Tom Waters

Steph bent down to look at the rock. In it, he saw shiny clear crystals, dark black specks, and an overall reddish hue. He yelled, "Hey Dad, come look at this!" In his mind he wondered if he'd found a treasure. He questioned to himself, "Why are there different diamonds in here?" Of course, there weren't different diamonds. Steph stumbled across a basic piece of granite rock. To him, he discovered a pirate's loot! John Hattie's synthesis in Visible Thinking, points out the powerful impact that questions have on learning. Questions not only shape what information we look for, but questions also shape how we go about finding answers. Steph's natural curiosity to the granite rock, was to ask why. Why is this so? Where is this from? What does this mean? He quickly assumed it was a treasure, but with the right prompting from his father, he could be forced the think further about the formation of igneous rocks (underground "lava rocks...

Analyze. Higher-level thinking. Rigor. We hear it! We hear it again! Every article, training, and, yes, faculty meeting. AND YES, it is quite simple to get to. Just ask... What's Wrong With That? When students are given the "bad" examples, they often find it quite fun to pick it apart - to analyze. They enjoy taking the role of judge, of expert. They try to out-smart the teacher, the author, or another thinker. By asking what's wrong with that, teachers require students to think of the nuances in a concept or skill. Embedded in the question is the process of breaking something apart and comparing each part to the ideal. For example, take the reading teacher trying to teach students the complex skill of summarizing. She very quickly gets the students to analyze when she: Teaches the underlying concepts: problem, solution, main events... Prompts students to talk about these concepts and develop understanding. Gives one good example, so students can ref...