Blog Post #4

• What we need to know
• Teachers do not know everything
• Do not assume students know nothing
• No leading questions
• What questions to ask
• Prepared questions
• Specific questions 
• Ask different types of questions
• open-ended
• closed-ended
• How to ask those questions 
• Don't give students a "last chance" question
• Pause 3 seconds
• Ask additional questions, with yes-or-no questions
• Play with question
• Use techniques
• share and pair
• random calling

I chose to use many sources when answering the question, "What do we need to know about asking questions to be an effective teacher?" In the article "The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom" the author Ben Johnson stresses that educators need to come to terms with the fact that teachers do not know everything. Sometimes students can be mislead into believing that teachers have all the answers. Thus, it can be very confusing for a student when a teacher starts questioning himself or herself. Ben Johnson also believes that teachers should not assume that the students know nothing when answering questions. Some of the students could have prior knowledge about the subject being discussed, and that could lead to a very benefiting discussion on that topic. In the article "Asking Questions to Improve Learning" the authors tell the reader to make sure to avoid leading questions. A leading questions is asked in such a way that it predicts its own answer. This type of questioning discourages individual and creative thinking.

It is important as educators to know what kind of questions need to be asked. In the article "Three Ways to Ask Better Questions in the Classroom" the author Maryellen Weimer explains the importance of asking prepared questions. Weimer feels that prepared questions help you ask the best possible questions at the right time to help students to have a clearer understanding of what is being discussed. The authors for "Asking Questions to Improve Learning" encourage teachers to ask specific questions. They feel that questions should be asked in sequence from simple to more complex to build discussion depth and complexity. These authors also believe that teachers should ask a mixture of many different types of questions. Teachers should ask open-ended and closed-ended questions. Closed-ended questions test students understanding and retention. Open-ended questions are most effective at encouraging the students to be actively engaged in what is being discussed and what they are learning.

There is many different ways and techniques to simply ask a question. In Ben Johnson's article, he discourages "last chance questions." Last chance questions close off any chance of further discussion. These type of questions make students feel "cut off." Ben Johnson also found through his own research that pausing three seconds after asking a question encourages the students to really think about that question. The authors of the article "Asking Questions to Improve Learning", want educators to make sure to ask additional questions when asking a yes-or-no question. For example, the educator would get the yes-or-no answer from the student and then ask for that student to explain their answer. In Weimer's article, she encourages that educators play with the question. This meaning to leave a question unanswered in order to promote class discussion. Many different techniques are shown in the video, "Questioning Styles and Strategies", one of these techniques is share and pair. In this technique students write down their own ideas and then discuss their ideas with their partner. Another question technique is random calling. Random calling on different students is used to encourage students' engagement in the discussion and to make sure the student is paying attention to what is being discussed.

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