Do You Need to Ask More Questions or Better Ones?

Questions, Questions, Questions ....

Do you ask basic questions that require little thinking?

Do you want to ask questions that require higher order thinking skills?

I know that those types of question are not necessarily the first one that pop to my mind .... especially when I am trying to make moment count during transitions, time spent standing in line, and those extra minutes that suddenly appear!

To help combat not being able to think of the questions I wanted to ask, I created a list of questions based on Marzano's Instructional Strategies. My special booklet was made of laminated colored cardstock connected by a ring covered in different leftover pieces of ribbon. I hung it by board so I would know where it was when I needed it.

Since leaving the classroom several years ago, I have not used my question booklet very often .... maybe I should use it to challenge myself (and coworkers) more often ...

I found something that reminded me of my question booklet on The Art of Education blog:

I developed this “Deck” of Power Point Slides called “Art Room Questions.”  It’s a formative assessment tool I use while the students are standing in line.  It has lists of generic questions you can ask students that provoke higher order thinking and can use any project or curriculum you are teaching. Sort of a “fill in the blank” format, if you will.

The questions in this deck of card are aimed at exploring the features of art, but I see many ways the same questions can be used to explore all types of media in order to improve media literacy skills.
Here are just a few of my favorite questions:

• What technique did the artist use to create _____?
• The artist DOES NOT use _______ to create artwork
• What if the artist would have used a different technique? How would that have changed the art piece?
• What message was the artist trying to tell us by making this picture?
• What clues do you see in the artwork that make you feel that way? (colors, shapes, lines, space ...)

I think these questions would work so well with the artwork that can be found on the art2day website:

• this website is dedicated to inspiring and promoting artists from around the world
• enabling ARTISTS, STUDENTS and TEACHERS to independently and easily search for contemporary art and photography
• the aim is to assist all people involved in creative industries or education 

My mind is racing thinking of ways these question could be slightly altered to become literacy questions!! You could explore literary features, styles, making inferences, looking at author's purpose .... I guess the questions are doing those things anyway and could be applied to any topic!


Think of the ways technology could be used to keep these questions at your fingertips! The questions found on the blog post linked above are already in a powerpoint presentation that you could keep on your computer to quickly pull up when needed. You could also create an ActivInspire flipchart or a SMART notebook file. There questions could even go on ActivExpressions, CPS units, or even on a backchannel like TodaysMeet!

Questions open up so many possibilities for deeper thinking .....