Blog Post #6

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

There are two types of questions: open-ended questions and close-ended questions. As Joanne Chelsey states in her video, Asking Better Questions in the Classroom Pt. 1, "a close-ended question structures a response for the student, and it can be answered by one word, such as yes or no, or by a very brief phrase. An open-ended question leaves the form of the answer up to the person who is responding, thereby eliciting more thinking and yielding more information." Teachers are often looking for more in depth answers to their questions than just "yes" or "no," but they are getting exactly what they ask for when they ask questions that do not invite extended or thoughtful kinds of responses. Open-ended questions allow the student to do more thinking on their own and come up with a variety of responses. To help encourage students to think about their responses and give detailed answers, it is the teachers responsibility to think about and prepare open-ended questions for their lessons.

Ben Johnson, a high school principal in San Antonio, Texas explains The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom. Mr. Johnson begins by explaining that the reason students get so confused is because the teachers will present themselves to be the ones with all the answers, and then after they talk to the students, they start asking questions as if they don't know anything they just talked about. Teachers ask the question "Do you understand?" or "Does everybody understand?" even though they realize that students may not say anything, but they do not understand. This question is a useless question in the classroom and as educators we need to steer away from asking this. This question is close-ended and does not allow the student to think extensively about the answer. Mr. Johnson explains that the effective way to ask a question is to ask the question, pause for about three seconds, and then call on a student to answer your question. When you ask questions like this and wait for the answer, this requires all of the students to think about the answer before they know who will be called on. When teachers call on a student and then ask the question it only requires that specific student to use higher-order thinking to come up with the answer to that question.

Maryellen Weimer, PhD, provides us with Three Ways to Ask Better Questions in the Classroom. Ms. Weimer explains that good questions make students think and they encourage students to participate. The first action she recommends is to prepare questions. A lot of the time, teachers spend so much time on the content and organization of the lesson but they just try to wing it when it comes to asking questions throughout or at the end of a lesson. If teachers would prepare the questions in advance, it would help them to know they are asking well written, higher-order questions that require their students to think. Preparing questions ahead of time also eliminates confusion for the teacher as well as the students. The second action she recommends is to play with questions. "Playing with the question means leaving it unanswered for a while and using some strategies that encourage students to think about it." Too often, teachers will ask a question, call on a student, the student will answer the question, and the thought process is complete. Weimer suggests asking the question and then giving the students time to be actively engaged in finding the answer. Students could take time to talk with a partner or a group or simply write down their own ideas to answer the question. The third action she recommends is to preserve good questions. Weimer says that good questions can be kept. Questions can be asked in subsequent classes, and even be revised if necessary. Questions that students ask may also be kept for teachers to talk to their other students about.

We need to know about they two types of questions to become an effective teacher. We need to be able to prepare open-ended questions for our lessons in order to engage the students in higher-order thinking. By asking questions, we will get our students to participate and be more actively involved in the lesson and learning process.