Blog Post #4: Asking Questions

When asking questions, teachers want students to think about the answer. However, this isn’t always the case. There will be students that aren’t listening or just don’t care. So how should teachers ask questions so all students are involved? In TheRight Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom by Ben Johnson, the author explains some cases of asking questions in the classroom and how the students may interpret the question. He then explains an effective approach by Mary Rowe to have students contribute to the question. The effective approach is asking a question, pausing for at least three seconds, then call on a student randomly for an answer. The approach is one of many effective ways to ask questions because it requires all students to think about the question rather than just the students that always answer. As teachers, we have to get students' minds involved in the thinking process.

In Three Ways toAsk Better Questions in the Classroom by Maryellen Weimer, the three ways described to ask better questions include preparing questions ahead of time, playing around with questions, and keeping good questions for future reference. These three ways can keep teachers from confusing students while trying to formulate questions during the lesson.  Creating questions ahead of time allows teachers to reword questions to clarify what is being asked. Thought provoking questions can be kept for future reference when re-teaching the lesson in subsequent years. These three ways will lead to better questions because they will help with the development of the not only the questions, but the lesson as well. The teacher could identify the areas that need clarity and the areas students have the most difficulty with. 

In Open Ended Questions, Andi Stix points out that open ended questions require higher level thinking from students. There are certain ways teachers have to phrase questions to get students to think beyond the basic yes and no. Some ways to make open ended questions is by phrasing it by asking the students to list, describe, or explain in detail. Higher level thinking leads to critical thinking and makes students go above and beyond regurgitating information to the real essence of the subject material. 

So what exactly do we need to know about asking questions in order to be an effective teacher? We need to prepare questions ahead of time then ask them during the lesson to give students the opportunity to think about the answer. This pause allows all of the students to think about the answer. Picking a student at random will get all of the students involved, rather than only getting participation from the students that always answer. Lastly, leave questions open ended so the students can think on a high level.