EDM 310 Blog Post 4

What Questions do we ask? How do we ask them?

     And important thing about being an educator in this day and age is to always expand your students knowledge by asking questions, but no just yes or no questions, ones that invoke response and debate. This can be difficult on new educators, who may have difficulty finding out which questions they should be asking.  In the video "Asking better questions in the classroom" by Joanne Chesley she says that educators do not ask questions that open "extended or thoughtful kinds of responses". First we have to be able to distinguish the two types of questions.  The first type of question is close-ended.  Close-ended questions are ones that can be answered with a simple yes or no.  You can imagine that these questions can hinder the ability of students to come out of their shells and truly interact with, because they can simply nod their head.  The other type of question is an open-ended question.  In these the teacher poses a question in a way that "leaves the form of the answer up to the person that is responding", as defined by Chesley.  By asking these questions we are to get more of a response and discussion out of our students.  By doing this we open up more pathways of communication and can have students learn more.  I feel like as an educator it is important to ask as many open-ended questions to my students as possible.  The worst thing in a classroom is the dreaded silence after a teacher poses a question.  It is important to learn how to ask these questions.  You have to pose them in a way that makes the students voice more of their ideas that anything.
     The way of formulating your questions can be difficult for you.  In the article "Three Ways to Ask Better Questions in the Classroom".  The author Maryellen Weimer takes us through her process of developing better questions to ask for your students in the classroom.  Her first step is to prepare questions.  Often times educators enter a lesson with a variety of questions that they are going to discuss as the class progresses.  Weimer suggests that instead we formulate ideas.  She says we can "make it clearer, not just the wording, but clearer conceptually".  The idea is to plan out how you can make it easier for you students to understand the question and answer them in the best way.  The next step is to play with the questions.  In a classroom when teachers give the correct answer, students' minds immediately go on the the next question.  Playing with the question means "leaving it unanswered for a while and using some strategies that encourage students to think about it" as Weimer would define it. This continues to let the students formulate ideas and generate great ideas and further their thinking process.  The last step is to preserve good questions.  You may find in your teaching that their is always a question that gets a great response from your students time and time again.  These are the questions that should be saved in order to help out later students generate the same ideas.  By these methods teachers can better ask questions and increase their teaching ability.
     By reading on these ideas and theories I have learned how to better ask questions for my students.  I've learned the right way to ask questions.  After reading these articles and watching these videos I've made strides to increasing my teaching ability.

Joanne Chesley video : ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFMfEVdfDys)
Maryellen Weimer's "Three Ways to Ask Better Questions in the Classroom"
(http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-professor-blog/three-ways-to-ask-better-questions-in-the-classroom/)