From my experience, a lot of teachers start the lesson by asking the class an open ended question thinking that it will get the students to start thinking when most of the time, realistically, it's a question that confuses the class like it confused me majority of the time. Sometimes it is good to start out with a question like that but I feel like that teachers need to ask a lot more simpler, understanding questions. Coming from me, if I get asked a question that I don't know the answer to, my confidence shoots down and I start to get a little angry with myself. I personally think that asking more simple questions will get the mind thinking a lot smoother and it keeps the class' attention. After watching the YouTube video, "Questioning Styles and Strategies", I realized better techniques to asking the class questions to get the students more engaged in the lesson. For an example, in the video he asked a question and told the students to discuss the answer with the person next to them. I think this was a really great idea because sometimes what the teacher says doesn't always allow the students to understand it the way that they should. Discussing it with another student will open up doors so the student can understand it on their level. And they're also a lot more comfortable talking about it to another student rather than to the teacher in front of the whole class because students do tend to get embarrassed easily especially at a younger age. That is what leads me to what I disagreed with in the video. That was the technique of the random name calling, again, students will get embarrassed very easily with this because they have so much pressure on them about the question that is being asked. Yes calling them out helps the teacher to understand if that student is comprehending the material being taught, but I feel as if there are other more effective strategies to this.
I feel like as a teacher you need to be very organized with the plan of the lesson and be prepared for everything word for word and whatever questions or answers may be thrown your way. One really good strategy is planning every question you want to ask them ahead of time instead of doing everything on the top of your head. The more prepared we are as teachers, it will influence our students to be the same way.
"... it's a question that confuses the class like it confused me majority of the time. " Why were you confused. Driving questions are essential to good teaching. You appear to run from them because of your personal experiences and fears. Why do you think you (or anyone) should know all the answers? If that were the case, learning would be impossible because everything would be known. Yet learning should be our central focus as teachers, not knowing. We can look it up!
ReplyDelete" ...I realized better techniques to asking the class questions to get the students more engaged in the lesson." You need there are before better and to asking should be for asking.
"...what the teacher says doesn't always allow the students to understand it the way that they should." Allow is not the correct word to use here. Help or facilitate would be better.
"...again, students will get embarrassed very easily with this because they have so much pressure on them about the question that is being asked." The way you describe this appears to be the result of questions being asked that are not open-ended. Open-ended questions do not create results like this. You bring your own fears to your response. My experience leads me to exactly the opposite conclusion if questions are posed in the correct way.
"I feel like as a teacher you need to be very organized with the plan of the lesson and be prepared for everything word for word and whatever questions or answers may be thrown your way." Oh my. If you really believe this you should think again about being a teacher. You will never know it all. You will never be fully "prepared [f]or everything word for word and whatever questions or answers may be thrown your way." Organized, yes. But not an all knowing robot. In fact, learning should be the goal, not knowing. One of EDM310's mottoes is "I don't know. Let's find out." I recommend that you think long and hard about the meaning of that motto. If you are to be a teacher you cannot be afraid of not knowing. You say that you are afraid of not knowing. Good teachers and good schools encourage learning, not knowing!
Savannah,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you with starting out with a question, what if I don't know the answer? I would only diminish a students' self esteem and, I believe, would cause the student to block out content in the future of the lesson. I believe it is ok to not know, that is what learning is for!