Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Questions Teachers and Students Ask
Listen to the questions being asked in the classroom. Who asks the questions? Do the students? Does the teacher? What kinds of questions are asked by the teacher? What kinds of questions do the students ask? Listen to the questions and record them in a notebook. Do they make students think? Are they though provoking? Are they recall questions? Procedural? Behavioral? Rhetorical? What do you notice?
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I have found that the students in my classroom both ask dynamic and relevant questions, as well as answer those that are asked of them. My teacher provides an open atmosphere that allows for discussion and curiosity, two things that her students really enjoy. For instance, today in Social Studies, the teacher handed out a current news article on a large iceberg that broke off of Antarctica. While the teacher asked questions such as: Where is Antarctica?, Where is Pennsylvania in relationship?, How does this affect various oceans?, etc. The students were curious about more specific aspects of the story, not only the general outline. Their questions were interested in comparing how big the iceberg was to countries they are familiar with, how the weather was affected by this iceberg traveling in the ocean, etc. I found it very interesting to see how many ideas these students were able to connect with the article to other knowledge they possessed (a good example of how the brain learns when ideas are connected).
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I was disappointed to notice was how many more boys than girls were willing to raise their hands to answer the teacher’s questions and share their thoughts. It almost seemed like for every girl willing to volunteer, there were two or three boys. Has anyone else noticed this or are there just shy girls in my classroom?
Both the students and the teacher ask questions in my classroom. When they are doing a problem, the teacher will ask what steps they should do and in what order. It is basically like the students are doing the problem and the teacher is just writing it on the board. The students then ask questions if they do not understand the concept. The teacher explains it the best she can to help the students understand. When they are doing practice problems, the students ask for help and they then learn the concepts better. The teacher asks questions that make the students think and the students ask questions about concepts that they are not understanding. Most of the students ask questions.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Christine, I have noticed that some of the girls are shy and do not talk as much as the boys. There are four boys within my class that seem to talk the most, but there are no girls that talk as much as they do.
The children don't really ask many questions (they are all really really young). Instead, Mrs Brightman asks the questions and the children answer. For example, she says "What is this rhythm?". The children then speak the rhythm. She then says "What would the rhythm be if I did _____ with it?" And then the children answer. The teacher poses questions for them to answer and helps them arrive to a conclusion.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I think, there is a balance between shy boys and girls. But its hard to tell since there are more girls in almost every class. there are some shy kids in my classroom, but some of them have come out of their shell--they were probably intimidated by having us there the first time (we're much bigger than 3 year olds after all). There are some really shy children in the "mommy and me" classes, but those children still have fun and their moms help them to become less shy.
The students in my classroom ask a lot of questions, probably in response to their curious nature. For example, 2 weeks ago the high school was performing an assembly on their musical "Oklahoma." The kids proceeded to ask a million questions about musicals and proper audience behavior. I was impressed with how in-depth they took a simple statement. Towards the end, however, I could tell the student were getting silly with the questions, and it was time to redirect.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of the learning environment, my teacher asks a lot of proceedural questions. Before she allows students to go off on their own and work on an assignment, she always asks them what they SHOULD be doing and what she EXPECTS from them in accordance with the classroom rules. The kids have been responsive every time I've observed this, probably because it's been so repetitive for them.
To Christine, I completely agree with what you are saying. Maybe it's because I believe we're in the same classroom, but I even caught myself doing it today. When I was going over homework with the group, I had called on 5 boys in a row, without even realizing it. This was the first thing that came to mind, and I'm WAY more careful about it now!
While the students are working individually, they ask a lot of questions about how to do some of the math problems. The teacher, instead of telling them the answer, usually asks a question in response to get the student thinking in the right direction. One of my favorite questions that has been asked so far came after the teacher explained that two lines needed to have the same slope to be parallel. One student raised his hand and asked if y=5x+3 was parallel to y=.5x+3. Obviously, they are not, but I really appreciated his question, because it showed he was actually paying attention and thinking critically about what the teacher had said. Christine, I actually see the same thing, but I think it is because I have noticed that there are a lot more boys than girls in the classes that I am in.
ReplyDeleteMajority of the time the teachers are asking the students questions. The questions tend to be questions to make the students think about what they just discussed. They also ask review questions about what they went over either in the class before or earlier in the same period. When the students do ask questions, they are asking either for help or because they are confused about what is being discussed. One of my favorite questions that has been asked is when a student said "And what do you mean by that?" because I was often the student asking similar questions to that.
ReplyDeleteI have found the students to be very inquisitive. They show an interest in learning and strive for understanding. One pattern that I have noticed however, is that the majority of questions are answered by the girls. The size of the classroom is male dominated, but they seem to resist answering unless called upon.
ReplyDeleteIn general, our teacher asks the most questions. The kids are too young to ask questions, but Mrs. Brightman really pushes the kids to find the answers on their own. She will remind them of the background knowledge they possess that will help them answer the question. She uses mostly hands-on examples to help the kids grasp concepts, but she will ask questions, mostly to the older group of kids.
