Blog Post 4

Outline
1) Discuss questions that allow students to be engaged.
2) How teachers can improve questioning.
3) Questions strategies that require thinking.

One of the things teachers need to consider when asking questions is if the students are engaged in the conversation. If the students are not engaged, then the lesson will only reach a handful of students. The rest will be in their own world or wondering when class would be over. I particularly liked Questioning Styles and Strategies because it gave more styles of questioning that allowed the students to interact in different ways. For example, one strategy was physical representation that required the student to get up and show the class what he meant. In this case, he had to stand up and show what kind of monster he would see in The Bridge to Terabithia. Another strategy that was brought up in this video and another article on the list was allowing students to choose who had to answer the same question next. I think this is very beneficial to students because it allows a bit of classroom discussion. Also, students may seem less nervous being asked the question from a student than the teacher.


A teacher's questioning strategy is very important for the learning of his or her students. Asking Questions to Improve Learning gives teachers points on how to become effective questioners. It suggests preparing before hand, asking mixed questions, and being clear. These qualities allow students to be able to understand what is going on, and jumping between types of questions allows for more discussion instead of a rigid Q and A session. Learning how to respond to students is also important to becoming an effective teachers. Allowing students time to think of the answer, not interrupting them, and showing an interest are just a few examples of how to respond better. The response to students can either help others feel secure in answering or asking questions, or a teacher's response can lead to students refusing to be active in class. Overall, teachers do not need to learn just how to ask questions, but teacher's need to learn to respond too.

Another quality of effective teaching is asking questions that require thinking. The video and article above both have strategies for this. The video, Questioning Styles and Strategies, has a teacher asking follow-up questions and open ended questions which is important for requiring student to think, but this technique also gives the teacher an idea if the student fully understands the material. Asking Questions to Improve Learning also presents strategies to get students thinking. The article suggests asking simple questions and then following with another. This will help discussions and will cause students to keep thinking. It also suggests staying away from questions that give the answer already. These questions are called leading questions and are not effective. Teachers should sometimes ask the class a question, wait a few seconds, and then call on a student which requires the whole class to participate in the question.


Source:ThePictureBookTeachersEdition.blogspot.com