This professional learning opportunity focuses on teachers' verbal questioning within a mathematics classroom, examining the role of questions in the classroom and the extent to which this will support effective teaching and improved ...

This professional learning opportunity focuses on teachers' verbal questioning within a mathematics classroom, examining the role of questions in the classroom and the extent to which this will support effective teaching and improved student engagement, and use of graphic organizers as a formative assessment tools in mathematics. Participants will engage in a variety of hands-on activities where they learn the significant value and gains that can be achieved by the verbal and written communication between teachers and students with a focus on the implementation of a variety of questioning, assessment and discussion strategies. Goals: - understand how to effectively use questioning techniques to promote complex, higher-order thinking, - increase your toolkit of strategies and techniques to lead class discussions - explore strategies that provide opportunities for deeper learning in independent and collaborative learning experiences - learn flexible strategies that support increased student engagement - examine how to easily implement the consistent checking for understanding (formative assessment) in order to inform and improve instructional practices - develop a simple rubric for question development to support rigorous instruction - discover how to assess students with easy to use graphic organizers