Sunday, June 16, 2013

Blog Assignment #6

What questions do we ask? How do we ask?

As a teacher, questions should always be asked to keep students interested, but they need to be the right questions. For this assignment, the question to be answered is what do we need to know about asking questions to be an effective teacher?

After reading Asking Questions to Improve Learning, I learned the strategies for asking questions. You should ask questions that keep your course goals in mind. Questions should be formed to make students think, such as yes or no questions should be followed with a question explaining why they chose that answer. Use a sequence of questions that all connect to answer a larger question. You should use a mix of different types of questions such as "closed" questions and "open" questions.

There are many things that you should keep in mind when asking questions. What is the goal of the question? What are you trying to learn? Do you want more than one answer or one specific answer? I never knew that there was so much to a question. As a future educator, I think you should learn these strategies. I always said that as a teacher I want to make learning fun for my students and keep them interested. I wanted to keep them curious and make them want to learn. I think that questions are a good way to keep the curiosity in your students but only if you ask the right questions.

One of my favorite strategies from this page is when a student gives an incorrect answer you should ask a follow up question to lead the student to the correct answer. I think this might make students want to answer questions. All through school, I never raised my hand to answer a question unless I absolutely knew the answer. I never wanted to raise my hand and answer a question and get it wrong. When I was reading The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom by Ben Johnson, I learned that you should always think like a student. In one scenario he wrote about asking the entire class a question and after calling on one student, the rest of the class would sigh in relief that they were not picked to answer, but it would get their mind flowing until the student is called. I remember this very very well. Even in college this happens to me. When a teacher or a professor ask a question and I do not know the answer, I sit in my desk hoping that the teacher does not call on me. I would try and think about the answer but I always felt relieved after someone else was called. You should think about how students act to get them involved in answering questions. One way that Johnson mentioned was that teachers use a system to make sure that every child at least answers one question throughout the day. I think this would work because if students think that after they answer one question they do not have to answer anymore, it would have them wanting to answer questions earlier in the day.

Back to the question what do we need to know about asking questions to be an effective teacher?From the reading, I learned that we need to know what we are teaching and what the students need to learn. We need to know what type of questions go best with the topic that is being discussed. I learned many tips about asking questions and asking the right one. I can not wait to start using some of the techniques I read about in my classroom one day.
Asking students questions

6 comments:

  1. I love the picture that you added to this blog post. There is always that one kid thats afraid to raise their hand.Back in school I was that person. I also agree with the statement that you made about question being a good way to keep the curiosity in your students.I believe that students can learn more when they are being questioned about what they have learned.

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  2. I enjoyed reading your opinions on how questions should be asked in the classroom. I think you found the perfect picture for this blog post assignment. It explains how teachers should ask questions using few words.

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  3. Paula,
    I first wanted to say I really like the picture you added to this blog post. It illustrates that not all students want to speak up and answer a question asked in front of their peers. I think you made a good summary about how and when to ask questions. I also think keeping your course goals in mind is important when asking questions. Overall, I think you made a good summary that will be helpful to teachers new or experienced.
    Kaitlyn

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  4. Thoughtful. Thorough.

    What about techniques that insure that every student answers 9or contributes to) an answer for every question. Padlet and Google Docs are two such tools. Do you know of others?

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    1. After some research, I came across a site called lino. (linoit.com) It is very similar to padlet. The site is set up to look like a bulletin board. You can create your own privately or publicly. You can post sticky notes or add pictures. I think this would be a great tool to use in the classroom for questions. It is also good to use as a dream or inspiration board for students to use daily, kind of like a daily journal or daily thoughts. Students can answer daily questions and create their own board as well.

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  5. Paula,
    Very thoughtful post! You got it right about asking students to explain why they gave their answer. I think defending the thought process behinds it helps them prepare for test-taking, to think through their answer instead of blurting it out or bubbling it in. Also, the cartoon at the end was great!
    Keep up the creativity!
    Carly

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