QUESTIONING TECHNIQUE IN A CLASSROOM SETTING

1. Factual - Soliciting reasonably simple, straight forward answers based on obvious facts or awareness. These are
usually at the lowest level of cognitive or affective processes and answers are frequently either right or wrong.
Example:  What is the name the Shakespeare play about the Prince of Denmark?

2. Convergent - Answers to these types of questions are usually within a very finite range of acceptable accuracy.
These may be at several different levels of cognition -- comprehension, application, analysis, or ones where the
answerer makes inferences or conjectures based on personal awareness, or on material read, presented or known.

Example: On reflecting over the entirety of the play Hamlet, what were the main reasons why Ophelia went mad?
(This is not specifically stated in one direct statement in the text of Hamlet. Here the reader must make simple
inferences as to why she committed suicide.)

3. Divergent - These questions allow students to explore different avenues and create many different variations and
alternative answers or scenarios. Correctness may be based on logical projections, may be contextual, or arrived at
through basic knowledge, conjecture, inference, projection, creation, intuition, or imagination. These types of
questions often require students to analyze, synthesize, or evaluate a knowledge base and then project or predict
different outcomes.

Answering divergent questions may be aided by higher levels of affective functions. Answers to these types of
questions generally fall into a wide range of acceptability. Often correctness is determined subjectively based on the
possibility or probability. Frequently the intention of these types of divergent questions is to stimulate imaginative and
creative thought, or investigate cause and affect relationships, or provoke deeper thought or extensive investigations.
And, one needs to be prepared for the fact that there may not be right or definitely correct answers to these
questions.
Divergent questions may also serve as larger contexts for directing inquiries, and as such may become what are know
as "essential" questions that frame the content of an entire course.  

Example: In the love relationship of Hamlet and Ophelia, what might have happened to their relationship and their
lives if Hamlet had not been so obsessed with the revenge of his father's death?

Example of divergent questions that are both essential and divergent: Like many authors throughout time,
Shakespeare dwells partly on the pain of love in Hamlet. Why is painful love so often intertwined with good literature.
What is its never ending appeal to readers? 

4.  Evaluative - These types of questions usually require sophisticated levels of cognitive and/or emotional judgment.
In attempting to answer evaluative questions, students may be combining multiple logical and/or affective thinking
process, or comparative frameworks. Often an answer is analyzed at multiple levels and from different perspectives
before the answerer arrives at newly synthesized information or conclusions.
    Examples:
a. What are the similarities and differences between the deaths of Ophelia when compared to that of Juliet?
b. What are the similarities and differences between Roman gladiatorial games and modern football?
c. Why and how might the concept of Piagetian schema be related to the concepts presented in Jungian personality
theory, and why might this be important to consider in teaching and learning?
 
5.  Combinations - These are questions that blend any combination of the above.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD TEST

Validity - A valid test measures what it ought to be testing. For example, a test is designed to measure control of
grammar becomes invalid if it contains difficult vocabulary.
Reliability - a test should provide consistency in measuring the items being evaluated. In other words, if the same
test is given twice to the same pupils, it should produce almost the same results.
Practicality - a practical test is easy to administer and to score without wasting too much time or effort.
Comprehension - A good test should be comprehensive, covering all the items which have been studied. This
enables teachers to know accurately the extent of the pupils' knowledge.
Relevance - the items of an effective test should measure reasonably well the desired objectives or achievement.
Balance - A practical test evaluates both linguistic and communicative competence. That is, the items of the test
must reflect the pupils' real command of the language with regard to appropriateness and accuracy.
Economy - An efficient test makes best use of the teacher's limited time for preparing and grading, and of the pupil's
assigned time for answering all the items. Thus oral exams with classes of thirty or more pupils are not economical
since they require too much time and effort.
Authenticity - The language of a test should reflect everyday discourse.
Difficulty - The test questions should be appropriate in difficulty, neither too hard nor too easy. Moreover, the
questions should be progressive in difficulty in order to reduce stress and tension.
Clarity - it is essential that all questions and instructions should be clear so as to enable pupils to know exactly what
the examiner wants them to do.
Objectivity - The questions and answers should be clear and definite so that the marker would give the score a pupil deserves
Time - A good test is one that is appropriate in length for the allotted time

K + 12 EDUCATION
This program will require all incoming students to enroll into two more years of basic education. Thus, the K+12
System will basically include the Universal kindergarten, 6 years of elementary, 4 years of junior high
school with an additional 2 years for senior high school.
Moreover, the program aims to uplift the quality of education in the Philippines in order for graduates to be easily
employed. The program also aims to meet the standards required for professionals who would want to work abroad.
Most importantly, the system aims to fully enhance and develop the students in order for them to be well-prepared
especially in emotional and cognitive aspects. Through this, graduates will be able to face the pressures of their future
workplace.

However, not all are in favor of the K+12 Education. There are students complaining of the additional years and there
are parents who are not in favor of the additional expenses. But indeed, it is an undeniable fact that additional years
in the education system will really require more budgets not just from the government but from the parents as well.
Aside from this, students will need additional classrooms, school supplies and facilities. The program would need more
qualified teachers as well.

