The Teacher's Book of BIG Questions

When should we be asking questions?
The short answer: all the time. As teachers we’ve all fallen into the trap of giving students answers rather than encouraging them to think for themselves. Questions encourage the students to do the “heavy lifting” instead of the teachers. Plus, good questions are motivating and engaging, serving as great hooks for learning. Because we want this book to be useful to as many teachers as possible, we’ve provided questions to go along with different types of content. We’ve posed broad questions related to the four main content areas (ELA, math, science, and social studies), questions related to concepts (such as progress and influence) that can be posed across content areas, and questions related to more specific topics (such as plants, geometry, and the American Revolution). You’ll find lists of questions provided in each of these areas, and the areas are organized alphabetically, so for example, math topics are listed in alphabetical order.
Use these questions for:
1. Brainstorming sessions
2. Hooks to engage students in lessons and units
3. Writing prompts for formal and informal assessments
4. Seminar questions
5. Journaling and/or reflection
6. Formal essays
7. Small group or buddy (Think--‐Pair--‐Share) discussions
8. Independent studies
9. Models from which students can create their own questions
10. Online discussion boards