What does this mean?

Questioning is used to ensure all students take a share in the cognitive work of the classroom: there is a culture of ‘no opting out’. All students are challenged to think hard throughout episodes of questioning, and to articulate their responses in formal, academic language.

Teachers ensure there is thinking and processing time rather than a ‘bidding war’, and use strategies such as ‘pose > pause > pounce > bounce’, or ‘think > pair > share’ to engage all students in the room.

What might this look like in practice?

Teachers provide time for students to think, to process the question, to prepare a response, to order their ideas, to rehearse their answer...

  • thinking time (it isn't a bidding war where the first hand up gets to answer)

  • think > pair > share


Teachers expect all students to be engaged rather than being allowed to opt-out...

  • no-hands-up questioning ("in a moment I'm going to select someone to contribute, so everyone needs to be thinking and ready take part")

  • where hands-up questioning is still used (for example to gauge confidence), the opt-out culture is still challenged by asking students whose hands are not up, e.g. "why don't you feel able to answer - what do you need from me to help get you started and get involved?"

  • where student confidence appears low, teachers respond by providing scaffold or further input and clarification before resuming the questioning


Questioning is used to probe and challenge student thinking (see more about High Challenge HERE)


Metacognitive questions are used to encourage students to reflect on their strategies/ approaches/ thought processes

  • "What makes you say that?"

  • "Your answer is only the start - show me how you got there"


Teachers don't accept "I don't know" responses - additional questioning or scaffolding is used to lead students towards being able to contribute (helping them move forward while also reinforcing the no-opting-out culture)


iPads are used for whole-class questioning and response (e.g. through socrative, kahoot, desmos etc)


Teachers expect students to speak in academic register, using tier 2 and tier 3 language. This expectation might be scaffolded by first inviting students to suggest key vocabulary that will be useful and using this to create a 'speaking frame' which students are expected to use to organise their ideas. "Say it again... but say it better"

What other resources are worth looking at?

  • A nice 'Top ten strategies' list - HERE

  • Some thought-provoking reflections from another school that are worth pondering - HERE

Who has been working on this at Richard Challoner?

Inquiry Questions/ Themes from the Learning Communities...

  • VB/ MMC/ SD - using subject-specific language consistently and correctly to get the students to think and talk like subject specialists (2018-19)

  • MMC/NC - Using questioning to develop students' verbal answers (2017-18)

  • NH/ BON/ JG - Encouraging dialogue and securing 100% engagement (2017-18)