Chapter #3

How do you ask a question? Sounds simple right? Just get a thought in your head and ask it.  But how do you ask a question that gets 25 young adolescents to think critically and to start forming their own ideas on subject matters? Now that’s difficult.  Now not all of the information from chapter three was new material to me, but that didn’t make any of it less important and meaningful.  Looking back at my own education it was interesting to recall teachers who answer their own questions because no one else would.  I can also remember the teachers who would as the easiest narrow minded questions that required no critical thinking whatsoever.  It’s reflection like this that makes me understand just how valuable the art of questioning really is.  There are multiple types of questions such as convergent, divergent, cueing, evaluative, and more that can be used to get the most information possible out of your students.  Learning to construct these different types of questions is one step, but being able to deliver them well is another.  I felt that the most important part to this section was the part where the textbook discussed giving the students think-time and to call on a diverse number of students.  Everyone has the stories of the teacher’s pet student who answered every question and would have their hand up before the teacher even completed the question.  The teacher would always call on that person and then no one else would be able to even think or participate in the class.  It is essential that new teachers quickly learn to allow students time to formulate their thoughts and answers first, and then to also not just blurt them out but respectfully raise their hands.  Once this becomes common occurrence it is then the teachers’ responsibility to call on all the students equally to give every student an equal opportunity to participate in the learning environment of the classroom.