Plan a Questioning Strategy

Designing a Pathway Into Deeper Student Thinking

Effective questioning is more than asking good questions. It's about deliberately sequencing questions to move students toward a clear learning goal—and creating opportunities for all students to engage in the thinking.

This practical planning tool, grounded in The Skillful Teacher, 8th Edition, helps educators design a questioning strategy for an upcoming lesson.

Use it to:

Identify the cognitive target of the lesson.

Build a purposeful sequence of questions that moves students toward deeper thinking.

Make questions more invitational and accessible.

Plan for wait time and meaningful student participation.

Reflect on how effectively the questions supported student thinking and learning.

The goal: Don't just plan what you'll ask. Plan how your questions will move students' thinking forward.