Sunday, February 9, 2014

Blog Post Assignment #4

"What do we need to know about asking questions to be an effective teacher"?
In Ben Johnson's blog, Mr. Johnson challenges us the rethink why and how we, as teachers, are asking questions. In "The Right way to ask questions in the classroom" he goes on to make the point that when we throw a general question to a general audience such as, "does everyone understand", we are missing the real point in asking the question which would be to make sure that every student understands the concepts being taught. The point is made that some of the students that may have the most questions will be the most quite when the opportunity to answer questions occurs.
So, how do we ask the right questions in order to get "the most bang for the buck"? One approach Mr Johnson suggest is to ask a question, wait three seconds and then call on a child at random. With this approach, during the three second period, the student would then be thinking about the answer in anticipation of their name being called. "Asking Questions to Improve Learning" encourages the teacher to ask direct, clear and specific questions and "use a sequence of questions to build depth and complexity". The point of all of this is the same, making the most of your questions. Use this as a time to cause your students to analyze what is being taught and use their critical thinking skills in order to make the connection between the question being asked and the answer.
students raising their hands

2 comments:

  1. I totally understand if a teacher asks "does everyone understand" that each student does not truly understand the material. College students are a great example for this concept except no one in the class with say anything back to the professor.

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