Teachers Ask Approximately 58,000 Questions a Year. That’s 58,000 Opportunities to Ask Better Questions.

When we ask a question, we make a demand.

That demand is on the learner.

The respondent.

Our demand is simple.

You’ve got to do something with the question I just asked.

Maybe you’ve got to think, or discuss, or reflect, or act, or tell me what the answer is.

But you have to do something.

That’s how questions work.

That’s why we ask so many of them.

Because we know that when we ask a question, we’re making a demand.

And that helps move learning forwards.

All the questions above make demands.

They ask you to think in different ways, about different things.

We ask so many questions as teachers, that it’s easy to stop thinking critically about them.

Not because we don’t want to, but because it’s a normal human behaviour to stop thinking about the things that are familiar to us.

Like when we drive on the motorway for half an hour and suddenly wonder where the time has gone.

Or when we get in from work and go on autopilot while we power through the jobs we need to do before we can sit down and relax.

Our learned behaviour kicks in.

Our habits.

And we run along the well-worn grooves of familiarity.

Which sometimes is great.

And, sometimes, means we miss out on opportunities.

The starting point for every session on questioning I’ve ever delivered – the starting point for The Better Questioning Collection – is exactly this.

Thinking critically about the nature of questions.

How they work.

Why they sometimes don’t work.

And what this means for the teaching and learning that happens in our classrooms.

Take Your Staff Deep Into the Nature of Questioning, and Help Them Reassess the Fundamental Basis of How They Use Questioning in Their Lessons

How we frame our questions matters.

Different framing leads to different results.

Learners interpret our questions as soon as they hear them.

And this leads them to respond in different ways.

Or, sometimes, to not respond at all.

Here’s an example:

Both questions are ostensibly the same.

They both have the same subject: 9 x 12

But the framing differs.

The second question sends a different signal to the learner, compared to the first.

That doesn’t mean one question is better than the other.

But it does illustrate that how we frame our questions matters.

Because what learners hear, or what they read, is interpreted.

Using the word ‘might’ in a question, sends a different signal.

It can be a great way to unlock a question for a learner who is low on confidence, who is reluctant to answer, or who fears getting the answer wrong.

When we start thinking more deeply about our questioning, these are the kind of things we start to see.

And we become more able to both question our existing methods, and to introduce new techniques to our teaching.

Techniques that can change the game for our learners.

For me, questioning training must always begin from the premise that teachers are well versed in asking questions.

How can they not be?

When I begin the first session of The Better Questioning Collection, my initial goal is to get colleagues thinking critically about the questions they’re asking now, in the lessons they teach.

But I also help colleagues think about the questions they’re not asking.

The strategies they maybe lean on out of habit, rather then consideration of what might be most effective given the lesson situation and the learner in front of them.

And to do this, I’ll take you and your teachers on a deep dive into the fundamental nature of questioning.

We’ll think about the meaning of life (no, really!), social games, how very young children suddenly start to question their parents, the verbal jousting that politicians and journalists get up to, and why we rarely ask our spouses, flatmates or partners to give us a list of the strengths and weaknesses of eating lasagne on a Wednesday evening.

All this take colleagues away from the familiarity of the classroom, so they can turn around and look back critically at that which is so familiar to them.

The questioning techniques they use, and the questions they pose, on a daily basis.

With our foundations laid, we move on to exploring the Better Questioning Collection itself, including:

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Enthuse Your Staff with Ingenious Questioning Strategies That Make It Easier Than Ever to Plan, Pose and Prepare Impactful Questions

A full-day with Mike inspires your staff to think differently about how they question, why they question, and the kinds of responses they seek to elicit from their learners.

Here’s an example of a full-day schedule:

Session One starts with reflection and then moves into my deep dive on the nature of questioning.

Colleagues can tap into their existing experience and expertise around questioning, and connect this to the ideas I share.

Together, we’ll think about how questions work, why they sometimes fall down, and what it means to understand the ‘Questioning Game’.

All of this lays the groundwork.

It sets us up to journey through The Better Questioning Collection.

That is, a host of practical strategies, activities and techniques we can use to ask better questions in our classrooms, and to change the way we plan questions for our learners.

An Interactive Experience

Throughout Sessions One and Two, I give colleagues lots of opportunity to do three things:

This interactive focus means staff at your school will get to experience different questioning strategies for themselves, see how they work up close, and feel what it’s like to be questioned in this way.

Not only does this support memorisation of the techniques we look at, it also helps unlock the other side of the ‘Questioning Game’ – the one we tend not to play.

That is, the role of learner.

The person answering the questions.

