Blog post #4

“What do we need to know about asking questions to be an effective teacher?”

Reading the article The Right Way to Ask a Question in The Classroom has really got me thinking about how I should ask questions to my students when I become a teacher one day. Growing up I always hated this part of school. I grew up with some learning disabilities and when teachers would ask a question I would want to answer to make sure I understood the material, but it takes me longer than most people to hear a question, process it in my brain, and then verbally answer the question. By the time I was processing the question, the teacher had already called on a student whose hand was raised. Therefore, I never got a chance to figure out the question for myself. This use to frustrate me so much. I remember thinking I wanted to ask questions differently when I became a teacher. So, I am very excited to be learning new ways to ask kids questions. Teachers typically ask the question “does everyone understand” or “does anyone have any questions” however; this is not the most accurate way. Just like the article said most of the time kids do not know if they understand the material. Another issue is that some kids might not understand but they think that everyone else does so they do not want to sound dumb in front of their classmates so they just sit confused in silence. Another way teachers ask questions is by asking a question and then having the students raise their hands to answer. However, this is no good because you have the students that always know the answers and always answer the questions and the students know who those kids are so the others won’t even try to answer the question. Then, you might have kids who think they might know the answer but are too scared to raise their hand in case they are wrong. What is the best way to ask a question? The best way is to ask a question is to give the students a few seconds to come up with the answer, then, you call on someone at random. This way, no one knows who you are going to call on so that everyone has to pay attention, answer it, and you give them some time to think about the answer.

Knowing how to ask a question is only half of the battle, you must also know how to form a question. In the article Faculty Focus  the author gives us three steps in forming a good question. First, you must prepare a question- instead of just coming up with a question right there in front of the children, prepare what you are going to ask. Many times teachers just ask questions without thinking about it and it might not make sense and the kids might get confused. If you think of the question before hand you can look at it and decide if the kids will understand what you are asking. Once you have prepared the question next you want to play with the question: this means to not answer the question right away. Give students time to think on the answer. Maybe have the students discuss the answer with each other. You could even have a few students stand up in front of the class, give their answer and maybe have them explain why they came up with that answer and then after a few have given their answers you say what the correct answer is. This will keep kids focused and help them with their critical thinking skills. Lastly, you will want to preserve a good question: this can help in a few different ways. For example, if you ask if anyone a has question and no one has one, you can ask a question that you have saved and that might get kids thinking about some other questions they might have.