language.

How the level of sophistication varies will depend on the age of your learners.

An A Level class will look different to a Year 4 class.

However, the principle remains the same.

Simple to Complex Question Range

This is another continuum you can use to produce a range of questions.

At one end we have simple questions, at the other end we have complex questions.

The previous strategy was about sophistication of language.

This one is about the level of complexity inherent to the question.

So, there is some overlap.

But here, I’m really thinking about how we can increase complexity by introducing caveats, qualifying clauses, additional elements and the like.

Generally, the more complex a question, the harder it is to answer.

(Though, of course, some simple questions remain particularly taxing: What is the meaning of life?)

How does having a question range help you to differentiate?

A range of questions means a range of levels.

This in turn means different learners in the class can engage with different questions that you ask.

Having a range of questions available lets you pick out those that are most appropriate, depending on who they are talking to.

By having a range of questions, you are more likely to take account of the varying levels of understanding your learners possess.

You can plan a question range in advance, create a set of generic question stems you can use while teaching, or come up with questions in the moment, using the strategies above to help you ensure a range.