fourth blog entry

Fourth blog

What are the purposes of teacher´s classroom questions?

One of the purposes of questioning in the classroom is that teachers can realize how much students know about a specific topic before they begin the class (previous knowledge) and the students´ progress.

Questioning is a tool for both teaching and learning. So, teachers must use it wisely. Why? Because sometimes we have students that are very shy and don´t like to participate in the classroom; on the other hand, there are other kind of students that are very talkative. For that reason, teachers should use an appropriate technique that involves all kind of students and not only a part of them.

One technique is wait time.

Teachers must use questioning correctly. For instance, when teachers ask questions they expect an answer quickly but sometimes students don´t know how to answer. That´s why is important “wait time” and “think time”. So, if we give more time to our students their answers will be longer and with alternative explanations.

No hands is another technique we can use in our classes and it means that students are not allowed to raise their hand in answer to a question; they are expected to be prepared to offer an answer and if they cannot they must say they do not know. All students must participate in the questioning process. Also, this technique allows teachers measure progress and understanding of each student.