"Are there any questions?" If you think this fosters a “question-rich” environment for your students, keep reading. So much pressure exists for students NOT to ask questions that it takes a lot more effort as a teacher to create a “question-rich” environment.
It may sound like a simple statement, but the fact is, the only way a student can learn how to ask questions is by asking questions. To help facilitate this important skill, you must encourage questions constantly, using a variety of techniques.
Why is questioning important?
Questioning is what drives thinking. Thinking is not driven by answers but by questions. Had no questions been asked by those who laid the foundation for a field — for example, Technology or Biology — the field would never have been developed in the first place. Every field stays alive and grows only to the extent that fresh questions are asked and taken seriously as the driving force in a process of thinking. To think through or rethink anything, one must ask questions that stimulate thought.
How to Encourage Questions
The most important technique that you can use to encourage questions is to always answer questions kindly. Even if you have answered the same question three times already, the fourth answer should be friendly, and should include a new example. The student may have been copying something down, or may have been daydreaming. But normally questions occur multiple times because students sometimes cannot understand the language you are speaking. I can answer questions all day about "the influence of Shakespeare on the positioning of sub-plots within the play." But until the students understand the vocabulary, all of those answers will be completely meaningless. A student asking a question for the fourth time has just come to understand the vocabulary him/herself, and only then can understand the answer when you give it.
More ways to promote questions:
Reward students for asking a question. Try saying, "That's a great question" for every new question you get (no matter how many times the same question has been asked).
Do not insult students, even subtly, when answering a question. Take a tape recorder to class one day, and then play it back and listen to how you answer questions. How do you come across? Would you like to be talked to in that way? Put yourself in your students' shoes. Also listen to the answers you give - do you answer the questions?
Other uses for questioning:
1. Ask your students to write down one thing that they don't understand from that day's class. Then go over those questions at the beginning of the next class. Once students realize that everyone has questions, they will be more inclined to ask questions vocally during class.
2. Give homework assignments that force students to think about and question the material, and make time available in class to answer homework questions. If a homework assignment generates no questions, then it is probably useless.
3. Use tests to find out where you have been unclear, and where questions remain. A well-designed and well-graded test tells you as much about your teaching as it does about your students.
4. Start each class by briefly reviewing the material from the previous class.
Introduce a difficult concept for 5 minutes at the end of class. Then cover the concept fully during the next class. Students will have a day or two to become familiar with the concept, and will be more inclined to ask questions when they see it again.
Good Questions Generate More Questions
Only when an answer generates a further question does thought continue. This is why it is true that only students who have questions are really thinking and learning. In fact, it’s possible to give students an examination on any subject by just asking them to list all of the questions they have about a subject. Unfortunately, most students ask virtually no thought-stimulating types of questions. They tend to stick to dead questions like, "Is this going to be on the test?" These questions imply the desire not to think. If we want thinking we must stimulate it with questions that lead students to further questions. We must overcome what previous schooling has done to the thinking of students. We must awaken minds that are largely dead when we receive them. We must refresh and revive our students with “questioning resuscitation.”
Conclusion
Think of the potential knowledge and life experience that is in that single room. If only I could find a way to harness it! I want students to be fully engaged, talking to one another, grappling with interesting questions, and exploring any and all resources to find answers (and more questions). I want them to really get a strong sense of the importance of what we discuss in class and the significance of their participation. I want them to expand their understanding not only in the traditional sense, but also in the ability to “think outside the box.” Above all, I want them to recognize their own worth, thinking capacity and ability in helping to contribute to the society in which they live.
Next time you stand in front of your class at the end of a lesson, before asking, "Are there any questions?" take a moment to re-think your purpose as a teacher.
A good question-asking environment is a fragile and delicate thing. It must be nurtured every day. Once a good environment is created however, it can make a significant contribution to the quality of your class.
Dear Wendy,
ReplyDeleteYou are somewhat of a heretic in the field of education, aren't you?
I had very few teachers in my life who actually fostered questioning as a means of getting me to think for myself. The few that did are remembered fondly.
Even though I am in a different field, network marketing, as leaders in our field we still have to make sure that our business partners can think for themselves and learn the skills they need to be successful.
Thanks for a great post,
Alan