ReplyDeleteIn our observations the teacher asks almost all of the questions. The kids that I work with only go up to age 4 or 5 so they do not really have many questions to ask about the material. Usually in the younger classes which are mommy and me, the kids will ask their parents a question if they have one. Our teacher does ask to kids a decent amount of questions though. She really tries to help them find the answer on their own but if they cannot she helps guide them to the right answer.
ReplyDeleteIn my experience, the students ask questions when they do not understand something. The teacher teaches something, explains it, and then asks the students a question that requires the students to use what they have just learned to answer the question. The teacher tries to bring the answer out of the students by asking more questions. Sometimes the questions are about situations he makes up that uses the information the students just learned.
ReplyDeleteMost of the questions the students ask are spelling questions, or asking the teacher to repeat something he has just said.
Most of the time the teacher asks most of the questions. The children do not really ask many questions about the material, but they do like to put their own input in on the subject. Our teacher also likes to have the kids answer their questions and she helps them by reminding them of background information and their previous experiences.
ReplyDeleteI am in a class of seventh-graders and going off of what Christine said, I think that at this age, boys (in general) are more loud and rough. They need to prove that they are funny and cool for the other boys- in general they are more outgoing. The girls are also focused on being "cool", but with girls, this has more to do with how they dress and how they do their hair and make-up. Not only do the boys put up their hands because they are more outgoing, but at this stage, they don't care as much about being wrong. Girls I think do care a lot about being wrong because it will embarass them in front of their friends.
ReplyDeleteOverall though, my teacher calls on anyone with his or her hand up, and if there are no new hands he just waits until someone new offers an idea. I haven't noticed any preferences between students he picks. In the end, both girls and guys get picked to answer.
Most of the class periods that I have seen involve students working on projects alone or in groups. Because of this, their questions are usually about what they are supposed to do or where they should find information. If Ms. Horn answered a question for one student and then another student asks the same question, she has the students answer the questions for each other. Ms. Horn asks the students questions to make sure they understand the instructions. She gives instructions and then has the students repeat them to her: "What are you supposed to do after you read the chapter?" "Is this homework if you don't finish it?" "When is your quiz on the map of Eastern Europe?" She also asks similar questions if kids misbehave, such as, "What are you supposed to do when you enter the room? Tell me what my rules are."
ReplyDeleteI am in a learning support classroom and I've realized that the students do not ask any questions. The teacher is usually the the person that is proposing a challenge or recall question. The teacher also tends to ask questions when she believes that the students are not focused or are drifting away from the class discussion. The questions are usually recall questions centered around what the students have done within the class period. There was one class period where the students were reviewing for an upcoming test and the students had to formulate test questions and then call on another student to answer. I believe that the kids benefited a lot from this strategy.
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ReplyDeleteMy cooperating teacher uses questions a lot in the classroom. Her questions are normally recall or thought provoking. When the students used white boards one day, she asked a variety of questions to see if they could recall the information. Then when the students were asked to diagram elements, she would ask question to see how well the students understood the concepts behind the diagrams. For each class, she would ask different questions based on how well the students understood the information. Sometimes, she would ask additional questions to see if they knew the reasoning behind their answers. For example, once she asked which particles are in the nucleus. She then asked why this was important. This led to her suddenly asking what the mass of a proton is, which not many students could recall. Afterward, my cooperating teacher made sure to ask about the mass of a proton in each class. Also, she will ask questions while she is lecturing. This gives the students a more active role in learning. Even when the students are discussing their thoughts, she will ask them questions. For example, a student was talking about a Mythbusters episode where they hooked up plants to a lie detector. My cooperating teacher asked the students if they remembered from last year what the tubes plants used to transport water and nutrients were called.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, the students also ask questions whenever they do not understand something. The students will often ask questions when they are discussing their experiences or thoughts on a topic. For example, when having a discussion on TMI and radioactive isotopes, one student asked what a thyroid was because students were talking about their parents having thyroid problems.
the teacher asks all of the questions in our class, but this is mainly because it is very straight forward. most of what is being asked of them is pulling on background knowledge, and the teacher does encourage them to find the answer on their own, as well as their own input.
ReplyDeleteIn the classroom, both the teacher and the students ask questions. The teacher asks questions to check for comprehension. For example, the teacher will asks questions about the short stories that they are reading such as, "Why did Jimmy feel this way after the fight?" The students will, in return, either answer the teacher's question or ask a question if they are unclear. Also, when put into small groups, they asks their peers questions and they answer each other.
ReplyDeleteI feel in the classroom most students and the teacher ask a lot of questions. The teacher will ask a question prompting the students to answer it and also dwell on more questions asked by the students. i feel the students ask questions based on material that is not quite clear in the text or the notes they received from the teacher. The questions the students are usually provoked by a series of question the teacher has asked. I also noted that more boys raise their hands then girls do in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI found that my teacher asks many guided questions that allow students to easily come up with the answer. She also asks open ended questions so a discussion is formed. But, because the class is 7th grade, she becomes the leader of the discussion and poses questions to students in order for an active discussion to take place.
ReplyDeleteStudents rarely asks questions unless it is for direction on an assignment. The only time they speak as a group is during a "discussion", but besides that, there are not many questions posed throughout the class.