An essential part of good teaching is getting students interested in what you have to teach them. After that, you just need to point them in the right direction, to give some encouragement, and perhaps to help them to refine the quality of their work.
It is clear that students, then, must be involved in the learning process. They will not, for the most part, become interested in something unless they have some ownership. The best way to establish that ownership is to ask your students an interesting question, one that they perceive as being authentic and that they cannot immediately answer. Such questions will vary depending on the student, but it is the job of the teacher to think up these questions and to devote considerable class time to allow students to work on them, individually at first, and then collectively.
I do not mean to imply that thinking of these questions is easy, just that it is essential. Many of us were taught by teachers who thought that their main job was to provide clear explanations of the concepts that were in the book. We must recognize that this approach is backwards. The clear explanations need to come after the students have figured out how to solve the problem, or at least after they have worked on it long enough to care about a solution and to want to know.
It is also best if the first attempt at this explanation comes from a student, so that the class is actively thinking about the validity of that explanation. When the explanation comes from the teacher, students tend to write it in their notebook without giving it much thought. When the explanation comes from a peer, students tend to be critical and open minded, trying to find a flaw in the argument. The second is a far better way to learn.
-- John Benson
I agree with what you've said here John. It reminds me of what George Polya said: "If we wish to stimulate the student to a genuine effort, we must give him some reason to suspect that his task deserves his effort."
ReplyDeleteI do have one question related to these good questions. Where can I find them? It would be great if there were an online database that anyone could add to and that was searchable by content. Is there something like that out there?
THANK YOU John Benson! This is an awesome site (sight as well)! Good questions...come from teachers who listen to their students' questions and refuse to be 'answer-machines'. Oh, how I loved asking questions!!! I am not currently in the classroom...maybe someday again...but have wonderful memories of piquing student curiosity...and the few students who would respond. I would spend Fridays as problem solving days...Katie Pederson I love you. While it took weeks for some classes to get the idea, the result was phenomonal. It seems our current approach to educ. is to stifle student curiosity.
ReplyDeleteThis blog is a great idea! I look forward to some fruitful discussions :)
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite quotes about questioning is:
"Creating Good Questions Relies Heavily on the Destination We Have in Mind"
What type of learning experience are we hoping to create? What types of learners to we want to grow in our classrooms? At the end of the year, what do we want our students to walk away with? When they look back on our class 10 years from now, what do we hope they will say they learned?
Once we have a good vision of the desired destination, it becomes more clear what type of questions will get us & our students there...
Good points, Adam. The next post gives some examples of problems/questions that proved fruitful in my recent classes, but you're exactly right that the destination has to precede the question.
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