B - 3 - Year overview plan 2013-2016

At Renaissance we are committed to a 3-Year Plan that moves us forward in the focus areas of questioning and discussion.

The resources and tools posted on this website are intended to support our progress towards our goal of improved teacher practice in relation to questioning and discussion, with the ultimate goals of increasing student engagement and improving student performance on assessments that require critical thinking and meaningful work.

Questioning and Discussion techniques are the most fundamental and frequent ways that students are formatively assessed in the classroom. Teachers who display effective questioning and discussion techniques have a solid foundation on which to develop the other elements of their pedagogical repertoire. When a teacher is able to question effectively, they create an environment that is student-centered, engaging, and rigorous for ALL students. At Renaissance High School, we actively explore the questioning and discussion techniques of highly effective teachers. We know this skill is a major component of the Danielson framework and a major area of our teaching that we must continually strive to improve. Our Quality Review also highlighted this section for us, as an area that needs improvement. We plan on attacking this issue to ensure that all students are engaged in an arena in which they are challenged to think and respond critically to their teacher, but just as frequently, to one another. College and career preparedness now demands higher levels of critical thinking, and these skills must be fostered and scaffolded every day in the classroom, through highly effective questioning and discussion techniques, in order to increase student success.