Questions in the Classroom.. Why Ask?

Teachers are always asking questions. But are thry asking the right questions?
One problem that I've experienced in the classroom is those low DOK level questions.. Teachers spend hours drilling students on lower level comprehension questions and then bombard them with those higher level questions.. It goes from: "students who is the main character", to "analyze the characters motives and construct an alternate situation.. Blahh blahhhh.." And we wonder why our students are crashing and burning?!? Seriously.. Let's scaffold and support a little bit and throw out a few HOT questions other than on midterms? Its also important to model higher order thinking for the students.

The technique for questioning can be just as vital. QUILT stands for Question and Understand to Improve Learning and Thinking. In stage one, the teacher prepares the question. In stage two, the teacher presents the question. In stage three, the teacher prompts for student responses. In stage four, the teacher should actually process the students response. Bc the teachers response to the student is critical. Feedback should be appropriate. And in stage 5 there should be reflection on the questioning practice. Providing the student with adequate wait time is key. I've seen so many times a teacher call on a student that he or she assumes does not know the. answer and then shutting them down before they have time to form a response and moving on to a "smart" student. Questions should foster noticing and naming, identifying, flexibility and transfer, and knowing.

I really like the questioning the author strategy. I always enjoyed this strategy as a student. In this strategy the student gets to fire some questions instead of always being attacked by the questions.

Before reading this chapter, I always assumed the answers were the most important part of the q & a process. However, this chapter has definitely opened my eyes to the importance of the question part of the process :)

Chapter 7: Making and Taking Notes

So, Honestly.. When I was given this chapter to read and respond to, I thought that it had to be the dullest assignment ever. I put off even reading the chapter until late last night, which is why my blogging is last minute as well. Obviously, I am a bigger nerd than I thought. I was reading about the different strategies of taking notes, and found myself getting excited.. Yes I just put that out there for the world to see.

Teachers are always telling students "Pay attention, take good notes, study, this is going to be on the TEST!" However, I cannot remember my teachers ever actually telling us HOW to take these amazing, life altering, grade changing notes. In all honesty, I was never much into studying, but if you had of seen my notes, you wouldn't have wanted to study either. So, this chapter has definitely made me think about how I can help my students in forming their notes. I really liked how the chapter divided the strategies by subject. Especially the subjects that I consider my weaker areas. I really liked the Math terms chart. That would have been really helpful last summer in Math 310. I also like the interactive discussion/ note taking for Social Studies. A board full of notes that students copy can be intimidating, making students never want to attempt learning the endless sea of facts.

Another thing brought up in this chapter is assessing the students note taking. This had NEVER occurred to me and I would have been horrified as a student if my teachers had asked to assess my note taking skills. But now as a future teacher I think that this is an excellent way to support metacognition in the students. I never thought of note taking as an important aspect of education, when I think important I think test, grades, tests, and more tests. However, on an average day what will students be found doing? Taking Notes! So this chapter has bumped up note taking/making on my educational priorities list!