Blog Post #6

Asking Questions:
 What questions do we ask? How do we ask?

While doing this assignment I realized that asking questions is a very important part of learning. The type of questions that teachers ask their students are all planned ahead of time and serve a very important role. I found a lot of useful tips on creating questions in "Asking Questions To Improve Learning."   One tip is always wait 5 to 10 seconds after asking a question, this allows the students to think about what they are going to say and how to answer. Another great tip to never interrupt a student when they are trying to answer your questions, this allows the student to fully explain their answer. Bloom's Taxonomy chart also helped me understand the fundamentals of asking questions. The six categories that make up asking questions consist of: evaluation, synthesis, analysis, application, comprehension, and knowledge. The chart below describes each of categories in detail.

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

The article "Three Ways to Ask Better Questions in the Classroom." by Maryellen Weimer, Phd. has been very helpful to me. While reading Mrs. Weimer's blog she has shown me three simple ways to improve my question asking skills. Most teachers never realize how important the question asking task really is. If you are not careful your questions can do more harm than help to your students. To make sure this never happens, always make sure you follow these three steps: prepare your questions, play with questions, and preserve the good questions.

 

-Prepare your questions:

Many teachers when asking questions never take the time to actually prepare. They usually go straight off impulse. Wiemer teaches us to prepare are questions ahead of time, which prevents asking questions impulsively. Preparing your questions ahead of time allows you to have plenty of time to think them through. You always want your questions to improve your students thinking, not bore them or confuse them. One way to realize if you are asking the wrong type of question is if no one attempts to answer them.

 

-Play with questions:

Questions are more powerful in the space between the question and the answer. A great successful way to play with questions is to leave the question unanswered and then come back to that same question. This gives the students time to fully think of an answer and helps them stay focused. This may also give them time to write down ideas or collaborate with other students to come up with an answer.

 

-Preserve the good questions:  

Whenever a student asks a good question you should always write it down and save it for future use.

By saving your previous students questions, this may help you answer future questions that may resemble. By bringing up previously asked questions this shows the students that their questions are in fact valued and cherished. We should always encourage students to ask questions because the only bad question there is, is the one no one ever asked.