I Mustache you a Question

"Teachers ask between 300-400 questions a day!" Wow thats a lot! The questions we ask are important for both the teacher and the student. For this weeks readying I found out just how important questions are and how we can most effectively direct our questions.

So why do teachers annoy their students in class so much and ask them so many questions? The teacher might be checking for understanding of the topic or getting the students to define a relationship between concepts. Teachers also are working to develop critical thinking skills and a desire or motivation to learn.

There are two different types of questions that can be asked to students, low and high level questions. High level questions require more critical thinking and might take the students longer to answer. These could check understanding of the whole lesson or major concepts. A low level question on the other hand might be easier for the students to answer, like giving an example of something. There are also open and closed questions. An open ended question could ask for an example of something or an opinion while a closed is something concrete and learned, like a process. Teachers should switch up the questions they ask depending on the lesson and what the students are learning.

To maximize student participation there are certain things we can do when asking questions. We can call out a students name after the question is asked. This way the whole class heard the question and is thinking about the answer but you are asking that one student to answer. By asking a general question to the whole class instead of singling out certain people you are encouraging the whole class to participate. There are several other things as teachers we can do like not asking all questions at the end of class, giving students the opportunity to ask questions, be careful not to look at your notes to much while the students are answering.

The teacher should give the student five to seven seconds to think about the question that was asked and how to let them answer it. This is knows as wait time. Of course a higher lever question will require a longer wait time then a lower level question.

There are several things a teacher can do depending on the response that was given. The teacher can give reinforcement for good answers, probe for a further answer, adjust or reinstate the question if students are confused, and redirect the question to another student.

Wouldn't it be nice if every class we had all our students raising their hands dying to answer the questions we ask!