Blog Post#4 How to ask effective questions?

How Do We Ask Questions in the Classroom?










After reading Mr. Ben Johnsons The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom  and watching Ms. Joanne Chesley video Asking Better Questions in the classroom I found that most teachers do not expect to have to ask questions. Teachers assume after lecturing their students will automatically gain the knowledge they are attempting to teach.

The only way to know if a student has retained information is by effective teaching methods and by using the correct question for the subject matter.

For example, if you are teaching the students about History and you ask a close ended question such as "What year was the last battle of World War I?"  your response will only consist of one word. If you want the children to show comprehension you should ask a question such as "During World War 1, who were the allies and what role did they play in the year of the last battle?".

Children who love to learn and gain knowledge will give well though response and volunteer information. Children who either did not understand the subject matter or did not care for learning the information will cower from answering and may try to avoid eye contact, therefore it is better to randomly call on children and to never let the same child answer each question about the subject.

Many children are shy and may know the answer to each question. You should always offer several opportunities for answering questions. Perhaps you should have vocal questioning, then a worksheet. You may even tell children to study the assignment and write a paper or blog on their opinion. Have the children break apart into groups and question each other about the subject. There is no incorrect way to have children learn, you must think of every child and there ability and strengths.

So in response to what questions do we ask, we ask the children their comprehension, their opinions and to also recite the facts given to them. We are here to mold children into the ability to be well rounded and to respect each others way of learning.