Questions????

I think that questions are a very important part of the learning experience, but aren't always a positive thing. I was always the student who dreaded questions b/c most of the time I wasn't paying attention and would start to sweat at the thought of the teacher calling on me to answer. I believe I felt this way because students make it such a big deal if the answer is wrong. As the teacher, this is a great way to be sure that most of the students are paying attention and will also help to strenghten the students' comprehension if the questions asked are "good". Classrooms are filled with a million different types of questions and they are a big part of who we are as learners.

It is our nature to constantly ask questions and want questions to be answered. This is how we gain certain information and learn a lot about who we are as students and who we will be as teachers. As a teacher, we should be sure that we ask questions that cause students to actually think. My experiences with questions, as a student, did not fit in this category. My teachers wanted a yes or no answer or the correct answer and if you missed it in front of the class it was AWFUL. I dreaded being called on and even if I did know the answer I didn't share it b/c of the possibility of getting it wrong. I think that using higher order thinking questions is much more engaging for students and will give them the courage to speak up because there isn't always necessarily a right or wrong answer. This allows the children to show how they think and possibly help others to see different aspects of problems that they wouldn't normally see. This will give them confidence and understand that how they think does matter.

I really enjoyed watching the TED video that we watched on Tuesday. I personally hate math, but if he was my teacher I might have actually enjoyed it. I love the way he incorporated real life into his problems and allowed the students to be hands on. He forces his students to think outside of the box and really use their minds. I totally agree with relating the learning with real life, but how does he show the kids how to get an accurate answer on some of those problems? I know that I would have really enjoyed his class, but definitely failed. There are so many factors and variables that affect problems like those. (like the balloon popping) I just don't think in that way and do not understand how he is able to show them ways to get the answer without giving them certain pieces of information. The rhetorical questions that we discussed in class were also very interesting. These type of questions will really get the students using their minds and think about their own thought processes and way of thinking. I don't want my students to sit in class and dread being called on like I did. I want them to be engaged in conversation and learning and want to share their thoughts with me and the class. I think that asking good higher order thinking questions and allowing them to feel "safe" when sharing their thoughts will allow this to happen.