hinge point questions

It’s always better to know

2025-03-13T16:40:42+00:00March 12th, 2025|Featured|

Over the last few years I've made a habit of teaching demonstration lessons in the schools I work with in order to make it clearer how to teach effectively. One of the things that makes this useful is that I'm always teaching students I don't know and so, instead of watching a slick performance with students who have been thoroughly trained in the routines of a functional classroom, teachers get to see me work to establish expectations and build relationships in real time. Recently, I taught a lesson to a Year 10 class in which I was modelling how to [...]

Using hinge point questions in English

2024-11-03T18:48:44+00:00November 3rd, 2024|assessment|

This post is an extract from Bringing the English Curriculum to Life. In order to teach responsively, teachers need to be able to quickly identify misconceptions and check students’ understanding. A hinge question is a diagnostic tool deployed at a point in a lesson – the hinge – where teachers need to know whether students are ready to move on require further instruction. Students’ responses should provide teachers with information about what actions they should take next. A well-designed hinge question should reveal potential misconceptions which can then be addressed. Students need to be able to answer the hinge question [...]

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