Blog #4

What questions do we ask? How do we ask them?

 

 

 

 

               I am going to be one-hundred percent honest. I, Kaitlyn Wyman, am so ready to be a teacher to little children. I can't wait to see that glimmer of natural curiosity in their eyes. I long to feel the pang of wanting to know everything from every child, and to know that I am the one that will be able to provide their little hearts with anything they want and need to know. In vice versa, I can't wait to learn from the kids themselves! In order for me to do that as a good teacher though, not only do the kids need to ask questions, but I must ask them questions too, to make sure they understand, and to also engage them in what they're learning. I can just hear it now, "But Kaitlyn, you're the teacher! You shouldn't be asking the questions, you should be the one answering them!". While at least half of that is true, questioning the children on what they have learned or even might have not learned is the most effective teaching method in my opinion. There are many helpful techniques to follow when asking questions in the classroom.

 

                        In order to understand the way questions work in the classroom, we should first take into account the children's mindset, because it is a fact that there are at least three kinds of students in a classroom: Smart and outgoing kids, shy and introverted kids, and kids who simply do not care at all. For example, after I teach my lesson about the life cycle of a butterfly to my classroom, I will ask the class as a whole what the first life cycle of a butterfly is. The highly outgoing and naturally smart kids will be the ones raising their hands so high that it seems that they're entire arm might just pop off. The shy ones will be the ones who most likely know the answers, but hide behind the ones who want to answer the question. The problem with these type of children is that as a teacher, when you see them not raising their hands, you don't know for a fact that they actually understand or not! Last but not least, the kids who don't care are extremely hard to pick out. They are the most misunderstood kids, I feel, of the class. In their minds, they don't want to raise their hands to answer because they simply don't care, but we as teachers don't really know that do we? We can misconstrue them as shy kids who might know the answer, rather than kinds who genuinely do not want to answer. It is a tremendously dangerous situation because, well, we could quite easily assume that after the question has been answered by an outgoing and smart student, the entire class listened and comprehended it simultaneously. That is completely wrong.

          While it is good for students to answer questions in a classroom, we must analyze how we are asking them and the effect it has on the classroom as a whole. Are we asking open or close ended questions? Are we asking the entire classroom, or one particular person? Is the entire classroom engaged, or not? When these intrapersonal questions are raised after a lesson, we as teachers should address them, and hopefully improve our ways of asking them. I feel like one of the most effective ways to engage the entire class is to ask individual kids at random. It gives every student the opportunity to think about the question so if they are called, they can give an educated answer or even guess. It prevents shy and uncaring kids from hiding behind the outgoing kids, and even brings them out of their shell to an extent! It also promotes thinking on their own without relying on someone else to do it for them. I was a shy girl myself, and one of my teachers used that technique and it really works.
         Another way to ask effective questions is to refrain from asking close ended questions. Those are the questions where the only answer is a "yes" or a "no", or other fifty-fifty questions. Not only does it limit the student from actually comprehending what he/she just answered, but there could be a situation where the student guessed the answer without really knowing and got full credit! That is not real learning to me. Instead of asking the generic close ended question, ask something to the effect of "Do you agree with the speaker's opinions? Answer yes, or no. Then, explain.". Have the student explain why he/she feels that way. It opens the door to free thinking, forming an opinion, and taking a stance in different situations. It goes a long way in school, and in life!
         Positive reinforcement also goes a long way! Letting a child know that you are happy that they answered a question correctly, or even just attempted a question builds them up to want to answer more questions and participate in class. You can give them full attention, and praise them for their answer, or you can give them candy, let them pick something from a treasure box full of little trinkets, or even let them do something special that they've wanted to do! You can only imagine what one little piece of candy or small trinket can do!

 



         All in all, we as teachers can learn so much more by asking questions to our students! It's a win/win situation when we know how to ask questions the right way! It helps us as educators, as well as helps our students tremendously. I will carry those principles with me through the rest of my teaching days!