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 :)