Question Protocols

Tuning in: in this offering we dig deeper into to the rich role of questioning in inquiry as Trevor puts you in the seat of the learner as you explore several question protocols including the Question Continuum, Question Sort, and Question Quadrant. These questioning protocols, in addition to the QFT from 3.3, are exercises that teachers facilitate with students to help them become more competent questioners and to help teachers plan next steps in learning. As in 3.3, you will experience these question protocols as though you were the student, allowing you to better implement the protocol from a teacher’s perspective in your classroom.

Learning Objectives:

to infuse use questions as pre-assessment and a means to design units of inquiry.
to help students become more competent questioners.
to scaffold agency to prepare for the deeper end of the pool.

Pause and reflect: after viewing, please consider which provocations you will use and what type of thinking do you want to surface in your classroom? Do you want to use a provocation as a pre-assessment? Do you want to use a provocation to access prior knowledge? Do you want to use a provocation to generate wonderings? Do you want to use a provocation to make students feel an emotion and take action? Do you want to use a provocation to have students form an opinion and take a stance?

Further, please consider how the three question protocols, the Question Continuum, Question Sort, and Question Quadrant, can be used based on your specific intent. If you aim to generate wonderings, which question protocol is best to accompany your provocation? If you aim to pre-assess the learners, which question protocol is best to accompany your provocation?

Please connect your new insights from 4.2 with your learning and planning and productivity from 4.1.

Share and make meaning together: as you have planned to implement one or all of the question protocols (the Question Continuum, Question Sort, and Question Quadrant), please capture photos from the experience and share them to #InquiryMindset.

Let’s tune in to this evidence of learning.

What does the evidence tell you about your student’s question competence?
What does the evidence tell you about your student’s prior knowledge?
What does the evidence tell you about your next steps?
What does the evidence tell you is needed to explore and answer your student’s questions?
How does the evidence provide you opportunities and structure for student agency, collaboration, and personalization?

Please bring these reflections to your team or department and spend time sharing your evidence, experiences, and ideas to move forward. Please consider these reflective prompts:

In listening to others, what do you notice is similar to your experiences with the question protocols?
What do you notice is different?
Was there any advice given to you?
Conversely, did you provide any advice to your colleagues?

Extend your learning: after teachers have used the Question Continuum, Question Sort, and Question Quadrant, it is time to used these question protocols as an ongoing assessment tool. Keep the evidence of the question protocol visible in your classroom. As you continue to engage in these protocols you are continuing to help your students build their question competence. Use evidence of these protocols to have your students self-assess their questioning growth using the thinking routine “I used to think… Now I think…”. Call on them to reflect on previous evidence and compare it to current evidence, drawing specific connections across the two (or more) datasets.