The article I read was entitled " The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom." One of the the questions raised was the use of "Does everybody understand?" in classrooms on all educational levels. If I had a nickle everytime I have said this in the past 19 yrs. I would have my own island. When we say this we know and they know what is really being said-- "last chance." I try not to say it as much as I used to. I read faces and body language more as I question the class. I call on the poor soul who looks down, or that is thinking " he never calls on me... I am safe." I try and use the technique described by Mary Budd Rowe. What is her technique. . . ? "Jimmy?"...... That is it!!! Ask the question and pause for three seconds and let the students think of answer and then call on one by name. Some students will always raise their hand or try and yell something out. A way to make sure to take a class list of 3 x 5 cards with the students names on their own card and just go through the stack.
A video that I watched discussed the importance of using questioning to keep the class engaged. One aspect that I could really relate to was using this for class discipline. Instead of yelling, handing out DT's, sending students to the office etc. Using questions to engage those who are disruptive, not paying attention or trying to get the class off of subject can very positive and have successful results. It is not a cure all but it can be very effective. Also, it can be a way to dictate how the class will go and engage students or most classes before they have a chance to disrupt the entire class. This is very effective in my worst class. They like to talk and there are 22 students. They do not like doing work or taking notes. If we do diagrams with little writing and I ask questions that involve aspects of all of our lives and how they can relate to the time period I am talking about, the class goes much smoother, they are more engaged and they learn more.
This deepens my thinking about my domain in how questions can really engage students, aid in discipline and include all learners. Questions can have so many levels of thinking associated with them. A myriad of ideas, emotions, thoughts can be touched upon in one class bell. I think this could be used in my inquiry plan on how I use questioning to run my classroom and engage students.
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Dan- As I stated in one of our group members blogs; all these really tie to one another, whether it is questioning, engagement, and so forth. I also have found that one of the best ways to engage some of the harder students, who want to disrupt others, or who are not playing attention is to pull them in with questioning. This is like you said not the cure all, but it does help in the overall goal of actively engaging 100% of the class, 100% of the time. Questions do have many levels of thinking and breaking down those levels to create a learning environment will only help enhance the other pieces, such as active engagement!
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I learned once as a professor is instead of asking students is there anything they don't understand (this can be read - you have a problem understanding) you can ask - is there anything that I have been unclear about or anything I can clarify (that puts the responsibility on you not them). It is funny just this turn of phrase and I get more people who ask for clarification. Also I do a lot of think-pair-share and turn and talks to get them all involved. I also have them write questions on post-its and change with each other. That said- I would like to work on asking different level questions. I think questioning is a great topic for you to explore in your inquiry and I am with Lesley in that I see how these are all connected.
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