Higher Order Questions

This week our classroom was participating in state testing for part of the class period so there wasn’t as much interaction as normal.  But there will still several questions asked that I can talk about.  I also thought back to past weeks in the classroom.

One question that Ms. A repeatedly asks the class is, “What did I just say?  Repeat it, class.”  I think this is a comprehension level question.  The students have to restate and discuss what the teacher was saying.  This is a good question to check in with the kids to make sure they were paying attention and actively listening.  It isn’t a higher level thinking question, though.

Ms. A also asks the kids to restate the definition of certain words in “kid words.”  This is also a comprehension level question.  She wants to know that the students can rephrase something academic and apply it to their own learning and life.

Several weeks ago when the students were reading a piece from their textbook, Ms. A asked them what the theme of the story was.  I thought this could be an application type of question because the teacher was asking them to apply their further knowledge of what a theme is, and then they applied this information to the story they were reading. 

The students do not ask very many higher order questions in class.  A common question for them is, “What do we do when we’re done?”  One example of a basic question they asked several weeks ago was, “Where do the dashes go in a hyphenated modifier?”  This is a basic knowledge question about the definition of something.  A higher level question from one of the kids was, “Would ___ be an example of ___?”  I think this is a synthesis question because they are applying prior knowledge to produce something new. 

After observing, I noticed that certain kids ask the same questions over and over again.  This happened throughout my schooling, as well.  I remember I would get embarrassed when the teacher would say, “That question has already been asked.  Were you paying attention?”  I also noticed that it is harder to ask higher level questions to an unwilling classroom.  However difficult, I think teachers should try to challenge students and make them think by asking evaluation and synthesis level questions.