Creating a classroom environment where everyone contributes is not an easy thing to do. Dr. Anne Hlas, Department of Languages, speaks to the significance questioning has in engaging every student:
Questioning is one of the most important things we do. A carefully constructed question can help engage more students and guide their thinking. In many classes you get the really eager students who will raise their hands or blurt out answers right away; however, you also have the shyer students, who need to be actively drawn out. Framing a question is one way to build in some processing time and increase the quality of answers provided by students. Framing the question consists of teachers clarifying how they want students to answer a question. For example, we might say, ‘I am going to wait for ten hands before I take an answer’ or ‘take time to think and write the answer down, I’ll take answers in one minute.’ In addition, we may frame a question in a way that asks students to show their response with their hands (e.g. thumbs up/down), by sitting/standing, or with visual indicators (e.g. agree/disagree). In this way, we can engage a broader range of students, and ultimately, the entire classroom.
Interviewed by: Jon Pumper
No comments:
Post a Comment