I personally believe that the K+12 Education in the Philippines would uplift the quality of lifestyle of the
Filipino people. But, this could not be done without being prepared. And since the program has already been
implemented, what is more important now is for students to do their best and study despite of the lack of facilities.
Nothing is impossible when we persist.

As for teachers, continue to teach with love and love what you teach despites of your own personal triumphs and
economic crisis. Always remember that the future of the students depends upon you.
As for the parents who have been doing their best in pursuing their child’s education, remember that the program
aims what’s best for your children. It will help your children to become globally competitive and if your children will
succeed, you will also succeed.

There may be a lot of factors to consider for the K+12 Education to succeed. But as long as we open our minds to
change and we will take it on a positive way, we will definitely attain our most-aspired educational standards which
will play a great role in our country’s development and will therefore, uplift us from poverty.

UBD (UNDERSTANDING BY DESIGN)

Understanding by Design or UbD has been implemented by the Philippines Department of Education (DepEd) as its
curriculum in place of the RBEC or Revised Basic Education Curriculum. Understanding by Design or UbD is a foreign
framework and may seem daunting at first, but once you realize what potentials it has in making understanding and
learning more long-lasting—and therefore effective—applying the framework to classroom setting will be easier. The
key is simply by putting your lesson plans in the greater perspective of the curriculum’s Big Ideas.
Here are some ways you can start designing your classes for understanding:

 Be the keeper of the Big Idea. The Big Ideas are the main goals and objectives not just of the curriculum but of
all lessons set forth. In order to keep lessons anchored on the Big Ideas, some of the content from textbooks or
previous curriculum will have to be sacrificed. Every choice you make for classroom teaching should bring out the
Big Idea into focus.

 Be understood, not just heard. UbD puts a premier on understanding over knowledge. For Wiggins and
McTighe, textbook-based instruction focuses too much on quantity of facts and knowledge taught—sacrificing
understanding and learning in the process. Quality in teaching means that the Big Idea of the curriculum and the
essential questions are addressed and discussed. These will be useful and remembered by students far into their
adult lives.
 Be a detective. Assessment is so crucial in UbD. It goes before the design of classroom instruction in the
backward design template. This is because assessment will serve as your evidence that the goals set have been
achieved. Three things are needed to make your evidence credible. One, assessment must involve a performance
task that will show understanding. Two, assessment must include other tasks (quizzes, homework, objective
exams) as supporting evidence. Three, a rubric must be in place for every performance or complex task. You can
use UbD’s six facets of learning as guide.

 Be authentic. UbD puts emphasis on understanding and not simply knowledge recall. The best way to put
understanding to the test is through authentic assessment. Assessment for understanding involves practical and
real-world situations that demand application and analysis. There is always a context and the answers or solutions
cannot easily be reached through simple recall. Authenticity also demands being genuine and honest in scoring and
feedback-giving.

 Be blatant. That’s right, be straightforward to your students. In UbD, there is no place for hidden agendas.
Students must know what the goals and objectives are of each lesson, for these will guide their classroom
experience. Knowing the purpose of the lessons will give them capacity for insight into every topic you present. It
will also help them tie together facts, data, understandings and ideas in one greater picture: the Big Idea.

 Be enduring. As a teacher, you want to have essential and enduring influence. So make sure to teach enduring
understandings and to ask essential questions. An enduring understanding is insight about the Big Idea, and it is
your task to make students uncover and realize this insight through the lesson. Enduring understandings need to
be stated explicitly. Wiggins and McTighe give this as example: History is the story told by the winners. While dates
and places will escape your students’ brains, such an enduring understanding will change their viewpoint or make a
mark.

 Be essential. If you rely solely on textbook or knowledge, you won’t be essential because students can easily
access information through books and the Internet. Thus, you have to ask questions whose answers cannot easily
be pinpointed. Essential questions ask not for facts but for understandings of a topic. While the specifics of a
subject such as names, labels and numbers change, the essential questions will not be invalidated. An example of
an essential question from the UbD authors: Does a good read differ from a great book?

 Be engaging and effective. A well-drafted curriculum through UbD and a corresponding lesson plan guided by
such a curriculum are well and good. But the success of these still rely heavily on the choices a teacher makes in
the classroom. Even the most notable of Big Ideas and essential questions will be overshadowed by a poorly
matched lesson and activity. While fun is definitely a factor in keeping a class engaged, classroom choices must be
the best choices for a lesson to be effective. The WHERETO questions will guide you in matching goals with
activities.

 Be flexible. While the UbD uses the backward design, this does not mean that the stages should be determined in
that order. The misconception is that the template provided by the authors is to be filled out in order. On the
contrary, the authors encourage research, discussion and exchange that will bring out elements and ideas for each
of the three stages. This flexibility means choices in the three stages will not be limited. What is important is that
all the elements of the three stages in the template make a cohesive and unified unit.