Blog Post #4

After reading these sources it is safe to say that questions are important. Questions are used to help students, to make them think about what they are learning, and to help them become better learners. There are so many different ways to ask questions. The most common types of questions are open ended and close ended questions as seen in the video Asking Better Questions in the Classroom. Close ended questions have a simple yes or no answer whereas open ended questions allow students to think a little more. There is more to these questions than just a simple answer.

In the video, Questioning Styles and Strategies, students were asked many different questions about a book they had been reading called "Bridge to Terabithia". The teacher asked students a question, but paused and let them think for a minute and then allowed them to answer. Then he asked them what they thought Terabithia would look like, but instead of an answer he wanted a picture. I like this idea because kids get to express themselves in a different way than just a simple answer.

Asking Questions to Improve Learning gave a lot of tips when asking questions. Some of them were to keep in mind course goals while planning and to avoid asking questions that simple suggest the answer in the question. Other tips include following a simple yes or no answer question with another, more in depth question and to not ask more than one question at once when it comes to in depth questions because it may confuse students. According to "Asking Questions to Improve Learning", questions are important because they assess learning, may clarify something, and allow students to explore, investigate, and organized.

The last two resources I read, Three ways to Ask Better Questions, and The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom provided even more useful information about questions. Three ways to Ask Better Questions gave great advice such as preparing questions in advance. By preparing questions in advance a teacher won't have to think of questions on a whim. This can cause confusion toward students of the wording is misinterpreted, and by preparing them ahead of time this allows the teacher to be more clear with the students. In The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom, the questions is asked, "Why ask questions?". It is important to ask questions so that students can gain knowledge and understanding of what they have been taught, but to also "deepen and extend their thinking" as said in the video Questioning Styles and Strategies.

As a future educator, it is important for myself to know what questions to ask along with what kinds of questions to ask. These are great resources full of information. Students get by really easy now-a-days and it is so important that they are more engaged in the learning process. By asking them questions they are required to think, which in turn will help them to retain the information they were taught.