In The role of questions in learning! From On an e-Journey with Generation Y, Anne Mirtschin asks, “Do you get many questions from students? How important do you think that questions are? What role do questions play in learning?”
Questions are so important but we don’t’ treat them this way.
Unfortunately I feel that we make students afraid to ask questions and then stifle this so much that they don’t know how to ask questions.
Many times I hear teachers tell students to listen because the directions won’t be repeated. Or if students ask questions, they are accused of not listening closely or paying attention. Sometimes it takes some students longer to process the information more than others so while they are still processing, they might miss something.
Other times students’ questions are treated as an inconvenience or an interruption so that students learn that asking questions is not a good thing. I think if this happens, it would be good for students to write their questions down on a post-it note and so that the question could be asked at a later time rather than not answered at all.
I also feel that we don’t teach students how to ask the right questions. We tell them to ask but we don’t help them learn how to ask the questions they need to ask in order to get the information they need. I think this would make a great lesson all by itself. I could give students a problem and have them write questions asking for the information they would need to solve the problem. The more that they practice this skill, they find it easier to do in the future.
How do you teach students to ask the right questions? Please share.
Image: 'questions'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35880157@N06/4810954845
Found on flickrcc.net
3 comments:
I completely agree with you. Questions are very important that is how you get to know your students and understand what they know and what they do not know. I can see how teachers might not always think questions are very important. I also feel like we should do whatever it takes to make sure that our students are not afraid to ask questions. I am just about finished with school and I feel like this is a huge thing that I want to focus on I want to make sure that my students are not afraid to ask or answer questions in my class. You want your room to be a safe place for them to come to. The thing that you can do is from the begging of the year set a rule of the questions need to do with work and that you will give them time another time to ask or tell you other things they would like to. You will not get anywhere with your students if you do not build a relationship with them first.
I completely agree with you. Questions are very important that is how you get to know your students and understand what they know and what they do not know. I can see how teachers might not always think questions are very important. I also feel like we should do whatever it takes to make sure that our students are not afraid to ask questions. I am just about finished with school and I feel like this is a huge thing that I want to focus on I want to make sure that my students are not afraid to ask or answer questions in my class. You want your room to be a safe place for them to come to. The thing that you can do is from the begging of the year set a rule of the questions need to do with work and that you will give them time another time to ask or tell you other things they would like to. You will not get anywhere with your students if you do not build a relationship with them first.
@Lauren I think that is a great thing to focus on in the classroom. Good luck in your career! Feel free to contact me if you need to bounce any ideas off someone or if you have any questions I can help you with. Thanks for leaving a comment here!
Post a Comment