Student engagement is one of the most important things as a teacher in my opinion. I remember hating some classes and hoping the teacher wouldn't call on me. Not only does engaging students in classroom activities make it more fun for them, but you can also learn more about the students learning style and help them get different insight on the topic being discussed. I like strategies this website shows. The main one that stuck out to me was “when planning questions, keep in mind your course goals.” I think so much of a teachers time is observing, whether doing it out of curiosity, or part of your job. I think sometimes curiosity gets the best of us and we start asking questions that has nothing to do with what we are studying. Staying on topic and keeping your course goals in mind is very important.
I found the Questioning Styles and Strategies Youtube video to be very effective. I really liked how the teacher used all four learning styles: mastery, interpersonal, understanding, and self-expressive. I found it not only to be very informative, but I feel as if this video will help me once I begin teaching.
With questioning, I feel it is important to know the different learning styles.
Mastery- Absorb information concretely step by step. They value practicality and clarity.
Interpersonal- Work with others using concrete ideas. Results should be of social value. They are the future humanitarians or volunteers.
Understanding- Work with ideas and abstractions using methods of questioning and reasoning. They value logic and evidence.
Self-expressive- Learn through feelings and seeing images in materials. They value originality.
Ways you can practice the different styles vary tremendously. For mastery, you can ask questions that are very specific, call on random students, see if other children got the same response, value feedback and ask extended questions. For self-expression you can get the children to draw to explain, and extend responses. For understanding, you can get the children to clarify, or go more into detail. For interpersonal, they can do group work. This lists go on and on. I, personally, have more of a mastery learning style. I learned I need to use other learning styles rather than just mastery. Some children learn better and can answer questions more effectively using the one they are better at.
I found these five questions on Edutopia's website. This is very crucial and I feel as if every teacher should use this chart to make their questioning more effective.
#1. What do you think?
This question interrupts us from telling too much. There is a place for direct instruction where we give students information yet we need to always strive to balance this with plenty of opportunities for students to make sense of and apply that new information using their schemata and understanding.#2. Why do you think that?
After students share what they think, this follow-up question pushes them to provide reasoning for their thinking.#3. How do you know this?
When this question is asked, students can make connections to their ideas and thoughts with things they've experienced, read, and have seen.#4. Can you tell me more?
This question can inspire students to extend their thinking and share further evidence for their ideas.#5. What questions do you still have?
This allows students to offer up questions they have about the information, ideas or the evidence.
Great post! Looks like you got a lot out of the video and website!
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