Blog Assignment #4

Asking Questions: What questions do we ask? How do we ask?

One of EDM 310’s mottoes is “Questions Are More Important Than Answers.” So, what do we need to know about asking questions to be an effective teacher? Asking questions improves learning and increases student participation. Asking questions is a part of active learning which is essential to student learning.

According to the website Asking Questions to Improve Learning, there are general strategies that help teachers ask questions. One of these strategies is planning questions and when to ask these questions before teaching your lesson. Planning ahead increases student participation and allows you, the teacher, to measure student learning. Another general strategy is to ask a mix of questions. “Closed” questions limit the number of correct answers to test student comprehension. “Open” questions encourage class discussion because there are many possible answers. Managerial questions are asked to make sure students understand assignment instructions.

According to the website Three Ways to Ask Better Questions in the Classroom, there are three ways to asking students questions that make students think, participate, and improve their answers. These three ways are to prepare questions, play with questions, and preserve good questions. Similar to what I learned from Asking Questions to Improve Learning, preparing questions is an important part of creating a lesson plan. Preparing questions to ask one’s class is just as important as preparing the content for lecture. To play with questions is to make the students keep thinking about the question even after it is answered. One can do this by writing the question on the board or creating a PowerPoint slide so the students continue to view the question that was asked. One can preserve questions by revising them and using them in other classes. One can also save questions that students ask and use them in the future.