Because posing questions is so integral to what we do as teachers, it’s natural that we don’t play this role all that often.

During Sessions One and Two, your teachers get the chance to switch their position, which is essential for helping them to think critically about how learners receive and interpret the questions they ask.

Implementation is Key

After lunch, we get colleagues into teams, working on implementation.

For me, this is crucial.

Staff need the opportunity to translate the ideas and techniques from the morning into their own practice.

While this is happening, I circulate, spending time with each team in turn.

It’s incredible just what colleagues can produce in this timeframe. The quality and depth of work I’ve seen teams create is remarkable.

I always encourage one or more senior leaders to come round with me as I circulate, so they can get a sense of what staff are developing.

Finally, we have the reflective plenary.

I bring everyone back together and teams have the opportunity to share their work with each other in a supportive, collegial atmosphere.

This creates great momentum to carry into the next full week of teaching, and beyond.

It ends the day on a high, and gives staff the confidence and energy to drive forwards with the new ideas, strategies and materials they’ve created.

What is included in a full day of The Better Questioning Collection INSET, Training or CPD?

All bookings include:

For half-day and twilight INSET or CPD, we focus on the expert-led sessions from Mike, and remove the implementation and plenary sessions from the agenda.

Everything else listed above is included in half-day and twilight bookings.

One input from Mike and, if you follow his guidance on how to maintain momentum around developing questioning, you’ll have scope for 12+ months’ sustained impact in your school.

Plus, an exclusive bonus to celebrate the launch of my newly developed CPD platform, Mike Gershon’s Effective Teaching and Learning.

World-Leading Expertise on Practical Teaching and Learning That Works

Five reasons you can rely on Mike to deliver expert training and practical guidance for your staff.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you do half-day and twilight training?

Yes. I offer both and recognise the flexibility schools sometimes need around their calendars. Half-day and twilight CPD focuses on expert input from me. We remove the teamworking and plenary sessions to accommodate this.

Do you offer follow-up packages?

Yes. Many schools I work with ask me to come back and work with them again, to support them in their developmental journey. Follow-up options include further training, supportive observations with constructive feedback, paired observations and SLT coaching.

We’re a small primary school, can we still work with you?

I always hold back a few dates each year for small primaries, recognising the challenges the smallest schools face in accessing high-quality training. We can also work around tight budgets by looking at online options and in-person training involving multiple schools. The smallest primary I’ve worked with had four teachers – and we had a great day together!

We’d like to look at online training. Is that something you offer?

Yes. It is not my preference as I believe that in-person is always better, and includes elements that can’t be replicated online. However, I do provide online training for schools where in-person may be difficult due to geography, time zones and other factors. My one rule for online is that staff must sit together so that I can facilitate discussion and interaction just as I do when delivering in person.

How far are you willing to travel?

I travel across the UK and overseas from my base in York. Far flung visits have included Shetland, Cornwall, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Pembrokeshire. Even further flung visits have included Romania, Norway, Italy, Bahrain, Kuwait and The Falkland Islands. Trips that require extensive travelling attract a higher cost to cover additional time and mileage.

Can we book you in conjunction with another school?

Yes. Many smaller schools opt for this approach. Sometimes this sees two or three primaries joining up for a full-day session, sometimes a cluster of schools combine budgets and I work with them over an extended period. Occasionally schools ask if they can book me and then sell tickets to the event to nearby schools to cover costs. That is also fine with me.

Is the training relevant for all age groups?

Yes. I have worked with hundreds of primaries, hundreds of secondaries, and dozens of FE colleges over the years. I present in a curriculum agnostic way, using examples that are relevant for the audience in front of me and the age group they teach. A big part of all my training is giving colleagues the opportunity to think about how they can take the ideas and strategies I present and use them with the learners they know best.

Start Helping Your Staff Think Critically About Their Questioning Today With Mike’s FREE Questioning Knowledge Base

Get a head start on developing questioning in your school by exploring my Questioning Knowledge Base and sharing it with your staff.

The Knowledge Base features 34 blogs and articles adapted from my bestselling book How to Use Questioning in the Classroom: The Complete Guide.

You’ll find guides, explanations and practical strategies covering:

Plus, I have another FREE bonus for you.

The What If? Box is the perfect tool you and your staff can use to promote creative thinking through questioning.

This free resource, which has already been viewed and downloaded tens of thousands of times by teachers around the world, contains 168 ‘What if … ?’ questions teachers in your school can use to generate creative discussions with their learners.

Enjoy!

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P.S. Don’t forget, when I deliver my Better Questioning Collection training, the emphasis is always on making life simpler and easier for your teachers, so they can adapt, develop and enhance their practice in ways that work.