5 Ways to Help Your Students Become Better Questioners The humble question is an indispensable tool: the spade that helps us dig for truth, or the flashlight that illuminates surrounding darkness. Questioning helps us learn, explore the unknown, and adapt to change. That makes it a most precious “app” today, in a world where everything is changing and so much is unknown. And yet, we don’t seem to value questioning as much as we should. For the most part, in our workplaces as well as our classrooms, it is the answers we reward -- while the questions are barely tolerated. To change that is easier said than done. How to Encourage Questioning 1. Asking a question can be a scary step into the void. 2. This is a tough one. 3. Part of the appeal of “questions-only” exercises is that there’s an element of play involved, as in: Can you turn that answer/statement into a question? 4. 5. If the long-term goal is to create lifelong questioners, then the challenge is to make questioning a habit -- a part of the way one thinks.
8 Strategies To Help Students Ask Great Questions 8 Strategies To Help Students Ask Great Questions by Terry Heick Questions can be extraordinary learning tools. A good question can open minds, shift paradigms, and force the uncomfortable but transformational cognitive dissonance that can help create thinkers. The latter is a topic for another day, but the former is why we’re here. 1. The TeachThought Learning Taxonomy is a template for critical thinking that frames cognition across six categories. It imagines any learning product, goal, or objective as a “thing,” then suggests different ways to think about said “thing”–mitosis, a math formula, an historical figure, a poem, a poet, a computer coding language, a political concept, a literary device, etc. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. A literary device–a metaphor example, is usually studied in isolation. Function–Communicate the metaphor’s most ideal utility (how it can and should be used, and why). Self--Identity what you do and don’t understand about the metaphor The upside? 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
5 Powerful Questions Teachers Can Ask Students My first year teaching a literacy coach came to observe my classroom. After the students left, she commented on how I asked the whole class a question, would wait just a few seconds, and then answer it myself. "It's cute," she added. Um, I don't think she thought it was so cute. I think she was treading lightly on the ever-so shaky ego of a brand-new teacher while still giving me some very necessary feedback. So that day, I learned about wait/think time. Many would agree that for inquiry to be alive and well in a classroom that, amongst other things, the teacher needs to be expert at asking strategic questions, and not only asking well-designed ones, but ones that will also lead students to questions of their own. Keeping It Simple I also learned over the years that asking straightforward, simply-worded questions can be just as effective as those intricate ones. #1. This question interrupts us from telling too much. #2. #3. #4. #5. How do you ask questions in your classroom?
Questioning - Top Ten Strategies “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is to not stop questioning.” – Albert Einstein Questioning is the very cornerstone of philosophy and education, ever since Socrates ( in our Western tradition) decided to annoy pretty much everyone by critiquing and harrying people with questions – it has been central to our development of thinking and our capacity to learn. Indeed, it is so integral to all that we do that it is often overlooked when developing pedagogy – but it as crucial to teaching as air is to breathing. Most research indicates that as much as 80% of classroom questioning is based on low order, factual recall questions. Effective questioning is key because it makes the thinking visible: it identifies prior knowledge; reasoning ability and the specific degree of student understanding – therefore it is the ultimate guide for formative progress. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Q1. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Added Extras: Like this: Like Loading...
Say What? 5 Ways to Get Students to Listen Ah, listening, the neglected literacy skill. I know when I was a high school English teacher this was not necessarily a primary focus; I was too busy honing the more measurable literacy skills -- reading, writing, and speaking. But when we think about career and college readiness, listening skills are just as important. So how do we help kids become better listeners? Strategy #1: Say it Once Repeating ourselves in the classroom will produce lazy listening in our students. Of course you don't want to leave distracted students in the dust so for those few who forgot to listen, you can advise them to, "ask three, then ask me." Strategy #2: Turn and Talk One way to inspire active listening in your students is to give them a listening task. Strategy #3: Student Hand Signals Asking students to pay full attention and indicating that they will follow this with a non-verbal signal is a wonderful tool for sharpening those listening skills. Strategy #4: Pay Attention, Pause, Paraphrase
4 Questions Every Teacher Should Ask About Mobile Learning 4 Questions Every Teacher Should Ask About Mobile Learning by Justin Chando, Founder & CEO, Chalkup Untethered from desks, a tablet represents personalized learning potential for a student in ways we’re just catching up to. Truly; the promise of mobile is extraordinary. With every historical date ever needed for World History 101 suddenly contained in the back pocket of your average American eighth grader, we find ourselves in a new environment for learning. As I see an increase in creative ways to keep learning alive after class, I’m interested in thinking about what we should be doing to ensure schools can reap the full benefits of mobile. I’m not interested in seeing the same classes and materials we had a decade ago (but now with Chromebooks!) On the front end of this conversation, what I’ve come up with are questions. 4 Questions Teachers Should Ask About Mobile Learning In Their School What can we do with a device that we couldn’t previously? This is a tough one.
