ABSTRACT
Differentiation by questioning Key questions for a certain part of a lesson can be planned in advance and differentiation can be made clear at this stage of the lesson. Using Bloom’s Taxonomy to generate question stems for the various levels of understanding can be very helpful. The resource Bloom Buster www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/The-BloomBuster-Improve-Questioning-in-Lessons-6017889/ by Mike Gershon helps to break down each level of Bloom’s Taxonomy (it is based on the old version) with appropriate verbs that can be used to generate questions. The lowest level of cognitive thinking is defined as knowledge (remembering) and the highest level of cognitive thinking is defined as evaluation (creating). Using a resource such as Mike Gershon’s Bloom Buster allows questions to be planned in advance and aimed at specific students who either represent a specific level of ability or need to be challenged. For example, teaching the poem ‘Ode to Autumn’ by John Keats. The types of questions that could be planned and asked within a lesson using the Bloom Buster are as follows:
Knowledge – how does this poem make you feel? Do you like autumn more or less by the end of the poem? Identify specific words from the poem that make you feel either more positive or more negative about autumn. By asking knowledge questions you are requesting an immediate reaction to the poem but based on evidence from the poem. The next type of thinking you want to encourage is one of understanding.
