TETE Higher Order Thinking Questions

hello english teachers are you ready to power up your english class here are some tips for developing higher order thinking questions these are also known as hot questions the success of every class discussion all depends on the development of effective questions the key to stimulating discussions in the language classroom is to develop questions that spark students depth of knowledge rather than ones that can be answered with one or two words if our intentions as language teachers are to lead students in successful class discussions or debates then how do we develop higher order thinking questions hot questions should be developed so that opinions can be formed and points of view can be shared there is certainly place for asking questions that elicit recall of foundational knowledge comprehension and application on topic for example yes no questions are suitable for novice language learners when they are learning new vocabulary and grammatical structures however asking and answering yes no questions can only get one so far in developing discussion because they do not promote further conversation even at the novice level of language instruction students can deepen their own development of asking and answering hot questions that promote critical thinking and opportunities to express their perspectives and opinions now let's engage in an activity together where we can practice developing rich discussion questions you could also do this activity in any level of your language classes to help students understand the function of effective questioning skills and give them an opportunity to practice developing their own hot questions first we will need to start with topic let's talk about food as we can probably all agree is motivating topic that we can discuss you can also pick from any topics in your curricula or textbook as long as you make sure it is topic that will promote discussion now what about food will promote discussion the next step is to form into groups to develop questions on this topic that will promote discussion so that people's opinions and perspectives can be shared for the purposes of this video activity you will work on your own but will guide you through the exercise as if you were member of group in your class for the first part of the activity everyone in the group will create three discussion questions about the topic being studied take moment to write down three questions about food that you think will prompt discussion if you need more time you can pause the video and resume when you are ready now that everyone has written down three discussion questions let's take closer look at the types of questions that you developed will use some examples for you to consider and compare with your own the way in which we structure questions can determine the ways in which responses are given in way questions set the stage for responses in communicative language classroom designing questions that elicit and prompt discussion is essential for students development of language proficiency skills it also develops their confidence in communicating take look at these question examples which of these questions might stimulate the most discussion notice how the first two elicit short response maybe yes or no or one or two word response neither of these questions will likely extend discussion beyond the short response let's take look at the third question the third question extends the response bit further because by asking why question in the response encourages an explanation how do you think this question could be improved to be better discussion question now let's take look at the last two questions would you consider these higher order thinking questions why or why not the last two questions seem to invite the response to become more developed and extensive because more context is given and the questions elicit two-part response keep in mind that higher order thinking questions are developed using the three upper tier levels of bloom's taxonomy the performance actions at these levels push learners toward analyzing evaluating and creating when doing this activity with your class the ideal group size is for people understandably you may need to work with the class size that you have and make modifications for your classroom context now what kinds of questions did you create in the brainstorm at the beginning of this video invite you to share them with your colleagues and consider doing similar activity with your students to engage in what effective discussion questions look like you can create similar activity have students share their questions about topic and then discuss them as class as to whether they are hot or not thanks for watching and learning now let's go do it you