Why Great Educators Need to be Great Storytellers | MediaCore Video Platform Storytelling makes for fun learning Now, more than ever, great educators understand the need to keep students engaged. Sophomore student Gregoris Kalai sums it up bluntly: “What most professors fail to realize is that every time they stand in front of an auditorium and begin to lecture, they are competing for our attention with the infinite number of tabs we have open on our browsers.” I’m sure many professors and teachers will be sympathetic to this example. So, if you're concerned about student engagement and aren't already thinking about some way to incorporate storytelling into your lesson plans or assignments, it might be time to start. Technology helps you (and your students) get creative with storytelling Storytelling itself is an art that has changed remarkably little over the last several thousand years.
Redefining Learning Through Screencasting Introducing new technology into the classroom, especially iPads, can be overwhelming -- even daunting. When first getting started, the technology may seem like more of a distraction than a learning opportunity. So how do you begin? Scott Meech (@smeech), Director of Technology for the Downer's Grove School District in Illinois, offers this perspective: A lot of times, when technology is first introduced into the classroom, the technology becomes the target. You hear a lot of teachers saying, "I want to do an iMovie project [or another app]." . . . when technology becomes effective, the learning target is articulated as "I want students to . . . demonstrate knowledge or understanding." Dr. The SAMR Model What technology can you use to get to redefinition? One of the most valuable tools afforded by iPads is the ability to screencast -- to combine audio, images, drawing and text on a whiteboard to create a video. Cement Foundation: Substitution & Augmentation Teaching Above the Line
Six things kids need to succeed at school — but too many don’t get Elmer’s school glue is displayed for sale with supplies at a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. location in the Porter Ranch neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, U.S., on Thursday, August 6, 2015. More U.S. parents are planning to increase back-to-school spending this fall than at any time in at least the past four years, according to a survey released Tuesday by the International Council of Shopping enters. (Patrick Fallon/Bloomberg) You know what’s on traditional back-to-school lists: paper, notebooks, pens and pencils, etc. By Vicki Abeles This year’s back-to-school emails are stacked up in my inbox, shouting in all-caps and exclamation points that my child is already behind the curve to start a successful year. The newest tutoring and test prep are essential to producing smiling, smart kids, the ads and solicitations seem to be saying. Forget binders, pencils, calculators, and the latest app to help kids manage their time. Let me be clear. Time Time to rest, relax, and keep healthy habits.
Google Apps For Education Now Has More Than 50 Million Users - Google Apps For Education Now Has More Than 50 Million Users by Cinthya Mohr, User Experience Lead, Google for Education In a junior high class in Queens, New York, Ross Berman is teaching fractions. He wants to know whether his students are getting the key concept, so he posts a question in Google Classroom and instantly reviews their answers. Across the country, in Bakersfield, California, Terri Parker Rodman is waiting at the dentist’s office. Google Classroom launched last August, and now more than 10 million educators and students across the globe actively use it to teach and learn together, save time, and stay organized. Classroom is part of Google’s lineup of tools for education, which also includes the Google Apps for Education suite – now used by more than 50 million students, teachers and administrators around the world – and Chromebooks, the best-selling device in U.S. Learning Better Together Removing The Mundane Giving Teachers Superpowers Growing Our Classroom