Blog Post #4

If you type in "What is a question?" in the google search bar you will find that a question is "a sentence worded or expressed so as to elicit information". Questions can be thought provoking and extremely beneficial to students or they can be nothing more than words with a question mark at the end. As a teacher it is important to ask questions that will help students learn. According to Maryellen Weimer's blog post Three Ways to Ask Better Questions in the Classroom "good questions make students think, they encourage participation and I think they improve the caliber of the answers students give and the questions they ask." I agree with Dr. Weimer about how important questions are I found her 3 way approach helpful.

1. Prepare Questions
Dr. Weimer explains that it is important to carefully prepare your questions to remove unnecessary confusion for your students. By preparing your questions ahead of time, it is easier to word the questions so that the students will understand and it is clearer.
2. Play with Questions
According to Dr. Weimer, playing with questions allows students to think longer and be more engaged. To play with questions means to ask a question and not immediately answer. Dr. Weimer states that typically most students stop thinking as soon as the question is answered. In order to avoid this teachers can do multiple things. They can ask the question at the beginning of the class and answer at the end or possibly have the students write the question in their notes and write down their ideas.
3. Preserve Good Questions
Dr. Weimer suggests that not every question need to be answered immediately. It is acceptable to save good questions for a later date. It is quite possible that the question can be used more effectively at another time.

The Teaching Center at Washington University in St. Louis has listed twelve reasons to ask open ended questions:
1. To asses learning
2. To ask a student to clarify a vague comment
3. To prompt students to explore attitudes, values, or feelings (when appropriate
4. To prompt students to see a concept from another perspective
5. To ask a student to refine a statement or idea
6. To prompt students to support their assertions and interpretations
7. To direct students to respond to one another
8. To prompt students to investigate a thought process
9. To as students to predict possible outcomes
10. To prompt students to connect and organize information
11. To ask students to apply a principle or formula
12. To ask students to illustrate a concept with an example

Also a good guide for asking questions is Bloom's Taxonomy.

Before reading these materials, I never thought of how great of an impact a question could have. I mean I thought a question was just a question and an answer was just an answer. After being exposed to how beneficial questions can be I now realize that as a future teacher I need to be prepared. I will definitely use these resources to help make my future classes thought provoking and exciting.