Why We Ask Questions
One important thing that I knew before the readings for this week’s assignment is that all questions are not the same. Some questions can really get people thinking about a certain topic while others are simply answering the question. For example, by asking your students what color a leaf if then they will likely answer green. However, if you ask your students why the leaf is green, they will have to think of the proper answer. By providing my students with more complex questions I hope to help to exercise their minds so that they learn to use more critical thinking skills.
One question strategy that I think I will try to implement in my classes are using the five W’s to get my students thinking about the topic. By using who, what, when, where and why questions I hope to increase my students thinking on the topic. These questions encourage the students to think more deeply about a topic beyond the surface level. By asking questions that make students think then we can get a better understanding of our students’ grasp on the topic.
In addition to asking questions with the five W’s, I would also use varying levels of cognition to gauge student knowledge and understanding. By using more advanced levels of cognition I can briefly test my students to see how well they understand the information I am presenting them with and adjust my lesson accordingly. With this in mind, the amount of time spent on lessons may differ from what was planned depending upon what the students need.
Student agency or voice is what an individual student’s values or wishes to learn, and this can vary between students, years and even classes. People, in general, are more likely to value learning that aligns with their personal values, beliefs, and interests. So, the value a student places on a specific class may help to determine how much information they retain from it. By adapting my lessons to focus more on what my students want from their education instead of purely what they are expected to learn I hope to increase their desire to do well in my class.
To my future students, what can I do to help make your experience in my class more catered to what you are interested in?
To Dr. McLean, how do you adjust your lessons to take student interests into account?
To my cohort, what do you plan to do to adjust different classes to your students?
Hi Abbie,
ReplyDeleteI think picking classes that benefit the community around you and the needs of the community is a good place to start. For example, where I am from in central Connecticut I would probably stay away from an animal production class and instead teach a small animal vet tech course. Once we know what our community wants and needs we can put classes on a rotation. So maybe every other year in the fall you teach forestry and the other year you teach landscape management? Having a rotation helps students be able to plan when to take classes since it is the same every year. That being said it is 100% okay to judge the needs of your program and change classes as needed and as the community changes!
Amanda
One of the ways that I try to adjust lessons to student interest is to do a little survey at the start of the course asking them some questions about their hobbies, their favorite food, pets, etc. This gives me a starting point to make connections with them. On a lesson by lesson basis, it is more about watching for non-verbal cues as to reactions they might have as a concept is brought up or listening to what they are saying. With a given curriculum to teach, it is a matter of weaving student interests into the content that needs to be covered without getting too far off topic.
ReplyDeleteHi Abbie! Questioning is still something I am working on mastering and I plan heavily for it in my lessons. I personally use the question "why" a lot because it requires thought, depth, and reflection and then students are REALLY excising their minds. I would encourage you to think about scaffolding questions, whether they are verbally asked or written to build into the depth you are looking for. I have done this with written conclusion questions and then can tell my special education students to not do the last two questions.
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