Blog Assignment #4

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

Some may think that asking questions is not effective. That is not true. By asking questions to the students, we effectively can assess the knowledge of the students. According to Ben Johnson,  the goal of a question is not just to ask the students if they "understand." If we do this, then it just becomes a yes or no answer, and then we are not getting a true assessment of the students. So, how do you ask a question in the right way? Ben Johnson says that, as a teacher, we should ask a question, pause for three seconds, and then say a students name in order to get an effective response. This way, the children will all be thinking of an answer because it is totally random with whom the teacher calls on. I agree with this total physical response because I believe that having each child thinking they may be called on will make them listen better overall. 

According to Washington University's Teaching Center in St. Louis, you must keep in mind the course goal while asking questions, aim for specific questions, and respond effectively. A teacher should never interrupt the student in their response. This will only lead to the student not wanting to answer questions because they know they will get interrupted. You should also show interest in all students' answers, and always develop a response to keep the students thinking. This helps in their critical thinking skills as well as keeps the student intrigued in the lesson. 

There are three ways to ask better questions in the classroom according to Maryellen Weimer, PhD Teaching Professor Blog. She believes that the key to asking effective questions is to prepare, play, and preserve good questions. I agree with her that questions should be prepared. I think they should be prepared because that way we can go ahead and prepare for some answers the students may give. I also believe preparing is important because we can review content and make sure it relates to the current topic. By playing with the questions, we see that students' answers can lead to other questions and answers which can present a good conversation for the class.

I believe open ended questions are a better approach to asking questions in a classroom because it leaves the student to come up with a variety of responses and provide more information just as  Joanne Chelsey stated in her YouTube video, "Asking Better Questions in the Classroom Pt. 1."

I believe it is very important to know how to effectively ask questions in the classroom to be an effective teacher!