STRETCH
Assertive Questioning
This strategy can be useful to encourage whole-class participation and lots of thinking time when you’re wanting learners to explore a question in lots of depth.
The steps
-
Arrange the class into groups of three or four.
-
Provide each group with a thought provoking question (all groups should focus on the same question), which they then discuss and formulate a response to.
-
The teacher asks individuals to give their group’s answer. These individuals are usually nominated by the teacher, but they could be volunteers from the group. The teacher gets a number of answers without giving the correct answer away.
-
The teacher then encourages the class to discuss their various answers, and to agree, and justify a ‘class answer’. Minority views are allowed, but the aim is consensus.
-
Only when the class has agreed its answer does the teacher ‘give away’ the right answer.
Top tips - This can be a great strategy when posing a question that doesn’t have a definitive answer - e.g. which energy source is the most ethical? What’s more important: management or leadership? Is beauty skin deep?
You might also like...
