Blog Post #6

Questions in the Classroom

Asking effective questions in the classroom is a vital tool for any teacher. In order to get the students really thinking about the lesson, the teacher has to ask the right questions. Simple yes and no questions are not going to engage your students. You have to dig into the lesson, and find ways to make them think. Critical thinking is a very valuable skill that these students will use for the rest of their lives. So as teachers, we have to foster an environment that encourages critical thinking, and we do that by asking questions. In an article by Ben Johnson, he discusses the fact that once students learn their typical "roles" in the classroom, they tend not to stray from that role. The brainy kids will always raise their hands, the class clowns will chuck paper planes across the room, and the kids that don't care will space out. We have to bring them all back to the lesson at hand by managing our classrooms. A key way of doing so is by asking questions! In Ben's article, he mentions something that I had never thought of before. When asking a class any type of question, if you lead with the name of the student you are asking, everyone else will hear that name and go "Phew! Not me! Back to doodling on my paper." I know because I've done it! We wait to see if we are the one on the hook, then breathe a sigh of relief and stop paying attention. By asking the question first, pausing, and then naming a student, you've kept everyone on their toes because they don't know if they will be called upon! Now that they're all thinking about the question, you may call on someone. At this point, they will pay attention just to see if this other person answered the same way they would have! Congratulations, you've managed your classroom well!

Questions are more important than answers!

The questions you ask are more important than the answers you get. To my mind, this equates to the saying "It is not the destination that matters, only the journey." In essence, the road your students take to get to the answer is more important than the answer itself. The process is what is important. And this applies to all studies and all walks of life. Even math! Why do we have to show our work when doing math problems? We are demonstrating the process we took to get our answer. If our answer is wrong, than we can go back to the process and see where we made a mistake. As we ask questions, it is important to keep the concepts we are reinforcing in mind. Design your questions so that they point your students in the right direction, but at the same time, you want them to draw their own conclusions. Don't ask leading questions. Your students won't get a chance to think about anything if you've already given them the answer! And likewise, give them time to think about your question before you start calling on anyone. They will fumble with their answer and try to spit it out as fast as possible. As a result, they may not get to think as much about the question as they need to to properly answer it. Another thing to keep in mind while asking questions is to make sure that everyone's input feels respected. What I mean by that is, if a student answers exactly the way you would, and you just have a field day about their answer, other students who weren't thinking that way are going to feel inferior and keep to themselves. Congratulate the student on a good answer, but don't make a huge deal out of it. And on the flip side of that, if a student answers and they are so far off base that you don't even know how they got there, don't be irritated. Instead, try to find how the student arrived at that answer! They may surprise you! Everyone has different points of view, and maybe your student considered something that you never thought of. Or they could have misinterpreted a piece of important information. If that be the case, gently correct them and lead them back to where they should be. A student should never feel embarrassed for speaking their mind. I think the best thing to keep in mind is that everyone is different. People may agree on certain things, but nobody on this earth thinks exactly the same way that you do. So ask your questions! Just be prepared to be surprised by the answers.